Lockdown Burn

Series Introduction

I’ve never been one to follow the popular trends and strategies in the various card games I play. Every game and format will have its collection of “best” decks that the majority of players will sleeve up for the greatest chances of winning it big, and there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that. I, however, crave the crazy. I find tournaments the most enjoyable when I’m winning with the decks and strategies that no one else in the room is playing. When my opponent has to pause the match in order to read my cards, I know I’m doing something right.

If you’ll forgive the shift in franchises for a moment, the following quote from Pokemon’s second generation Elite Four member Karen has stuck with me since I first read it on my Gameboy screen:

"Strong Pokémon. Weak Pokémon. That is only the selfish perception of people. Truly skilled trainers should try to win with their favorites. I like your style. You understand what's important. Go on--the Champion is waiting."

While I don’t want to imply that I think Chaos Turbo, Warrior, or Panda Burn players are selfish or unskilled (far from it), I do want to illustrate the sort of “mission statement” that I’ll be working with as this series of articles grows. I’m in this for the fun. I’m in it for creativity. Sometimes, I’m even in it just to watch the world burn. 

Lockdown Burn

Among the myriad of tactics available in Goat Format, the Lockdown Burn strategy stands out as one of the most infamous. It’s often seen as a faux pas to play it. It’s thought of as a deck for newer duelists who are unfamiliar with complicated plays or who are unskilled in piloting more mainstream strategies. This is exactly why I love it, though. I enjoy controlling the field while slowly chipping away at the opponent's life points. I love combining careful monster placement with debilitating spells and traps to create a fortress-like environment that can overwhelm my opponent. I love forcing my opponent to play my game. At least, for as long as they can take the heat.

Lockdown Burn uploaded by N0S4A2

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The Core

Lockdown Burn, as the name implies, is all about “locking down” the opponent’s ability to attack or otherwise enact any meaningful plays, all while they slowly die to effect damage from across the board. So, Goat Format’s most powerful floodgates have been included in our list. Gravity Bind and Level Limit - Area B are by far the most popular, but for good measure, we’ve also included Messenger of Peace and Swords of Revealing Light. Maxing out on stall cards makes it more likely that we’ll have access to more than one throughout the course of the game, which improves our chances of surviving the inevitable Heavy Storm that we will eventually see. The only common floodgate of the format that we do not play is Wall of Revealing Light, which was omitted both to keep the trap count of the deck low and our life total high.

On the burn side of things, Wave-Motion Cannon should be familiar to most of you. While most players will tribute it well before eight turns have passed, it goes without saying that the continuous spell has the highest damage potential of any burn card we could realistically play. Nightmare Wheel plays double duty as a means of preventing attacks while also poking away at life points and continues our theme of whittling down enemy LP over time. For burning monsters, we have Lava Golem and Stealth Bird. Both provide the same theoretical eight-turn clock as Cannon as long as our floodgates keep one alive and the other in check. As an added bonus, Golem also tributes two of our opponent’s monsters for the summon, clearing away problem threats while also promoting our game plan!

The Backup

When designing my version of the deck, I knew at least one interaction I wanted to include no matter what: “the Scapegoat minigun.” Combining Cannon Soldier with Scapegoat for the potential to dish out a clean 2500 burn damage is a play I’ve been chasing since childhood, and while It’s not the most competitive combination of cards out there, dang is it flashy! Many of the card choices here were made because of this one interaction.

Mystic Tomato is a good example of one such choice. I initially included the plant as a means to reliably search for the singleton Soldier. This also gets the machine safely into play while still circumventing Scapegoat’s summon restrictions. Theoretically, tomato recruits Cannon Soldier on the opponent’s turn, then we spawn four goats on our main phase and make it rain wool! Because Scapegoat does not prevent us from setting a monster, we can even follow up with face-down monsters like Des Koala or Stealth Bird in that same turn!

Speaking of monsters Tomato can recruit, Stealth Bird is a great option! Since it can flip itself back face down, it doesn’t matter that Tomato forces us to summon it face-up initially. Just be careful of opposing Snatch Steal. Spirit Reaper is another powerful DARK monster that we can recruit. Its invulnerability to combat means it walls off opposing threats and “friendly” Lava Golems alike. I also like Sangan as a search target, since it potentially leads to things Tomato can’t grab for us, like Tsukuyomi or Cyber Jar. 

While initially included for the memes, the inclusion of Scapegoat has more to it than just that. The wall of sheep provided by the spell brings with them a respectable level of stall power that gets around common burn counters like Heavy Storm, Jinzo, and Royal Decree. In fact, you’ll notice that, unlike most Lockdown decks, our list does not play any counter traps or other “protection” spells. No Magic Jammer, Solemn Judgment, or Fake Trap here. Instead of filling the deck with such cards and increasing the chances of bricking, we’re operating under the idea that it’s inevitable that our opponent will resolve these counters. Instead of futile attempts at preventing that from happening, we just try not to care when it does. A higher spell count (including Scapegoat) means we care much less about Jinzo and Decree. Stall that comes in the form of Monsters, chainable spells, or a higher-than-average number of floodgates means we care much less about Heavy Storm or Mystical Space Typhoon (MST). When one Floodgate falls, we chain our Goats to survive the turn, then play another floodgate that's been waiting in the wings.

With Metamorphosis included, we’re able to take things even further. Summoning Thousand-Eyes Restrict (TER) by tributing a sheep token to Meta stalls out the game in a way that Decree and Storm can’t answer. Monsters can’t attack, and problem threats like Jinzo or Des Wombat just become food for the many-eyed spellcaster. Preventing changes in battle position also keeps enemy Magician of Faith from recurring problem spells. Ripping off the playbook of the format’s namesake deck, we’ve even included Tsukuyomi for some flip-flop action with TER, granting infinite monster removal until answered. Tsuku also reflips Des Koala or Magician of Faith.

Tips and Tricks

• Nightmare Wheel can target face-down monsters, so I often use it to prevent Magician of Faith from flipping. Against warriors, it’s one of your best answers to Mystic Swordsman LV2. 
• In most cases, I consider Lava Golem a removal spell first, and a burn option second. Use it to kill Faiths, Jinzo, or Mystic Swordsman.
• Be aware of when Thunder Dragon is present. Good players will tribute Lava Golem to summon it. 
• Don’t forget that you can attack too. I often get in extra damage or just kill enemy Faiths because my monsters can attack under the currently active floodgate. This is also relevant when opponents answer Lava Golem by flipping it face-down with Book of Moon or Tsuku. More than once I won the game by attacking into my own facedown Lava Golem to force additional burn damage on the opponent's standby phase.
• Tsukuyomi is as yet another (albeit temporary) answer to Jinzo. It also has the potential to kill Des Wombat, but at the very least can flip it down so you can get that last bit of burn damage in. 
• Faith’s inclusion in the list is not just because it’s a good card. Opposing Magician of Faith recurring Heavy Storm is a big problem, but we get a sneaky answer to this by playing copies of our own! If the opponent uses Nobleman of Crossout on our Faith, they lose all of theirs, too! If they don’t, then hey, we get extra spells!
• Ceasefire should be used as a counter to Nobleman of Crossout. Use it to flip up a Stealth Bird or Koala that you otherwise might lose to the spell.

Conclusion

I don’t think this is necessarily the best version of Lockdown Burn out there. However, I do think it has the potential to do well while also being a fun rogue strategy to shake things up with. I am one of the lucky few to actually have a local store that hosts regular Goat Format events and I’ve piloted the above list twice in a field of roughly 15 players. I made top placements both times (splitting top 4 in one event and making top 8 in the other). I encourage you spice lovers to give it a try at your respective locals to see what you think! Feel free to put your own spin on it, too! In my playing with it, I’ve noticed that popular decks like Turbo and Warriors have a difficult time adjusting to the heat, especially if their side decks are not prepared accordingly. Just be ready with a full side deck of your own, though. The Panda Burn and Reasoning Gate matchups feel almost unwinnable.