After the intense five rounds of the Forbidden Pact Tournament, the spotlight fell mostly on the victorious Gadget builds — but several other decks captured the crowd’s attention with creative strategies, explosive combos, and unexpected results.
Below we highlight three of the most notable lists that broke through the competition and proved that even in a limited format, innovation thrives.
🦅 4th Place – Harpie Control
Deck Type: Tempo-based Winged Beast control
Core Cards: Harpie Lady 1, Elegant Egotist, Harpie’s Hunting Ground, Hysteric Party
This Harpie build stood out as the highest-finishing non-Monarch, non-Gadget deck. Its plan revolved around Harpie’s Hunting Ground, turning every summon into removal while applying steady pressure with boosted ATK values.
Without Heavy Storm or Breaker in circulation, Hunting Ground became even more threatening — punishing defensive setups while maintaining constant board presence.
Main Deck:
1x Harpie Lady Sisters
1x Zaborg the Thunder Monarch3x Harpie Queen
2x Silpheed
2x Birdface
3x Flying Kamakiri #1
3x Harpie Lady 1
1x Twin-Headed Behemoth
1x Lady Ninja Yae
3x Shield Crush
2x Terraforming
1x Graceful Charity
1x Brain Control
2x Elegant Egotist
1x Book of Moon
2x Enemy Controller
3x Harpies' Hunting Ground
1x Bottomless Trap Hole
1x Jar of Greed
3x Compulsory Evacuation Device
2x Blast with Chain
3x Hysteric Party
Key strengths:
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Reliable swarming with Elegant Egotist and Hysteric Party
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Built-in spell/trap control from Hunting Ground
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Resilient playstyle, easily shifting between offense and defense
Why it worked:
The format’s slower pace gave Harpies the breathing room to develop their field, and their ability to naturally answer backrow-heavy decks kept them relevant. This list reminded everyone that elegant play can still dominate in a field full of brute force.
Relinquished Deck
Main Deck:
1x Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning
3x Copycat
1x Lava Golem
2x Magical Exemplar
3x Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands
2x Senju of the Thousand Hands
2x Sonic Bird
3x Archfiend Soldier
1x Blue-Eyes White Dragon
1x Charcoal Inpachi
1x Dark Master - Zorc
3x Relinquished
1x Advanced Ritual Art
2x Black Illusion Ritual
2x Emergency Provisions
1x Fulfillment of the Contract
2x Metamorphosis
1x Dust Tornado
3x Good Goblin Housekeeping
2x Raigeki Break
3x Shadow Spell
Extra Deck:
1x Dark Balter the Terrible
3x Dark Flare Knight
1x Darkfire Dragon
1x Fiend Skull Dragon
2x Gatling Dragon
2x Meteor Black Dragon
1x Reaper on the Nightmare
1x Ryu Senshi
1x St. Joan
2x Thousand-Eyes Restrict
Side Deck:
1x Magical Scientist
3x Mirage Knight
3x Zombyra the Dark
3x Deck Devastation Virus
2x Dust Tornado
3x Sakuretsu Armor
Centered around Relinquished control, the deck used Metamorphosis to access Thousand-Eyes Restrict early, slowing down the game while preparing its signature combo.
Then came the twist:
In the Side Deck lurked Magical Scientist — if the opponent has a monster with more that 2200 ATK, summon three Dark Flare Knights, followed by Mirage Knight for an instant OTK.
While the main strategy was control-oriented, the scientist-side transformation gave the deck explosive finishing potential when opponents least expected it.
Key strengths:
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Excellent stalling and resource absorption through Relinquished
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Access to the powerful Thousand-Eyes Restrict lock
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One-turn kill potential after siding
Shadow Spell purpose was to keep opponent monster on field to absorb with Relinquished and have something to attack the opponent.
Emergency Provisions combo with Relinquished, Good Goblin House Keeping (which also can return the normal monsters to the deck to use the Advanced Ritual Art, or also a Shadow Spell that stood on the field.
Why it stood out:
This hybrid of control and combo reflected the true “Forbidden Pact” spirit — bending the format’s limits to surprise even seasoned duelists.
🔥 Horus Fire Deck – The Burning Ascension
Deck Type: Fire Aggro and Banishing
Core Cards: Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV6 & LV8, Spirit of Flames, Bazoo the Soul-Eater, Gren Maju Da Eiza
An unorthodox creation that combined Horus’s negation ability with Fire’s aggression and Gren Maju’s scaling attack power.
The deck used Bazoo to banish monsters, simultaneously empowering Gren Maju which is fire and can be recovered along with Horus LV4 by the spell Oil.
Why it was interesting:
This deck managed to fuse aggressive burn potential with control-oriented boss monsters — a combination rarely seen but surprisingly effective. It didn’t reach top 4, yet it delivered several strong wins and captivated attention for its originality.
Other Decklists
Beyond these standout builds, the tournament also featured a variety of other ideas:
These decks embodied the true NeoGoat spirit — innovation in the face of restriction.
While Gadgets and Monarchs claimed the highest ranks, these players gave us the most memorable duels of the event, reminding everyone why NeoGoat remains a format where old cards still have new tricks to show.
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