Tuesday 24 July 2012

Standardising the April 2005 Format

Hello blogosphere. Today I present you all with one of my pet projects that I have been ardently devoted to. That of course would be the recreation of the April 2005 format, more commonly referred to as the Goat Control format. I wasn't made aware of any standardised set up for this, and the community seemed to be a little everywhere because of how recent the upsurge in demand for this format is.

Again, as stated in my previous blog entry, I attribute the start of this demand to Michael Bonacini. I plan to contact him fairly soon since he has more direct experience of the format whereas my knowledge lies primarily on the logistical side of things

When I was first setting this up, I noticed the Yu-Gi-Oh! Wikia's record of this format's Forbidden & Limited list was inaccurate, so I spent a little time with a few veterans of the format to ensure that the list we would be using was entirely accurate. Another pressing matter was set legality. For now, I and the others on Pojo are fairly settled on using the pre-CRV TCG legality. The only disparity between the TCG and OCG at this time was the fact that the OCG was a few sets ahead of the TCG (with the post-CRV sets having a fairly negative impact on the game) and a few exclusives like Crush Card Virus and Foolish Burial (again, fairly negative impact).

Once we had that established, it became apparent that people were trying to abuse the format by building solitaire decks such as OTK decks, burn decks, mill decks, stall decks, etc. These were all present in the format and although they had no substantial advantage, it's fairly safe to say that they took away from the overall game state. Other decks like Warrior Chaos, Zombies or Apprentice Monarchs, however, are acceptable.

To solve this problem with out detracting from the authenticity of the format, I devised an Honour Bans system. What this essentially is is a sub-F/L list that is completely optional. It forbids cards that specifically detract from the game whilst leaving the natural gameplay unchanged.

With all that said, here are the lists for this format. It should provide you with everything you need to know to play the format:

The Official April 2005 Forbidden & Limited Card List
Forbidden
• Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End
• Fiber Jar
• Magical Scientist
• Makyura the Destructor
• Witch of the Black Forest
• Yata-Garasu

• Butterfly Dagger - Elma
• Change of Heart
• Confiscation
• Dark Hole
• Harpie's Feather Duster
• Mirage of Nightmare
• Monster Reborn
• Painful Choice
• Raigeki
• The Forceful Sentry

• Imperial Order

Limited
• Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning
• Breaker the Magical Warrior
• Cyber Jar
• D.D. Warrior Lady
• Dark Magician of Chaos
• Exiled Force
• Exodia the Forbidden One
• Injection Fairy Lily
• Jinzo
• Left Arm of the Forbidden One
• Left Leg of the Forbidden One
• Marshmallon
• Morphing Jar
• Protector of the Sanctuary
• Reflect Bounder
• Right Arm of the Forbidden One
• Right Leg of the Forbidden One
• Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys
• Sangan
• Sinister Serpent
• Tribe-Infecting Virus
• Twin-Headed Behemoth

• Card Destruction
• Deliquient Duo
• Graceful Charity
• Heavy Storm
• Lightning Vortex
• Mage Power
• Mystical Space Typhoon
• Pot of Greed
• Premature Burial
• Snatch Steal
• Swords of Revealing Light
• United We Stand
• Call Of The Haunted
• Ceasefire
• Deck Devastation Virus
• Exchange of the Spirit
• Magic Cylinder
• Mirror Force
• Reckless Greed
• Ring of Destruction
• Torrential Tribute

Semi-Limited
• Abyss Soldier
• Dark Scorpion - Chick the Yellow
• Manticore of Darkness
• Marauding Captain
• Night Assailant
• Vampire Lord

• Creature Swap
• Emergency Provisions
• Level Limit - Area B
• Nobleman of Crossout
• Reinforcement of the Army
• Upstart Goblin

• Good Goblin Housekeeping
• Gravity Bind
• Last Turn

Note that neither Crush Card Virus nor Sixth Sense had TCG prints at this time.


Honour Bans
• Cyber Jar

• Dimension Fusion
• Level Limit - Area B
• Monster Gate
• Reasoning
• Wave-Motion Cannon

• Gravity Bind
• Last Turn

- Cyber Jar was banned to prevent mill decks and OTKs.
- Dimension Fusion was banned to prevent OTKs.
- Wave-Motion Cannon was banned to prevent OTKs and burn (this was a serious issue).
- Monster Gate and Reasoning were banned to kill OTK engines.
- Level Limit - Area B and Gravity Bind were banned to kill stall, burn and mill.

April 2005 TCG Set Legality

Booster Packs
• LOB - Legend of Blue Eyes White Dragon
• MRD - Metal Raiders
• MRL - Magic Ruler
• SRL - Spell Ruler
• PSV - Pharaoh's Servant
• LON - Labyrinth of Nightmare
• LOD - Legacy of Darkness
• PGD - Pharaonic Guardian
• MFC - Magician's Force
• DCR - Dark Crisis
• IOC - Invasion of Chaos
• AST - Ancient Sanctuary
• SOD - Soul of the Duelist
• ROD - Rise of Destiny
• FET - Flaming Eternity
• TLM - The Lost Millennium

Starter Decks
• SDY - Yugi
• SDK - Kaiba
• SDP - Pegasus
• SDJ - Joey
• SKE - Kaiba Evolution
• SYE - Yugi Evolution

Structure Decks
• SD1 - Dragon's Roar
• SD2 - Zombie Madness
• SD3 - Blaze of Destruction
• SD4 - Fury from the Deep

Tin Promos
• BPT - 2002 and 2003 Collector's Tins
• CT1 - 2004 Collector's Tins
• CT2 - 2005 Collector's Tins

Special Editions
• IOC-SE - Invasion of Chaos SE
• ROD-SE - Rise of Destiny SE
• TLM-SE - The Lost Millennium SE

TCG Reprint Sets
• DB1 - Dark Beginning 1
• DB2 - Dark Beginning 2
• DR1 - Dark Revelation Volume 1
• DR2 - Dark Revelation Volume 2
• DR3 - Dark Revelation Volume 3

Tournament Packs
• TP1 - Tournament Pack 1
• TP2 - Tournament Pack 2
• TP3 - Tournament Pack 3
• TP4 - Tournament Pack 4
• TP5 - Tournament Pack 5
• TP6 - Tournament Pack 6

Jump Magazine Subscription Cards
• Blue-Eyes White Dragon
• Red-Eyes B. Dragon
• Archfiend of Gilfer
• Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon

Miscellaneous Sets
• MP1 - McDonald's Promotional Cards
• PT1 - Pharaoh's Tour Championship Prize Cards 2005

Miscellaneous Cards
• Kanan the Swordsmistress
• Black Luster Soldier
• Firewing Pegasus

3 comments:

  1. Good stuff, like the whole point of playing Goat Control format is to get away from the OTK's and degenerate bullcrap that the current format has and thus enjoy more slow-paced and drawn out games, so why people would build such strategies for Goat format is beyond my comprehension.

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  2. Also, it's good to see you blogging again

    ReplyDelete