Academy League No Trinity Special

The Academy League begins at the Slifer level on the Goat Format Europe discord. As a fun way to celebrate and add some excitement to the game, we like to hold tournaments with special rules every 100 Slifer tournament brackets. These are known as “Slifer Specials.”

In November, we finally reached an impressive 500 Slifer brackets. So, we decided to make Slifer 500 a “No Trinity” tournament. Rules for some tournaments can be complex, but this one was simple: You couldn’t play Delinquent Duo, Graceful Charity, or Pot of Greed! What cards did players use to fill these missing staple slots? What decks became stronger or weaker?

With 32 competitors and an Obelisk ticket on the line for 1st place, these were the decks that reached top 8, as well as the thoughts of those who piloted them. 

If you wish to join in these fun events, or wish to earn your ticket to worlds 2022. Then head over to Goat Format Europe discord to start your journey.

​Lollo8888 (7th Place)

What kind of deck did you bring to this tournament, and why?
I brought Chaos Control maining Royal Decree for all the Warrior and Chaos variants I expected.

How did your deck perform in the tournament, compared to how you expected it to perform?
The deck performed ok, as I expected.

Did you feel that playing without trinity made the game more enjoyable at all? Did it make it feel less fun?
The biggest satisfaction on that restriction is that you can't be Duo’d on your first turn. That was enjoyable

Did you feel that the games were more fair and/or more skillful without trinity?
The games were more balanced because the most powerful spells couldn't be abused by Magician of Faith.
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​KotsosV (7th Place)

What kind of deck did you bring to this tournament, and why?
Clown Control. I have been using versions of this deck for a while, so I was very familiar with it. I felt it had a good matchups vs Burn and Reasoning Gate Turbo, which looked good in this meta.

How did your deck perform in the tournament, compared to how you expected it to perform?
The deck performed as expected, with good results against the decks I built it to beat. I thought Warrior would be prevalent in this meta, so I maindecked some relevant cards for the matchup, but I didn't face any. Instead, I played a lot of other control decks, which was a nice change of pace, but my deck felt weaker against those.

Did you feel that playing without trinity made the game more enjoyable at all? Did it make it feel less fun?
It felt pretty nice for me, since this deck doesn’t rely on trinity too much, at least compared to other decks. Always good to know you won't get Duo’d turn one! I liked the longer grind games on matches versus control.

Did you feel that the games were more fair and/or more skillful without trinity?
Very much so; the times I lost felt very warranted. Even though sacky cards were still there (Snatch Steal won me a couple of games by itself), it was way harder to come back after you lost some early game advantage.

Any shoutouts you would like to make?
Big shoutout to Apoptosis - who inspired me to pick up the deck - and to Xiao Hongbao. We’ve been working on the Stumbling deck for a while and I think it has potential. Also thanks to GoatFormat.com and Goat Format Europe for organizing the event, looking forward to more unique tourneys!

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​Ghostrider15 (5th Place)

What kind of deck did you bring to this tournament, and why?
I brought Goat Control with main deck Berserk Gorillas because I wanted to play a deck that counters both Warrior and Panda Burn. Everyone was talking about these two decks being the best for this tournament and I agree, but I dislike both of them.

How did your deck perform in the tournament, compared to how you expected it to perform?
It performed really well, just as I expected. I only tested a few games with my teammate, Ivan Rossitto, and every game came down to the wire.

Did you feel that playing without trinity made the game more enjoyable at all? Did it make it feel less fun?
The games were a lot more enjoyable. I don’t think anyone enjoys getting sacked turn 1 by Pot, Graceful and Duo. The only downside to me is that I can’t really play my favorite deck, Chaos Turbo.

Did you feel that the games were more fair and/or more skillful without trinity?
The games were definitely more skillful. Losing RPS isn’t as important anymore and you have to work much harder for card advantage. There’s hardly any auto win hands without trinity.

Any other thoughts you would like to share?
I hope there’s more of these no trinity tourneys sometime in the near future. I know it was meant as a fun side event but the format looks very interesting and I’m curious to see how the meta would develop for these tournaments.

Any shoutouts you would like to make?
Shoutout to team Rampage. The best team in Goat Format! Also shoutout to my locals and sponsor Table 1 Gaming. They have great IRL tournaments for Goat Format.


​Indoors (5th Place)

What kind of deck did you bring to this tournament, and why?
I brought Warrior for a couple of different reasons. Firstly, I think it's a good deck to run in an unknown field because of the versatile side options. Since this is the first time we have done a tournament without trinity, and no one really knew what the best deck would be, I felt playing Warrior would give me a good chance against every other kind of deck. Secondly, I feel Warrior performs well in a low resource gamestate. Since there was no Pot or Charity, I figured games would devolve much quicker than usual, giving me the edge after a couple of turns.

How did your deck perform in the tournament, compared to how you expected it to perform?
I think it performed as expected. I'm comfortable with Warrior so am well aware of how the deck plays.

Did you feel that playing without trinity made the game more enjoyable at all? Did it make it feel less fun?
It was definitely different. I think trinity just widens the margins of fun and despair; the highs are higher but the lows are lower. Everyone loves the dopamine rush of topdecking Pot or opening Duo, and I think that's what makes the format the way it is.

Did you feel that the games were more fair and/or more skillful without trinity?
I think you could definitely be under the illusion that the games were more skillful or fair, but in reality I felt like whoever opened better usually won the game. This is somewhat true with trinity too, but in this tournament if you went down in the first few exchanges you have very little chance to comeback. Personally, I think games that involve luck are way more fun. If the best player wins 100% of the time it's boring, it's about finding the right balance between luck and skill. Everyone wants to play a game where they have a small shot at winning against the best of the best.

Any shoutouts you would like to make?
Shoutout to the people in this community who are willing to set their ego aside to help others, they make this a great place to be. Also everyone who gives up their free time to create content, host tournaments, run servers etc. Finally shoutout to you necromancy4kids, for running this tournament, I had fun playing in it.



Ivan Rossitto (4th Place)

What kind of deck did you bring to this tournament, and why?
I brought Chaos Return, inspired by Dingosig's Top 8 Worlds list and adapted to what I expected in this format. I brought it because I had an epiphany that told me to use the deck, even though I had no interest in the deck for regular Goat Format.

How did your deck perform in the tournament, compared to how you expected it to perform?
The deck performed a lot better than expected, all of my wins were 2-0.

Did you feel that playing without trinity made the game more enjoyable at all? Did it make it feel less fun?
The only nice thing about no trinity is that you know you will have a chance in every game since it's pretty hard to set up a crazy amount of advantage on turn 1. I'd say it was less fun, yes.

Did you feel that the games were more fair and/or more skillful without trinity?
The games were more fair but I wouldn't say more skillful since the interactions are not as complex. Since there's not many ways to gain massive card advantage, games where each player has 4-5 cards are normal and are usually pretty simple to play.

Any shoutouts you would like to make?
Shoutouts to my team, Rampage, and moxies who eventually took me out. He's a good guy and very strong player.


[D00I]jcvd93 (3rd Place)

What kind of deck did you bring to this tournament, and why?
I brought Goat Control to the tournament because, in my eyes, it's very constant even without trinity. Also it's good in the late game. With the sheep tokens it gives you the time you need to bridge the game.

How did your deck perform in the tournament, compared to how you expected it to perform?
I did not expect to finish 3rd with the deck, I thought I would brick more often. Also I was very surprised how well some cards worked, like Decree and Level Limit Area B.

Did you feel that playing without trinity made the game more enjoyable at all? Did it make it feel less fun?
I feel that games were missing surprising moments, without trinity pieces. All the games without trinity were fair but with less fun.

Did you feel that the games were more fair and/or more skillful without trinity?
In my opinion the games are more skillful and longer, especially the mirror matches. Sometimes the key was to play more aggressively because you don’t have to be frightened that your opponent is drawing into trinity and turns the game around.

Any shoutouts you would like to make?
I would like to give shoutouts to my team member mzbdomi. He helps me to see the potential in some card combinations I never would have thought about.


Moxies (2nd Place)

What kind of deck did you bring to this tournament, and why?
I brought Thunder Dragon Chaos Control, with main deck Royal Decree, because I expected Aggro and Burn, which my deck heavily counters.

How did your deck perform in the tournament, compared to how you expected it to perform?
It performed exactly how I expected, which was awesome!

Did you feel that playing without trinity made the game more enjoyable at all? Did it make it feel less fun?
It felt the same to be honest. Games sometimes lasted longer and it was harder to come back in games, but overall I felt like I was playing the same thing.

Did you feel that the games were more fair and/or more skillful without trinity?
No, I felt it was the exact same and the same players who do good in Goat Format did the same in no trinity. At the end of the day, good players win. It didn’t feel more or less skillful most of the time it felt the same as regular matches.

Any other thoughts you would like to share?
I was happy that I was right about what would be played and what would be good for this event. It was a very enjoyable tournament. If you think you aren’t good at Goat Format because you get sacked a lot, I can tell you that it’s an excuse. Good players just win.

Any shoutouts you would like to make?
Shoutout to LRG, specifically to mark_mps. We came up with our deck together. He went with a mimic package (I didn't) but he convinced me that Card Destruction is a trinity card when no one plays Thunder Dragon, and he was right.



MattUber (1st Place)

What kind of deck did you bring to this tournament, and why?
I chose to play Cyber-Stein Reasoning Gate, because I think without trinity it is the best deck in the format.

How did your deck perform in the tournament, compared to how you expected it to perform?
The deck performed very well, like I expected.

Did you feel that playing without trinity made the game more enjoyable at all? Did it make it feel less fun?
I think the game with no trinity was fun, just like the real Goat Format.

Did you feel that the games were more fair and/or more skillful without trinity?
The game was more balanced and more skillful. Pot, Charity and, Duo are objectively too strong.

Any other thoughts you would like to share?
The real problem is without trinity there are less competitive decks to play. The most iconic decks like Chaos Turbo or Control are not the best to play so the meta changes a lot.

Any shoutouts you would like to make?
Shoutouts to my team (GoatCommunityItalia) and Bologna Academy for cheering for me.