Devoted followers of Metagame.com’s Shonen Jump Championship coverage may have noted a prominent trend that started with the inception of this format. In the absence of disruptive tools like Delinquent Duo, The Forceful Sentry, and un-Limited Spirit Reaper, players have begun amassing some rather large hand sizes. Cards like Card Trooper, Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude, Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands, and the Gadgets—which form the cornerstones of some of the most dominant deck types of this environment—are all key contributors to this trend.

In fact, every currently dominant deck type has at least one monster option that swells the size of the hand, and until recently, the game provided very few options for dealing with this emerging trend. Other than the single Spirit Reaper that found its way into a few decks, Don Zaloog was the best option. Unfortunately, his 1400 ATK makes him vulnerable to Snipe Hunter, Giant Rat, Mystic Tomato, Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, and other 1400 ATK monsters that can simply clear him off the field while also creating more trouble.

Enter Force of the Breaker’s Goe Goe The Gallant Ninja

Goe Goe the Gallant Ninja is a Warrior-type monster with the Wind attribute who weighs in with a solid 1500 ATK. This enables him to run over almost every commonly played monster in the game. Once you get past Cyber Dragon and the Monarchs (which are only run in Monarch-based builds), an ATK score of 1500 will wreak havoc on the opponent’s field. You can clear monsters like Sangan, Dekoichi, Mystic Tomato, Card Trooper, the Gadget monsters, Diamond Dude or Destiny Hero - Malicious, and Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands easily with this monster. He can also trade with Snipe Hunter or Elemental Hero Wildheart in a pinch. However, it’s clear that you’re not going to be running Goe Goe just for his ATK score.

Take a look at the effect:

When this card inflicts Battle Damage to your opponent's Life Points while they have 5 or more cards in hand, they must discard 2 cards from their hand at random.

As opposed to Don Zaloog and Spirit Reaper, who were given the ability to discard one card from hand (which was in itself decried as overpowered back in the hand control era), Goe Goe gives you the option of taking down two. This is akin to a Delinquent Duo effect. In plainer terms, Goe Goe can perform like a Forbidden card under the right circumstances.

Managing these circumstances is a bit tough however. Even with the recent trend of increased hand sizes, it’s likely that your opponent will need a little “help” to reach the five-card hand size in normal game situations. Let’s take a look at a few cards and strategies that can help you unlock Goelinquent Guoe. I mean Goe Goe.

Unlocking Force of the Goe Goe The Gallant Ninja

Goe Goe’s attribute and subtype definitely come into play. Reinforcement of the Army can effectively turn one copy of the Ninja into three. It’d be foolish for a Warrior toolbox deck to leave Goe Goe out of the side deck. He’s definitely the bane of all Demise OTK decks, so you’ll want one Goe Goe in the side deck if you’re main decking two copies of Reinforcement of the Army.

The Wind attribute leads to interesting synergies with both Flying Kamakiri #1 and Silpheed. Let’s say your opponent sets a Dekoichi with a spell or trap. You summon Cyber Dragon, attack into Sakuretsu Armor, set one of each and pass. Next turn, he or she draws (going up to five cards in hand), flips Dekoichi to go to six, attacks your set Kamakiri (you summon another with the effect of the first), sets a spell or trap, and ends.

What happens if you can remove the opponent’s spell or trap or call it as a bluff? Kamakiri can now trade with Dekoichi, removing his or her field presence and searching out your Goe Goe the Gallant Ninja. Such a huge swing will probably win you the game right there.

In addition, any reader of my Wind-based articles will find that I love Silpheed. He’s the best of the attribute-removing monsters from Invasion of Chaos (though Gigantes, Inferno, and Fenrir are all solid as well). He exercises presence over the field while replacing himself when destroyed through battle. In short, fueling Silpheed is a viable strategy for any casual or Regionals-competitive deck.

Once you realize how best to utilize Goe Goe’s wonderful type and attribute, you can think of ways to capitalize on his effect. Cards that return monsters or spell and trap cards to your opponent’s hand are plentiful. Cards that can slow the game down are in abundance as well.

You can use Giant Trunade as a synergetic form of spell and trap removal that will lead to direct, open attacks. Assuming a clear field (which can be achieved through a variety of means), this always means that Goe Goe will recoup your losses from activating Trunade. In fact, most of the monster removal options that leave a clear field are very synergetic with Goe Goe and Giant Trunade as well. A Mystic Tomato or tribute summon can lead nicely into Byser Shock, which should send at least two cards to your opponent’s hand. You can also use Penguin Soldier and Compulsory Evacuation Device for some sure-fire monster removal that’ll lead to

direct hits from Goe Goe. Both inflate your opponent’s hand as well.