A Goat Format World Championship Retrospective: The Deck

In this series, Mascis documents their journey to and their experience in the Goat Format World Championships. This is part two of five.

This was the deck I submitted for the event:

      Download:  https://www.duelingbook.com/deck?id=6582680

Even though the changes to the original deck were minimal, the ramifications they have are huge. Once you change one thing about the deck there are four or five other changes you can make which can lead you to another four or five changes and so on. Most of you should know how a Goat Control deck should operate, you attempt to gain card advantage over your opponent while also controlling the board and having answers to whatever your opponent attempts to do. While the overall package hasn’t deviated much from what others were doing in 2005, there are specific changes I made to attempt to combat the expected field. Zaborg the Thunder Monarch - It has become increasingly harder and harder for Air Knight Parshath to connect as the metagame of Goat Format has evolved from people playing Goat Control mirrors against one another. While Air Knight is still very powerful, and drawing once off of it does pay for itself, Zaborg is flexible in that it is able to answer a set monster without attacking and can destroy a Chaos monster on summon. It also can attack over a Chaos Sorcerer regardless of position. It’s a light and a level five, so it gives you all the same fusion deck access as Metamorphosis on Air Knight would. Being able to clear a monster assists with OTK potential. Air Knight is also worse in a build like this since we have cut revival spells from the deck altogether.

Fusilier Dragon, the Dual-Mode Beast / King Dragun - On paper, this looks like a sub-optimal choice. Why are we playing a card that has bad stats on summon and no Skill Drain to combo it with? Well, Fusilier allows you to make King Dragun from Metamorphosis to start. King Dragun was the all star of a Horus deck I played for fun awhile back. Chaos decks use targeting removal like Raigeki Break, Night Assailant, and Chaos Sorc to answer threats and King Dragun’s protection for being targeted makes it massively difficult for the Chaos player to out. There are only very specific cards that can deal with King Dragun, and some Chaos variants have cut these cards from their decks entirely. Fusilier itself is also not weak when combined with the Book of Moon or Tsukuyomi. Being able to reset the Fusilier’s stats by flipping it face down is relevant in the Chaos match up and is just a clock by itself. Being a normal summonable level seven allows you to interact with combo decks as well, letting you make The Last Warrior from Another Planet with Metamorphosis to shut off summoning.

Three Main Decked Trap Dustshoot - This was probably the most important card in the tournament as a whole outside of Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer. Since everyone playing this tournament has proved themselves as a good player, getting information that Dustshoot allows lets the player who uses it to plan around the opponent much easier. I say this a lot and I still think it’s true, while Dustshoot is live more often in the Chaos match-up, Dustshoots can hurt a lot more vs the non-chaos decks as you sometimes just get to take away their only option for a summon that turn. As mentioned before, playing less monsters in your control deck means that the opponent’s Dustshoots will more often miss in sending a card back, but you do run the risk of losing your normal summon as well. I think this is a risk you need to take in order to succeed with the deck. I tend to hold this card back as well, not always just gunning it at more than four cards in hand. It does depend on the situation, but your opponent committing to a line of play only to be interrupted by a timely Dustshoot can just stop whatever they were trying to do that turn. Side Decked Protector of the Sanctuary - If you are familiar with me, you know that I am a fan of this card not just for comboing with Morphing Jar. Chaos turbo decks thrive off being able to resolve multiple Dekochis and utilizing Graceful Charity with Thunder Dragons in hand which Protector just stops. 1100 ATK and 1900 DEF is no joke as well, meaning a defense mode Protector may force a Chaos summon. 1100 is relevant against the new style of Chaos Control that plays both Mimic LV1 and Mimic LV3, as unlike a Mystic Swordsman LV2 a Protector of the Sanctuary can run over a face up or face down Mimic. If anyone remembers GFC8, my Protector was on the receiving end of three separate Raigeki Breaks in one turn in order to finally un-brick my opponent’s hand. Do not sleep on underplayed these limited cards. You also can bring this card in vs combo decks that try and draw their entire deck on turn one. Side Decked Seven Tools of the Bandit - This option was specifically for decks that used Solemn Judgement. Being able to respond to Solemn Judgment is huge when you are doing it with a card that is not your own Solemn Judgement. While Solemn Judgment is more flexible in what it can negate, it is only really outstanding when you are already in a winning position or are attempting a game shot on your opponent. Seven Tools role play as Solemn Judgement without the heavy life point cost. Goat Control has OTK potential by means of Ring of Destruction, so not having to half your life in order to stop play is crucial for you. Despite not pulling it off, I can envision a scenario where you can safely Heavy Storm into multiple back rows without the fear of getting negated since you have your trusty Seven Tools by your side.Side Deck Magic Jammer - Magic Jammer is a less narrow version of Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell. While you sacrifice the ability to blank a second Giant Trunade, often the negate on the first is all you need. Not forcing you to discard a spell card for cost is crucial too, as you can discard your Sinister Serpent or the Light/Dark monster you need to set up your Black Luster Soldier. Jammer can also come in for protection where Creature Swap is weak, like in the Goat Control mirror or the Chaos Control match up.

Side Decked Pikeru’s Circle of Enchantment - Exclusively for burn decks or combo decks that rely on burning the opponent. While I admit Hallowed Life Barrier does the same thing but is also Waboku, I didn’t want to have to always have a card in hand for that to go through since I also would be bringing in Magic Jammer for combo match ups as well. Being chainable against burn is huge, as some players will attempt to resolve all their burn in one big chain. Even if they don’t you can wait until the last card they have to burn you with to chain this, this way they lose all of their burn cards in the process. A card like Royal Decree would stop burn as well, but most burn players are already coming prepared for Decree and not for Pikeru’s Circle. Decree shutting off your traps is not ideal if the burn players start attacking with monsters, so Circle lets you answer the burn and side additional Sakus at the same time.With these changes made, I made a new account on Duelingbook to practice and overall went 12-1 with the exact list. I will admit that this is not the optimal testing method, but getting a feel for how the deck operates and if the sideboard techs would work out without the pressure of being in a higher rated setting or people trying to scout what you were going to play made the practice sessions more relaxed for me. I’m not a fan of using alt accounts for tournaments or alts in general, even though I have done this practice in the past. The alt, however, let me try out lines that may be not optimal and let me make mistakes that I would know to correct for the tournament. The results seemed to confirm for me that the deck was pretty good vs the average to below average Duelingbook player, which was not going to be who I was playing in this event. Still, I went with the deck because I liked it. The night before, I played a quick match with InsiDS which confirmed that King Dragun was exactly what I thought it would be vs Chaos, the absolute stones (sorry bud!). While I felt confident in my play ability and that my deck was good, I was still very nervous for the tournament itself. The quality of players in the event was no joke and I really wanted to prove that I belonged among them.

To be continued in part three.