Round 2 gave us six recorded matches, with Chaos mirrors, Zombies, HERO plants, Gravekeepers, Skill Drain beatdown, and one very suspicious pile trying to summon Exodia with normal monsters.
El Vic vs Kztoor
Probably the best match of the round. Kztoor opened with strong control tools like Kycoo, Tribe-Infecting Virus, Shrink, Torrential Tribute, and several traps, but El Vic fought through it with HERO pressure and Plant lines. Even after losing Black Luster Soldier from hand to Spirit Reaper, El Vic still found a way to close the match with Miracle Fusion into Elemental HERO Nova Master.
Charly Goat vs Ćngel
Charly survived Ćngel’s early normal monster pressure and turned the games around with the Zombie toolbox. Morphing Jar refilled the hand, Book of Life kept the pressure alive, and cards like Gigantes, Vampire’s Curse, Smashing Ground, and Injection Fairy Lily helped Charly take the match.
Grondal vs ShadowEfra
This was a long Chaos grind. Both players traded removal, Thunder Dragon value, Sinister Serpent value, and Black Luster Soldier swings. Grondal had answers, including D.D. Warrior Lady, but ShadowEfra kept finding pressure through Monarchs, Fusilier Dragon, Tribe-Infecting Virus, and eventually took the match.
Epydemius vs El Pipe
Epydemius opened strong with the Skill Drain beatdown plan, using big bodies like Giant Orc, Zombyra, Goblin Attack Force, and Fusilier Dragon. El Pipe recovered in the next games with the classic Thunder Dragon Chaos shell, defensive traps, Magic Cylinder, Mobius, and a final Black Luster Soldier push to win 2-1.
Arena vs Castro
Arena brought the Zombie grind, while Castro answered with Warrior and Chaos pressure. Mystic Swordsman LV2 was especially annoying for the Zombie side, and although Arena managed to steal a game through Marshmallon and removal, Castro took the match after a final game full of tempo swings, Airknight pressure, and a decisive Ring of Destruction.
Gaona vs Totonatiuh
Gaona had to deal with the strangest deck of the round: Heart of the Underdog Exodia with normal monsters and stall cards. Totonatiuh actually stole a game by assembling Exodia, but Gaona kept the pressure with Gravekeeper’s Commandant, Necrovalley, removal for the floodgates, and a fast Game 3 finish.
After Round 2, the tournament was already moving away from simple beatdown games. Gravekeepers had to fight Exodia stall, Zombies had to survive Warriors, and Chaos decks kept proving that one big boss monster can still change everything in a single turn.
Father’s Day arrived, and instead of resting, eating carne asada, or pretending to be responsible adults,
twelve NeoGoat players entered an online tournament and immediately started doing what this format does best:
setting traps, summoning oversized monsters, losing cards to Heavy Storm, and finding new ways to make
Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning look completely unfair.
Round 1 gave us six matches, and the variety was already there from the start. We had Warrior-style pressure,
Normal Monster experiments, Gravekeepers, Skill Drain beatdown, HERO/Plant piles, Zombies, Exodia, and the usual
NeoGoat reminder that no matter how carefully you build your plan, one well-timed removal card can turn it into
a small pile of cardboard sadness.
This article covers the full first round. Every match had replays, every match had something worth mentioning,
and at least one match had Exodia actually win a duel, because apparently Father's Day also celebrates
forbidden grandpas.
Event Overview
Event: NeoGoat Online Tournament – Father’s Day Special
Players: 12
Round Covered: Round 1
Matches: 6
Format: NeoGoat, best-of-three matches
Round 1
The first round had a little bit of everything. Some players won clean 2-0 matches, but even those were not always
simple games. Several duels had long sequences of trades, awkward topdecks, defensive walls, and sudden closers.
Others were more direct: monster hits field, opponent fails to answer it, Life Points disappear. Classic NeoGoat.
EfraĆn defeats Ćngel Hdz 2-0
EfraĆn, playing as shadowefra, opened the tournament with a solid 2-0 win over Ćngel Hdz,
who appeared in the log as AkyHX. Ćngel’s deck looked like a Normal Monster shell with
Heart of the Underdog, Royal Decree, Order to Charge, Unexpected Dai, and
strong standalone monsters like Jinzo. That plan can be annoying when it gets rolling, but EfraĆn did
not give it much room to breathe.
The first duel started with the usual Thunder Dragon setup from EfraĆn, followed by early pressure from
Blade Knight and D.D. Warrior Lady. Ćngel tried to fight back with Dunames Dark Witch
and Order to Charge, trading into EfraĆn’s early field, but the pressure kept coming. Don Zaloog
joined the party and even sent Jinzo from Ćngel’s Deck to the Graveyard, which looked funny at first
because Ćngel later used Premature Burial to bring that same Jinzo back.
That could have been Ćngel’s way back into the game. Lightning Vortex cleared EfraĆn’s field, and
Premature Burial revived Jinzo. But D.D. Warrior Lady did what she always does:
she turned a big threat into banished cardboard. Ćngel also had Offerings to the Doomed ready for
EfraĆn’s first Black Luster Soldier, so the duel was not just one-sided. The problem was that Ćngel had
already taken too much damage. EfraĆn kept enough resources to close with Thunder Dragon, taking Game 1.
Game 2 was slower and stranger. Ćngel opened with X-Head Cannon and set Royal Decree, while
EfraĆn answered with Exiled Force and Swords of Revealing Light. The first important exchange
came when EfraĆn tried to use Raigeki Break on Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer, only for
Royal Decree to flip up and say, “No, this trap is now decorative.”
From there, both players entered a weird empty-field stretch. Offerings to the Doomed answered
Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, Exiled Force removed Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive,
and several turns passed with both players mostly drawing and passing. Eventually EfraĆn was the first one to
find real pressure. Fusilier Dragon, the Dual-Mode Beast hit directly, then Jinzo came down and
started attacking through Ćngel’s trap-heavy setup.
Ćngel found a temporary answer with Book of Moon and Unexpected Dai, summoning
Archfiend Soldier from the Deck to beat over the face-down Jinzo. It was a nice rescue line,
but it only delayed the inevitable. EfraĆn drew Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning, cleared
the Archfiend Soldier with Smashing Ground, and attacked directly for the final 3000 damage.
EfraĆn took the match 2-0, but Ćngel did not just get rolled over. He had answers to BLS, had
Royal Decree at relevant moments, and showed the kind of awkward Normal Monster control shell that can
steal games when the opponent stumbles. EfraĆn simply had cleaner pressure and better closers.
Kztoor defeats Arena Mty 2-0
Castor, playing as Kztoor, defeated Arena Mty in a match that looked like a
textbook example of how fast tempo swings can decide NeoGoat games. Arena had strong cards and even got
Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning onto the field early, but Kztoor kept answering threats
at exactly the right time.
Game 1 started aggressively from Kztoor. Berserk Gorilla hit the field first, and Dust Tornado
immediately removed Arena’s set Nobleman of Crossout. Kztoor then added Zombyra the Dark,
pushing through Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive and getting early damage on board.
Arena answered in the loudest possible way: Thunder Dragon loaded the Graveyard, and Black Luster
Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning came down. BLS attacked twice, removing both Berserk Gorilla and
Zombyra. For a moment, it looked like Arena had completely reversed the game.
Then Kztoor summoned Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer and used Shrink on BLS during battle. That was
the real turning point. BLS went down in combat, and the duel shifted back to Kztoor. Arena still tried to keep
playing with Tsukuyomi, Spirit Reaper, and eventually Premature Burial to bring BLS
back, but Kztoor had the next answer ready: Heavy Storm destroyed Premature Burial,
Raigeki Break, and the revived BLS along with them. That is one of those plays where the field does not
just get cleared; the opponent’s hopes get cleared too.
After that, the game turned into a resource grind. Ring of Destruction, D.D. Warrior Lady,
D.D. Assailant, Breaker the Magical Warrior, and Dekoichi all showed up, but Kztoor
stayed ahead in the exchange war and eventually took Game 1 with direct damage.
Game 2 had a very different texture. Arena opened with defensive cards like Gravity Bind,
Scapegoat, Sakuretsu Armor, and multiple copies of Nobleman of Crossout. Kztoor
started with Blade Knight, King Tiger Wanghu, and enough backrow removal to keep the pressure
going. Mystical Space Typhoon removed Sakuretsu Armor, and Dust Tornado later removed
Gravity Bind, so Arena’s defensive shell never fully locked the game.
There was a big sequence around King Tiger Wanghu. Kztoor tributed it for Zaborg the Thunder
Monarch, only for Bottomless Trap Hole to banish Zaborg after its effect removed
Mystic Swordsman LV2. Then Kztoor used Premature Burial to bring Wanghu back. Arena tried to
chain Scapegoat, but Solemn Judgment stopped it. Arena then tried Ring of Destruction
on Wanghu, and Kztoor used Book of Moon to dodge it. That one tiger caused enough paperwork to qualify
as a small government office.
Arena eventually removed Wanghu with Nobleman of Crossout, and Don Zaloog even discarded
Kztoor’s Jinzo. Unfortunately for Arena, Call of the Haunted brought that Jinzo
straight back. From there, Jinzo took over the duel. Arena had traps, but Jinzo made them sit quietly. Kztoor
kept pushing, cleared Mask of Darkness with Nobleman of Crossout, and finished the match with
attacks through Arena’s last defenses.
Kztoor won 2-0 and looked very sharp. The main story was not that Arena lacked power; Arena had BLS, defensive
traps, and grind tools. The issue was that Kztoor’s answers lined up perfectly: Shrink for BLS,
Heavy Storm for the revival play, and Jinzo for the trap wall.
Epydemius defeats Gaona 2-0
Gaona brought Gravekeepers, with Necrovalley, Rivalry of Warlords,
Gravekeeper’s Spear Soldier, Gravekeeper’s Spy, and the usual plan of making the opponent
play under uncomfortable restrictions. Gox, playing as Epydemius, went in the
opposite direction: large monsters, Skill Drain, and the kind of pressure that asks one simple question:
“Can you actually remove this, or are we done here?”
Game 1 started well for Gaona. Necrovalley came down immediately, Rivalry of Warlords was set,
and Gravekeeper’s Assailant tried to establish early field presence. Epydemius summoned
Zombyra the Dark, and when Scapegoat entered the picture, Gaona punished it with
Gravekeeper’s Spear Soldier. Piercing through a Sheep Token for 2000 damage is exactly the kind of
Gravekeeper moment that makes the deck feel annoying in the best way.
Then came Heavy Storm.
Epydemius used Heavy Storm to wipe away Necrovalley, Rivalry of Warlords, and Gaona’s
set card. Gaona chained Book of Moon to put Gravekeeper’s Spear Soldier face-down, but that
only gave Epydemius an even cleaner follow-up: Nobleman of Crossout banished the Spear Soldier, and
Fusilier Dragon, the Dual-Mode Beast began attacking directly.
Gaona tried to rebuild with Gravekeeper’s Spy and later searched another Necrovalley with
Gravekeeper’s Commandant. For a moment, the Gravekeeper engine looked like it might recover.
But Epydemius had already shifted into big-monster mode. Giant Orc, Zombyra, and
Skill Drain kept Gaona’s monsters from generating enough value, and the pressure eventually became too
much.
Game 2 was more of the same, but with even more pain. Gaona opened with Pot of Greed,
Necrovalley, Rivalry of Warlords, and Gravekeeper’s Guard. He also had
Mystical Space Typhoon to remove a set Mage Power, which was a good start. But
Skill Drain flipped when Gaona tried to use Gravekeeper’s Guard, shutting off the bounce.
Newdoria traded with Gravekeeper’s Spear Soldier, and the game quickly became a battle of
raw stats.
Under Skill Drain, Epydemius’s monsters were exactly where they wanted to be. Zombyra the Dark,
Giant Orc, and Berserk Gorilla kept showing up. Gaona had some good defensive moments:
Sakuretsu Armor removed Zombyra, and Mirror Force destroyed two Giant Orcs
at once. But the threats did not stop.
The funniest part of the game was probably the pair of Berserk Gorilla attacks. One Gorilla is already
a problem. Two Gorillas attacking directly feels less like Yu-Gi-Oh! and more like a zoo accident. Gaona took
4000 damage from the Gorillas, then tried to stabilize with backrow and Rite of Spirit. Epydemius had
another Heavy Storm, clearing Skill Drain, Necrovalley, Rivalry, and the
revived line from Rite of Spirit. After that, Premature Burial brought back Giant Orc,
and Gaona was out of room.
Epydemius took the match 2-0. Gaona’s Gravekeeper plan had real openings, especially with Spear Soldier
and Necrovalley, but the match showed how brutal Heavy Storm and Skill Drain can be
against a deck trying to build a careful control board.
Grondal defeats Charly Goat 2-0
Charly Goat came into the match with a Zombie-flavored strategy using cards like
Pyramid Turtle, Gigantes, Injection Fairy Lily, Tribe-Infecting Virus,
and Ryu Kokki. Palacios, playing as Grondal2, answered with a more
classic control/Chaos shell: removal, tempo monsters, Thunder Dragon, Black Luster Soldier,
and enough small answers to keep Charly from ever getting comfortable.
Game 1 immediately showed the problem for Charly. He opened with Pyramid Turtle and set
Magic Cylinder, but Grondal summoned Exiled Force and removed Pyramid Turtle before it
could do anything useful in battle. Charly then tried to pressure with Gigantes, but
Book of Moon stopped the attack.
Charly also had Injection Fairy Lily, which is always scary because Lily turns any Life Point total into
a lie. Grondal handled it cleanly. Breaker the Magical Warrior removed Magic Cylinder, and
Premature Burial brought back Exiled Force to destroy Lily. It was a very clean answer to what
could have become the most annoying card on the field.
Charly was not done. Tribe-Infecting Virus removed Breaker, and later Call of the Haunted
revived Injection Fairy Lily. Lily did manage to swing for big damage, and for a moment it looked like
the match could flip. But Grondal kept drawing into answers. Tribe-Infecting Virus eventually discarded
D.D. Warrior Lady to destroy Lily, and Blade Knight finished Game 1 with a direct attack.
Game 2 started with Charly setting Raigeki Break and Sakuretsu Armor, while Grondal opened with
Thunder Dragon, Pot of Greed, and Hydrogeddon. Charly’s Sakuretsu Armor
answered the first Hydrogeddon, and Raigeki Break removed Tsukuyomi. For a few turns, Charly
looked stable.
Then came the big Charly push. He activated Heavy Storm, forcing Grondal to chain Scapegoat
and Legacy of Yata-Garasu. Charly summoned Tribe-Infecting Virus, discarded
Swords of Revealing Light, cleared all the Sheep Tokens, and attacked with Tribe plus
Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke for 3400 damage. That was the best turn Charly had in the match.
Unfortunately for him, Grondal’s next play was Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning.
With Tsukuyomi and Thunder Dragon in the Graveyard, Grondal summoned BLS and attacked twice,
destroying Tribe-Infecting Virus and Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke. The whole Charly field vanished
in one Battle Phase.
Charly set Magic Cylinder to try to survive, but Grondal used Raigeki Break to destroy it
before attacking. After that, Breaker the Magical Warrior joined BLS, and both monsters attacked
directly for the finish.
Grondal won 2-0. Charly had some dangerous moments, especially with Injection Fairy Lily in Game 1 and
the Heavy Storm plus Tribe push in Game 2, but Grondal’s answers were too efficient. When the
game finally reached BLS territory, it ended very quickly.
Replays
El Vic defeats Tego 2-1
This was one of the best matches of Round 1. CosteƱo, playing as El Vic,
brought a hybrid strategy with Elemental HERO Prisma, Elemental HERO Wildheart,
Lonefire Blossom, Sylvan Hermitree, Hydrogeddon, Mobius the Frost Monarch,
Miracle Fusion, and Black Luster Soldier. Castro, playing as
Tego, fought back with classic Warrior/control tools like D.D. Assailant,
Blade Knight, Don Zaloog, Injection Fairy Lily, Exiled Force,
Marshmallon, and plenty of removal.
Game 1 started with an immediate trade. Tego summoned D.D. Assailant, and El Vic summoned
Elemental HERO Prisma, sending Zombyra the Dark to the Graveyard by revealing
The Last Warrior from Another Planet. Prisma attacked into D.D. Assailant, and both monsters
were banished. It was a very NeoGoat opening: both players did something, and neither got to keep anything.
The first big swing came from El Vic. After Tego used Heavy Storm and summoned Blade Knight,
El Vic answered with his own Heavy Storm and then summoned Lonefire Blossom. Lonefire turned
into another Lonefire, and that one turned into Sylvan Hermitree. Hermitree attacked over
Blade Knight, giving El Vic the first real board advantage of the duel.
Tego removed Hermitree with Sakuretsu Armor, but El Vic kept rebuilding. Breaker the Magical Warrior
removed Call of the Haunted, and even though Tego tried to chain it for Blade Knight, the monster
was lost when Call left the field. Later, El Vic drew Pot of Greed, developed Gravekeeper’s Spy,
added Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer, and finally tributed for Mobius the Frost Monarch.
Mobius destroyed Tego’s set Sakuretsu Armor, and the combination of Mobius plus Kycoo attacked directly
for the end of Game 1. El Vic took the opener by turning small exchanges into a clean Monarch finish.
Game 2 was Tego’s turn to punch back. This game had one of the most familiar NeoGoat tragedies:
Don Zaloog connected and discarded Miracle Fusion from El Vic’s hand. Apparently
Miracle Fusion does not like staying in hand during tournaments. If there is a Don Zaloog nearby, that
card starts sweating.
El Vic had Royal Decree to slow down Tego’s traps, and he tried to pressure with Hydrogeddon.
Hydrogeddon even destroyed Sinister Serpent and summoned another copy from the Deck, which looked like
it could become a comeback. But Tego’s pressure was already serious. Injection Fairy Lily hit hard,
and when Lily starts paying 2000 Life Points, the opponent’s LP total starts disappearing like it owes money.
Tego forced the match to a third duel, setting up the best game of the series.
Game 3 was long and messy in the best way. El Vic opened with Elemental HERO Prisma and set
Bottomless Trap Hole. Tego answered with Spirit Reaper and Book of Moon. El Vic then
summoned Elemental HERO Wildheart, which became one of the most important cards of the duel. Wildheart
kept applying pressure while ignoring traps, and Tego had to use non-trap answers to deal with the rest of
El Vic’s board.
Torrential Tribute cleared Tego’s Breaker the Magical Warrior and Spirit Reaper,
while also taking El Vic’s Prisma. Then El Vic summoned Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning
by banishing Prisma and Zombyra. BLS banished Night Assailant, later came back with
Premature Burial, and banished Shining Angel. Tego answered with Smashing Ground once
and Exiled Force later, so BLS did not get to end the game by itself.
Tego defended well. Marshmallon burned El Vic for 1000, Sakuretsu Armor removed Prisma,
D.D. Warrior Lady banished Elemental HERO Wildheart, and Raigeki Break removed
D.D. Warrior Lady when El Vic tried to use it. The duel kept resetting, and both players had to keep
finding new threats.
The final stretch belonged to Hydrogeddon. El Vic summoned Hydrogeddon, attacked over
Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, triggered Hydrogeddon to summon another copy from the Deck, and
then pushed direct damage. Tego used Lightning Vortex to clear the Hydros, but El Vic had one more small
warrior line left. Reinforcement of the Army searched Exiled Force, and in the funniest possible
ending for a card named Exiled Force, it did not tribute itself for removal. It simply attacked directly for the
last 1000 damage.
El Vic won the match 2-1. This was the most back-and-forth series of the first round, and it showed how flexible
his hybrid deck could be. Plants, HERO cards, Monarchs, BLS, Hydrogeddon, and even Exiled Force as a final attacker:
the deck did a little bit of everything.
Replays
Elpipe9 defeats Totonatiuh 2-1
The last Round 1 match was the strangest one, and that is a compliment. Pipe, playing as
Elpipe9, faced Tona, playing as Totonatiuh. Pipe had a more
conventional control shell with Gravekeeper’s Spy, Mystic Swordsman LV2, Dekoichi,
Tsukuyomi, Raigeki Break, Dust Tornado, and defensive traps. Tona brought an
Exodia/Normal Monster strategy with Heart of the Underdog, Good Goblin Housekeeping,
Reload, Backup Soldier, Gravity Bind, Level Limit - Area B, and Normal
Monsters like Charcoal Inpachi and D.D. Trainer.
Game 1 was Pipe at full speed. Tona opened with Charcoal Inpachi, set Good Goblin Housekeeping,
and activated Messenger of Peace. Pipe activated Pot of Greed, summoned
Mystic Swordsman LV2, and began attacking the Normal Monster wall. When Tona tried to use
Shield & Sword to make Charcoal Inpachi enormous, Pipe answered with Raigeki Break.
Pipe then built a field with Blade Knight, Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, and
Mystic Swordsman LV2. The key backrow hit was Mystical Space Typhoon on
Backup Soldier, cutting off one of Tona’s best ways to recover Exodia pieces or Normal Monsters. Tona
never got enough time to assemble the engine, and Pipe took Game 1 with direct attacks.
Game 2 was the headline moment of the round.
Tona opened with multiple Exodia pieces already in hand, including copies of Right Arm of the Forbidden One
and Left Leg of the Forbidden One. Pipe tried to control the pace with Gravekeeper’s Spy,
Dust Tornado, Mystical Space Typhoon, Torrential Tribute, and
Compulsory Evacuation Device. He removed Ultimate Offering, forced
Good Goblin Housekeeping to chain, and kept attacking with Gravekeeper’s Spy and
Tsukuyomi.
But Tona kept drawing pieces. Good Goblin Housekeeping found Right Leg of the Forbidden One,
and after a few turns of surviving, Tona drew Exodia the Forbidden One itself. The log revealed all five
pieces: head, right leg, left arm, left leg, and right arm. Tona won Game 2 by Exodia.
It is always funny when Exodia actually works in a tournament match. You spend the whole duel thinking, “Surely
this pile will collapse before it gets there,” and then the forbidden grandpa shows up with both legs and both
arms like he was invited to dinner.
Game 3 was the long one. Pipe opened with Gravekeeper’s Spy, Torrential Tribute, and
Magic Cylinder. Tona set Good Goblin Housekeeping and Gravity Bind, then found
Heart of the Underdog. Once Heart started resolving, Tona’s deck began doing the silly thing it was
built to do: reveal Normal Monsters, draw more cards, shuffle with Reload, and keep looking for the
forbidden pieces.
The big turning point was Pipe’s Heavy Storm. After using Jar of Greed to draw into it, Pipe
activated Heavy Storm and destroyed a huge chunk of the board: his own Magic Cylinder and
Torrential Tribute, plus Tona’s Gravity Bind, Triangle Power,
Good Goblin Housekeeping, and multiple Heart of the Underdog cards. Tona chained
Good Goblin Housekeeping and drew more Exodia pieces, but the defensive wall was gone.
Pipe then attacked with everything: Dekoichi, two Gravekeeper’s Spy, Mystic Swordsman LV2,
and Night Assailant. It was not elegant. It was a pile of small monsters running across the table because
the floodgates were finally gone.
Tona kept fighting. Giant Trunade returned Pipe’s set card, Charcoal Inpachi attacked with help
from Triangle Power, and Level Limit - Area B tried to slow the game again. Pipe removed
Heart of the Underdog with Raigeki Break, and later Dust Tornado destroyed
Level Limit - Area B. Tona even summoned Exodia the Forbidden One as an actual monster, which
is always a sign that the plan has entered emergency mode. Pipe answered that with Sakuretsu Armor.
The duel continued with Tona summoning Exodia limbs as bodies, trying to survive behind high DEF Normal Monsters,
while Pipe kept clearing the way with Nobleman of Crossout, Compulsory Evacuation Device,
Exiled Force, and eventually Jinzo. It became a weird battle between a real deck trying to end
the game and an Exodia deck using its own body parts as emergency walls.
Pipe eventually took the final duel by keeping pressure on the field and removing Tona’s locks one by one.
Tona got the best single moment of the match with the Exodia win in Game 2, but Pipe won the full series 2-1.
Replays
Round 1 Results
EfraĆn defeated Ćngel Hdz 2-0
Castor / Kztoor defeated Arena Mty 2-0
Gox / Epydemius defeated Gaona 2-0
Palacios / Grondal defeated Charly Goat 2-0
CosteƱo / El Vic defeated Castro / Tego 2-1
Pipe / Elpipe9 defeated Tona / Totonatiuh 2-1
Round 1 Takeaways
The first round gave us a clear reminder of what this version of NeoGoat looks like right now. There are still
plenty of classic control tools, but the format is also full of strange engines, hybrid piles, and cards that can
suddenly decide a duel on their own.
Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning was everywhere as a closer, but it was not invincible.
Ćngel destroyed one with Offerings to the Doomed, Kztoor beat one in battle with Kycoo plus
Shrink, and Tego removed multiple BLS appearances with cards like Smashing Ground and
Exiled Force. BLS still did BLS things, but Round 1 showed that players are ready for it.
Heavy Storm might have been the real villain of the round. Epydemius used it to destroy Gaona’s
Necrovalley setup. Kztoor used it to punish Premature Burial and remove a revived BLS.
Pipe used it to blow open Tona’s defensive Exodia board. If this was Father’s Day, Heavy Storm was the
angry dad turning off the console.
The funniest story was Tona’s Exodia deck. It actually won a duel, and not by accident. Heart of the
Underdog, Good Goblin Housekeeping, and Normal Monsters did exactly what they were supposed to do.
The deck lost the match, but forcing Game 3 with Exodia is the kind of thing people will remember from the event.
The strongest performances of Round 1 came from players who combined pressure with timely answers. EfraĆn stayed
stable through Royal Decree and Jinzo. Kztoor answered BLS twice in different ways. Epydemius
overwhelmed Gravekeepers with big monsters and Skill Drain. Grondal waited for the right moment and let
BLS clean the board. El Vic survived a long match by changing roles every few turns. Pipe kept calm after losing
to Exodia and won the match anyway.
That is a pretty good start for a 12-player online tournament. Round 1 already had BLS swings, Skill Drain beatdown,
HERO/Plant chaos, Zombies trying to break through, and Exodia stealing a duel. Not bad for a Father’s Day event.
The dads may have had their day, but NeoGoat still belonged to whoever drew the better answer at the right time.
The Flaming Eternity NeoDraft brought together 21 players for five rounds of strange draft games, improvised win conditions, and exactly the kind of card appearances that make NeoGoat events worth documenting.
This is not a full turn-by-turn match report. The log was kept in true battlefield fashion: quick card names, scattered notes, and only the most important moments preserved. Round 2 was not recorded, so that round now belongs to history, speculation, and whoever remembers drawing the best topdeck.
Still, the surviving notes give us enough to tell the story: Chaos decks showed up repeatedly, Gatling Dragon became a major character, Zombies appeared early, Water Return tried to fight through a machine boss, and the final table came down to two Chaos players from earlier feature rounds.
Event Details
Format: Flaming Eternity NeoDraft
Players: 21
Rounds: 5
Round 2: Not recorded
Special Prize: OTS Pack 7 Gatling Dragon for the central player in the standings
Central Prize Winner:Bryan Vigil
In a 21-player event, the middle of the standings has a special kind of power. It is not first place, but it is not failure either. It is the mathematical center. The sacred neutral zone. The perfect place to award a Gatling Dragon.
That honor went to Bryan Vigil, who finished as the central player and won the OTS Pack 7 Gatling Dragon. A prize based on position, destiny, and probably a little bit of coin-flip energy.
Round 1 — Hydro Banisher vs. Zombies
Round 1 opened with Player A on Hydro Banisher against Player B on Zombies. The match log starts simply, but the cards already tell the story of a draft game trying to figure itself out.
Player A presented early pressure with Insect Knight, one of those plain-looking monsters that becomes very real when the format is draft and every body matters. Player B answered with Good Goblin Housekeeping, trying to turn a slower card into better future draws.
From there, Player A moved into Blade Rabbit, while Player B showed The Earth - Hex-Sealed Fusion. That alone already made the game feel like Flaming Eternity draft: normal monsters, fusion support, awkward utility, and both players trying to make every card do something useful.
Then the round escalated. Player A had Gatling Dragon, while Player B had Element Doom. Gatling Dragon showing up in Round 1 was a perfect preview of the event’s theme. This was not just another monster. This was a boss card, a threat, and eventually the same monster tied to the tournament’s central prize.
Round 3 gave us Chaos against Flip Chaos, which sounds like a normal Goat-era matchup until you remember this is NeoDraft and both decks are being held together by whatever the packs allowed.
The first recorded exchange was beautifully symmetrical: Golem Sentry on Player A’s side and Golem Sentry on Player B’s side. Nothing says “draft control game” like both players using the same bouncing wall to slow the duel down and make every summon feel temporary.
The next note gives the round a little more texture. Player A had Chiron the Mage, while Player B had Phoenix Wing Wind Blast. Chiron threatened to turn spells into backrow removal, while Phoenix Wing Wind Blast represented one of the most frustrating tempo answers available: discard a card, put the problem back on top, and make the opponent draw it again.
In a normal constructed deck, these are just cards. In draft, they are entire plans.
Round 4 featured a different Chaos player against Water Return. This round also produced the clearest boss-monster note of the event: Player B could not get rid of Gatling Dragon.
Player A brought out Gatling Dragon, while Player B had The Dark - Hex-Sealed Fusion. On paper, that sounds like both players had access to fusion-related power cards. In practice, the log makes the important part clear: Gatling Dragon stuck, and Player B could not answer it.
That is the nightmare of draft. Sometimes your opponent does not need a complicated engine. Sometimes they just resolve a monster that your deck cannot remove cleanly, and the rest of the game becomes a question of how long you can survive under it.
The later notes show Whirlwind Prodigy for Player A and Divine Dragon Ragnarok for Player B. Those are exactly the kind of cards that make this format funny. A small tribute-support monster and an old-school dragon body both ended up mattering enough to make the log.
But the headline of Round 4 was simple: Gatling Dragon stayed on the field, and Water Return could not get it off.
The final round brought together the Chaos player from Round 4 against the Chaos player from Round 3. After a draft full of strange card choices and uneven answers, the last recorded round came down to two Chaos decks fighting for position.
The first note is already very NeoDraft: Player A had Mecha-Dog Marron, while Player B had Threatening Roar, but the log notes that Threatening Roar was not used. That detail matters because sometimes the card sitting unused is just as memorable as the card that resolves. Maybe the timing never lined up. Maybe the pressure was not right. Maybe it was simply waiting for a turn that never came.
Then the game moved into fire and rebirth. Player A had Firebird, while Player B had Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys. That gave the final round a much bigger feel, with Phoenix representing one of the flashiest recurring threats a draft deck could hope to deploy.
The final card notes were Silent Doom for Player A and Spell Absorption for Player B. Silent Doom gave Player A access to revival lines, while Spell Absorption threatened to stretch the game by gaining 500 life points every time a spell resolved.
That is a very fitting final-round snapshot: a Chaos mirror where one player is trying to revive pressure, the other is trying to pad life points, and both decks are operating with whatever strange tools Flaming Eternity gave them.
The first sparring video featured Toons, and the deck produced one of the wildest turns of the day.
In the video, the Toon player summoned Toon Dark Magician, Toon Dark Magician Girl, Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning, and another monster in the same turn to push for the win.
That is the kind of board that makes the opponent check the graveyard, check the hand count, check the life totals, and then realize the duel is probably just over.
The second sparring video featured HEROs, and it came down to one of the cleanest topdeck moments you can ask for.
The HERO player was about to lose to Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning unless he found an answer. Then he drew Miracle Fusion.
That Miracle Fusion made Elemental HERO Shining Flare Wingman, whose massive attack power turned the entire game around and gave the HERO player the win.
Sometimes the answer to BLS is removal. Sometimes it is defense. And sometimes it is summoning a huge Shining Flare Wingman and ending the duel immediately.
The surviving log for this Flaming Eternity NeoDraft is short, but it captures the event’s personality well. The format was full of awkward monsters, strange utility cards, and boss threats that could take over games if the opponent did not have the exact answer.
Gatling Dragon was the event’s symbolic card in more than one way. It appeared in the recorded rounds, it dominated Round 4 when Water Return could not remove it, and it also served as the special central standings prize.
Congratulations to everyone who played, and especially to Bryan Vigil, winner of the central player prize: an OTS Pack 7 Gatling Dragon.
In Flaming Eternity NeoDraft, you can win the round, lose the round, or become the exact center of the universe. Bryan chose the third option.
One of the most interesting parts of a growing format is seeing what players are building outside the usual tournament reports. These decks show how the NeoGoat card pool keeps pushing players in different directions: some lists are aggressive and clean, others are explosive and risky, and some are built around a very specific win condition.
This time, we are featuring three decks shared by local players: Royal Decree Beat, Reasoning Gate, and Tyranno Infinity. Each one attacks the format from a completely different angle.
Deck 1 — Decree Good Stuff (Lauro Reyes)
The first deck is a very direct Royal Decree Beat strategy. This list already has a real local result behind it, finishing second place at a local NeoGames tournament. Instead of trying to win long trap wars, the deck wants to shut traps down completely and let its monsters, removal spells, and battle tricks do the work.
Hydrogeddon, Blade Knight, Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer, Don Zaloog, and Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke give the deck a strong aggressive core. Once Royal Decree is active, cards like Shrink, Book of Moon, Shield Crush, and Smashing Ground help control the field without relying on too many traps.
The deck also has several annoying monsters for specific situations. King Tiger Wanghu can punish small monsters, Elemental HERO Wildheart naturally ignores traps, and Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV6 gives the deck a stronger mid-game threat. If the duel goes long enough for both Graveyards to fill, Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning remains the card that can suddenly end the game.
# Main Deck
2 Blade Knight
2 Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
3 Hydrogeddon
1 Breaker the Magical Warrior
1 King Tiger Wanghu
1 Marshmallon
1 Don Zaloog
1 Tribe-Infecting Virus
1 Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV6
1 Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning
1 Spirit Reaper
1 Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke
1 Elemental HERO Wildheart
1 D.D. Warrior Lady
3 Shield Crush
1 Scapegoat
1 Premature Burial
1 Creature Swap
1 Enemy Controller
1 Nobleman of Crossout
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Pot of Greed
1 Heavy Storm
2 Book of Moon
3 Shrink
3 Smashing Ground
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute
3 Royal Decree
# Side Deck
1 Jinzo
1 Zaborg the Thunder Monarch
2 Mobius the Frost Monarch
1 Spell Canceller
2 Des Wombat
1 Dark Scorpion - Cliff the Trap Remover
1 Magic Cylinder
1 Ring of Destruction
1 Call of the Haunted
2 Soul Exchange
2 Raigeki Break
Deck 2 — Reasoning Gate Spell Explosion (Shure)
The second deck is a Reasoning Gate strategy, but this newer version is much more focused than the original idea. Instead of being only a pile of giant monsters waiting to be cheated out, the deck now has a clearer plan built around Reasoning, Monster Gate, Spell recursion, and explosive power turns.
Fusilier Dragon, the Dual-Mode Beast is one of the most important cards in the list. It can be summoned easily, used as tribute material for Monster Gate, or converted into powerful Fusion monsters through Metamorphosis. It also keeps the Level spread awkward for the opponent when they have to guess for Reasoning.
Sacred Crane is another key card because it replaces itself when Special Summoned. If it comes out through Reasoning or Monster Gate, the deck gains a body and a draw at the same time, which helps keep the combo going. This makes the deck feel less fragile than a normal high-roll strategy.
The boss monster package is still dangerous. Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning, Dark Magician of Chaos, Jinzo, Blowback Dragon, and Airknight Parshath all punish the opponent if a single power Spell resolves cleanly. A wrong Level call against Reasoning can quickly turn into a huge board.
One of the smartest details in the list is Good Goblin Housekeeping. Since Reasoning and Monster Gate send cards from the Deck to the Graveyard, they can naturally send extra copies of Good Goblin Housekeeping there. That makes the next copy much stronger, letting the deck draw more cards when it finally activates one.
Good Goblin Housekeeping also helps fix one of the deck’s most awkward problems: drawing the wrong boss monster. If Dark Magician of Chaos shows up in the hand when the deck wanted to Special Summon it instead, Housekeeping can put it back into the Deck while still digging for more combo pieces. That small interaction makes the card more than just a draw trap here.
The other major engine card is Magical Stone Excavation. This card lets the deck recover important Spells such as Reasoning, Monster Gate, Dimension Fusion, Giant Trunade, or Heavy Storm. With enough cards in hand, the deck can reuse the exact Spell it needs for another push.
The Extra Deck is now much better prepared for both Cyber-Stein and Metamorphosis. Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon gives Cyber-Stein a huge immediate threat, while Gatling Dragon, King Dragun, Ryu Senshi, Dark Balter the Terrible, Thousand-Eyes Restrict, The Last Warrior from Another Planet, and Fiend Skull Dragon give the deck several different Fusion options depending on the monster Levels available.
The Side Deck also gives the strategy several alternate angles. Royal Decree, Mobius the Frost Monarch, and Mirage Dragon help against trap-heavy decks. The End of Anubis can attack Graveyard-based strategies, while Fiend's Sanctuary creates extra tribute material for Monster Gate or larger monsters. The deck can side into a heavier monster plan without losing its explosive identity.
# Main Deck
1 Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning
1 Dark Magician of Chaos
3 Fusilier Dragon, the Dual-Mode Beast
1 Jinzo
1 Blowback Dragon
1 Airknight Parshath
3 Sacred Crane
1 Cyber-Stein
1 Sinister Serpent
1 Dimension Fusion
1 Giant Trunade
1 Heavy Storm
3 Monster Gate
2 Metamorphosis
1 Pot of Greed
3 Reasoning
1 Lightning Vortex
2 Monster Reincarnation
1 Brain Control
2 Magical Stone Excavation
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Book of Moon
1 Scapegoat
1 Premature Burial
3 Good Goblin Housekeeping
1 Ring of Destruction
1 Call of the Haunted
# Extra Deck
2 Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon
2 Gatling Dragon
2 King Dragun
1 Ryu Senshi
2 Dark Balter the Terrible
1 Thousand-Eyes Restrict
1 Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon
1 Dark Blade the Dragon Knight
1 The Last Warrior from Another Planet
1 Fiend Skull Dragon
# Side Deck
1 Tyrant Dragon
1 Gilford the Lightning
2 The End of Anubis
2 Mobius the Frost Monarch
2 Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World
1 Mirage Dragon
1 Mirror Force
3 Royal Decree
2 Fiend's Sanctuary
Deck 3 — Tyranno Infinity Banish (Dark Raichu)
The third deck is much more focused around a single win condition: making Tyranno Infinity enormous by banishing Dinosaurs. It is simple, direct, and very scary if the opponent gives it enough time to set up.
The Dinosaur core is very clean. Hydrogeddon, Destroyersaurus, Sabersaurus, Hyper Hammerhead, and Oxygeddon give the deck enough Dinosaur names to support both aggression and graveyard setup. Unexpected Dai helps put pressure on the board early, while Foolish Burial can prepare Dinosaurs for later banish plays.
The banish engine is where the deck becomes dangerous. Survival Instinct, Soul Release, and Bazoo the Soul-Eater all help load the removed-from-play zone. Once enough Dinosaurs are banished, Tyranno Infinity can become one of the biggest threats in the format.
The deck also has a very explosive finisher with Return from the Different Dimension. Even if the opponent survives the first huge Tyranno Infinity, Return can suddenly bring back multiple banished monsters and turn the duel into a complete disaster.
Gigantes seems like a good card for this deck and not included yet.
The Side Deck continues the same theme while adding disruption. Banisher of the Radiance, Chain Disappearance, D.D. Dynamite, and Big Burn all make sense in a strategy where the banished zone already matters. This gives the deck some nasty tools against Graveyard strategies and slower decks that are not ready for a huge Dinosaur swing.
# Main Deck
3 Tyranno Infinity
3 Hydrogeddon
3 Destroyersaurus
3 Sabersaurus
2 Hyper Hammerhead
1 Oxygeddon
2 Bazoo the Soul-Eater
1 Breaker the Magical Warrior
1 Tribe-Infecting Virus
2 Unexpected Dai
2 Foolish Burial
2 Soul Release
2 Book of Moon
1 Jurassic World
1 Pot of Greed
1 Heavy Storm
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Premature Burial
1 Nobleman of Crossout
3 Survival Instinct
1 Return from the Different Dimension
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Ring of Destruction
# Side Deck
2 Dust Tornado
2 Nobleman of Crossout
2 Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
2 Chain Disappearance
1 Lightning Vortex
1 Giant Trunade
2 Banisher of the Radiance
1 D.D. Dynamite
1 Big Burn
1 Miracle Jurassic Egg
Final Thoughts
These three decks show very different sides of NeoGoat. Royal Decree Beat already proved itself with a second-place finish at NeoGames, Reasoning Gate shows how explosive the format can become when Spell recursion and Special Summons line up, and Tyranno Infinity turns the banished zone into a direct win condition.
That variety is exactly what makes local deck sharing valuable. Even when a deck is still being tested, it gives the community new ideas, new problems to solve, and new threats to prepare for before the next tournament.
The June 11 NeoGoat local brought in 22 players. The event went to 5 rounds, and by the end of the night the standings were extremely tight: five different players finished with a 4-1 record.
It was also one of the more chaotic tournaments we have had recently. A registration mistake with some Round 1 results affected later pairings, and by the time the issue was noticed, Round 4 had already started. The tournament continued from there, producing a strange but memorable final stretch where tiebreakers ended up deciding the final order.
Round 1 — Zombies vs Dino Chaos Loaner
Round 1 featured a Zombie deck against a player testing the new Dino Chaos loaner deck. The Dino Chaos strategy brought a different angle to the tournament, combining aggressive Dinosaur pressure with Chaos tools, but Zombies were able to take the match.
Zombie decks remain a dangerous part of the NeoGoat field because they can pressure early, recur threats, and force opponents to answer the same monsters more than once. In this match, that stability was enough to overcome the newer loaner strategy.
Round 2 — Warrior Mirror Match
Round 2 was a Warrior mirror match, a matchup where small tempo swings can quickly decide the duel. Both players had access to similar pressure tools, but the match was eventually decided by one of the strongest finishers in the format: Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning.
The winning Warrior player pushed with BLS while the opponent only had Call of the Haunted available as defense. It was not enough to stop the attack, and the BLS finish gave the Warrior player the win.
Round 3 — Warrior vs Harpie Lady
In Round 3, the Warrior player from the previous featured match faced a Harpie Lady deck. The Harpie player was still learning how to pilot the deck, but even with that, the deck showed why it can be dangerous when its engine starts moving.
The ability to pressure and remove multiple Spell and Trap cards was decisive against Warrior. On top of that, Harpie Lady 1 and the field spell helped the Harpies reach higher attack values, allowing them to challenge Warrior monsters directly instead of only relying on backrow removal.
Even though Warrior had already shown strong results earlier in the tournament, the Harpie deck managed to take the win and move forward as one of the most interesting decks of the night.
Round 4 — Harpie Lady vs Gadget HERO
When Round 4 started, several players noticed that the pairings looked strange. Some players who had already lost were paired against players who were still undefeated. After reviewing the situation, it was discovered that some Round 1 results had been registered incorrectly.
Since Round 4 had already started, the tournament continued with the current pairings. This made the rest of the event a little messy, but it also created a very unusual final standings situation.
The featured match was Harpie Lady against a new Gadget HERO deck. This strategy used the Gadget engine for steady advantage while including only the necessary HERO pieces, such as Elemental HERO Wildheart, Miracle Fusion, and the new Fusion option Elemental HERO Gaia.
During the match, the Harpie player made an invalid play while still learning the deck, summoning Sky Scout and then using Elegant Egotist. The Gadget player did not notice the error, and the duel continued. This time, the Gadget HERO deck was able to take the match.
Round 5 — Decree Beat vs Gadget HERO
Because of the high number of players, the tournament went to a fifth round. The final featured match placed the undefeated Gadget HERO player against a veteran player using Decree Beat, who had already taken one loss earlier in the tournament.
Then, the veteran player won, leaving no undefeated players in the tournament.
One of the key cards in the match was Don Zaloog. Decree Beat used it to attack the Gadget HERO player’s hand and discard important cards, including Miracle Fusion. This was strangely similar to what happened in Tuesday’s tournament, where Miracle Fusion was also discarded at the worst possible moment.
At this point, Miracle Fusion may need its own bodyguard. Every time a HERO player finally has it ready, some monster shows up and throws it directly into the Graveyard.
Decree Beat managed to stop Gadget HERO from finishing undefeated, creating a final standings table with five players at 4-1. After the tournament software calculated the tiebreakers, the Good Stuff player finished in first place, the Gadget HERO player finished second, and the Decree Beat player who won the final featured match finished third.
Final Standings
Place
Player
Deck
Record
1st
Luis Roberto Palacios Cortines
Good Stuff
4-1
2nd
Lorska Martinez
Gadget HERO
4-1
3rd
Eduardo Perales (Guest_0001)
Decree Beat
4-1
Final Thoughts
This was not the cleanest tournament from an organizational standpoint, but it was still a very valuable night for the format. The field had a lot of variety, including Water Umi decks, Harpies, Warriors, Zombies, Dino Chaos, Gadget HERO, Decree Beat, and several new tech choices appearing across the room.
The June 2026 NeoGoat environment continues to evolve quickly. Even in a chaotic tournament, the result showed that many different strategies can still compete, and that new decks like Gadget HERO are already beginning to find their place in the format.
The June 9 NeoGoat local tournament brought together 17 players for a full 5-round event. With the June 2026 environment now shaping up, this tournament gave players another look at how Monarch variants, Good Stuff decks, Warriors, Skill Drain strategies, and Phoenix Blade HERO builds are adapting to the new season.
Table 1 was recorded throughout the event, giving a clear view of several important matches from the night. Monarch strategies had a very strong showing, especially the Earth Monarch deck, which managed to fight through multiple different matchups and finish the tournament on top.
Round 1 — Earth Monarch vs Monarch
Round 1 opened with a Monarch mirror-style matchup, as Earth Monarch faced another Monarch deck.
Both decks were trying to establish tribute pressure and control the pace of the duel through removal, defensive traps, and powerful summons. In the end, the Earth Monarch deck came out ahead, showing that its mix of sturdy monsters, tribute threats, and flexible answers could handle another deck playing a similar game plan.
Round 2 — Good Stuff vs Skill Drain Plant
Round 2 featured Good Stuff against a Skill Drain Plant deck.
Skill Drain can be difficult to fight because it changes the value of many classic NeoGoat monsters, forcing players to rely more on raw stats, battle tricks, and spell/trap removal. However, the Good Stuff deck managed to navigate the matchup well and take the win.
This match showed the strength of playing a flexible deck that can still function when monster effects are shut down. Good Stuff did not need one single combo to win; it was able to keep playing through disruption and use its higher card quality to close the match.
Round 3 — Warrior vs Earth Monarch
Round 3 was one of the most interesting matches of the night: Warrior against Earth Monarch.
The first two duels were very fast, with both players quickly pushing through their main lines of play. The third duel was completely different. It turned into a long and tense game where the Warrior player appeared to be ahead for a large part of the duel.
Warrior had pressure, resources, and a strong field, but the Earth Monarch deck kept buying time. After many turns, the Warrior player was close to decking out and had only 50 Life Points remaining. Both players had many cards on the field, creating a complicated board where one correct removal sequence could decide everything.
The key moment came when the Monarch player used Mobius the Frost Monarch to clear the Warrior player’s backrow. That opened the path for an attack into Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning, and with Shrink used at the right time, the Earth Monarch deck managed to steal the win from a position where Warrior had been threatening to take control.
Round 4 — Earth Monarch vs Phoenix Blade HERO
Round 4 matched two undefeated decks: Earth Monarch against the Phoenix Blade HERO loaner deck.
Phoenix Blade HERO is capable of explosive turns thanks to Divine Sword - Phoenix Blade, HERO fusion pressure, and Warrior-based resource loops. However, the Earth Monarch deck was able to keep the match under control and won 2-0.
One of the biggest factors in the match was Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch. In both games, Thestalos discarded the Miracle Fusion that the Phoenix Blade HERO player needed, cutting off an important comeback route and preventing the deck from turning its Graveyard setup into fusion pressure.
This result was important because both players entered the round undefeated. The Monarch deck proved that it could not only win long defensive games, but also stop a deck with strong offensive and combo potential before it got out of hand.
Round 5 — Good Stuff vs Earth Monarch
The final round featured Good Stuff against Earth Monarch.
This was one of the fastest-paced matches of the tournament. Both players were clearly experienced and played quickly, making decisions without wasting time while still navigating a very important final-round match.
Good Stuff had already shown earlier in the tournament that it could handle difficult matchups, but Earth Monarch once again found a way to push through. The decisive moment came from an explosive Return from the Different Dimension turn, allowing the Monarch player to convert banished resources into immediate pressure and close the match.
Final Thoughts
This tournament was a strong showing for Monarch strategies, especially the Earth Monarch build. Across the event, it defeated other Monarchs, Warriors, Phoenix Blade HERO, and Good Stuff, showing that it has the tools to survive long games, answer pressure, and suddenly turn the corner with cards like Mobius the Frost Monarch, Shrink, and Return from the Different Dimension.
The June 2026 NeoGoat metagame is already starting to take shape. Monarchs look very real, Good Stuff remains consistent, Warriors still have dangerous openings, and decks like Skill Drain and Phoenix Blade HERO continue adding variety to the field.
With 17 players and five rounds, this was another competitive local event and another useful look at how the new season is developing.
