In the light of recent events, and if i recall correctly, reaching even further back in the past (i would say since the start of gf.com discord server), there is a growing opinion in the goat format community that goat control deck »just sucks«, since other decks not only caught up to it but also surpassed it. Goat Control switched from »the deck to beat« to »the deck that doesn't have any favourable matchups«. The words of Burgn may have become the standard reason why anyone would even pick the deck and play it: »I only play GC to handicap myself«.
Whether this is true or not I will leave it for the reader to decide, but I will discuss detox goat's maindeck and what tools / lines of play does it have to counter the meta, since I believe detox main to be the most versatile goat format main there is. I will focus completely on g1's since sidedecking is a whole different chapter too wide and wild to just briefly discuss.
Aggro has been successful in the last events and some well respected players have been advising to adapt the GC maindeck to improve aggro matchup. It is true that detox was built with GC mirror in mind and that the GC mirror is nowadays a rare matchup, but even so, detox main doesn't have to autolose vs aggro.
When facing Tiger King decks, goat player should be mindful about his Scapegoats – preemptively activated scapegoats may be gamechanging and should always be considered.
Always remember that LPs are a resource; it is sometimes better to eat damage while getting attacked directly and to save your Sakus for your Flips, thus helping them resolve – most Aggro decks will try to attack them with Blade Knights and MSLV2.
If your TER resolved, you do not have to attack immeditely with it – Aggro usually packs many Sakus and thus your TER lock will be broken and even though you got a +1 from your TER that doesn't mean that you're automatically in a good spot – Aggro is built to beat you with as little cards as possible. Stalling and letting cards accumulate is the key to victory.
You do not have to flip your Merchants immediatelly if they happened to survive a turn, especially if you have protection against flip-negating attackers – no need to take hundreds of damage to the face for no reason.
Aggro deck usually play Dust Tornados and since their plan is to simplify, more often than not they'll try to EndPhase dust your backrows – bait those dust tornados with dead cards such as NoC and help your Sakus survive.
Set Sangan whenever possible. You will get the most out of it this way (Exiled force, forcing bk / mslv2 summons).
Be mindful of their solemn judgements. When they set 3-4, one of those is Solemn Judgement. Keep track of the backrows that already resolved and pinpoint where Solemn is.
Vs non-Tiger aggro, try to save your scapegoats for as long as possible – you want to shoot multiple Metas at the same time because 1 meta is very unlikely to resolve, but multiple metas combined with some combination of breaker / heavy / dust / mst will likely do the job.
To beat Chaos Control consistently GC must be aware of its few advantages that it has; namely revivals and Mjar. Remember that the game will more often than not be very long so play with those cards in mind from the start.
+1 hits while reviving AKPs are crucial to win the long value game so cherish them.
Detox main deck is capable of preventing their CS's from plussing completely – DDWL and Sangan can be set, Virus and AKP can be summoned for value and Asura is Asura. If their CSs are only ever used to answer your +1 play, or used as a vanilla 2300 beater, you can win.
Remember that many Chaos Control decks don't play dust tornado, this makes them more linear and you have to take advantage of that knowledge (for example, your set heavy is 100% safe if they already used breaker, mst and heavy – this also applies when playng vs SBE LOL)
Chaos Turbo is a different beast and a little more luck based – this comes from the fact that Chaos Turbo decks open a b s o l u t e b o n k e r s more oftenly that »normal« decks and can thus blow you out before you even started. Turbo almost never plays any Dust Tornado, but they do play RB / PWWB so be very mindful of that: only ever use your own Dust / MST when the possible chained RB / PWWB won't hurt you (End Phase or with empty board). Card advantage vs Chaos Turbo also works a little differently than normal, by that I mean that you can be in big card disadvantage (as you often will be) and still hold your own – this is because most Chaos Turbo decks only threaten you by 4 Chaos monsters and not really much of anything else – survive those and you're probably winning the game. Morphing Jar is a wincon in this matchup as well, make sure it resolves.
Most of these matchups are winnable in g1 with the appropriate adjustments in one's play. For example, in most of these matchups, quick and reckless agression is the key. This can be anything from Metamorphosing your Tsukuyomi so that it stays on the board in the form of Darkfire Dragon, or double Metamorphosing your DDWL / Asura into double Darkfire Dragon to make BLS live.
Of course if you know what you're playing against in g1 you're already in advantage, as many of these decks draw their strenght from the fact that GC plays slowly in the beginning. In these cases, you may want to shotgun NoCs asap, which is not always the case against other control decks.
Be mindful of level 5 Metamorphosis toolbox. You can make Balter or Fiend Skull Dragon.
Vs skill drain burn, use your Book of Moons to force resolutions of effects under Skill Drain. Same applies for TT. Summon 3 beaters ASAP and thus prevent Ojama Trio's resolution. Ojama Trio is their win con, your answers to it are TT, Virus and sometimes Ring. You should probably save your backrow removal for Skill Drains. Try to setup Heavy play with Heavy + Mof + Book. Skill drain burn can't kill you quick, so be patient.
Vs RGT, think about whether you prefer having 2nd beater or live Scapegoats in the given situation – you can't have both unless that beater is Tsuku / Asura. Get them under 2000 LPs and the game is yours.
Vs jar, chain Scapegoats to Cyber Jars effect if possible. This way, they won't be able to activate Shallow Grave this turn. Don't let them crash Tomatos into your beaters.
In conclusion
Those are just some of the most common uncommon plays that came to my mind while facing those matchups. The plays mentioned are mostly just isolated pieces of play theory that is appropriate for each matchups (for example »stall vs aggro«, »agression vs alts«) and I hope they serve as an example of weird stuff that can be the correct play in given situations, but you should always have the bigger picture in mind as well. Know your gameplan and your role in the matchup.
Even though Goat Control hasn't had any decent results in the most recent events, I believe it is too quick to blame it on the deck – the play would have to be analysed before making that conclusion and I firmly believe that we would be able to pinpoint misplay(s) in every match that led to the eventual loss of the Goat Control user, thus proving that the fault is on the player, not the deck.
But the future is bright for Goat Control, we will make Goat Control great again.
I hope that you enjoyed reading, that is all for now.
siwski