Goat Format Championship 3v3 Deck Tech: Beastdown!

Beastdown decks have long been a staple in Goat Format. The piercing power of Enraged Battle Ox and the oppressive summoning restrictions set by King Tiger Wanghu have ruined the day of many Scapegoat players. These powerful and agressive cards seem to have found their home in the hands of Jeix today, who has (with the rest of his team) currently fought to a 3-1 record in our 3v3 event! 

Deck List

Overview

​All out aggression is the name of the game. With Ox and Tiger leading the charge, it's difficult for many decks to get a foothold before they cave to the pressure. Indeed, Beastdown was partly designed as an anti-meta deck with Scapegaot domination in mind. Even Berserk Gorilla, a mainstay of Beastdown, has a place in the Goat Control Match up! With 2000ATK on a four-star monster, it's easier than ever to trample over Goat's boss monster of choice: Airknight Parshath. 

This being said, the Goat Control matchup is not entirely free. Because of the low defense stats of Beastdown's monster lineup, Tsukuyomi can be an issue. Similar to Monarch decks, this is one of 

the reasons it is common for the deck to pack cards like Trap Dustshoot or Sakuretsu Armor, which can help keep Tsuku at bay. 

​Of course, Beastdown can dominate against other decks as well. Traditionally, the strategy packs plenty of monster and spell/trap removal. These often include Sakuretsu Armor, Smashing Ground, Dust Tornado, and even Chiron the Mage! This makes it difficult for many archetypes to feel completely comfortable in the matchup.

Player Insight

Jeix echoed many of these ideas when talking about why he played the deck: 
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It's really good against Chaos Turbo, combo decks, and any Beatdown deck. Unfortunately, it loses hard against decks with Metamorphosis and Tsukuyomi, which is why I felt like I needed to shift my game plan post side.

There's certainly some spice in Jeix's sideboard, as well as the main! Cards like these help to keep the opponent guessing, and can take them by surprise. It's for these reasons, as well as the deck's general simplicity and speed, that he entered today's event with Beastdown in hand. 

On the topic of spice, as well as general strategy, Jeix was more than happy to fill us in! 

Gaia power is great for running over sorcerer or Gravekeepr's Spy (especially with Wanghu), and you're usually the only player with earth monsters, so the boost only applies to you. Wanghu works well against many cards and hedges the TER problem. Gorilla is strong vs beatdown decks and to beat down in general. Chiron is an out to Swords/Level Limit/Messenger/Snatch although you rarely use its effect otherwise, especially game one. Finally, Ox gives piercing to the whole squad, which is very needed to put pressure when your opponent sets every turn.

This deck doesn't feature many traps, unlike most beatdown decks. The reason is that your opponent won't usually be able to attack over your huge monsters, so Sakuretsu isn't really necessary and I'd rather focus on protecting my own monsters with My Body as a Shield and Seven Tools. Notably, this deck rarely sets much. It's not uncommon to just play Gorilla, pass, and watch Chaos Turbo decks set a Break and a Deko, only to lose a million life points to an Ox + My Body (or Seven Tools) push the next turn.

I tried Solemn Judgment, but I found myself losing a lot on the backswing. Notably, a simple Snatch on Gorilla plus a 1500ATK monster can kill you after you Solemn if you have Gaia up. So, I cut them for Tools and My Bodys. I was mostly negating traps anyway.

The side deck changes the game plan, but it's only necessary to do so against Goat Control, as TER and Tsuku are such a pain to deal with. I've found myself not siding much against beatdown decks except for D.D. Assailants. Against other matchups, like Chaos Turbo, I often don't side at all. Some side decks are not well-equipped for this deck. They might run too many Cipher Soldiers, or too many Royal Decrees, both of which don't do much. Some people might opt for Messenger or Level Limit, but Chiron counters those very well. Other removal cards are usually handled by Tools or Body.

Conclusion

It's clear that Jeix has lots of experience with the deck! Hopefully, that experience can translate into many victories in the rest of today's tournament. Excited to tell stories of his time playing the list on ladder and today, he ended our interview with these comments:
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This deck is a huge meme because you either win super hard in two turns with extremely powerful tempo plays (protected by a Tools or Body) or you lose super hard when you get hit with mass removal (mirror, TT, Vortex, Tribe) and you don't have the right cards to protect yourself or rebuild pressure. Sometimes, you also lose because you can't out TER or BLS. Other times, you have an entire hand that gets blanked by a single Tsukuyomi your opponent is holding.

My bet is that most Chaos players aren't running enough of these cards to stop this deck, especially game one, and that their side decks are too focused on the Chaos Warrior matchup to be packing what's needed to beat this. Also, to be honest, the smokescreen is a fun idea, but I haven't tested it a lot and it might not be the best, so feel free to experiment with that. Some other cards you could consider are: Vortex, Jinzo, Lily, and United We Stand.

​Jeix's most recent game was against Chaos Turbo, which resulted in a crushing 2-0 victory! fingers crossed he can keep this momentum going for his team all the way to the finals!