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Anteaus'
History of Yu-Gi-Oh!
Zoo is a popular deck in Goat Control. It is perhaps the
most-seen alternative to the Standard Goat deck and is one
of the most powerful decks in the format. Whereas Standard
Goat wins by slowly generating advantage and picking its
battles, Zoo’s gameplan is much more simple: drop beatsticks
and force your opponent to deal with threats immediately.
When building your gauntlet, Zoo should be the first deck
that you build, after Standard Goats of course, regardless
of the deck you plan to run through the gauntlet. Zoo is the
natural evolution of several old-school builds in Warrior
Toolbox and Beastdown, fusing the two concepts into one raw,
powerful deck. It has proven to be a good opposite to most
Standard Goat builds, tech included. It eschews those slow,
methodical advantage-generating cards for pure power and
pressure. I think Jazz said it well when he said “it is the
antithesis of the Standard Goat deck.” Zoo wants to put
immediate, consistent pressure on the opponent, and fits
well as a counter to the Standard Goat build. It’s a
surprisingly viable strategy in modern Goat Format and one
of the biggest threats you’re likely to face if you play
online or IRL.
This article will tackle the deck in two parts: first, a
brief overview about the deck, how it functions and what its
power plays are. Second will be potential ways to counter
it. The second part will be written mainly for Standard Goat
players, as it’s the most popular deck in the format, though
the cards I talk about can work in a variety of different
decks.
Let’s take a look at a sample Zoo build:
Monsters - 17
2x Abyss Soldier
3x Berserk Gorilla
1x Breaker the Magical Warrior
2x D.D. Assailant
1x D.D. Warrior Lady
3x Exarion Universe
1x Exiled Force
1x Mystic Swordsman LV2
1x Sangan
1x Sinister Serpent
1x Tribe-Infecting Virus
Spells - 11
1x Delinquent Duo
1x Graceful Charity
1x Heavy Storm
1x Mystical Space Typhoon
2x Nobleman of Crossout
1x Pot of Greed
1x Premature Burial
2x Reinforcement of the Army
1x Snatch Steal
Traps - 12
1x Call of the Haunted
1x Dust Tornado
1x Mirror Force
1x Ring of Destruction
2x Sakuretsu Armor
3x Solemn Judgment
1x Torrential Tribute
2x Trap Dustshoot
Notice immediately how the deck runs all of zero Flip Effect
monsters and only eleven Spells, but a whopping twelve Trap
Cards. This is not surprising - advantage is gained on the
field in the form of winning battles and maintained the same
way. Maintaining constant board presence is the key to
winning with Zoo, putting immediate and constant pressure in
the form of high-ATK monsters. You want to try to keep your
opponent’s monster zones clear to prevent cards like
Airknight Parshath and Jinzo from stopping your aggression.
This is where the adapted Warrior Toolbox comes into play.
Reinforcement of the Army searches for one-card outs to
problems in the form of your three D.D. monsters, Exiled
Force and Mystic Swordsman LV2. Those cards are powerful
ways to continue to exert pressure without having to give up
any sort of board presence. The D.D.’s can be used
aggressively to pressure your opponent, but if your opponent
does happen to be able to get over D.D. Assailant,
Assailant will take whatever killed it with it to the banish
pile. By using the sheer power of the Beasts and
Beast-Warriors with the versatility of the Warrior toolbox,
Zoo can completely dominate a match by outgunning their
opponents.
Monsters in the deck come in two main varieties: outers,
such as the Warriors and Abyss Soldier, and beaters, notably
Berserk Gorilla and Exarion Universe. Abyss Soldier is an
interesting choice, and one that really merits mention.
Through my own personal testing I’m finding that, while
situational, Abyss Soldier can help blow a game wide-open
especially when combined with Sinister Serpent. It is an
effective 1800 ATK beatstick as well, meaning it’ll likely
last more than one turn on the board. It is a perfect
compliment to the rest of the lineup and gives the deck
extra outs to problem cards.
The Spell lineup gets rid of cards like Book of Moon (due to
lack of Flips) and Scapegoat. These don’t generate any sort
of plusses, hence the high Trap count. But its spells all
generate some sort of advantage, either in the form of the
Trinity or something like RotA. Reinforcements of the Army
is a great toolbox card, giving you access to three
different D.D. monsters, Exiled Force and Mystic Swordsman
as means of spot removal. You can use RotA to clear
problematic monsters like Jinzo and other high-ATK beaters
without losing out on board presence, which is what this
deck aims to do.
The Trap lineup is beefier than what you normally see in
Goat Format, and this is to Zoo’s advantage. Solemn Judgment
and Trap Dustshoot are incredibly potent additions,
especially the former. Zoo can’t handle bigger beaters
without having to spend resources to out them. Cards like
Royal Decree and Jinzo also hurt the deck, as does backrow
removal. As such, Judgment acts as the last line of defense,
literally, for the deck; if a big beater comes out Judgment
can negate the summon, and if the opponent drops Heavy,
Judgment can protect your backrow reliably.
Trap Dustshoot is an aggressive choice in the deck as it
gives you information and allows you to play the right
monster at the right time. This is crucial, as the deck has
a harder time functioning in the mid and late games. If the
game becomes a grind, Zoo will often lose out to advantage
alone, so long as the opponent is a decent player. This is
the deck’s biggest weakness - if it fizzles out before the
opponent is out of options, it’s almost an auto-lose.
However, if both players are essentially top-decking, Zoo
often comes out on top simply because of how versatile its
monster lineup is.
So how do you beat it?
Luckily, Zoo can rarely OTK, about on par with Standard
Goats, so fighting against it comes down more to how you
play your cards and react to situations than actual side
deck options. Zaborg the Thunder Monarch is a great out to
this deck, as it gets over Berserk Gorilla and makes a lot
of their monsters less potent. Most Standard Goat builds
play few outs to the Gorilla’s 2000 ATK, so that’s a
priority. Knowing that backrow is a factor, a card such as
Royal Decree can seriously set them back as well, especially
when combined with something like a Monarch in place of
Parshath.
Another problem is the multiple Exarion Universes. Cards
like Bottomless Trap Hole can help, as Zoo relies heavily on
its normal summon, so getting ahead of the summon can make
all the difference in the world against Zoo. Bottomless can
stop most of its beaters from ever seeing the light of day,
too, and even saw play back in 2005. It’s worth considering
if you’re having trouble keeping up with Zoo’s inherent
speed. Zoo is capable of putting a beater on board most
every turn, and the last thing you want to see is a field
full of monsters. Therefore, waiting for opportunities to
grind out some plusses and striking when you see the deck
starting to slow down is the real key to victory.
In terms of specific side options, Zaborg can be subbed in
for Airknight to overcome problem monsters. Royal Decree can
preempt their traps, notably Judgment, especially if you can
drop it and protect it early in the game. Dust Tornado is a
great counter to many of the traps you will see, too,
stopping them before they ever have a chance to use them,
but you should probably choose one over the other. A good
move would be to side out Dust Tornado for Decree, though it
depends on your playstyle and how you want to approach it.
Trap Dustshoot can also be used to overcome some of Zoo’s
more problematic monsters. Shuffling them back into the deck
may only delay their arrival, but you gain a lot of
information and can formulate a better strategy to
countering what they do. It’s a powerful card and a potent
counter, especially if Zoo opens with only one or two
monsters.
I recommend that you build it for yourself and test it. In
my testing, I’ve found the deck to be surprisingly
consistent with few real weaknesses. The trap lineup is
usually enough to keep the monster count on board low, and
the monster lineup allows you to put constant pressure on
your opponent. The deck revels in your opponent making
suboptimal plays to overcome your beaters, making them play
right into your strategy through sheer lack of options. I’m
actually surprised more people have yet to play Zoo. It’s
competitive, reliable and a good alternative to Standard
Goats.
That’s it for this week’s edition of Building the Gauntlet.
Make sure to get out there and test and, most importantly,
have fun with it! Hit me up at
anteausonyugioh@gmail.com
with questions or comments, and visit the Goat Format
Official Thread here on the forums for more news and
information about the format.
If you have questions or concerns, or would like to discuss
Goats or anything else, feel free to contact me any time at
anteausonyugioh@gmail.com.
.
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