Card of the Week #17: Scapegoat
Scapegoat. An old card, but one that became unlimited this format. When something becomes unlimited, it sometimes means that the card no longer has relevance in the current era. This is not the case with Scapegoat, as it has so many uses which may at first be unclear. Let's take a look.First and foremost, Scapegoat Special Summons 4 token monsters. These tokens have 0 ATK and DEF, and are Level 1 Beast monsters. The most obvious use for these tokens is as a way of stalling; since Scapegoat is a Quick-Play Spell it can be used in your opponent's turn, and they will have to destroy the tokens before they can attack you directly. This is a relatively simple way of protecting your life points, and can help you stall for more than one turn in many cases. Since the tokens are pretty useless by themselves, you could also potentially use them as Creature Swap fodder, and give your opponent a useless monster with 0 ATK for whatever their own worst monster is. If they only control one monster, this can be a very useful strategy.
However, a far greater use for Scapegoat is as tribute fodder for effects. While the tokens cannot be tributed for a Normal Summon, they can be tributed for effects that require a tribute, like Enemy Controller, and the most interesting instance of this is with Destiny HERO Plasma. Plasma Special Summons itself with 3 tributes, and so the tokens can be tributed as it is not for a Normal Summon. This makes it much easier to summon Plasma, who is a difficult threat for most decks and can normally remove at least one monster from your opponent's side of the field. Aside from being tribute fodder, you can also use the tokens to Synchro Summon. Since they are Level 1s, you can quite simply select what Level Synchro monster you want based on the number of Level 1 monsters you use. With a Level 2 Tuner, you could summon a Synchro of any Level between 3 and 6 with the tokens. This allows for adaptable plays, and can be very useful when a specific Level is needed.
Scapegoat can also be used in Mecha Phantom Beast decks. Since MPBs rely on having tokens for their effects, and many effects do not specify that it must be a MPB token, you can often use the Scapegoat tokens for their effects. Since Scapegoat is the best way to summon a mass amount of tokens in one go, it makes sense that you would run the card in a MFB deck. It is also noteworthy that in terms of CA, Scapegoat is a +3. Since a lot of +1s are hit by the banlist, it is quite odd that a card like this could be unlimited. However, it is probably balanced out by how the 4 cards you get should be essentially useless. But, as the goat control format of old has taught us, those goats really aren't useless. There are many potential uses for a mass amount of monsters, whether they are useless or not.
A final use for Scapegoat is in a Beast deck made for the card. Imagine you are faced by a 3000 ATK monster on your opponent's side. You could use Scapegoat during your opponent's turn, and use cards like United We Stand to boost your monsters' attacks to an incredible high, even if they begun at 0. If you throw in high-attack low-level Beasts like Berserk Gorilla, you could get a 6000 ATK beater with just that, Scapegoat, and United We stand. When you take into account cards like The Big March of Animals you can reach an OTK style deck involving Level 1 monsters, as combos begin to arise in using a full field with numerous different ATK boosters to destroy your opponent. There is little more satisfying than beating your opponent with a full field of 0 ATK monsters, and Scapegoat OTK is actually a potentially viable deck.
So, when it comes down to it, there is no way that becoming unlimited is a sign that Scapegoat no longer has use. It may well be past its era, but it still has a place in numerous different decks, and can be used in conjunction with many different strategies and plays. Overall, it is undoubtebly one of the best old cards that is currently unlimited.