That may sound a bit dramatic, but I do apologize for delays on my responses to anyone who had emailed me over my analysis of Dream Clown. I’ve finally had the chance to read through everyone’s questions and suggestions. In today’s article, you’ll find a new Control deck that utilizes at least one Dream Clown and contains suggestions from you. But enough with the delays—let’s get to your suggestions!

Reader Suggestions

One of the first suggestions I received was from Andrew McDaniel. His idea was to run Dream Clown with Elemental Hero Sparkman and Spark Blaster. This combination allows the Dream Clown duelist to switch the battle position of Dream Clown three times, and such a strategy could be used to destroy one monster each turn. As Andrew also suggested, it could be further combined with Final Attack Orders to destroy three monsters on the opponent’s side of the field in one turn. This is because whenever Dream Clown is switched to defense position, its ability will trigger. However, due to Final Attack Orders, Dream Clown will immediately switch back to attack position. This allows you to switch its position again with Spark Blaster.

This combo is quite original, and if it’s pulled off correctly, it can be very powerful. On the other hand, the combo’s consistency is a bit alarming. While both Dream Clown and Elemental Hero Sparkman can be fetched from your deck through Reinforcement of the Army, there’s no speedy method to add Spark Blaster from your deck to your hand. The only method of available acceleration that would assist you in obtaining the pieces of this combo all at once would be through either Morphing Jar or Cyber Jar.

However, those cards will also provide your opponent with many new cards as well. This would cause him or her to add more cards to his or her hand and field than you’d be able to destroy through using the Spark Blaster combo. You could try running Iron Blacksmith Kotetstu, but this monster’s flip effect is too narrow to help Clown Control’s general theme. The fact that it’s a flip effect monster makes it a little less stable and a lot slower. However, if you'd like to try this idea, you could make the deck a little more equip-focused by using equip spells like United We Stand and monsters such as Mataza the Zapper. It’s still an intriguing idea. Thanks for the suggestion, Andrew!

One of the more popular trends in many of the builds I received is that Dream Clown was the only original monster to actually make it into the current decklists. I’d have to agree that this is the most solid option, as Crass Clown just doesn’t fit with the rest of the support that can surround Dream Clown. This would also eliminate Ryu-Kishin Clown and Peten the Dark Clown, both of which were suggested by a few fans as candidates for the new Clown Control deck. Ryu-Kishin Clown’s ability is utilized more effectively by continuous cards such as Stumbling and Labyrinth of Nightmare, and Peten the Dark Clown’s ability can rarely be triggered, since a player will often miss the timing** on Peten the Dark Clown’s effect.

It was while reading through some of these complete builds of Clown Control that I found some amazing ideas on how to improve the old theme. Joshua William’s version of Clown Control was the first decklist that I examined, and it contained some powerful suggestions for monsters. One of those monsters was Des Lacooda.

The new changes to the Advanced format included the banning of Pot of Greed and Graceful Charity, as both cards were usually instantly included into every deck that was constructed. Now that card draw is harder to find in this format, Des Lacooda is a solid option for various Control decks, because it can provide its user with an extra card every turn. This is especially important for a deck such as Clown Control, which needs to draw into its various forms of stall or its card removal engines as soon as possible. Des Lacooda can help players achieve this goal, and its Earth attribute will be an asset once it’s combined with some of the other cards that show up in the final build of Clown Control.

Giant Rat was another popular addition from many readers, one of whom was Mike Wong. This Earth-type version of Mystic Tomato allows you to special summon any Control monster that you might need, since some of the most powerful monsters that can provide you with card advantage happen to possess the Earth attribute and an ATK value that’s lower than 1500. Giant Rat is even more powerful while Stumbling is face-up on the field. If your opponent would destroy Giant Rat and send it to the graveyard as a result of battle while Stumbling is face-up on the field, you can special summon Dream Clown from your deck. Due to the effect of Stumbling, Dream Clown will be switched to defense position and its ability will trigger, allowing you to destroy one monster on the opponent’s field. This gives you an automatic +1 card advantage over your opponent, and it can severely disrupt your opponent’s battle phase. Giant Rat is also very powerful with self-flipping monsters such as Des Lacooda, as you’ll be able to trigger their flip summon abilities during your next turn.

Many readers embraced the concept of Dream Clown by including monsters that shifted battle positions many times during a duel. This has been shown through the inclusion of cards such as Des Lacooda, but Swarm of Locusts and Swarm of Scarabs were popular options as well. While Swarm of Scarabs was weaker than Dream Clown, it could provide consistent monster removal each turn, whereas Dream Clown would usually only destroy monsters once every other turn. Swarm of Locusts was a far more important inclusion into the various decks that I saw, as its ability was essential to make sure that threats like Royal Decree or Sakuretsu Armor won’t remain on the field.

The most popular “bomb,” or win-condition monster, was Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV6. While its attribute and type are quite different from the rest of the monsters that are used in Clown Control, the medium-sized Horus will protect itself from your own stall cards. Stumbling, Level Limit – Area B, and Messenger of Peace won’t stop Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV6 from attacking each turn. The spell protection is also useful against your opponent, as popular forms of monster removal (like Snatch Steal and Smashing Ground) will have no effect on your win condition. This allows you to out-muscle many popular Beatdown monsters, such as Cyber Dragon, and it also allows you to attack through a stall deck’s tempo-slowing cards.

The New Clown Control!

Thanks to the various suggestions from readers, here’s a complete version of Clown Control for today’s Advanced format.

Monsters: 18

3 Dream Clown

2 Giant Rat

1 Golem Sentry

1 Des Lacooda

3 Swarm of Locusts

1 Swarm of Scarabs

1 Sangan

1 Exiled Force

1 Big Shield Gardna

1 Breaker the Magical Warrior

1 Magician of Faith

2 Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV6

Spells: 16

1 Swords of Revealing Light

1 Confiscation

1 Dark Hole

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Snatch Steal

1 Premature Burial

1 Book of Moon

2 Stumbling

2 Level Limit – Area B

2 Messenger of Peace

1 Reinforcement of the Army

1 Giant Trunade

1 Wave-Motion Cannon

Traps: 7

1 Call of the Haunted

1 Zero Gravity

1 Torrential Tribute

1 Spiritual Earth Art – Kurogane

3 Solemn Judgment

As you can see, the deck includes many of the suggestions that I received from fans of the Clown Control deck, including Spiritual Earth Art – Kurogane, which was a suggestion by Mike Wong.

Dream Clown is still the number-one form of monster removal in the deck, which is why there are three copies of it in this list. Its ability to destroy monsters during the opponent’s turn is incredibly powerful—and its versatility is unmatched, thanks to both Giant Rat and Reinforcement of the Army. Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV6 remains as the monstrous bomb for the deck. While monsters such as Cybernetic Magician seem potent in a deck like this, Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV6 has built-in protection from most of the opponent’s powerful options and from your own forms of stall. This gives you the ability to attack while your opponent cannot.

The spell lineup is pretty standard, with the exception of a few cards. Wave-Motion Cannon gives this deck another form of winning, outside of small attacks or using Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV6. It’s also a pressure card, as it forces the opponent to deal with Wave-Motion Cannon in a specific time frame.

However, if your opponent allows too many standby phases to pass with Wave-Motion Cannon face-up on your field, then he or she may end up losing the duel even if he or she attempts to destroy the Cannon. This is because your full set of Solemn Judgments can be used to disrupt the opponent’s hopes of salvaging a win. Outside of Dark Hole, there are no solid spells that provide monster removal. This is because six of the monsters in this deck are forms of monster removal or field disruption that can be used more than once. Exiled Force is the exception to this, as it’s a versatile option when used with both Giant Rat and Reinforcement of the Army.

The trap lineup contains necessities for a control deck, such as Torrential Tribute and Solemn Judgment. Zero Gravity is an extra stall card that can also act as a form of monster removal with Dream Clown. It was a popular suggestion by many readers, so excluding this overlooked trap card was not an option. Spiritual Earth Art – Kurogane is a highly disruptive option with a spell speed of two, as its special summon can easily be turned into a potent form of monster removal with Dream Clown. With the rising popularity of cards such as D. D. Assailant and Berserk Gorilla in this new Advanced format, this gives you another powerful option to use with Snatch Steal. There’s nothing funnier than using your opponent’s monsters as though they fit perfectly into your deck. Then again, the chance that your opponent will have a Berserk Gorilla face-up on the field that isn’t instantly destroyed is going to be rare while you’re playing this deck.

I was finally forced to cut Labyrinth of Nightmare from the final build. There was simply no available space for this entertaining trap card, and I feared that this would eventually cause a monster such as Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV6 to be destroyed. The Solemn Judgments were far too important to cut. However, if anyone would like to test this trap card in the current build of Clown Control, be sure to let me know how it works out for you.

I’d like to thank everybody who contributed fan-fueled follow-ups to my analysis of Dream Clown. That little monster still has some potency in this format, even if it’s over three years older than today’s popular options. Readers are free to test this build of Clown Control, as I’m interested in seeing this deck at tournaments. If you have a tournament report or a success story with Clown Control, feel free to email me at Mrosenberg at Metagame dot com. Until next time, remember that your stack of commons could be a goldmine for powerful new deck types!

*Speaking of “WoW,” the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game will be released next year. I guess that means my soul will be further taken in by the world of Azeroth.

**”Missing the timing” is a phrase that was made for optional trigger effect monsters, such as Peten the Dark Clown. This applies to cards that give you the option of triggering their abilities when the condition that triggers this state is fulfilled. In the case of Peten the Dark Clown, the condition is “when it’s sent to the graveyard.” The condition for these monsters needs to be the last thing that occurs in a chain for you to have the option to trigger these abilities. This is because you cannot interrupt a resolving chain or effect by triggering another effect. For example, if Peten the Dark Clown is sent to the graveyard during the effect of Card Destruction, you’ll miss the timing, because the effect of Card Destruction causes players to draw cards after Peten the Dark Clown is sent to the graveyard.