-Why is it Called the Goat Format?-
Yugioh’s Goat Format gets it’s name from the deck usually agreed upon to be the format’s best: Goat Control. This deck used most of the format’s strongest cards, including Black Luster Soldier, the Holy Trinity (see below), and the titular Scapegoat. Scapegoat was a powerful stall card on it’s own that could hold back many monsters, even Jinzo. However, its true strength was seen when combined with the powerful Metamorphosis card, which allowed the pilot to special summon Thousand-Eyes Restrict and take control of the game in a single move. Combined with Tsukuyomi, the player had an infinite monster removal engine that could single handedly win the game. These interactions made Goat Control the deck to beat, and are the reason the format has the name that it does.

-The Holy Trinity-
If there are any cards that define the format as much as Scapegoat, they are the Holy Trinity: Pot of Greed, Graceful Charity, and Delinquent Duo. It is common knowledge that Yugioh is a game of card advantage. The more cards you have access to, the more paths to victory at your disposal. The three Holy Trinity cards are the simplest and most powerful card advantage cards in the format, and are therefore seen as the format’s strongest cards. For this reason, It is extremely rare that a deck will play anything less than all three.

-The Staples-
During the April 2005 format some cards were thought to be simply stronger than their peers. These cards were often sorted together and labeled as “staples.” The general idea behind the staples was that, just like the Holy Trinity, they were the strongest cards in the format, and most deck lists should include all of them. There was some level of room to take and leave what you wanted based on your strategy, and there was and is still debate as to which cards actually deserved to be called staples, but the generally agreed upon list was as follows:
Monsters-
Sinister Serpent
D.D Warrior Lady
Sangan
Breaker, The Magical Warrior
Tribe-Infecting Virus
Spells-
Pot of Greed
Graceful Charity
Delinquent Duo
Heavy Storm
Premature Burial
Mystical Space Typhoon
Snatch Steal
Nobleman of Crossout
Traps-
Call of the Haunted
Mirror Force
Ring of Destruction
Torrential Tribute
Commonly played cards that were sometimes included in the staples list are:
Morphing Jar, Exiled Force, Cyber Jar, D.D Assailant, Jinzo, Magician of Faith, Spirit Reaper
Book of Moon, Enemy Controller, United We Stand, Mage Power, Giant Trunade, Lightning Vortex, Scapegoat, Swords of Revealing Light
Magical Cylinder, Bottomless Trap Hole, Sakuretsu Armor, Dust Tornado.

How to Side in Goat Format
​~from the Perspective of a Goat Player~
As the most popular retro format and still growing, Goat Format has been explored to an extent that few formats ever have. While the community is smaller than the Advanced TCG, being an ‘eternal’ format has one serious advantage: time. Over the past few years we’ve witnessed the perfection of the Standard Goat list by Kris Perovic, the establishment of credible Tier 1 challengers, improvements to various rogue decks, and advances in tactical theory. Gone are the days when Goat claimed the top spots in virtually every tournament with little resistance. But does that mean the Goat archetype has been displaced from its Tier 0 pedestal? Is it time to rename the format to reflect this new reality? As an avid Goat player, I believed the answer to these questions was an emphatic “no,” and thus I set out to learn the lost art of ‘How to Side in Goat Format.’

During the final few months of Dueling Network’s glorious existence, I worked tirelessly with a testing group of Quantumman, TheAntiMetaAzn, and Tin_Glissando to perfect the side deck for the Standard Goat list. We had two big goals in mind. First and foremost, we wanted to win the post-side matchups against Goat’s two most consistent challengers: Chaos and Zoo variants. Second, yet equally crucial, we wanted the side deck to handle a vast array of rogue decks, including Dimension Fusion Turbo (DFT), Monarchs, Burn, and all the Alt-Win decks of the format. To cover these bases, we sought versatility above all else. Cards that specifically countered a single matchup, even if more effective than another option, had no business in our side deck. As Tin_Glissando likes to say, the Goat Deck should be like Water: fluid, elusive, and relentless in its pursuit of eroding the opponent’s resources.

Without further ado, here is the list:
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The most striking aspect of this side deck is how it fits alongside Kris Perovic’s Standard Goat list: all the ratios are perfectly balanced. Every card in the side is either present in 2 copies, is the 3rd missing copy from Perovic’s list, or is limited to 1 in the format. Aside from the aesthetic value, none of these cards would necessarily be terrible choices in the main deck. These are some of the best cards in the format that didn’t make the cut in Perovic’s list because they were subpar in the mirror match. But damn are they versatile. That’s great for us, because our side is meant to improve the dozen or so non-mirror matchups we might encounter, and to hard-counter Chaos and Zoo variants. The other theme to note is how this side deck is suited to work cohesively within the game plan of the Standard Goat list: to grind out advantage while being able to play conservatively or aggressively at any moment. This side deck fine tunes the Standard Goat list, but it does not stray from its higher level concepts.

In the next section of this article, I will discuss each card individually and note the decks it is particularly suited to counter. Then, I will briefly review cards that were considered but ultimately did not make the cut. To conclude, I will delve deeper into the Chaos and the Zoo matchups, noting which cards I might replace from the main deck, along with my thoughts on how to combat those decks.

D.D. Assailant (Zoo, DFT, Zombie, Gate, Ben-Kei, Rescue Cat)
D.D. Assailant is our answer to aggressive decks against which Exarion Universe and Airknight Parshath are ineffective. In the Goat Mirror, it fails to punish Sheep Tokens, but versus decks that lack Scapegoat and Chaos Sorcerer, D.D. Assailant is an excellent lead attacker. Notably, it allows the Goat player to play aggressively against the Zoo player--to strike for damage and establish field presence without the fear of being overpowered by a Berserk Gorilla. It also clears the field of pesky monsters such as Abyss Soldier or Mystic Swordsman LV2. Finally, against Dimension Fusion variants, D.D. Assailant fuels your own banished pile with a big booty. It is truly amazing how strong D.D. Assailant is in these matchups. After years of naively thinking it was a useless relic from 2005 lists, I have come full circle to believing D.D. Assailant is one of the most valuable cards in my side deck.

D.D. Warrior Lady (Zoo, DFT, Zombie, Gate, Ben-Kei, Rescue Cat, Empty Jar)
As I alluded to above, D.D. Warrior Lady is the one card that stands alone in the side deck because it is limited to a single copy in the format. However, it is effectively the same as D.D. Assailant in its use as a lead attacker, and it can be searched out via Sangan, which mitigates the inconsistency factor. In a pinch, it has the added ability to banish smaller monsters in battle--one example might be if it manages to attack a Morphing Jar in the Empty Jar matchup. Most importantly, D.D. Warrior Lady is an excellent replacement LIGHT monster when 2 Airknights or 2 Magical Merchants come out of the main deck.

Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive (Goat, Chaos, Monarchs, DFT, Burn, all OTKs, possibly Zoo)
I have an unnaturally deep affection for this card. Dekoichi is the only card I consistently side for the Goat Mirror. I want it in my deck any game that I am going first, because I will generally be ‘up on the summon’ and won’t have to use normal summons to clear set monsters. Dekoichi is a card I also want against any alternative win-condition deck, because I want to dig to my outs such as Dust Tornado, Delinquent Duo, and Trap Dustshoot as quickly as possible. Where this little train truly shines is against Chaos variants--because while those decks deal well with face-up attackers, they struggle against face-down flip floppers such as Dekoichi, who become imposing floaters. Against decks that do not use Thousand-Eyes Restrict or Mystic Swordsman LV2 to clear set monsters, I will take my Dekoichis to war every time.

Mystic Swordsman LV2 (Burn, Seal Lock, Gravekeeper, Last Turn, Empty Jar)
Perhaps better than any card in the format, Mystic Swordsman LV2 can handle passive decks that rely on floodgates and face-down monsters to extend the game. Being Level 2 is a huge asset, and having 900 ATK is nothing to scoff at when attacking directly. Mystic Swordsman puts pressure on those decks like nothing else, and the only option they likely have to stop it are your typical battle traps. It’s debatable whether it would be an effective card to use against Chaos variants, but I would argue it’s not, because I would prefer to side Creature Swap instead.

Creature Swap (Chaos, Seal Lock, Gate, possibly Zoo)
Creature Swap is my favorite card to side as a Goat player, because it builds on what makes the Goat deck unique--its use of multiple Scapegoat. One advantage I have as a Goat player going against rogue decks is that I am the only player using Scapegoat, which means I can use 2 copies of Creature Swap quite easily. When I have Sheep Tokens, Tsukuyomi, Sangan, or Sinister Serpent, Creature Swap becomes a potent weapon that non-Goat decks will struggle to guard against. It’s particularly effective against Chaos variants, as they are somewhat passive, they are prone to telegraph plays, and they have the juiciest monsters to steal. Against Zoo, I might not use it for fear of Solemn Judgment, because stealing their generic beaters isn’t that great, or because they might have floaters such as Mystic Swordsman or Sangan to contend with. However, I would strongly consider using Creature Swap against Skill Drain builds.

Scapegoat (DFT, Gate, Ben-Kei, Rescue Cat, possibly Zoo)
Having a 3rd copy of Scapegoat in the side feels like a very safe choice. Despite the fact that OTK decks are typically prepared to counter it with cards such as Lightning Vortex, Tribe, and tramplers, it is still fairly effective. The 3rd Scapegoat makes your Metamorphosis plays more reliable and consequently allows you to remove Magical Merchants from your main deck for Dekoichis, which can inflict damage more quickly. Against Zoo variants, I am a little more hesitant to include the 3rd copy of Scapegoat, although I am much more likely to do so if I suspect Skill Drain. If I want to use Creature Swap against Zoo, I would certainly include the 3rd copy of Scapegoat.

Dust Tornado (Zoo, Burn, Seal Lock, Gravekeepers, Last Turn, Empty Jar)
I have been siding the 3rd copy of Dust Tornado for as long as I can remember, and it never seems to let me down. In a slow format with a single copy of Mystical Space Typhoon, the 3rd copy of Dust Tornado is an absolute must to handle floodgates. It’s surprisingly useful in rogue matchups, especially in contrast to other Traps which are much less effective. I would strongly consider using it against Zoo as well, if anything to hedge against the possibility of Skill Drain. The fact that Standard Goat already mains 2 copies of Dust Tornado means we are somewhat committed to the ‘Dust Tornado Strategy’ to deal with traps, which not only makes it easier to side the 3rd copy, but also makes it easier to exclude Jinzo, Mobius, and Royal Decree, saving valuable space in the side.

Seven Tools of the Bandit (Zoo, Seal Lock, Last Turn, possibly Burn)
Seven Tools of the Bandit was one of the final additions to the side, and I have to give credit to Kris Perovic for being the first person I saw using this card in Goat Format. What Seven Tools does better than any card is negate Solemn Judgment, which is otherwise one of the most difficult cards to answer in the format. Solemn Judgment is what arguably makes Zoo a consistent Tier 1 deck. It took me a while to appreciate this, but Seven Tools fills a very different role than Dust Tornado. Instead of trying to guess which S/T you need to destroy, you can make aggressive plays backed by Seven Tools without incurring much risk. Crucially, this allows you to take monsters with your Thousand-Eyes and follow up by pressing with an attack. Seven Tools also allows you to get more use out of your Dust Tornados by holding them for cards like Premature, Call, or Snatch, as you would in the Goat Mirror. As a final bonus not to be overlooked, Seven Tools almost always wins the 1-for-1 trade with Solemn when you consider Life Points. A timely Seven Tools on a Solemn can flat out win the game. We can also expect to get decent use out of Seven Tools against decks like Seal Lock, Last Turn, and possibly Burn, because like Zoo those decks rely on Solemn Judgment to counter your best counters. The greatest drawback to siding Seven Tools is that the Life Point payments could begin to add up, considering Premature Burial and Delinquent Duo are usually staying in every game.

Trap Dustshoot (Chaos, Monarchs, DFT, Seal Lock, all OTKs)
Just as D.D. Assailant best plays the role of lead attacker in some matchups, Trap Dustshoot best plays the role of trap-based monster removal in other matchups. I often use Trap Dustshoot to replace my Sakuretsu Armors in matches I don’t expect to get much use out of them. For example, against Chaos I am far more concerned about removing monsters before they hit the field, because what they do in the Main Phase is more threatening than what they do in Battle. Another advantage of Trap Dustshoot is the fact that it is chainable. If a Monarch player uses Brain Control, we can disrupt a tribute summon with Trap Dustshoot. If a DFT player uses Giant Trunade, we can prevent a Chaos Sorcerer or Bazoo from loading the banished pile. The major drawback of Trap Dustshoot is, of course, the 4 card in-hand requirement to activate it. This is somewhat easier to accomplish against decks that use Thunder Dragon, and luckily those are also the decks that Trap Dustshoot tends to excel against. Finally, we have the option to use Trap Dustshoot when going first against any type of opponent, but I would advise against it in most cases, as drawing into Trap Dustshoot late game is unbelievably frustrating and very difficult to manage.

Other cards that were considered:
Jinzo - For Burn and possibly Zoo. Not worth the investment considering the existence of Spell floodgates, Solemn Judgment, D.D. Assailant, and Exiled Force. Replacing Airknight Parshath with a non-LIGHT is not ideal. Conflicted with Dust Tornado. Turns off your own battle traps. Ultimately we decided not to play any tribute monsters against Zoo because of the pressure the deck exerts and the ever present threat of Solemn Judgment.
Mobius the Frost Monarch - For Burn and possibly Zoo. Similar problems to Jinzo. Like all Monarchs it is weak to Tsukuyomi and not good with Premature Burial and Call of the Haunted. Very redundant with Dust Tornado.

Zaborg the Thunder Monarch - For Chaos, Burn, and being a LIGHT. Like all Monarchs it is weak to Tsukuyomi and not particularly good when targeted with Premature Burial and Call of the Haunted. Certainly a more viable choice to replace Airknight being LIGHT, and having a more relevant effect against your more typical decks in the format. However, Airknight is either strictly better or we are better off with no tributes + DDWL as the 5th LIGHT.

Asura Priest - For Chaos, possibly Goat, and being a LIGHT. Strong synergy with Creature Swap, but it was too difficult to find space for 2 copies in the side and dropping to 1 copy seemed superfluous. If we want to improve the usefulness of Creature Swap, we are better off bringing in the 3rd copy of Scapegoat, as it covers more matchups. Asura is a fun card, but a bit redundant with Exarion. In testing, it was surprisingly fun to use as the attacker against Chaos because the deck has few outs to it, but ultimately it was not worth the space.

Blade Knight - For Chaos, Zoo, Alt Win, and being a LIGHT. One of the first components of our Toolbox, I think even before we understood how important D.D. Assailant was. It seemed to be good in every matchup, but like Exiled Force, it wasn’t great either. It could take out facedowns against Chaos or Alt Win, but quite unreliably because you could easily have other monsters on your side of the field when you need to use it. It could take out Exarions and Abyss Soldiers against Zoo, but that’s all it could do, and only late game when you had a small hand. We gave a little extra credence to Blade Knight because of ‘Smokescreen Zoo’, a deck that converts from Zoo to Chaos.

Des Koala - For Chaos, Alt Win decks, or being in a spicy mood. I always liked the idea of having a little burn in the side deck as a surprise. Ultimately it was too similar to Dekoichi but not as good.

Don Zaloog - For Alt Win. I believe hand disruption is the best strategy to take down alt win decks, and this card would have worked well with either a Warrior Toolbox or Tomato-box engine. Conflicts somewhat with Trap Dustshoot. Ultimately we didn’t have room for it.

Exiled Force - For almost any matchup, or almost no matchup. A largely neutral play, yet always solid, its greatest strength is to repurpose Call of the Haunted and Premature Burial when we take out the Airknights. This was the final card cut from the side deck along with Reinforcement of the Army, and the two of them were replaced with the 3rd copy of Scapegoat and the 2nd copy of Mystic Swordsman LV2. This eliminated the mini Warrior Toolbox we originally had, yet allowed us to see Mystic Swordsman LV2 at the same frequency against Burn decks. Most importantly, this final change created an extra slot to insert the 3rd copy of Scapegoat.
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Mystic Tomato - For Zoo and to establish a Tomato-box. Strong synergy with Creature Swap, but conflicts with Scapegoat. Ultimately not as strong as the D.D. monsters and useful in fewer matchups. Its strongest advantage over the D.D. monsters is against Skill Drain builds.

Newdoria - For Zoo and to establish a Tomato-box. Has similar strengths and weaknesses to Mystic Tomato.

Night Assailant - For Zoo and possibly Chaos. While the ability to soft-counter Delinquent Duo is a nice luxury, this card is simply inferior to Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. It is also somewhat redundant with D.D. Assailant as monster removal against Zoo, or with Creature Swap as monster removal against Chaos.

Spirit Reaper - For Alt Win. Similar to Don Zaloog, but Reaper sneaks under battle floodgates to boot. Ultimately we didn’t have room for it.

Brain Control - For Zoo and possibly Chaos. This card would have worked especially well with 2 copies of Mobius the Frost Monarch, replacing either 2 Airknights or Call of the Haunted and Premature Burial. Ultimately, it is too similar to Creature Swap and requires 2 additional slots devoted to Monarchs to get the most out of it.

Mind Control - For Chaos Turbo. This card seems great in theory, being able to banish Sorcerers or disrupt flip-effect monsters. In practice it has two fatal flaws. First, it always returns flip effects to the opponent, meaning they can still hurt you with Book of Moon or Tsukuyomi. Second, it is not a versatile card in this format, only being useful in the Chaos matchup.

Reinforcement of the Army - For almost any matchup, or almost no matchup. Establishes a mini-Warrior Toolbox any time at least 3 warriors are sided in. I realized it was effectively not worth the space because it required us to use Exiled Force as the bridge warrior in every matchup. Rarely did we want to use the D.D. monsters and Mystic Swordsman together, so despite having so many Warriors, we were not using the Toolbox to its full potential.

Smashing Ground - For Zoo. A solid removal card that could clear out Abyss Soldiers and Exarion Universes reliably. It also sets up Magician of Faith for some early game usage in a pinch. Ultimately it is good but not great, and only works well in one matchup.

Bottomless Trap Hole - For Zoo, DFT, Zombies. Another solid removal card that has the ability to functionally replace Book of Moon in its use against Breaker the Magical Warrior. Ultimately the card is a horrible top deck and plays awkwardly in a format with Priority and little emphasis on Special Summons.

Ceasefire - For Chaos, Burn, Alt-Win. One of my favorite cards from back in the day, but difficult to justify without time being an issue. As a one-of, it’s difficult to rely on this card. It seems fun, but not necessarily appropriate for the goal of this side deck.

Raigeki Break - For Burn and all OTK decks. A solid, chainable removal card that has added synergy with Thousand-Eyes Restrict, and has the extra ability to clear your own field clogged with Ojama or Sheep Tokens. Works much better when combined with Night Assailant in the side. I might have included it had I been more concerned about Alt-Win than Chaos and Zoo. The fact that this card fails to double as a card I would side for Chaos or Zoo really hurts.

Royal Decree - For Burn, Last Turn, and possibly Zoo. This card conflicts with and is redundant with Dust Tornado, which we have already devoted 2 copies to in the main deck. Unlike Dust Tornado, it does not deal with Spell floodgates. Against Zoo, it could potentially turn off many of their bets cards, but it could just as easily grant you an unplayable hand. Ultimately too much of a double-edged sword and not enough synergy to make the cut.

Sakuretsu Armor - For Zoo. A solid removal card that also protects your Life Points, unlike Smashing Ground. The reason I exclude it is because we already run 3 very similar cards in 2 mained Sakuretsu Armors and Mirror Force, so adding a 4th such card might be ‘too many cards that do the same thing.’ Zoo decks are also known to side Mobius the Frost monarch these days. It could possibly make the cut in a future version of the side deck.

Solemn Judgment - For almost any difficult matchup. This card could be an answer to anything your side deck doesn’t already cover, but paying half of your Life Points is generally a very steep cost. Of course this cost is minimized against Alt-Win decks, as your life point totals are typically less important to them. The fact that we are not playing a particularly aggressive deck makes me skeptical of using Solemn. I didn’t test this card very much, but it could be worth revisiting. I think I would want to side 3 copies to get the most out of it, so I don’t know how to fit them without drastically altering the entire side.

How to approach the Chaos matchup:
The typical Chaos deck wins by maximizing the effects of Graceful Charity, Card Destruction, and Chaos Sorcerer before the Goat player can establish control. The deck leverages mathematical probability to get to these cards as quickly as possible by deck-thinning. Thunder Dragon is an integral component of this strategy, but so too are 3 copies of Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive and Magician of Faith. Chaos consistently pushes the envelope, putting pressure on the Goat player to respond to its actions early and often. This can either be incredibly successful or it can backfire badly. If either flip-effect monster is purged by Nobleman of Crossout, the deck gets closer to its power cards. There is little downside to this strategy because Chaos does not depend on Magician of Faith to be a LIGHT for its summoning requirements.

In my opinion, the biggest weakness of the Chaos deck is its linearity. With so many cards run in 3 copies, the deck lacks versatility. Every game follows a similar pattern, culminating in the reliance on Chaos Sorcerer to establish field presence. Usually this practice works well for the Chaos player, as Sorcerer is easy to summon, has excellent stats, and has one of the best effects in the format. Not surprisingly, some players attempt to prevent Sorcerer from dropping in the first place, using cards like Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer or Soul Release to banish LIGHTs and DARKs from the Graveyard. I find this strategy to be completely underwhelming.

I approach the Chaos matchup from a different perspective, asking the question: ‘How can I exploit the deck’s dependence on Chaos Sorcerer?’ The answer I came up with has three components. First, I want to adjust my monster lineup to be less vulnerable to Sorcerer. This is actually fairly easy. Since Sorcerer only banishes face-up monsters, cards like Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive are effectively immune to its ability. Second, I want to adjust my trap lineup to be more appropriate for the monsters in the Chaos deck, including Sorcerer, which typically become floaters before they attack. This means I will get more mileage out of a card like Trap Dustshoot than Sakuretsu Armor. Dustshoot provides tremendous leverage over the deck’s linearity, often leaving the Chaos player with an extremely predictable or very poor line of play. As a bonus, Dustshoot is easier to activate because Thunder Dragon inflates the size of the Chaos player’s hand. The third and final component of my side strategy is to capitalize on the Chaos deck’s lack of field presence outside of Chaos Sorcerer. The best card for the job is undoubtedly Creature Swap, which allows the Goat player to convert floaters, Spirits, and tokens into permanently stolen monsters. Not only does the Chaos player lack Scapegoat to thwart Creature Swap in a chain, but the deck is often behind on pace before Sorcerer drops. The fact that the Chaos player does not press with monsters such as Exarion Universe or Airknight Parshath can be exploited by Creature Swap. For example, this lack of pace can allow weak monsters such as Sangan or Sinister Serpent to survive for a turn while face-down. Then on the following turn, the Goat player can summon Tsukuyomi and activate Creature Swap. This line of play highlights how the Goat player can ensure a successful Creature Swap, playing around outs such as Phoenix Wing Wind Blast or Ring of Destruction.

To make room for all of these cards I would consider removing the following cards from the main deck: Airknight Parshath, Exarion Universe, Tribe-Infecting Virus, Book of Moon, Delinquent Duo, Premature Burial, Call of the Haunted, Dust Tornado, Mirror Force, and Sakuretsu Armor. I certainly wouldn’t side all these cards out, but I can see an argument for each of those cards being less effective against Chaos than they are in the Goat Mirror, especially when we consider what our deck might look like in Game 2. My best advice is to focus on the functional replacement of subpar cards with like cards that perform a similar role, and to keep in mind how the cards you bring in might work together as a cohesive unit.

How to approach the Zoo matchup:
The typical Zoo deck wins by being hyper aggressive early and often with cards such as Abyss Soldier, Berserk Gorilla, Exarion Universe, Mystic Swordsman LV2, Solemn Judgment, and Trap Dustshoot. Some Zoo players prefer to use Skill Drain instead of Solemn Judgment, or prefer not to use Trap Dustshoot at all, which can make their Trap-lineup difficult to predict. The central goal of the Zoo deck is to create an awkward, tense game-state for the Goat player. One method to achieve this goal is to create dead cards for the Goat player, since the Zoo deck does not run commonly played cards such as Scapegoat, Thousand-Eyes Restrict, or Flip-Effect Monsters (at least in Game 1). This turns cards such as Airknight Parshath, Book of Moon, and Nobleman of Crossout, which are assets in the Goat mirror, into major liabilities in the Zoo match-up. In a sense, Zoo makes Goat feel like a combo deck that struggles to get going, and by the time Goat mounts a push, there is a strong chance Zoo will have either Solemn Judgment or Skill Drain to counter. Zoo is a highly efficient aggro deck that creates beautifully simplified game-states, in which the odds are stacked in its favor to emerge victorious. It’s a great anti-meta strategy that is highly challenging for the Goat player to overcome.

In my opinion the biggest weakness of the Zoo deck is its inability to increase its own card count. Zoo is designed to force the Goat player into making poor trades that cause him to lose cards. If the Goat player can resolve his bread-and-butter plays, the small but important combos like Sinister Serpent+Metamorphosis, he can begin to make inroads into the Zoo player’s resources. You could say that the best weapon the Goat player has to combat Zoo is time: if we can fend off Zoo’s initial onslaught, we can reach the better plays in our deck. Getting the most out of cards like Magician of Faith, Thousand-Eyes Restrict, and Black Luster Soldier is how the Goat player will likely win, if he is going to win. Some players might think the best strategy to extend the game against an aggro deck is to bring in battle floodgates, like Swords of Revealing Light or Messenger of Peace, but the Zoo deck is well-equipped to handle these cards with answers like Abyss Soldier, Mobius the Frost Monarch, and Mystic Swordsman LV2. Further problematic, these battle floodgates don’t fully support the game plan of the Goat deck. They force the Goat player to become one dimensional, but a major strength of Goat is its ability to play passively or aggressively at the opportune moment. Arguably, the Goat deck already runs a far more versatile and natural battle floodgate, Thousand-Eyes Restrict, and we should focus instead on bolstering the reliability of that built-in answer.

The primary goal I have when siding against Zoo is to make the cards in my deck more useful early and mid-game. Instead of adding battle floodgates, I prefer to beef up my field presence in the form of monsters that don’t roll over in battle. That’s why D.D. Assailant and D.D. Warrior Lady are such excellent counters--they hold the field more effectively than the battle floodgates, and they can be used both offensively and defensively. Siding the 3rd copy of Scapegoat is as passive as I want to get in this match-up, but unlike Swords of Revealing Light or Messenger of Peace, Scapegoat supports our game plan by being chainable and setting up reliable Metamorphosis plays. I would also consider siding Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, simply for being a decent use of a normal summon that can turn into a strong floater. Finally, I want counters for the Zoo deck’s counters, because when I’m ready to make a push, I want to ensure that it goes through. I like Dust Tornado and Seven Tools of the Bandit for this job, because they let us respond with our power plays that are fundamentally more advantageous than Zoo’s.

To make room for all of these cards I would consider removing the following cards from the main deck: Airknight Parshath, Exarion Universe, Tribe-Infecting Virus, Tsukuyomi, Morphing Jar, Magical Merchant, Book of Moon, Nobleman of Crossout, Premature Burial, and Call of the Haunted. Again, I wouldn’t side all these cards out, but I can see a case for each. All of these cards can be dead at times against Zoo, and as I’ve discussed, creating dead cards is a critical component of Zoo’s anti-meta strategy. One thing to note: we probably can’t remove both Airknights and Magical Merchants, even though we might want to. That would leave our LIGHT count dangerously low, and Black Luster Soldier is one of the key advantages we want to maintain over Zoo.

How to approach Alt-Win matchups:
Since there are so many Alt-Win matchups in Goat Format, and each one is unique, I want to discuss my general approach to Alt-Win matchups instead of talking about each of them individually. When I am facing an Alt-Win deck, I consider taking out nearly every card in my main deck. Some cards that we consider staples, such as Snatch Steal, are surprisingly useless and even counter-productive in an Alt-Win matchup. Conversely, some cards that we think are totally useless actually have a hidden purpose--for example, Airknight Parshath, which through Metamorphosis is a gateway to Dark Balter the Terrible, one of the best answers to Alt-Win. I try to use as much of my side deck as possible against Alt-Win. This means I consider cards like Trap Dustshoot and Dekoichi near staple additions, because while they are not always great, they are much better than some of the cards I might have kept in my main deck. It’s a bit harder to ‘own’ the Alt-Win matchups with a side deck that is designed to aggressively fight off Chaos and Zoo. Unfortunately, we have no room in our side deck for specialists like Neko Mane King or Royal Decree, but I think we have enough options to hold our own in every matchup. If we play well against the Alt-Win decks, we should be able to beat them without tailor-made counters. I recommend practicing against lots of Alt-Win decks, being creative with how you use your side, and being willing to make unconventional plays. You can think of each Alt-Win deck as a unique puzzle to solve.

Final Thoughts
I want to end on a cautious note, a disclaimer, and then an optimistic note. First, the caution. As I said earlier, every card in this side deck could also be used in the main deck. The 15 cards in this side deck are versatile and generic, like a Swiss Army knife. It is very tempting to over-side, especially against Chaos and Zoo variants. Every change we make has a rippling effect on the deck’s performance as a whole. If we remove too many cogs, that well-oiled machine might fall apart.

Now, the disclaimer: this side deck is quite possibly imperfect. While we put a lot of work into it, and I enjoyed writing this article, I want to say that this is only the beginning of a broader discussion. It is still a work in progress. It’s very possible there are flaws. It’s very possible that different side decks will work better for different people. And it’s overwhelmingly likely that different side decks will work better in different metagames.

Finally, I want to thank every Chaos player, every Zoo player, and every Alt-Win player for expanding what was already an immensely deep format. I may have complained about these decks in the past, and I can’t always say that I enjoy playing them, but they certainly pose a new and interesting challenge for us all. Without pushing the limits of what we can do, we will never truly know all that there is to know about Goat Format. I hope that ‘How to Side in Goat Format’ is merely the beginning of another chapter that we can write as a community. Thanks for reading.

Recently, in the online goat format community, an issue has risen regarding whether to allow the card Exarion Universe in goat format. Luckily, people on both sides of the issue do not seem to feel strongly about it, so it has not caused a huge divide within the community. However, it is relevant, it is a complicated issue, and both sides of the argument have not attempted to make well thought out points.



Three Possible Goat Formats



There have always been three possible goat formats that people consider playing. There are other possible ones, but no one seems to be in favor of playing a goat format without The Lost Millenium for example, so those more obscure and less favored possible formats are not going to enter the argument for today.



The first possible format is without Exarion Universe or Cybernetic Revolution. This is the format that I favor. Historically speaking, SJC New Jersey, SJC Charlotte, US Nationals, SJC Seattle, and SJC Indianapolis were played with this format.



Then there’s the format with both Exarion Universe and Cybernetic Revolution. Historically speaking, SJC Boston was played with this format.



And that brings us to the last format, the one is appears to have the favor of the online community currently, goat format without Cybernetic Revolution and with Exarion Universe. Historically speaking, no premier events were played with this format. This begs the question, what’s up with that exactly?



Where Exarion Universe and Cybernetic Revolution Fit Into Yugioh History



One issue was that it was not clear if a format with Exarion Universe and without Cybernetic Revolution had actually ever existed in real life. Exarion Universe was first officially released in the TCG on September 1st, 2005. Cybernetic Revolution was first officially released in the TCG on August 17th, 2005. However, at this time, booster sets were not immediately legal upon their release. We know that SJC Indianapolis was held just three days later, on August 20th, and Cybernetic Revolution was not legal then.



Personally, I recall that booster sets were made legal two weeks after their official release. The UDE web archive confirms this: http://web.archive.org/web/20051026025152/...n/products.aspx



Interestingly enough, this would mean that Cybernetic Revolution would have been legal for premier tournament play on the exact same day that Exarion Universe was legal for premier tournament play.



Why Does This Matter?



Some would argue that it really doesn’t matter at all. In fact, I’d even say that that is a fair opinion to have. People do in fact have the right to play formats that never actually existed. However, for some, playing past formats has a nostalgic value, and they would prefer their formats to be historically accurate. This particularly applies to those who were actually playing competitive yugioh in 2005, but I realize that this is 2015 and that those people are a minority.



Now that DuelistGroundz.com’s retro format community is growing, we are beginning to delve into many retro formats, and we generally air on the side of historical accuracy. For example, it’s finally starting to become accepted that allowing OTK decks is more fair to the community. There are of course some exceptions. For example, I would advocate banning Crush Card Virus in the September 1, 2007 Perfect Circle format. This is because that I feel that Crush Card Virus adds significantly more luck to the format in such a way that it outweighs the need for historical accuracy (and really there's no way to be historically accurate in the strictest sense, unless we give only 1% of the players the ability to use the card).



Exarion Universe however goes in the opposite direction. Removing overpowered cards from the format in order to make it more fun or more skill-intensive is one thing. Adding cards to the format is another. Kris Perovic for example, once suggested experimenting with adding Effect Veiler, a card that was released in 2010, to goat format. No one took his suggestion seriously. The premise seemed ridiculous. But ironically enough, at the time he made that suggestion, we were all playing with Exarion Universe.



What Do We Want Goats to Be Like?



This is really the first question that the community needs to answer before the discussing about Exarion Universe can even begin. A discussion needs to be opened in regards to what qualifies as a “better” goat format. In general there are two components of better: more skillful and more fun.



Goat Format is not necessarily the consensus favorite retro format of the community, but I feel that the people who play it do for very specific reasons. One of these reasons can be identified just by looking at the name of the format: Goat Control. It wasn’t named the Airknight Aggro format or the Tsuku Lock format. One of the defining characteristics or the format is control decks that revolved around the card Scapegoat. But why does this make for an enjoyable format? A part of this is the snail's pace that the games were played at. With many turns and often many decisions to make on each turn, this makes for a very skillful game. While we’re still playing a game of Yugioh, not chess, games were fought over attrition, and players had opportunities to play tight and come back from opening hands that were more powerful than theirs. This was in large part due to the card Scapegoat. The card was chainable and could single-handedly wall the opponent out of more than 3000 points of damage, and a followup Metamorphosis could completely re-stabilize the board. We want this to be an aspect of the format.



We want Goat Control to emphasize very precise and deliberate play. We want Goat Control to be about planning ahead. We want Goat Control to reward those who don’t squander their advantage and are able to claw back into the game from behind.



Not only do we play Goat Format to reward duelists with tight, technical play, we also want it to reward those with good deck construction fundamentals as well. We don’t want to play a 100% solved format. Like technical play, which is about players gaining slow incremental advantages over each other, deck construction should also emphasize these small edges. While technical play may emphasize the conservation of the staple power cards, deck construction should reward those who find the small but useful tech for a given field. Whether it’s those who play Mystic Tomato in a field full of Dekoichis, or those who decide to play the third Sakuretsu Armor as a hedge against aggro, every card in your deck should have a reason behind it, and lists should be slightly evolving from month to month.



What Does Exarion Do To The Format?



First and foremost, it is a counter to Scapegoat. This isn’t inherently a bad thing; counters to cards should exist. However, when you compare Exarion Universe to other counters that exist to Scapegoat, you’ll start to see a lot of differences.



The other playable counters to Scapegoat in the format are Airknight Parshath, Asura Priest, King Tiger Wanghu, and Enraged Battle Ox. Airknight Parshath and Asura Priest are the two that can be played in a standard goat list, whereas King Tiger Wanghu and Enraged Battle Ox are build around cards.



Airknight Parshath is in some sense similar to Exarion Universe. It has similar stats. It has trample. It’s chaos-typed. Of course the one glaring difference is the fact that Airknight Parshath requires a tribute. While Airknight Parshath can bury the opponent in card advantage if it goes unchecked for several turns, it inherently requires more investment and setup. Specifically, it requires a tribute. If you’re tributing for it, you want that tribute to be either a floater or a 0/0 Thousand-Eyes Restrict. Otherwise you want to discard it and revive it. Even if you do manage to minimize the investment required, you still aren’t happy if it just gets hit by a Sakuretsu Armor. Even if your attack does get through, the tables can be turned instantly if your opponent has Snatch Steal. Airknight Parshath is the definition of high risk, high reward. It’s a very powerful card, but it demands that you know how to use it in order to get mileage out of it. The tribute that is attached to it makes it play very differently than Exarion Universe in practice. If you’re a goat control player packing three copies of Scapegoat, you’re not going to feel bad about it if your opponent just has two copies of Airknight.



Asura Priest of course has the issue that it’s a spirit monster. People already want to be playing two copies of Tsukuyomi, and spirit monsters tend to clog hands. Asura Priest is great at getting through some incremental damage but at the cost of not actually developing your board. While I don’t often like to use the word “tempo” in the context of Yugioh, the difference between cards like Exarion Universe and Asura Priest is all tempo. I can summon an Exarion Universe, attack, and then next turn attack with Exarion Universe again, but also set Magician of Faith. Now my opponent is left with two very important monsters that they have to deal with. Asura Priest restricts you to either do one or the other.



King Tiger Wanghu and Enraged Battle Ox don’t even deserve separate discussions from each other. In fact, they often belong in the same deck. Anti-Meta decks are great for most Yugioh formats. Especially when they don’t even beat the meta more than 60% of the time. Enraged Battle Ox is weak to Tsukuyomi. King Tiger Wangnu demands that you build around what is on the surface a symmetric ability. These of cards require an opportunity cost. If I want to counter the Scapegoat/Metamorphosis/Black Luster Soldier deck, I can’t run those cards myself. That alone is enough to dissuade most people from making that kind of commitment.



Exarion Universe however, doesn’t require itself to be built around. It doesn’t cost you a monster or your board development. It’s chaos-typed. It functions well on both offense and defense. Losing 400 attack for trample is barely even a cost. We’re talking about a card that has almost no opportunity cost. As goat format became more explored, Exarion Universe went from “pretty good” to ubiquitous. I’ll now address the elephant in the room. This, specifically, is what Exarion Universe does to the format:



wbRc7PP.png



The main difference between Exarion goats and Exarion-less goats is the fact that Scapegoat is actively bad in the Exarion goat metagame. Scapegoat goes from the best defensive card in the format to just a card that sets up Metamorphosis plays. I can tell you one of the main differences between Exarion goats and Exarion-less goats is that Exarion goat games end a lot faster. I’m talking both in terms of the turn that the game actually ends but also the turn that one player gains insurmountable advantage.



A primary issue here is the fact that Exarion can often get in free, early damage that other monsters in the format cannot really do. Protecting your life points in goats is very crucial, the card Scapegoat plays a huge role in this, and Exarion Universe completely undermines that in a way that no one other card in the format does.



My best of 7 match vs Kris Perovic with this deck is very non-representative of the actual theoretical matchup between our decks: By that I mean that Kris probably should’ve crushed me 4-1 or 4-2. He played better and had the better deck. In general, I feel that because of the fact that damage is easier to inflict in a format with Exarion, the games are inherently higher variance. It’s easier to steal games with Ring of Destruction or Black Luster Soldier. I also feel that since Exarion Universe is a very scary and usually aggressive monster, it demands that players run multiple Sakuretsu Armor. This leads to gamestates being simplified faster, where topdecking comes more into play. Having watched my games with Kris, I notice that luck played a bigger role than I would’ve expected initially, particularly in the games that I won.



Props go to Kris Perovic, as I think he is really the first person to soft-solve a goat format. Assuming that the sideboard was constructed appropriately for a field that includes OTKs, I believe that we’re looking at one of the only goat lists possible that could argue to have a 50%+ matchup versus every other possible deck in the field. Have solutions been proposed to the boogeyman of the format? Of course. But if anything, they only further emphasize the issues with the format.



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Yes folks, that’s one Scapegoat. One. Does this deck beat Kris’s list 51% of the time? Quite possibly. Let’s move on.



Flaws In The Design of Exarion Universe



Something that I’ve noticed is that, in an Exarion-less format, decklists are far more varied, and monster lineups in particular require a lot more thought. Let me start with what consider the skeleton to be for your average good-stuff Exarion-less goat deck.



Monsters: 10

1 Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning

1 Airknight Parshath

1 Sangan

1 Sinister Serpent

1 Breaker the Magical Warrior

1 Tribe-Infecting Virus

2 Magician of Faith

2 Tsukuyomi



Spells: 15

2 Book of Moon

2 Nobleman of Crossout

2 Scapegoat

2 Metamorphosis

1 Pot of Greed

1 Graceful Charity

1 Delinquent Duo

1 Heavy Storm

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Snatch Steal

1 Premature Burial



Traps: 5

1 Mirror Force

1 Torrential Tribute

1 Ring of Destruction

1 Call of the Haunted

1 Sakuretsu Armor



Some of these cards are debatable. Is the second copy of Tsukuyomi 100% necessary? Is at least one Sakuretsu Armor 100% necessary? I would argue yes, but if you remove them both it doesn’t change the point that I’m trying to make. In most cases, I would argue for playing 17 monsters and 23 spells/traps. This means that 59% of our monster lineup will be composed of staples, and 87% of our spell/trap lineup will be composed of staples. Because of this, correctly constructing your monster lineup involves a lot more thought than your spell/trap lineup. We can't do anything to make the spell/trap lineup construction require more thought, but we can at least attempt to preserve the skill of the monster lineup construction.



Here are a list of cards that I have observed to be effective in your average Exarion-less goat deck that I would argue are almost entirely unplayable in the world of Exarion Universe:
- Blade Knight
- Asura Priest
- D.D. Assailant
- Mystic Tomato
- Big Shield Gardna
- Apprentice Magician
- Skilled White Magician
- Dekoichi, the Battlechanted Locomotive
- Spirit Reaper
- Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer

It is also debatable whether D.D. Warrior Lady is playable in a format with Exarion Universe. Personally, I still play it, but the community seems to mostly disagree with my assessment. If you want, you can add that to the list too.



Overall, Exarion Universe adds a lot of uniformity to the way that decks are constructed. If you look at Kris’s list, there is not much to debate changing. If someone told me to cut one of his monsters for Blade Knight or Spirit Reaper, I would call them crazy. In the case of some of these monsters, it’s because they are just worse aggressive options than Exarion Universe (Blade Knight, Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer, Asura Priest, D.D. Assailant). In the case of Skilled White Magician, it’s because it’s a worse defensive option. For others like Apprentice Magician and Dekoichi, the Battlechanted Locomotive, it’s because they are just not as strong in the context of the format, and there is an opportunity cost to adding these cards to your deck. In the case of Spirit Reaper, it just gets hard-countered by Exarion Universe.



Interestingly, Exarion Universe compounds the issue of monster lineup deck construction by making Magical Merchant a near-staple, which might not be obvious at first. This is because Thousand-Eyes Restrict is great vs Exarion Universe, but Scapegoat is very poor against it. Because of that, we see that Magical Merchant is completely necessary in the optimal goat control list.



There’s another key design flaw to Exarion Universe that I think almost everyone is overlooking. The best counter to Exarion Universe is Exarion Universe. I’m not talking about a hard counter here. I don’t mean to say that the second person to summon an Exarion Universe wins the game. I also don’t mean to say that having an Exarion Universe of your own in the presence of your opponent’s Exarion Universe is better than having a Snatch Steal (although if your opponent has Book of Moon, it actually is better). I’m really referencing to the dominant stats of Exarion Universe that monsters other than itself cannot boast. For example, I would argue that Exarion Universe is better vs Kris’ stock list than Berserk Gorilla or Gravekeeper’s Spy. This is due to their respective stats. Berserk Gorilla gets killed by Tsukuyomi and gets walled by Scapegoat. Gravekeeper’s Spy doesn’t pressure the opponent. This is problematic, because it’s optimal to play 2 or 3 copies of Exarion Universe regardless of the rest of the field. In game theory, we would call this is a Nash equilibrium. This is the opposite of the predator/prey relationship that we observed between Spirit Reaper and Gold, Wu-Lord of Dark World in 2006, where the correct number of each depended upon the metagame composition. In Magic: The Gathering, we had the same problem after Bloodbraid Elf rotated out of standard, where the best counter to Jace was another Jace. This type of conundrum leads to stagnant metagames. Given that we would like to play goat format for many years to come, it would be preferable to avoid this, because metagame stagnation generally leads to dwindling interest in the format.



Some people might be thinking ahead of me and want to approach the issue differently. Rather than play a format without Exarion Universe, why not just introduce a better Exarion counter to the format? Perhaps, one that outclasses Exarion Universe’s stats, but doesn’t die to Tsukuyomi? What if it also out-tempo’d Exarion Universe as well? In general, I would advocate against this kind of arms race (you might just replace your old problem with a new one), but I do want to let you know that there is an obvious solution, if that’s the kind of solution that you seek:



CyberDragon-CRV-EN-SR-1E.jpg


The Bottom Line



And thus I conclude that goat format with Exarion Universe and without Cybernetic Revolution is the worst of the possible goat formats.



There are two good reasons to include a card in a retro format

1. It was actually a part of that particular format

2. You feel that the addition of this card makes the format significantly more skillful or enjoyable



Exarion Universe satisfies neither of these. Therefore, I really feel that the Exarion Universe supporters do not have a leg to stand on in this argument.

Disclaimer: I'm sharing this under the assumption you know all about Goat Format, but if you're new to the game (and by "new" I mean that you only started playing within the last decade) then you may not know that Goat Format was the April 2005 TCG Format, and it was called as such because Goat Control decks dominated every major event throughout the format. For a more detailed look into the format, you can read Michael Bonacini's "Intro to Goat Control," Patrick Hoban's "A History of Competitive Play: April-Oct 2005," and these Goat Format interviews.

There are a lot of us who look back at Goat Format with fond memories, but this post is for everyone else because I'm not going to tap into any of the nostalgia surrounding the format. I know Goat Format wasn't perfect and I don't want to convince anyone otherwise. Instead I hope to convince the players of today to consider the possibility of playing a different YGO than the one that currently exists – a simpler, time-tested game with a strong backing and room for improvement – and Goat Format just seems like the most logical starting point.

Before I start, I think it's important to point out that there are, broadly speaking, three different types of players in the game: competitive, casual, and those in-between. Players of each type have different reasons for playing and while I think Goat Format has something to offer everyone, it'd probably be best if I spoke to each group separately.

Goat Format for Casual Players

Casual players tend to think of YGO as a hobby and nothing more. They play every once in a while, mostly on weekends and nights they don't have homework. They rarely, if ever, pick YGO over girlfriends, family, etc. Sometimes they hold onto decks long passed their prime just because they like them. They're also the last group to max out the rarities of their deck.

Reason #1: Goat Format is cheap

Billy Brake recently won YCS Dallas with a 60-card Shabyss deck. For most of us, one of the biggest setbacks to emulating his success with a similar deck, even at a local or regional level, would be the cost: his main deck alone can't be bought for less than $474.99, never mind having to buy his side or extra deck. Compare that to my $19.09 main deck from SJC Boston. Unless you're somehow getting 25x the amount of fun from the Shabyss deck, a simple fun-to-dollar ratio should point you towards playing Goat Format.

Reason #2: Goat Format has a simple card pool

As a casual player, even at the local level, sometimes it really sucks to play against competitive players. They always have a better, prettier deck, and you can tell they invest a lot of time and energy into knowing everything there is to know about YGO. Worse, they're often more fluent in card interactions and strange rulings that you would otherwise never know or care about. They're well-versed in card effects, what misses timing and what doesn't, what can be destroyed and what can't, etc. and it can be really frustrating when you're not on the same page as your opponent. Fortunately, Goat Format has almost none of that. Card effects are straight-forward and work just as you expect them to. There aren't any OTK combos to learn like there were with Wind-Ups or Inzektors either. With Goat Format, everything is refreshingly simple.

Goat Format for the In-Between Players

In-betweeners tend to lean one way or the other when it comes to their commitment to the game, but that tendency will change whenever it's convenient for them. They may play on Dueling Network regularly but they won't really read new cards. They rely on other people to tell them what's good. Sometimes they buy new cards, but price is always a concern. A lot of in-betweeners want to be better, to have a championship title and recognition in the community, but they tend to only give it their all when a big event comes to their area. They don't usually travel to major events but YGO is still something they keep coming back to.

Reason #1: Competitive Goat Format tournaments exist and it's easy to get started

Goat Format decks from 2005 differ greatly from Goat Format decks in 2014, and that's because there's now a decade of experience behind our card choices. This goes to show there's room for the Goat Format metagame to shift and grow. For example, more people today than ever before are experimenting with decks like Monarchs, Flip Flop, Beastdown, and Zombies. The right card ratios, much like the popular decks of today, can still change from event to event. That said, Goat Format offers a way to play competitive YGO in a way that doesn't require to you read new cards, pour over new sets, or overthink potential strategies. You can put it down, step away, and pick up right where you left off. Moreover, the entire Goat Format card pool was made up of just 15 booster sets while the present format is made up of 50, making it much easier to find needles in the haystack.

Reason #2: Goat Format is a never-ending learning experience

Your success in present YGO is almost entirely dependent on your deck type and individual card choices. Nowadays you're more like a pilot than a player and it's hard to get better if you only lose because of brick hands and opponents going off before you. Fortunately, while card choices still matter a lot, losses in Goat Format are generally attributable to specific misplays, which makes it easier to both identify and correct your mistakes. Additionally, the impetus to make proper reads is much stronger in Goat Format so it's easier to develop that talent there. Moreover, making quality reads is one of those skills that'll definitely carry over and improve your skills in present YGO.

Shaddoll FusionGoat Format for Competitive Players

Competitive players think of YGO as serious business. I know this because I used to be a competitive player. I used to sit in class and scribble down deck ideas in my notebook. Playtesting used to be a part of my daily routine. Every week I used to pour over foreign decklists from Shriek and eTCG in the hopes of finding inspiration, although this fact is only impressive if you remember this was a time before Cordero and Google Translate. Point is, I understand what it takes to be a competitive player and how rewarding it can be to find success on the competitive circuit, so I know how hard it'll be to convince you guys to pick up Goat Format when you can just as well direct your energies towards winning the next major event. Still, I think Goat Format has something for you.

Reason #1: Goat Format rewards good players and punishes bad ones

I learned a long time ago that everyone has a reason for making the plays they make and my job as a competitive player was to first understand those reasons and then dictate them to my opponent through my play. In other words, you always want your opponent to think they're making the best possible play even when they actually aren't, and you can only do that if you first understand how they think. In Goat Format, it's not a simple matter of whether to activate Shaddoll Fusion. Here, you're more of a player than a pilot so you can decide whether to set or summon an Exarion Universe, bait a Nobleman of Crossout or not, and afterwards resolve Magician of Faith or not. Ultimately, in Goat Format, your in-game decisions have real consequences and that allows good players who hate losing to walk away with remarkably high win/loss ratios.

delinquent duoReason #2 AKA the point of this post: Goat Format can serve as a starting point for a custom-made competitive circuit

Once more, let me be clear and say Goat Format wasn't perfect. For example, it sucks that Delinquent Duo can only be answered by Sinister Serpent because decks that otherwise wouldn't warrant its use are disenfranchised whether they run it or not. Also, the card pool is kind of small so there aren't many decks to choose from. Nevertheless Goat Format is the most well-known retro format so it's the easiest for players to learn about if they ever want to play something other than the current Advanced Format. That's what makes it the most logical starting point f0r a custom-made competitive circuit.

"Okay, what exactly are you suggesting?"

I'd like to introduce the idea of an additional competitive circuit to complement Advanced Format play with a cheaper barrier to entry (hello, reprints!), less influenced by archetypes, focused on the fundamentals, and set up to change over time to include newer cards. For example, I think cards like Card Trooper (limited to 1) and Number 39: Utopia could be fine, interesting additions to a custom-made format based on Goat Format, and it would be exciting to explore their usefulness in major tournaments with real prizes.

"That sounds amazing. How would it work though? How can I help?"

Well, none of this could happen right away. Unfortunately, it's just not possible to get the YGO community to rally behind anything. That's okay, though, because this is definitely something that can be built up over time, and here's how:

Players show an interest in playing something other than the present Advanced Format, and default to playing Goat Format online.
Those players encourage their friends to play Goat Format, both online and in real life.
All those players encourage their local shop owners to host small Goat Format tournaments.
Jim from AlterRealityGames takes notice of this and decides to host Goat Format side events at each ARGCS event.
The Goat Format side events gain notoriety as superstars start winning and promoting them.
The community pushes for a change in the format.
An alternative circuit is born.
"Is that it?"

Well, no.

Remember, starting with Goat Format is easier than starting anew. You can't ask a bunch of people to study a brand new card pool and expect them to say yes. They might though, if you make it as simple as looking over the old Metagame. Better still, if you're ARG, you could get this thing off the ground by selling pre-made Goat Format Top 8 lists at your events.

That's another thing though. It's very dangerous to have one company in control of both the card pool and card supplies. Now, while I think ARG has every incentive to repurpose all the old, cheap stuff they have sitting in their warehouse, I would also think it was super shady if they quietly stocked up on all the Gadgets before making them legal in this alternative circuit. That's why it would be critically important for the players alone to determine the legality of cards. I don't know how it would work exactly, but I imagine a website could be set up where folks voted to legalize some number of new cards every month, or ban cards as they deemed necessary. Either way, that seems like something for us to sort out later on.

In the meantime, if this seems like something you'd want to be a part of then just go out and buy a Goat Control deck – it's really cheap and takes only 10 minutes to do online. Worst case, you spend a couple bucks on some cards you like looking at. Best case, you change the game. Seems to me like you have very little to lose and everything to gain.

P.S. If you're in the NY/NJ area, be sure to check out the Goat Format tournament at ToyWiz in Nanuet, NY on October 25!

Welcome back everyone! This week I’m going to be bringing you the next installment in the series I like to call “A History of Competitive Play.” This time I will be covering the Shonen Jumps and Nationals that happened between April 2005 and October 2005 or simply, Goat format. I got my first competitive experience of the format only a few short weeks ago at YCS Philadelphia when my friend Paul Clarke controlled my goats. Since then, I have fallen in love with the format and scrambled together two Goat Control decks of my own. The format is extremely skillful and it is not uncommon for a single game to last upwards of twenty minutes.

Here is the ban list under which the format was played.

The Decks

Let me start out by explaining the top decks of the time.

Cookie Cutter Chaos

Max Suffridge - 2005 National Champion

Monsters: 16

1 Sinister Serpent

2 Magician of Faith

2 Gravekeeper’s Spy

1 Sangan

1 Tribe-Infecting Virus

1 D. D. Warrior Lady

1 Tsukuyomi

1 Jinzo

1 Airknight Parshath

1 Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning

1 Gravekeeper’s Guard

1 Blade Knight

1 Morphing Jar

1 Breaker the Magical Warrior

Spells: 17

1 Swords of Revealing Light

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Heavy Storm

1 Graceful Charity

1 Pot of Greed

1 Snatch Steal

1 Premature Burial

1 Delinquent Duo

3 Scapegoat

2 Metamorphosis

2 Book of Moon

2 Nobleman of Crossout

Traps: 8

1 Ring of Destruction

1 Mirror Force

2 Sakuretsu Armor

1 Torrential Tribute

1 Call of the Haunted

1 Ceasefire

1 Dust Tornado

This was the most standard deck of the time. The deck was played by gaining advantage through cards like Pot of Greed, Delinquent Duo, and Graceful Charity and locking down the game by using Metamorphosis to turn a Scapegoat token into Thousand-Eyes Restrict. You could then use Tsukuyomi to put the Thousand-Eyes face down and flip it up to take control of another one of your opponent’s monsters. Gravekeeper’s Spy was played because of its huge defense and how difficult it was to attack over. You could create a lock with Gravekeeper’s Guard and Tsukuyomi to keep bouncing your opponent’s monsters and attacking for 2100 damage each turn, quite the chunk in this format. Airknight was incredible in this format. Its 1900 body was a huge threat and it being able to trample over Goats and draw cards whenever it did so was very powerful. Leaving it on the field for more than a turn could almost certainly seal the game. Blade Knight was powerful in its own right as cutting your opponent off from their flip effect Monsters like Morphing Jar and Magician of Faith was very important. Such is the reason that Nobleman of Crossout was essentially a staple at 2. And speaking of Morphing Jar, it was the ultimate equalizer in this format. You could be down because your opponent opened Delinquent Duo and Pot of Greed, but be put back right into the game because of Jar. Imagine the following scenario. Your opponent has not used their Morphing Jar and only one of their Magician of Faiths is gone. Your opponent has Heavy Storm in the Graveyard. Do you set your hand to play around Jar and risk it being Faith and them grabbing back the Storm for the blowout? Or do keep the spells in your hand and attack and get blown out by the Jar? These were the format defining questions.

Goat Control

Kris Perovic – Top 4 SJC Boston

Monsters: 16

2 Airknight Parshath

1 Asura Priest

1 Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning

1 Breaker the Magical Warrior

1 D. D. Warrior Lady

1 Exarion Universe

2 Magician of Faith

1 Morphing Jar

1 Sangan

1 Sinister Serpent

1 Spirit Reaper

1 Tribe-Infecting Virus

2 Tsukuyomi

Spells: 17

2 Book of Moon

1 Delinquent Duo

1 Graceful Charity

1 Heavy Storm

3 Metamorphosis

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

2 Nobleman of Crossout

1 Pot of Greed

1 Premature Burial

3 Scapegoat

1 Snatch Steal

Traps: 7

1 Call of the Haunted

2 Dust Tornado

1 Mirror Force

1 Ring of Destruction

1 Sakuretsu Armor

1 Torrential Tribute

This is my favorite list from Goat format. It is essentially the same as Max Suffridge’s Cookie Cutter Chaos, but it places a bit more focus on abusing the fusions by completely maxing out on both Scapegoat and Metamorphosis. The deck also plays two Tsukuyomi to completely lock down the opponent once Thousand-Eyes hits the field. Asura Priest was a great tech choice in this format as it could attack all of your opponent’s Goats. The fact that it returned to the hand at the end phase of the turn it was summoned made it very hard to kill. Exarion Universe was also a great addition to this deck as it could trample over Goat tokens and it could wall with Airknight Parshath using its huge 1900 defense. This card was only legal for the last couple of weeks of the format. Another abuse able fusion was Dark Balter the Terrible. You could make him by using Metamorphosis on Airknight Parshath. Dark Balter’s 2000 attack could get over just about anything this format. It also had the ability to negate the effects of any monsters it kills by battle. It was essentially a stronger Blade Knight that didn’t have the restriction of only killing flip effect monsters that it killed by battle. This means that it could also kill monsters like Sangan and D.D. Warrior Lady and negate their effects as well. It also could negate any normal spell at the cost of 1000 life points. This was huge as it could protect you from Heavy Storm and opposing Metamorphosis.

Zombies

Eric Wu – SJC Los Angeles Champion 2005

Monsters: 17

1 Breaker, the Magical Warrior

2 Magician of Faith

1 Blade Knight

3 Pyramid Turtle

2 Vampire Lord

1 D. D. Warrior Lady

1 Sangan

1 Kycoo, the Ghost Destroyer

2 Spirit Reaper

1 Tribe-Infecting Virus

1 Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning

1 Sinister Serpent

Spells: 17

1 Pot of Greed

2 Nobleman of Crossout

1 Delinquent Duo

2 Creature Swap

2 Scapegoat

1 Snatch Steal

1 Lightning Vortex

1 Graceful Charity

1 Book of Life

1 Enemy Controller

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Smashing Ground

1 Premature Burial

1 Heavy Storm

Spells: 7

1 Torrential Tribute

1 Call of the Haunted

1 Ring of Destruction

2 Bottomless Trap Hole

1 Dust Tornado

1 Mirror Force

The last major deck of the format was Zombies which captured the first SJC of the format and continued to top throughout. This deck’s power came mainly from Vampire Lord and his ability to continuously come back. He also had 2000 attack which seemed to be the magic number for this format as it could get over just about anything. Whenever you did damage to your opponent’s life points you always wanted to call Spell as they were the most powerful cards in your opponent’s deck. This deck also had powerful Creature Swap plays like giving your opponent a Pyramid Turtle and attacking over it and pulling a Spirit Reaper from your deck and hitting them directly and netting a card from their hand.

There were also other decks that topped during this time period. Burn was another powerful strategy during this format as most games would last upwards of 20 minutes. This means that it was not uncommon to go to time and playing a burn deck in time is quite the advantage.

How to Play the Format

Opening a piece of the trinity (Pot, Delinquent, and Graceful) would certainly seem to give you an advantage over your opponent. However, more often than not, it was better to hold onto the pieces of the trinity. Pot of Greed was the only one that you slammed on the table as soon as you drew it. The other two were a little bit more complicated. You didn’t want to play Delinquent Duo as soon as you drew it because your opponent might have Sinister Serpent and then they would be able to turn your power card that is supposed to be a 2 for 1 into a 1 for 1. Because of this you wanted to hold Delinquent Duo until your opponent has Sinister Serpent in the grave and they won’t be able to get it back until their next standby phase. You can also play Delinquent Duo if you have a Faith set and can hit four cards in their hand. At the point, them having Sinister won’t do much of anything. You also want to hold your Graceful Charity until you have your Sinister Serpent in hand. By doing so, Graceful Charity will net you a plus 1 since you can discard Sinister and add it back to your hand the next turn. The only other time that you really want to play your Graceful is when you need to dig for a Nobleman of Crossout so that you won’t get blown out by either a set Faith or a set Morphing Jar.

To expand on the section above, it is not only the trinity that you want to hold. It is very important to hold all of your power cards in this format. You almost never want to drop your Black Luster Soldier simply to do 3000 damage. Instead you want to hold that for when you’re going for game or when you’re going to put yourself in a position that they cannot possibly come back from. Just dropping it to attack for a few life points is not going to work against a five card hand in this format. More often than not, they’re going to bring out a Thousand-Eyes Restrict and suck it up or use Snatch Steal to make it their own.

As in any format, you don’t want to waste cards for no reason. Perhaps your opponent has Tribe Infecting Virus on the field and they are attacking you for 1600. You could play Sakuretsu Armor and not take the damage, or you could take it and summon your in hand Tsukuyomi and simply attack over it and keep your Sakuretsu Armor. It is very important to do the latter in this format as card advantage means everything here.

You can also play around your opponent’s Nobleman of Crossouts by setting monsters that you do not care about first. Let’s say you start the game off with Pot of Greed and you have Magician of Faith in hand and want to reuse the Pot of Greed. Instead of setting the Faith immediately and risk it being Noblemaned, why not set something like Exarion Universe or Asura Priest. Then if your opponent has the Nobleman they will almost surely play it on that which will allow you to set your Faith the following turn and almost guarantee you a second Pot of Greed.

There is a lot of room in this format for making good plays. Let’s say that your opponent’s Heavy Storm is gone, but you have yours in hand. Maybe you set your Exarion Universe, your Heavy Storm, a Nobleman, and a Scapegoat. From your opponent’s perspective, you just set a monster and 3 backrow. This should telegraph to them to set their whole hand to play around the Morphing Jar that they are probably reading. Well when they set a monster and set three of their own and you end phase the Goats, Nobleman after you draw and flip Heavy you have completely blown them out by giving them a false read.

Another example of this would be your opponent starting the game with Breaker the Magical Warrior and a backrow and ending. Let’s say here you set one backrow and end. To them, they are going to be thinking he would only set something here that he could chain like Scapegoat or Dust Tornado so why not attack for an extra 300 damage before using the effect in Main Phase 2? The proceed to their battle phase and run directly into a Sakuretsu Armor.

Shonen Jump Overview

The last thing we’re going to take a look at when looking back on this format is the Shonen Jumps that took place during this time. The first of which took place in Los Angeles, California. This top 8 featured 3 Zombie decks, 2 Cookie Cutter decks, a Beastdown deck, Flip Flop Control, and Soul Control. This is where Emon Ghaneian got his first Shonen Jump top and managed to do so by going undefeated in the swiss rounds. For those of you who don’t know of him, remember his name as he will continue to make waves in the upcoming formats and will go on to win 3 Shonen Jump Championships. The top 8 also featured two Comic Odyssey superstars; Wilson Luc and Eric Wu. For those of you that read my last History of Competitive Play article, you will remember that Odyssey was by far the most successful team of the time. Unfortunately Luc and Wu had to play each other in Top 8 which resulted in Wu winning the match. Wu continued on to beat the controversial Evan Vargas in Top 4 before facing Keanson Ye in a Zombie mirror match in the finals. Wu managed to beat out Ye and claimed the sixth Cyber Stein for Comic Odyssey. That’s over half of the Cyber Steins that had been given out so far.

The next Shonen Jump Championship took place in Houston, Texas. Nine rounds of swiss and two rounds of top cut later, only two duelists remained; Theeresak Poonsombat and Ryan Hayakawa remained. Both of whom were members of Comic Odyssey. Ryan Hayakawa managed to take the match and the Shonen with his Cookie Cutter Chaos deck.

After Houston, there was a six week break from competitive Yu-Gi-Oh. The next event took place in New Jersey. A couple of rule changes took place at this event and those rules are still in effect today. Prior to this Jump, you could activate cards like Torrential Tribute or Bottomless Trap Hole during the damage step. Also prior to this Jump you could not change a monster’s position the same turn that it was switched by a card effect like Book of Moon or Enemy Controller. Both of these rules changed at this Jump. The top 8 of this Jump featured 3 Comic Odyssey players and 2 members of the newly formed Overdose. Again, remember the name Overdose as they will be huge in the upcoming formats. The Top 4 of this Jump was supposed to be Bryan Coronel against Rhymus Lizo and Wilson Luc against Ryan Hayakawa, Overdose against Overdose and Odyssey against Odyssey; however, UDE repaired the Top 4 of this Shonen Jump to make it Overdose against Odyssey on both sides of the bracket! That is something that you would never hear of happening today. Staying true to form, Odyssey swept and the finals was Wilson Luc against Ryan Hayakawa. Regardless of who won, the game was about to have their first ever two time champion. Ryan Hayakawa ended up beating out his teammate and becoming not only the first two time champion, but the first back-to-back champion as well! Something that has only been replicated one other time in the game’s history by ARG’s own, Billy Brake!

Three weeks later the Shonen Jump Circuit made its way to Charlotte. This time the finals pitted Team Savage’s Jae Kim and Team Overdose’s Anthony Alvarado against one another in the finals. This was Overdose’s first of many trips to the finals and Alvarado managed to take a decisive victory over Kim to cement Overdose as one of the top teams of the era.

The next event was the most important, the United States National Championship. After starting 8-0 and losing the last two, Ryan Hayakawa placed 9th leaving 0 members of Comic Odyssey in the Top 8. Overdose did not have the same problem and placed 3 members into Top 8 of that year’s Nationals. Two of the members from Overdose had to face off in Top 8. This resulted in Jerry Wang securing a spot at the World Championship over Rhymus Lizo. Bryan Coronel of Overdose also earned a spot as well. Then there was Miguel Garcia from Florida’s team Nexus. Finally there was Max Suffridge from the online team, Alpha Omega. While Comic Odyssey and Overdose had been tearing up the Shonen Jump Circuit, Alpha Omega was by far the most accomplished online team with greats such as Wangpirate and Suffridge. Both members of Overdose lost in Top 4 which left a final match between Suffridge and Garcia. Suffridge managed to take the match and become the 2005 National Champion in the process. He won using the Cookie Cutter Chaos list posted above that utilized two tech copies of Gravekeeper’s Spy and a copy of Gravekeeper’s Guard.

The next event of the format took place in Seattle. It once again resulted in another victory for Comic Odyssey. This time the Cookie Cutter Chaos list featured two tech copies of Guardian Kay’est and was piloted by Osman Ortiz. Ortiz took down Robert Lim in the finals.

The next event was SJC Indianapolis. It was the first event where Des Volstgalph was the prize card. The eventual winner of the tournament was the then newcomer, Nareg Torossian. First he had to overcome Matt Peddle before he faced Odyssey player Juan Cardenas. In the finals he was paired against another Odyssey player, Michael Fukuyama. He overcame all of them to win the first ever copy of Des Volstgalph.

The last event of the format was SJC Boston. Between SJC Indianapolis and SJC Boston, Cybernetic Revolution and the tins containing Exarion Universe were released. Both of these releases made waves at this Jump. Cyber Dragon effectively made Vampire Lord outdated as one could simply attack over it. Cybernetic Revolution also made Cyber Twin Dragon an extra deck staple and gave a new option for level 8 fusions. Now one could drop Black Luster Soldier, remove a monster, and play Metamorphosis to bring out Cyber Twin Dragon and attack for 5600. That amount of damage in this format was unheard of prior to this release. Couple that with Ring of Destruction and games could end rather fast. Exarion Universe also gave players more utility. As I mentioned earlier, it has 1900 defense which allows it to wall with Airknight. 1800 attack is also nothing to laugh about during this format and it could easily trample over goats for 1400 points of damage. The Top 8 of this Jump was Paul Levitin, Brent Yetter, Brian Long, Carlos Santiago, Kris Perovic, Jerry Wang, Bryan Coronel, and Justin Gillison. Kris Perovic’s list from this Jump was the example Goat Control list I gave above. The final four of this format pitted Hunger Force against Hunger Force and Overdose against Overdose. This time UDE did not repair which left the finals to be Brian against Brian. Brian Long won out over Coronel using a Cookie Cutter Chaos deck that maxed on Sakuretsu Armor and played Different Dimension Capsule!

That was the last Jump of perhaps the greatest format we have had so far. I hope you enjoyed my recap of my favorite format. I’ll report back with the next installment of this series in a few short weeks. As always, I appreciate your feedback so don’t hesitate to leave comments down below. Until next time everyone, play hard or go home!