Goat Format World Championship 2021: Top 8 Player Interviews!

The fifty-six best players in the world entered, and now there are eight! Come see what these masters of Goat Format had to say before the final day of the event! 

How did you prepare for today's event? Did you practice with a specific person or team?I tested with other Burn players, and I looked though my cards. I practiced with Tommy Huta and Giorgione.What deck did you play in this event and why? I played Rescue Cat because it is a fun deck to play with, and I was not confident playing a different deck.What decks or players were you looking forward to playing against?Warriors and other Burn decks.What decks or players were you NOT looking forward to playing against? Chaos Turbo.What card had been overperforming for you during the event?Ojama Trio. It is definitely one of the best 

cards in the deck.What has been your favorite moment of the event so far? Summoning Lava Golem was definitely a great moment.What predictions do you have for the rest of the event? I am predicting a Burn deck to win. Or MattUber. If you could go back, what (if any) changes would you would make to your deck today?Surprisingly, I like the deck the way it is with forty-two cards. I ran out of side deck space, and I wanted the right balance of burn, stall and OTK cards. Also, if I remove a Milus Radiant I would need to change the whole deck around.Any shout outs you would like to makeI want to thank everyone I tested with, mainly Tommy Huta and Giorgione.

How did you prepare for today's event? Did you practice with a specific person or team?I play tested around a week with my brother (AlephYa2) and Jean (FrenchAlpha).What deck did you play in this event and why? Mighty Panda (Burn) because I took a detox from the game for some months and didn't really have the time to come up with something unique this time. Still didn't want to play Chaos or Warrior, though.What decks or players were you looking forward to playing against?Standard Warrior or Chaos decks.What decks or players were you NOT looking forward to playing against? Mainly I wouldn't like to have mirror matches or face decks that play Decree (especially in main) or Reasoning/Gate. So yeah...Looks like I'm gonna have a fun time at Top 8.

What card had been overperforming for you during the event?The Jar brothers. I can always count on those lil' buggers.What has been your favorite moment of the event so far? Probably playing around Hallowed Life Barrier by sniping with an MST in M2 after inflicting more than 2000 points of damage with Panda in the BP before, only to win the next turn with a bunch of burn cards.What predictions do you have for the rest of the event? It's gonna be tough.If you could go back, what (if any) changes would you would make to your deck today?Prepare a better side deck. Something like -2 Lava Golems, +1 Spell Canceller and +1 Barrel Behind the Door (!) for the extra lulz.Any shout outs you would like to make?Would only be redundant at this point. > Check out my pre-tournament interview.

How did you prepare for today's event? Did you practice with a specific person or team?I tried to not put too much pressure on myself, so I barely played the week before worlds. I mostly focused on making my mental health stronger. I did watch my teammate's replays and discussions, though. What deck did you play in this event and why? I play Chaos Return. This is the deck that got me most of my tournament results and I like it a lot. I really wanted to finish the season with it. I also think it's well equipped to deal with Turbo and Warrior, so it was still a good meta call for worlds. What decks or players were you looking forward to playing against?I was ready to fight the big three: Chaos Turbo, Warrior and Chaos Control.

What decks or players were you NOT looking forward to playing against? I didn't want to face Burn because it's not a great matchup for my deck. And, obviously, I really didn't want to fight any of my teammates.What card had been overperforming for you during the event?It's hard to choose only one card, but I'd probably pick Zaborg. It has been great against both aggro and turbo. Blade Knight also did a lot in some games. Return is still the star of the deck, even though I only got a single Return game shot so far. What has been your favorite moment of the event so far? It was a relief when I won against James Arc and realized I made it to top eight without loosing a game. Seeing all my teammates cheering me up was awesome.What predictions do you have for the rest of the event? It's hard to say. A lot of people have been surprised by how the tournament went. All I can say is that I am here to win, and I will try my best to get that belt and honor LRG.If you could go back, what (if any) changes would you would make to your deck today?I was expecting more Chaos Control decks with Decree, and I didn't expect that many Burn decks in the top eight. I am happy with my main deck, but going back to two Mobius in the side deck instead of one would've been better.Any shout outs you would like to makeShout out to my team obviously. I am very proud to be a part of LRG. Everyone in the team is real. They got me where I am today and I can't thank them enough for their support. Free WGM!

How did you prepare for today's event? Did you practice with a specific person or team?With the BEST TEAMMATES!! RAMPAGE BABY!What deck did you play in this event and why? Warrior. The better question is why not? Best deck.What decks or players were you looking forward to playing against?TURBO & ANYONE PLAYING TURBO LOL.What decks or players were you NOT looking forward to playing against? I'll play anyone.What card had been overperforming for you during the event?ROTA

What has been your favorite moment of the event so far? Beating the World Champ Riclar.What predictions do you have for the rest of the event? Attack attack attack. Me vs John Wick in finals!If you could go back, what (if any) changes would you would make to your deck today?LOL add Book of moon to my side.Any shout outs you would like to make?ALL OF TEAM RAMPAGE!! I couldn't ask for better teammates. Also Goatformat.com & GF discord for putting up with all of our nonsense for so long! FL as well! GO RAMPAGE

How did you prepare for today's event? Did you practice with a specific person or team?I was lucky enough to train with a group I consider the strongest players around: Kris Perovic, Dale, GeistD, Anthony Alvarado, and Smoker. We just talked through potential deck ideas, scoped out the field, and scrimmed versus other top decks. Also, some private consultancy from exiled duelist Mr. N.What deck did you play in this event and why? I played Decree Chaos Control. I'm comfortable with the deck, having had success with it a few months ago in a GFC. It's actually the only good tournament result I've had, so if it's not broke, don't fix it I guess. Back then I thought it had a good matchup against an expected field of Burn and Warrior, and it's not much different now except the new style of Turbo with Solemns, Wind Blast, and Jar of Greed was added to the mix -- which Decree Chaos Control can also have an

edge on. So, I thought it had good matchups across the board and worked out for my bracket.What decks or players were you looking forward to playing against?I was just excited to have some good battles against top tier players. At this level anything can beat anything, so even though I had some good matchups, anything could happen. I'd rather just get ten byes to win the tournament to be honest.What decks or players were you NOT looking forward to playing against? Kris and the OD guys I mentioned, just because we'd tested a bunch and they knew what I was playing. MattUber I thought could be a problem as one of the only Gate players, but I actually was able to beat him in bracket.What card had been overperforming for you during the event?BLS lolWhat has been your favorite moment of the event so far? This actually has been an insane tournament for me. I'll give you three.FIRST GAME of the tournament, I play against Puy, who I've tested with IRL and usually runs Burn. I prepped a lot for Burn because of this. T1 I Duo a Scapegoat and Meta, so I know it's not a normal Burn variant. The game goes on a bit, I'm beating her down with normal CC combos... until she summons Jowgen. Maybe it was just early in the morning but I certainly didn't expect her to flip LAST TURN during my draw step (I had Tribe Infecting Virus on the field so otherwise I would've killed the Jowgen in my main phase)... unfortunately for her, my draw for turn was Sinister Serpent, so I was able to get it back and destroy the Jowgen in battle, winning the game. From that point I knew luck was on my side.In R3 against MattUber, we had some long games in which he activated Token Thanksgiving on all our tokens to use Cyber Stein multiple times. At the end of G3, he was forced to finally make a play using Monster Gate with only a Sacred Crane left in deck and about ~13 cards. He milled through his whole deck and hit Crane to draw his final card. He couldn't kill me, so I won.In my last match I played against Ptran using an awesome Lockdown Burn deck. After he was able to answer my decrees easily I was feeling pretty discouraged, but I was able to squeak out a win G2. In the final game I had a full set up until he top-decked Breaker as his only out, to swing over my monster and pop my Decree. Suddenly my hand was dead chaos monsters and I was getting beat down by the Breaker. I had to just set Tsukuyomis to block damage, knowing that Thunder Dragon was my only out. On the last possible turn I top-decked TD, and was able to put my Chaos monsters on board to clean it up over the next two turns.What predictions do you have for the rest of the event? I gotta take it home.If you could go back, what (if any) changes would you would make to your deck today?Maybe I'd side less for the mirror, given I was one of the only Chaos Control players. But overall I tested the deck a lot and it's been working fine.Any shout outs you would like to makeI actually play a lot more Edison (2010) format than Goat; I personally find it a lot more fun. I run a with my buddy Keegan, so check it out if anyone's bored of Goat! 

How did you prepare for today's event? Did you practice with a specific person or team?What deck did you play in this event and why? What decks or players were you looking forward to playing against?What decks or players were you NOT looking forward to playing against? What card had been overperforming for you during the event?What has been your favorite moment of the event so far? What predictions do you have for the rest of the event? If you could go back, what (if any) changes would you would make to your deck today?Any shout outs you would like to make?

How did you prepare for today's event? Did you practice with a specific person or team?I didn't prepare with a specific person or a team, I just tried to see what was working the best in ranked match. The deck I played goes fairly easily in the 1500's something, so I just decide to go for it. What deck did you play in this event and why? Panda Burn. This all format is about how to recover if you took trinity straight away turn 0. Panda burn is one of the only deck able to pull off a win even if you are 2nd vs pot/duo/charity opening. Also, the tourney is very long, and it's one of the few deck with very regular hand. I mean, obviously some hands are stronger than others, but you can't brick with three Thunder Dragon, or Trap Dustshoot vs someone who sets all his hand turn zero.

​Also, you prefer having a six monsters opening hand with this deck rather than Warrior because of the diversity of the monsters. They can hit, and they can be put in defense. Warriors can only hit. That's the real strength of Panda Burn, you can stall the game, but you can be aggro like a Warrior deck too, and you can use the burn path if needed to steal a game (which you can't do chaos and warrior). If it was able to pull a win by deckout it would be the perfect deck.What decks or players were you looking forward to playing against?I was looking to playing against nice players/fair-play players all tournament in order to have fun games. I think that's the most important thing: having someone nice who provides nice games. What decks or players were you NOT looking forward to playing against? I don't fear any players. I think it's anybody's game, and everybody in the 56 is strong, so you can't count anyone out, or underestimate anybody. However, I have a big fear of FTK. You lose versus rock paper scissors and it's done, you lose on turn zero without being able to do anything. FTK is horrendous since you have no shot from turn zero. At least with Burn you have a turn so you have your chance, despite what people who hates burn decks say. They have turns to play so they have their shot to win.Burn and FTK are probably the 2 best decks of the format, despite having 90 % of players who plays chaos or warriors deck. What card had been overperforming for you during the event?It's tough to pick exactly one card. Panda obviously was on top. I mean come on, it can go at 3300 ATK for no tribute, it does piercing damage, and it goes under gravity bind or level limit area B. Yugi with his Dark Magician, Kaiba with his Blue Eyes White Dragon, Joey with his Red Eyes Black Dragon, none of them can beat that.The siding part with Mind control/creature swap were very good too versus chaos turbo deck. What has been your favorite moment of the event so far? It's tough to say. Maybe my win versus Ghostrider. It was such a close match; I was on round four in loser's bracket and I just lost before in round three in winner's bracket. I came so close to elimination. Beating riclar91 was also very huge. I mean, he was the last winner!I was also very happy to see Haley B out of the tourney (nothing versus, the guy but I think he was playing FTK and I didn't want to lose this tourney vs an FTK without being able to play one turn. It would have been being spectator of my own demise. It's the worst way to lose a YuGiOh duel). When I lost vs Giorgione it was a fair match. We both played our turns and he ended up outwitting, outplaying and outlasting me in our match, so congratulations to him.What predictions do you have for the rest of the event? I predict tough matches. I predict nice moves. I predict some tensions too, and very interesting matches to see.It's impossible to make predictions in a normal tournaments, and it's more impossible (it's not French or English xD) to do it in this tourney where everybody is really good. It's anybody's game, everybody can win and everybody can lose. People thought Lukaz would take the title. same with alephYa2, same with geistD, and so on. At the end they didn't go into day two. It just only takes one brick/one weak hand/one match vs FTK because of luck of the brackets to be out.In each success in life, not only in the game but in life, (it can be work, school, it can be sports, game, relationship and so on...) you need to have a little luck factor with you. You need to have fate on your side. So, my prediction is the winner is gonna be the one with luck/fate on his side today. In another day/another parallel world, Lukaz and alephYa2 were the final two. I'm here playing on day two so for the moment I'm gonna say none. I decided to play a main deck taht wasable to beat Warrior. I never had a lot of trouble versus Warrior with Cipher in main and not playing stuff like Mind Control in main. I heard some Panda Burn players struggle with Warrior, but it wasn't a big deal for me. Probably because how I built my main deck. The gamble was good so far. I beat two warrior decks in the first couple of rounds (jerry and toofresh), and if I didn't make the same choice form y main deck I would have been maybe out on round one or two.Siding stuff was for Chaos Turbo. I knew Chaos Turbo would be played a lot, and my side clearly saved me on loser's bracket. I beat three Chaos Turbo I think (ghostrider/riclar/the Nano). So if I played the same thing with a different side I might not have been able to go to day two. In fact, Ghostrider would be potentially answering these questions instead of me since he was so close to beating me in round four. It's hard. I'm gonna forgot people, so sorry in advance. I have to make shout outs to dean69 first. Without him, I wouldn't have known about Obelisk tournaments, and I wouldn't be here today.I have to make one to Rydia, since I showed him my deck list, and the idea of the three Hallowed Life Barrier is from him (even if they didn't came to play for the moment). I was siding Barrel Behind the Door and Roar before, but I'm glad to have a card able to be useful versus Reasoning Gate ando ther stuff in case of Trunade and Burn-style things. We should all be going into this direction, playing cards useful versus multiple different decks at once. The side is only fifteen cards. You can't waste a spot to side "La Jinn". As fun as it is, if you want to win... (sorry ajtbls no hard feelings, especially because I like you ^^).I would like to make a shout out to Dingosig. We didn't play test or discuss together, but he is the only French guy with me. We were two in the fifty-six, we both made to day two, and I really like his deck. Like mine, it can steal a win from nowhere if he goes 2nd and take trinity in the face with return.For the end, I would like to make a shout out to the burn server of Puy. They are very nice people. I know they are counting on me to take Panda Burn as far as I can, so I want make them proud!​Shot outs to any nice/fair play people who played the game by being fair and polite/nice in each match. It's the most important (sorry if I forgot names).

How did you prepare for today's event? Did you practice with a specific person or team?I tested my deck for one year to be prepared for Worlds. I played a lot with my friends Nicola Perazzini and Riccardo Gardi (the famous I love Ceci Cocchi) and on DB ladder.What deck did you play in this event and why? I played SteinGate, a deck I built about one year ago. After a lot of tops at important events this year I chose to play the deck at Worlds too.What decks or players were you looking forward to playing against?I'm so excited to play against Panda Burn, because I tested a lot with my friend Nicola and I want to see if I will be able to win.What decks or players were you NOT looking forward to playing against? Probably Warrior. It can be a hard match up.

​What card had been overperforming for you during the event?Jinzo. The card is amazing.​What has been your favorite moment of the event so far? The first game against Jago. I only had a single small chance to win and it happened.What predictions do you have for the rest of the event? I think Labounty and Delinquent are very good players, so it will be hard to gain 1st place, but I'll try to do my best!If you could go back, what (if any) changes would you would make to your deck today?No changes.Any shout outs you would like to make?Shout outs to all Bologna Academy, my team GoatCommunityItalia and all people who believed in me.