Closed ForestFirst and foremost, it's obvious that the main amount of control that GKs hold is their field card, Necrovalley. Almost all competitive decks focus on using recursion effects to synchro swarm and beat face and Necrovalley obliterates it.
Of course, that's not all Necrovalley gives the GK deck. It gives them a plethora of 2k+ walls and attackers, a deck thin (Commandant), enables Assailant's ability AND allows Royal Tribute.
Needless to say, Necrovalley is a key part of their strength. So, shutting that down would be good... no?
Well, the typical sidedeck against them is two Mysticals, Dust Tornados, blah de blah. Basically MT destruction. Well, this isn't going to help against the Malefic Stardust Dragon or the sided third Necrovalley. This also isn't exactly the fastest answer. You have to draw that destruction.
This brings us to Closed Forest. A field spell out of Duelist Transer, the new Wii game. Playing it gets around Malefic Stardust Dragon and forces GKs to use a Descendant tribute just to destroy a turn BEFORE they use Necrovalley again.
My suggestion, if you choose to go this route in your counter-GK design is to devote three slots in your sidedeck to:
2 Closed Forest
1 Terraforming
Shadow-Imprisoning MirrorThis should be a no brainer. With the exception of their ridiculous attack and Commandant (being Earth), the GK deck is completely dependent on their abilities. Recruiter and Spy to continue to self replace, Descendant to clear the opponent's defenses and Assailant to take down the bigger monsters without needing another GK for Descendant's ability.
Shadow Imprisoning Mirror shuts down the deck pretty effectively. Obviously though, don't depend on this if you run darks yourself. Also, a good GK player will side two MSTs. They'll be running triple Duality which makes the MSTs very accessible. I'll get into more weaknesses and a suggestion at the end of my next section...
Skill DrainThis thing is killer. Unlike Mirror it won't stop Recruiter BUT it does shut everything else down. I had this sided against me when my opponent was using Blackwings. It devastated me. I wasn't able to draw an out to it at all.
Which brings up my next point, the outs to both Skill Drain and Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror.
As already mentioned, a good GK player will side double MST in. But there are two other tricks you need to watch out for when trying to counter GKs with either Skill Drain or Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror. Those are their double or triple Book of Moons and their Compulsory Evacuation Device. Given that both Skill Drain needs to have the monster face-up on the field to stop it and Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror needs to be able to identify the attribute of the monster activating the effect, both Book and Compulsory will dodge their negation effects.
If you choose to side these, which I would not (I'm a very big fan of Forest), I would run two of one or the other, depending on YOUR decklist.
Nobleman of CrossoutThis is a typical response to Gravekeeper's. People see Spies and Recruiters and figure the deck will constantly set monsters to feed itself. So, they figure, side Nobleman of Crossout. This is a good choice but, you have to understand that GKs will side My Body as a Shield in and probably a Spy and Recruiter out as a counter to the Nobleman side in.
It's a good counter but I would not suggest siding two of the things in against GKs or in general. I prefer a one of for general siding.
Thunder King Rai-Oh and Doomcaliber KnightBoth of these are VERY good sidedeck choices in general. I side them when I'm playing GKs and basically when I'm playing -anything- these days. It's a simple matter of knowing when your opponent will use X card in their deck that each of these STUN elements can counter.
Against GKs, Rai-Oh will stop the Commandants, Pots of Duality and Recruiters. DCK will hit basically everything else and will force GKs to attack before activating effects to try to push you down.
Both of these creatures, with 1900 attack, are no joking matter to GK players. While DCK might be easier to play around on turn one (an extra Commandant, a Recruiter suicide, whatever else), Thunder King on turn one can be crushing to the GK player.
I would side both of them at two in your sidedeck NOT just to counter Gravekeeper's, they are amazing universally.
Consecrated LightI cannot stress how much of a bad idea siding this card is. Against GKs it's really just not worth the slots. A good GK player will see the possibility coming and will have a Descendant or Commandant in reserve to obliterate it. It really does nothing but keep them from attacking for a turn or two.
Terrible, terrible choice, do not run it.
Dark World MonstersThis is a VERY tempting choice. They counter, hard, the Royal Tribute that devastates so many players in game one. Most GK players I've talked to haven't even thought of these things yet, it's a legitimate thing to be feared.
However, as more people catch on, GK players, universally, will start siding out the Royal Tributes more and more. Currently, I side out of one every game. Duels two and three I usually only have two in the maindeck. Soon that will be lowered to one. Why?
It's not necessary for GKs to win. It's VERY good, no doubt but, if you do side into DW monsters and I side out of Royal Tributes, they're more likely to stay dead in hand than do anything else. Not one of the DW monsters can stand up to a Necrovalley'd Assailant and all of them are just beaters if their effects are not activated.
I wouldn't side them unless you know the GK player in your meta is new to the deck and hasn't thought about the risk yet.
Cyber DragonWhile it has the same risk to it of Assailant that the DW monsters do, Cyber Dragon is ridiculously a better choice.
A self summoning 2100 beater is nothing to scoff at for a GK player. It will require a Descendant, a Commandant, or an Assailant to take down if it hits the field and lives through its summon. Descendant, obviously, requires another monster which is easy with Spy (I know you're thinking this already). That's why you wait on the Cyber Dragon play. Don't just throw it out there willy nilly if you can't first handle the facedown monster the have or can't prove it's not a Spy. Otherwise Cyber Dragon just becomes a one for one that dealt you 400 damage and thinned the GK deck.
This isn't to say that summoning Cyber Dragon right away is bad.
After Necrovalley, a GK player relies on the utter control they have with their double or triple Solemn Warnings, the Judgment, the Books of Moon, and the Bottomlesses. Anything their 2k beaters can't handle forces the activation of one of the aforementioned cards. Cyber Dragon is one of those things. It's a very good baiter for the GK prime trap line up. It does this job better than any other monster. In fact, it's so good at this, it is universally good as a side against other decks with heavy trap control.
Because of this, I highly recommend siding two of these buggers.
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