Timaeus's Guide to Vampires!
Created Date: 17 Jan

Yu-Gi-Oh! came out with new "Vampire" cards around May 2018, which make the archetype incredibly consistent.
What cards make up this deck?
In Duel Links, here are the three core cards that make the deck good. (Familiar and Retainer are new, and Kingdom is actually old.)
- Vampire Familiar can Special Summon from the Graveyard, at the cost of sending any 1 "Vampire" card to the Graveyard from the field or hand, to search for any "Vampire" monster.
- Vampire Retainer is the same thing, except it searches "Vampire" Spells/Traps.
- Vampire Kingdom lets all Zombies gain 500 ATK at damage calculation, but also mandatorily has you destroy any 1 card on the field by milling your deck if your opponent mills their deck.
The following Spells/Traps in Duel Links are also searchable, besides Vampire Kingdom:
Here's what these cards generally do:
Some other key cards to the deck are Vampire Vamp, Vampire Grace, and Vampire Grimson, the boss monsters. Vamp was re-released, and Grimson is new, while Grace is old.
- Vampire's Desire lets you either send a "Vampire" to the Graveyard or trade with the Graveyard for one. Great for comebacks against some sort of board clear the opponent does on you.
- Vampire Takeover is great to bring out Vampire Kingdom, the Field Spell, as well as easily Special Summoning a "Vampire" monster from the Graveyard that you've used as a cost from the hand. This is something that makes the deck flexible.
- Vampire's Domain allows you to get an extra Normal Summon of a "Vampire" monster, while also letting you regain LP through battle damage. This usually lets you make a comeback.
Some other key cards to the deck are Vampire Vamp, Vampire Grace, and Vampire Grimson, the boss monsters. Vamp was re-released, and Grimson is new, while Grace is old.
Here's a quick run-down of what they can do:
- Vamp allows you to equip stronger opposing monsters on-summon, which is great for taking down big beaters. If it gets sent to the Graveyard in any way, it comes right back!
- Grimson lets you pay 1000 LP to prevent destruction of any monster you control (but makes you do so for each monster in one simultaneous swoop). It can also steal monsters destroyed by battle.
- Grace's main effect lets you mill your opponent's deck, and combos with Vampire Kingdom. One effect you might actually use late-game is to Special Summon it from the Graveyard by paying 2000 LP after a Vamp or Grimson was Special Summoned (from your hand, usually). Pretty rare though.
And lastly, a few tech cards that are helpful to the deck are Samurai Skull and Gozuki, maybe even Black Luster Soldier - Sacred Soldier.
What are some wild combos for the deck?
This deck really allows some crazy combos, that revolve around swarming the field and getting in multiple attacks. It also is very interactive, and requires a pretty decent IQ to use properly, which is something that makes the deck healthy. Let's examine screenshots of some actual scenarios that arose while I was playing Ranked Duels, and see what combos I was doing.
Match #1: Vs. "Balance" Ishizu (Vampires)
Match #1: Vs. "Balance" Ishizu (Vampires)
Not very standard, but it's good to go up against the "mirror match" every now and then, to remind yourself of proper activation timings, when to chain, etc. Using Balance struck me as odd, though.
- Summon Samurai Skull to send Vampire Retainer to the Graveyard.
- Trade with a "Vampire" card in your hand or on the field (that is allowed to go to the Graveyard) to search for Vampire's Domain, while a boss monster is in your hand.
- Activate Domain, pay 500 LP, then gain a Normal Summon of that boss monster (can be 1 or 2 tributes).
- Play out the rest of the turn.
In this case, on (2) I sent Takeover to the grave, (3) searched for Domain, then (4) Normal Summoned Grimson and played Kingdom... attacking into a Wall of Disruption. Whoops!
A few turns later, I found myself facing a Vampire Vamp in attack mode (opponent has 2100 LP), which had just destroyed my Grimson (because I let him on the previous turn). The Retainer was Normal Summoned, which means it is a valid target for Vampire's Desire's 2nd effect:
Target 1 "Vampire" monster in your GY; send 1 monster you control to the GY, and if you do, Special Summon the targeted monster. You can only activate 1 "Vampire's Desire" per turn.
(The Familiar would have been banished, and the effect would stop there.)
Swapping with Retainer, I thus brought Grimson right back, destroyed the backrow Trap (Drowning Mirror Force!) using the Grace + Kingdom mill effect, attacked into Vamp, paid 1000 LP to protect my Grimson, and dealt 2500 LP damage for lethal! Let's look at another one.
Match #2: Vs. "Trick up the Sleeve Blue-Eyes" Arkana
Target 1 "Vampire" monster in your GY; send 1 monster you control to the GY, and if you do, Special Summon the targeted monster. You can only activate 1 "Vampire's Desire" per turn.
(The Familiar would have been banished, and the effect would stop there.)
Swapping with Retainer, I thus brought Grimson right back, destroyed the backrow Trap (Drowning Mirror Force!) using the Grace + Kingdom mill effect, attacked into Vamp, paid 1000 LP to protect my Grimson, and dealt 2500 LP damage for lethal! Let's look at another one.
Match #2: Vs. "Trick up the Sleeve Blue-Eyes" Arkana
The face-down card was Silver's Cry, and the opponent had a Blue-Eyes White Dragon in-hand.
- Send Retainer, trade with Familiar in the hand, search for Domain.
- Trade with Retainer in my hand, search for Grace.
- Play Domain, pay 500 LP, get the extra Normal Summon for the Grace, destroy the face-down card by comboing with Vampire Kingdom.
- Go ham with Enemy Controller by tributing Retainer on the field to grab Cosmo Brain, then attack directly with everyone; would have been 7800 damage! (1700 + 500 + 3100 + 2000 + 500 = 7800 LP.)
So, I changed my plan; I tributed Vampire Familiar with Enemy Controller instead, and took the Cosmo Brain (3100 ATK). The opponent tributed Spirit of White to Special Summon Blue-Eyes White Dragon (3000 ATK) from the hand in attack mode (misplay). Then, since Vampire Kingdom adds 500 ATK for all Zombies at damage calculation, I attacked him for lethal (100 + 1700 + 500 + 1200 + 500 = 4000 LP)!
Even when the opponent stopped part of my play, you can see that there was an alternative play that I made in response, and it still worked out in the end! And that was literally Turn 2. Let's look at another one!
Match #3: "DNA Surgery Buster Blader" Kaiba
Surprisingly, he opened up pretty badly; just summoned the Buster Blader fusion and ended his turn. Didn't even retrieve his fusion spell from the Graveyard like he could have.
- Summon Vampire Familiar, then Enemy Controller to tribute and take the Buster Blader.
- Vampire's Desire, 2nd effect, to send their monster to the Graveyard and Special Summon Vampire Familiar without using its own effect (so it won't get banished yet), searching for Vampire Grace.
- Play Vampire Kingdom and Domain, then pay 500 LP to get the extra Normal Summon. Summon Grace.
- Activate Grace to mill 1 card from the opponent's deck, then destroy my own Vampire Kingdom, just to send Vampire Retainer to the Graveyard from my own Deck.
- Trade with the Domain on my field to Special Summon Retainer and search for my second Vampire Kingdom!
Another way to play this would have been as follows (less interactive, a bit more polite and standard).
- Summon Vampire Familiar, then activate Vampire's Desire, 1st effect, to send Vampire Retainer to the Graveyard from the Deck.
- Trade with the Familiar on the field (sending to Graveyard) to Special Summon Retainer and search for Domain.
- Activate Domain, pay 500 LP for the extra Normal Summon, then trade Familiar (from the Graveyard) with Domain (on the field). Search for Vampire Grace.
- Use the extra summon to tribute Familiar and Tribute Summon Grace. Then play the Vampire Kingdom Field Spell from the hand.
- Activate Grace to mill 1 card from the opponent's deck, then destroy the Buster Blader.
Recap
Hopefully, that shows how flexible Vampires are! The main combos revolve around trading with the Graveyard to search for key tools in your Deck. Then, among the boss monsters, Vampire Grace is good for destruction of backrow, Vampire Grimson is good for protection against destruction, and Vampire Vamp is good for taking on huge opposing monsters.