You’d be surprised. It was the advent of things like Dueling Network that really allowed people to test outside of their local playgroup and started consolidating knowledge and theory. But even into early 5Ds era, I’m pretty sure it’s possible to find occasional tournament deck lists that did put up actual results doing silly things like running Upstart Goblin in a 41 card deck.
You’d be surprised. It was the advent of things like Dueling Network that really allowed people to test outside of their local playgroup and started consolidating knowledge and theory. But even into early 5Ds era, I’m pretty sure it’s possible to find occasional tournament deck lists that did put up actual results doing silly things like running Upstart Goblin in a 41 card deck.