Zombies are one of the monster types that can be used in a lot of different ways.
Players who have been playing for a long time will remember the Zombie Madness structure deck.
This turned zombies from a funny type into a serious threat. They were strong for a long time, but now they are no longer useful.
If you want to play a zombie deck, you have a lot of options, such as Zombie Burn, Zombie Beatdown, and Zombie Synchro, to name a few.
Konami has done something about this by putting out a lot of new cards, which give the zombie type the tools it needs to be a bit more useful.
Even though they aren’t as successful as they used to be, the plans you can make are still a lot of fun to use.
So, if you want to make a zombie deck or just want to know which Yu-Gi-Oh zombie monsters are the best, check out this list.
18. Ghost Charon, the Underworld Boatman
Any level 2 tuner can be used for something, but this one is especially useful because it makes it easy to get a Dragon synchro monster.
It looks pretty situational, but in some decks, it will fit like a glove and make a huge difference in how well the deck does.
17. Number 23: Lancelot, Dark Knight of the Underworld
From the impact, you might think that this card is much higher on the list.
It’s a powerful friend once it’s on the field, but it’s hard to get it there.
It takes two monsters of level 8, and let’s be honest, there are a lot of other things you’d rather do.
Stop being rude, there’s a reason this card was on the list in the first place.
It’s one of the few cards on the list that can be used in any deck as long as level 8 monsters are used.
Even though its ATK is low for its rank, it can still change the course of a game if it is used right.
16. Pain Painter
The best zombie synchro tuner monster you can find.
Pain Painter is just a better version of the Plaguespreader Zombie, giving you a lot more choices for what you want to call.
Pain Painter’s impact changes the level of monsters, but they can only be used to synchro summon a zombie type monster, which is disappointing and the main reason why it isn’t higher on the list.
15. Zombie World
Zombie World is the center of any zombie plan.
While it’s on the field, every monster on the field or in the graveyard becomes a zombie type, and this card stops the tribute summon of any monster that isn’t a zombie type.
This field spell is amazing for two main reasons:
First, it lets you play some non-zombie cards in your deck and still use the broken connection that zombie decks have.
And second, lots of decks work better when they have monsters of a certain type.
Just take a look at dragon link! Almost every Link monster in a Dragon Link’s extra deck needs dragon monsters to summon. If you just turned all their monsters into zombies, they can’t use their extra deck.
14. Spirit Reaper
Spirit Reaper is an old zombie card, but it’s still a good one. It should be in any deck, zombie or not.
His numbers aren’t anything to write home about, but what he does is.
Spirit Reaper can’t be killed in battle, so if you just put him in defense position, you’ll have an unbeatable defensive wall in battle.
Also, if you keep this guy in attack position, your opponent will have to throw away a random card from their hand every time it does direct damage to them in battle.
This is a great way to put pressure on your opponent, take control of their hand, and make it less likely that they will come back.
13. Enma’s Judgment
This clever little trap is a great way to get expensive monsters out quickly while also causing trouble for your opponent.
Enma’s Judgment removes any monster that is special summoned (for free!) and then lets you get rid of 5 Zombies from your graveyard to special summon a level 7 or higher Zombie from your hand or deck.
This is not cheap at all. But it was certainly worth it.
Zombie decks work best when there are a lot of different Zombies in the graveyard, so you’ll always have 5 extra Zombies to use this amazing effect.
12. Doomkaiser Dragon
At the beginning of the age of synchro, Zombies was the best deck.
With the Plaguespreader Zombie, which was one of the best tuners ever made, these guys could make synchro calls pretty often.
Doomkaiser Dragon was one of the best ways for these decks to work together. At level 6, you only need a monster of level 4 and a Plaguespreader Zombie.
And since level 4 is the most usual level for monsters in the main deck, this is easy to do.
Remember how Zombie World turned all monsters in the graveyard of your opponent into Zombies?
This guy takes advantage of that effect, since you can special summon any Zombie monster from your opponent’s graveyard once it’s been called.
11. Pyramid Turtle
You might have noticed that Zombie monsters all have pretty good attack stats, but most of them have terrible defense numbers.
Well, it turns out that’s a strength, not a weakness, of this deck.
When Pyramid Turtle is killed in battle, you can special summon from your deck any Zombie monster with 2000 defense or less.
The bar is very high at 2000. And this will give you so many more choices for the kinds of things you want to do!
You could use big monster beat-sticks to hit your opponent, or you could use tuners to start your synchro plays. There are so many choices!
10. Il Blud
I’d probably only play Il Blud as a Gemini monster.
Most Gemini monsters are way too slow, and you have to normal call them twice to get their abilities. But Il Blud is such a good monster that it is well worth the wait.
How it works is as follows:
You can special summon any Zombie monster from your hand or graveyard once per turn. However, when this card leaves the field, you have to destroy all Zombies that you special summoned this way.
This is a great way to fill the field with people. You can play any powerful Zombies from your hand or graveyard, and you can also steal your opponent’s best monsters and use them against them.
Because you can do this every turn, Il Blud is a must-have card for any Zombie team.
9. Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon
This guy makes fun of tribute summoning by letting you call him up with just one Zombie monster instead of the two monsters that most level-7 monsters require.
Zombie World is also used by Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon in the most broken way possible.
When this card kills a Zombie monster in battle, you can take that monster for yourself and special summon it to your side of the field in any battle position.
This is basically a Goyo Guardian for Zombie decks, and it lets you crush your opponent with their own monsters.
8. Shiranui Solitaire
Shiranuis are one of the newer zombie decks in Yu-Gi-Oh. They first appeared in the Arc-V era.
They are also one of the best combo decks out there, and if you want to play a good Zombie deck, you should check them out.
But even if you aren’t playing pure Shiranui, this guy is a great addition to any Zombie plan.
You can special summon a Zombie tuner with 0 defense from your deck by sacrificing another Zombie monster you control.
This makes it easy for you to do a synchro call.
If you use this ability to summon a card like Uni-Zombie, you can do a synchro summon at level 7, 8, or 9. This lets you access a lot of insanely powerful synchro monsters.
7. Book of Life
Even though Zombies are great at bringing back their own monsters from the dead, it never hurts to have a little extra help.
This card is basically a Monster Reborn for zombies, but it’s a lot better.
The Book of Life lets you bring back a Zombie monster from your graveyard and send a monster from your opponent’s graveyard to the graveyard.
In modern Yu-Gi-Oh!, most cards will use the graveyard as if it were a second hand.
If you can get rid of the cards in it, your opponent won’t be able to use most of them for the rest of the game. Not so good for them, but pretty good for you.
6. Uni-Zombie
It’s a real pain to get the numbers right for synchro summoning.
I’m always either one level too high or one level too low to synchro call the monsters I want.
Well, it’s no longer a problem thanks to Uni-Zombie!
This card gives you two ways to change the levels of monsters on the field. Each of these changes can be made once per turn.
First, you can throw away a card from your hand to make any monster on the field one level stronger.
Second, you can send a Zombie monster from your deck to the graveyard to make a monster on the field one level higher.
This second effect lets you get your levels ready for a synchro call and fills up your graveyard so it’s ready for your next play.
It’s both a Foolish Burial and a tool for synchro.
I don’t think tuners can get any better than this.
5. Mezuki
Mezuki was one of the first Zombie monsters to appear in Yu-Gi-Oh. He came out in Premium pack 2, which was a long time ago.
And it’s still one of the best Zombie monsters out there.
You can send this card to the graveyard to special summon any other Zombie you have in your graveyard.
This effect doesn’t happen just once per turn, so if you have more than one Mezuki in your graves, you can call out more than one Zombie in a single turn.
Given how easy it is for Zombie decks to put any monsters they want in their graveyard, Mezuki is a must-have at 3 copies per deck.
4. Plaguespreader Zombie
This guy is one of the best tuners of all time, not just the best in Zombies.
Plaguespreader Zombie is so easy to get on the field that it’s ridiculous.
While it’s in the graveyard, you can special call it by putting any card from your hand on top of your deck. However, you have to get rid of it when it leaves the field.
This makes it very easy to synchro call.
Just put this guy in your graveyard and standard summon a monster, and boom! You now have a very strong synchro.
3. Glow-Up Bloom
If you thought Glow-Up Bulb was a strong synchro enabler, just wait until you see what this card can do for Zombies.
When this card goes to the graveyard (from the deck, a synchro summon, or just being killed in battle), you can search your deck for any Zombie monster level 5 or higher and add it to your hand.
If you have Zombie World set up on your side of the field, this affect gets even better because you can special summon that monster right to your side of the field.
This is one of the best ways for Zombies to get powerful monsters out on the field quickly.
You can speed up this combo by special calling Glow-Up Bloom with One for One, which lets you take Glow-Up Bloom from the deck.
2. Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring
Modern Yu-Gi-Oh! doesn’t have a single deck.Oh, that isn’t putting a playset of this card in the main deck, and it’s easy to see why.
Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring is by far the best hand trap, and any Zombie deck should have 3 copies of it.
What it does is:
You can throw this card away from your hand to stop any effect that moves cards out of the deck. This includes special summons, drawing cards, and even moving cards from the deck to the graveyard.
This card is only better when it is used in a Zombie-only deck.
Because most decks will just leave it in the graveyard once it’s been thrown away. But because Zombies can change what’s in the graveyard, you can special summon this card back to the field and use it as a tuner for your synchro calls.
1. Eldlich the Golden Lord
As of this writing, Eldlich the Golden Lord is the most recent zombie to be added to Yu-Gi-Oh. He shows how strong zombies can be.
While you have it in your hand, it’s a very powerful piece of removal that doesn’t destroy anything.
You can throw it away with a spell or trap to put a card from the field into the graveyard. Eldlich the Golden Lord is the best way to get around the fact that more and more Yu-Gi-Oh monsters have effects that stop them from being destroyed by card effects.
And while this card is in your graveyard (because you just threw it away), you can send another spell or trap from your hand to the graveyard to bring this card right back to your hand, while also special summoning a Zombie monster from your hand.
The wrong thing about this effect is that Eldlich can theoretically call himself to the field, giving you a free 2500 attack monster.
On top of that, any monster you summon gets an attack boost of 1000 points and safety from card effects. This means that no matter what you summon, it will be a very strong monster.
You can either special summon another Zombie monster and get free non-destructive removal every turn, or you can special summon it and get a free massive monster to hit your opponent with.
Here, you can’t really go wrong.
