Goat Grand Prix Queretaro 2026: Top 8 Deck Lists

What is up, Goat World! 

History was made this weekend with the biggest GGP turnout Latin America has ever seen! To kick off the weekend, we touched down in north-central Mexico, in the state of Querétaro, where Retro Format Arena (retroformatarena.com) hosted GGP Querétaro. 

While this was the city’s second GGP event ever (first was last season hosted by Aztec Gaming), this was our first time working with Retro Format Arena alongside community leader CharlieMAD (Discord: charliemad_). Massive shoutout to them, their team, staff, judges, and, of course, the incredible number of players who showed up, dueled it out, and supported their community. The event was also sponsored by Avarcia.art 2026.

With that said, let’s jump into the details of the event and then break down the Top 8 decklists for you all.

Held on Saturday, March 14th, at Av. Tecnológico S/N, Col. Centro, in Querétaro, Qro, the event drew a record-breaking 112 players all battling for the coveted title of GGP Querétaro Champion. This landmark turnout cements its place in Goat Format history as the largest GGP ever held in Mexico. With 112 competitors in the field, 3 Goat Format World Championship Invites were on the line for the top three finishers.

Along with the invites, an incredible prize pool was on the line to reward the players’ hard work.

🏆 Prizes by Placement
(Accrued throughout the tournament)
🥇 1st Place
$12,000 MXN + Trophy + Champion Playmat + Playmat, 4 tokens, and 3D Decorative Pot of Greed from Top 8 + glow-in-the-dark keychain + entry token
🥈 2nd Place
$7,000 MXN + 4 tokens and 3D Decorative Pot of Greed from Top 8 + glow-in-the-dark keychain + entry token
🥉 3rd Place
$3,000 MXN + 4 tokens and 3D Decorative Pot of Greed from Top 8 + glow-in-the-dark keychain + entry token
🏅 4th Place
$1,000 MXN + 4 tokens and 3D Decorative Pot of Greed from Top 8 + glow-in-the-dark keychain + entry token
🏅 5th–8th Place
4 tokens and 3D Decorative Pot of Greed from Top 8 + glow-in-the-dark keychain + entry token

​Now, let’s get into the Top 8 decklists and the duelists who battled their way to the top of this incredible event!

Taking first place and claiming the title of GGP Querétaro Champion is Antonio Morales Escobar with Goat Control! While Goat Control has long been associated with the classic strategies of the Goat Format era, Antonio pushed the deck into the new age by teaching an old deck some “new tricks”. 

Back then, Goat Control (“GC”) leaned much more heavily on Thousand-Eyes Restrict (TER) plays as an identity and a central win condition of the deck. In contrast, the new age of GC relies less on TER and more on overall efficiency and pressure. Instead, more aggressive builds—like Antonio’s List “Goat Control – Warriors” (sorry Ivan) adapt to the current meta instead of chasing outdated TER lines, it focuses on cleaner tempo and consistent pressure to keep opponents on the back foot. Adding a Warrior toolbox to GC gives the deck a way to generate pluses through combat as opposed to the older versions of GC that leaned on older, metamorphosis-dependent cards like Magical Merchant. 

This innovation has not flown under the radar as it has been gaining momentum in online play from players like don’t copy’s PWCQ #81 runner-up list (https://formatlibrary.com/decks/67321) , and it’s incredible to see it dominate at an in-person field of 112 players. A phenomenal accomplishment for both Antonio and the Goat Control strategy that could forego a slight uptick (at least in the short term) of play in future Goat Format events. Big congratulations on your success for earning the crown to the Q (Querétaro) and punching your ticket to the Goat Format World Championships 2026.

Next up, we have Mario Martinez Montaño securing an impressive 2nd place finish with his take on the Warrior strategy. Warrior is one of those decks that has truly stood the test of time in Goat Format, and time and time again we see different adaptations that give us some insight into the local meta and how these duelists tackle the deckbuilding process especially for GGP’s. 

A familiar side deck choice takes center stage in Mario’s main deck 40…and all I can say is, When second Moby hits…

Another deckbuilding trend worth highlighting, one that tends to raise some eyebrows...

...is the consistent presence of Royal Decree. This choice can stem from a variety of factors, but most notably a desire to shut down trap-heavy strategies like Panda Burn. At the same time, it may point to a broader conversation around card pool accessibility in certain regions. Cards like Trap Dustshoot and Mystic Wok often carry a notable price tag even at common rarity, and have long maintained demand that local supply simply can’t keep up with. 

Alas that is a much broader discussion for another day, for now we will return our focus in congratulating Mario Martinez Montaño on his exceptional finish in the largest GGP in Mexican history and securing an invite to the Goat Format World Championships 2026.

To round out our 2026 Goat Format World Championship Qualifiers we have the duelist who managed to finish out in 3rd place at GGP Querétaro, Erick Daniel Navarrete! Huge congratulations to him on his success, finishing as the highest-placing Chaos Turbo duelist of the day! 

Chaos Turbo has remained a staple of the format ever since it evolved out of those grueling, detox-esque mirror matches and into a race for consistency and maximizing the high ceiling that the format’s most synergistic cards have to offer. 

Erick did however make some minor changes to account for the rampant burn meta that we have seen at previous Mexican GGP’s, as he elects to main deck that Trap stunner himself, Jinzo. Outside of him and a few ways to bring his presence back to the field with cards like Premature Burial & Call of the Haunted this is a standard Chaos Turbo shell.

Now onto our event’s 4th place duelist, Brandon Huerta Sanchez, who brought something that’s been heavily theorized in online circles but hasn’t seen much in the way of proven success, Chaos Burn. This strategy leans into the strongest elements of Chaos strategies while trimming some consistency pieces in favor of the high-impact burn cards typically found in a standard Panda Burn list. 

The result is a remarkable decklist that really pushes the limits of deckbuilding. And it doesn’t stop there, if you take a look at his side deck, it appears he was utilizing a smokescreen-style transformation into a Dimension Fusion Turbo. This kind of deckbuilding keeps opponents constantly guessing, never quite sure what angle is coming next, an absolute mind game of a brew. Huge congratulations on your success and topping the GGP!

In 5th place, we have Ricardo Garcia, the only other Chaos Turbo player to make it through Swiss. His build is much more standard in comparison to the list piloted by Erick, opting for a more traditional approach to the strategy. One notable omission from the main 40 is everyone’s favorite locomotive, Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. 
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Instead, Ricardo opts to run two copies of Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer, likely anticipating a strong Chaos presence and aiming to counter it directly. Beyond that, his side deck remains fairly conventional—featuring well-selected options to help navigate tougher and more rogue matchups you’re likely to encounter across seven rounds of Swiss.

In 6th place, we have Brandon Omar Trujillo, piloting the same strategy as our winner, Goat Control. His build leans into some of the more classic card choices we mentioned earlier, including Magical Merchant and Abyss Soldier. 
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However, one of the most notable aspects of his list is the minimal commitment to actual “Goats,” opting to run just a single copy of Scapegoat. This is a very intriguing deckbuilding choice, and it raises questions about his approach, perhaps he felt that maximizing his Metamorphosis targets (2 Magician of Faith, Sinister Serpent, and Magical Merchant) provided enough consistency and value to reliably enable his TER lines without needing multiple Scapegoats.

For 7th place, Alejandro Vazquez Logan gets it done with our second Panda Burn list in the Top 8. His build is fairly standard as far as Panda Burn strategies go, sticking to the core game plan the deck is known for. 
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One card that consistently sparks polarizing discussion is Chain Energy. It’s a high-risk inclusion that can strain deckbuilding flexibility and overall consistency, but the payoff can be huge. When resolved early, especially going first it effectively sets up a “toll” for the opponent, forcing them to either find an immediate answer or steadily pay the price as the game slips away. Congratulations on topping the event!

Last but not least, we have Marco Antonio Carbajal, rounding out the Top 8 with his Chaos Recruiter deck. This is a strategy you don’t often see in the online competitive sphere, as many builds have drifted toward the Chaos Return side of the format. 
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Nonetheless, Marco puts up an impactful result here, showing the deck still has plenty to offer. He opts to go beyond the standard 40-card main deck to fit in three copies of Scapegoat, enabling consistent TER setups while also generating value for his trio of Zaborg the Thunder Monarch. There’s a lot of Monarch energy packed into this list, honestly, “Monarch Mayhem” might be the perfect way to describe it. Congratulations on topping the event!

And that’s a wrap on our coverage of GGP Querétaro! 🇲🇽🔥

Once again, a huge congratulations to our Top 8 finishers, our World Championship invitees, and of course the entire community that came together to make this event as special as it was.
A massive thank you as well to RetroFormatArena, CharlieMAD, Avaricia.art 2026, the judges, staff, commentators, and everyone behind the scenes who helped bring this event to life—your efforts truly made this tournament a success.

And to the Mexican Goat Format community: thank you for showing your passion, pride, and hunger for something bigger. We can’t wait to see you all again at the next GGP. 💯