A Goat Format World Championship Retrospective: End Phase

In this series, Mascis documents their journey to and their experience in the Goat Format World Championship. This is the fifth and final part.

Takeaways

At this level, Goat Format is hard. Every opponent is proven in this tournament, there are no slouches. Even if both players make mistakes, those mistakes are often minor and the player who made them still had a shot. This was possibly the hardest and the most stressful competitive event I have ever played in, but I loved every second of it. Yu-gi-oh has always been "my game", and while I may not be actively playing at locals now a days I am always online trying out new things in Advanced Format or trying out stuff in Goat Format.

I don't know what it is about Goat Format for me, as I don't have nostalgia for me. As I mentioned before, I was 10 years old when I Goat Format was the Advanced Format of it's day and I was getting my butt kicked at locals by Spear Dragon and Mystic Swordsman LV4. It wasn't until the Summer of 2006 where my deck was actually decent and I was considerably better at the game overall. But there is something magical about Goat Format that has just clicked with me since I started playing it. I'm so grateful that there is a community that supports the format and wants to organize an event such as this. It never ceases to amaze me that 15 years later, people are still discussing and playing one of the best formats Yu-gi-oh has ever had.

As for individual cards that stood out this tournament, King Dragun performed amazing in the games that it stuck. The only exception was against ptran in game one but only because I had messed up earlier in that game. Otherwise, I think Dragun is the next step in solving the current Goat Format as it develops into 2021. I heard some groups considered it but decided not to pull the trigger on siding Fusilier or Cyber-Stein to make it. Perhaps it would perform better in a Chaos Control shell. We'll just have to wait and see.

Trap Dustshoot was the premier card for me in all the games it resolved and in a lot of the games I got to see. I can’t imagine now not playing a control deck without three of this card somewhere between the main and the side. Side note, why is “Cliff the Trap Remover” falling for this trap? I thought he was supposed to remove those! Jokes aside, the information that Dustshoot gives you is so valuable at high levels of play. On top of that, it's valuable on when you get your hand revealed as well, because now you have the opportunity to try and mind game your opponent. The fact that it's a trap card is the sickest part, I was often using it as a tool to confirm that I could attempt to end the game with Ring of Destruction on my opponent's turn just by seeing their hand. If you aren't playing this card anywhere in your 55, what are you even doing?

On top of playing in the event, I had the honor of commentating the incredible Top 4 between, Riclar, Ronie, and the Bellido Brothers. I think Dale showed the world that if he really wanted to, he could come back and take the Yu-gi-oh world by storm if he dedicated the time and energy into it. Watching both him and Lazaro play throughout the day was absolutely wonderful. Congrats to Riclar though, a player who has constantly been at the top of the DB grind and the tournament scene. Everyone deserved to win this event, but Riclar showed what it takes to get the job done. Enjoy your reign as world champ, I'm looking forward to you defending the title in 2021!

Thank Yous

First and foremost, thank you to Nick and all of the incredible staff, judges, and community leaders at GoatFormat.com for making this event possible in the first place. Your hard work over the year paid off, culminating in the the most exciting Goat Format tournament of all time. Next year is going to be bigger and better for sure.

Thank you to Dmitry, Maddie, Brian, and HyperBeam for being the best teammates and testing partners. You are all so smart and such incredible players. I am so proud of Damage Step’s showing in this tournament and I know we will all continue to do great things for the Goat Format community and will continue to perform well in future tournaments.

Thank you to Brandon, Noelle, Diana, Bladeeknight, and Shane for being some of my biggest supporters in the tournament and just in general. Your friendship and your encouragement means the absolute world to me. 

Thank you Kris Perovic for taking a chance on me with the Newgioh project. Thank you for teaching me how to get better at a game I thought I was already good enough at. Thank you for constantly challenging me and pointing out my mistakes. Thank you for being the opponent in some of the most grueling games of Yu-gi-oh I have ever played.

Thank you Dan for being the foundation of this modern era of Goat Format. Thank you for your work on Format Library and everything else you have done and are doing for this community. Thank you especially for the OCG version of the Agent of Mystery - Earth. 

Thank you Jon. If you are somehow reading this know that I love you brother and I miss you. If you were never my friend, I would have never had someone to play this game with and my life would be so much different. 

Thank you Matthew. If you are somehow reading this as well, know that your kindness and your integrity has been instilled has been instilled upon me. Thanks for playing those Goat Control games with me in 2012. You are welcome to sleep on the floor of my apartment anytime you need a place to stay.

Thank you to Jack Hoyt. I feel like I embody the spirit of Goat Format much like how you embody the spirit of Melee.

Thank you to Kazuki Takashi. Thank you to Dr. Richard Garfield. Thank you to Eiichiro Oda. Thank you to David Chase. Thank you to David Lynch. Thank you to Sam Hinkie. Thank you to Bret Hart. Thank you to Khabib Nurmagomedov. 

Thank you to my dad for being my first ever testing partner even though I had to keep teaching him how to play Yu-gi-oh every time I wanted to try a deck out. 

And finally, thanks to you reading this. Without the community that gathers around Goat Format, none of this would have been possible. Thank you for watching the streams and supporting the tournament through your donations.

...and finally

It’s with a heavy heart that I am formally announcing my retirement from competitive Goat Format events. I was going to do this regardless of the outcome of worlds, though I’m glad I got to share my experience with you all and I hope you found it interesting.  My last competitive event will be the upcoming  Max Suffridge Memorial tournament, where I will defend my crown.

I will focus my efforts on putting out content for GoatFormat.com and I will be doing commentary for future Goat Format events when able. I will also try and continue to produce content for my own twitch stream and youtube channel. I feel like I don’t have anything to prove anymore when it comes to competitive Goats, so it’s time for me to become an ambassador for the game and the community that is so dear to me. 

The most incredible thing about games in general isn't the game itself. Sure, you love the game or games that you love, but what is incredible is that you find other people that love just as much as you do. I’ve met so many great people through playing Yu-gi-oh and I want it to still be here for others to do the same. Preserving and promoting its history, through Goat Format or any other past format, is integral for this.  So with that said, I'll see you all around. 

LOVE,
Mascis