Goat Control vs Anti-Meta Warriors Sidedeck Strategy

​As a Goat Control player, you cannot rely on achieving a high winrate by winning control mirrors alone. Anti-Meta Warriors, as popularized by Yu-Gi-Oh! players like Calvin Tahan and spankthemonkey, will not be leaving the meta anytime soon and is built to attack Goat Control specifically. One of our most important tools in this matchup will be the sidedeck, which is the focus of this article.

How Anti-Meta Warriors Beats Goat Control

Anti-Meta Warriors, as you can read about in the deck guide, is a Goat Format deck that plays a variety of disruptive monsters like Blade Knight, Don Zaloog, and/or King Tiger Wanghu. It plays a heavy trap lineup to back these threats up. There are a variety of different monster configurations that Anti-Meta Warriors can use, but all versions of the deck have the same basic strategy. Anti-Meta Warriors doesn't set monsters of its own, doesn’t play Scapegoat or Metamorphosis, and doesn't hesitate to exhibit as much pressure as it possibly can right from the start. Most cards in Anti-Meta Warriors are solid standalone cards, which makes this deck favored in a simplified gamestate versus the more synergy-reliant Goat Control deck. Therefore, Anti-Meta Warriors’ job against Goat Control is to simplify the game and win before Goat Control can stabilize. Goat Control, on the other hand, needs to use its sidedeck to survive the early game and slow down the pace of play. ​

Build a Wall, Make the Aggro Monsters Pay For It

There are many different opinions on how to stop Anti-Meta Warriors, but it’s almost universally accepted that monsters with high defense points are a good place to start. Their monsters usually have hard time dealing with them, and their spell and trap lineup is usually not designed to deal with big, passive walls who never attack. This strategy of stalling works well because Anti-Meta Warriors aims to finish the game as quickly as possible, to trade cards and inflict damage in the process.  Most notable walls in the format are Gravekeeper’s Spy, Gravekeeper’s Guard, Legendary Jujitsu Master and Roulette Barrel, which all fit well in Goat Control’s sidedeck, though the player usually picks either Gravekeepers or Legendary Jujitsu Master, not both, while Roulette Barrel sees very little play. It is worth mentioning that cards such as D. D. Assailant and D. D. Warrior Lady have been tried numerous times also, but they are not that good at walling because many ofAnti-Meta Warriors’ monsters can attack over them, resulting in the one for one trade that costs the Goat Control player a normal summon.

High Risk, High Reward Sidedeck Options

​There are two main schools of thought on beating Anti-Meta Warriors: one that brings Royal Decree to the matchup and one that doesn’t. One plays Royal Decree to shutdown almost a third of the average Anti-Meta Warriors deck for the price of their own trap cards when it resolves, the other would rather have their own traps to ensure the destruction of the opponent’s monsters. Those traps can include Seven Tools of the Bandit, which ensures that a counter-play against Anti-Meta Warriors will succeed.  Mobius, the Frost Monarch is another possible side card that we can replace Airknight Parshath with. He is best used in combination with Seven Tools of the Bandit to protect him from Solemn Judgement. However, since Anti-Meta Warriors is so aggressive, having tribute monsters post-side may not be the best strategy, as Goat Control may not ever get the chance to summon them. ​