What resulted was a 45-card behemoth that performed erratically. It had about an 80% win ratio, and it could thin itself out quickly due to its use of Peten the Dark Clown, Gravekeeper’s Spy, and a ton of other tricks. It just wasn’t reliable enough, and while I felt like part of the deck’s unsatisfying performance was my lack of practice with it, I also just knew that no matter how well I reined it in, it would never be perfect. So, I tossed the three Toon Tables and Toon Gemini Elf, dropped a fifth card and went to a 40-card version. Things went a lot better, but I kept the one lesson I’d learned from the experience.

Toon Gemini Elf is amazing.And kinda hot!

If you’ve never read the card’s effect, you might not realize that it has an extra trick which its normal monster counterpart doesn’t share. Buried behind three sentences of very standard Toon text is the following: When this card inflicts Battle Damage to your opponent's Life Points, your opponent discards 1 card randomly from his/her hand. At its best, Toon Gemini Elf is basically a 1900 ATK Don Zaloog.

So it was with that fact in mind that I decided to try my hand at fixing up a Toon deck, of all things. Here’s what today’s deck contributor had to say about it:

Hello Jason, I'm from South Plainfield, NJ. I want to build a very competitive Toon deck (if it is even possible). This deck uses the combo of Spirit Barrier and Toon Defense to force my opponent to attack directly and then reduce the damage to 0 with Spirit Barrier. It doesn’t have to have either. I just thought it would be fun. I’ve tried to make a competitive Toon deck, but it is very hard.

Maybe you can help me?

—Tim M.

South Plainfield, NJ

Oh, we can help you, Tim. I’ve got three little monochromatic friends who would love to give you a hand, and I think with them, this deck can actually be a contender in local and regional tournaments. Here’s what Tim’s submitted deck list looked like:

Toon control—40 Cards

Monsters: 14

3 Toon Masked Sorcerer

1 Toon Cannon Soldier

1 Toon Gemini Elf

3 Mystic Tomato

1 Magician of Faith

2 A Cat of Ill Omen

1 Sangan

1 Morphing Jar

1 Spirit Reaper

Spells: 14

3 Toon World

3 Toon Table of Contents

2 Lightning Vortex

1 My Body as a Shield

1 Graceful Charity

1 Book of Moon

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Premature Burial

1 Confiscation

Traps: 12

3 Toon Defense

2 Judgment of Anubis

3 Solemn Judgment

3 Spirit Barrier

1 Call of the Haunted

This deck has some cool tricks. Toon Defense and Spirit Barrier do indeed work, forcing the opponent to attack directly and then preventing those attacks from dealing damage. Tim can search out pieces of the combo with A Cat of Ill Omen and Morphing Jar. In addition, he’s running a nice variety of Toon monsters that he can then search out like a Toolbox engine, since Toon Table of Contents can grab any Toon monster (or even Toon World) from the deck. Tim’s even running Lightning Vortex in order to discard extra copies of Toon World he draws and doesn’t need.

The problem? This deck takes a serious beating when faced with things that can destroy spells and traps. Losing Toon World, and your Toon monsters with it, is bad enough, but this deck relies on Toon Defense and Spirit Barrier to survive, and to me, that raises a red flag. Any deck that scoops to an opponent running three Mobius the Frost Monarch cards isn’t a good idea, and I’m afraid that’s what we’re seeing here. We could run Giant Trunade to cover Toon World on the opponent’s turn, but that wouldn’t help the Barrier/Toon Defense combo. I’m afraid we’re going to have to drop most of the deck’s traps.

Luckily, I know another trap that can solve a lot of the problems this deck suffers from. Dropping traps is going to be natural anyways. We have to make room for the card that will make this deck work—Ojama Trio!

Why Ojama Trio? Well, now that I’ve seen how Shonen Jump Championship Boston went down, I can be relatively certain that this is one of the most aggressive formats of all time. Most formats are aggressive early on, but not to this degree. Monsters have a difficult time sitting on the field for more than a turn now, and that makes life very difficult when you’re running Toons that can’t even attack the turn they come into play. Ojama Trio is going to lock down the opponent’s offensive options, allowing you to leave the Tokens and your opponent’s smaller monsters on the field while you attack directly with your Toons. Sounds like a plan to me, so let’s get started making room!

First up, I’m going to drop the two A Cat of Ill Omen cards. We won’t be running any continuous traps by the time I’m finished with this fix, so the Cats will be unnecessary. In addition, I’m going to remove two of the three Toon Masked Sorcerer cards, because there are just more important Toons for our strategy. If we ever need the Sorcerer’s effect, we can always search the deck for the remaining copy with Toon Table of Contents.

I’ll be adding a bunch of spells, and I’ll actually cleave out one copy of Toon World. That means Lightning Vortex will become harder to play, and it isn’t a good fit for this strategy anyways since it’ll toast those Ojama tokens we’re trying to stick the opponent with. I’m also going to drop Book of Moon, simply because I need more space to work with. While Book is good, it’s not as important as some of my other options.

Toon Defense and Spirit Barrier are going to be dropped, leaving my trap lineup with Call of the Haunted, Judgment of Anubis, and Solemn Judgment. I won’t need to worry about defending my spell and trap cards so much now that the Defense/Spirit Barrier combo is gone, so all three Solemn Judgment cards will be removed from the deck. I’ll bump the two Judgment of Anubis cards to the side deck. They can be rotated in if an opponent is running multiple copies of Mobius the Frost Monarch. Call of the Haunted will be the only trap card to survive the main deck cuts.

The first card I need to add is Ojama Trio, and this deck will be running three of them. The premise here is pretty simple: clog the opponent’s field and they won’t be so free to attack, while you breeze on through with direct hits. Simple enough, and surprisingly effective once you get the hang of it!

From there, we really need to maximize the effectiveness of the Toon spread. Toon Gemini Elf is going to be able to swing for respectable damage while stripping the opponent of in-hand cards. Toon Goblin Attack Force can go even bigger, hitting directly for 2300 ATK. Note that even when Toon World is on the field, neither of these monsters needs to attack directly, so Goblin Attack Force is a great answer to problems like Cyber Dragon. This deck needs three copies of each, no questions asked.

Breaker the Magical Warrior will be a nice card in many situations. He can clear the opponent’s back row of cards like Sakuretsu Armor, ensuring that Toon Gemini Elf and Goblin Attack Force hit directly when they have the opportunity. While I don’t like to regard cards as staples, I do think Breaker is worth considering in any deck that looks to win via battle, and this one is no exception.

Finally, two Newdoria cards will give this deck more options when Mystic Tomato hits the graveyard. Not only will Newdoria keep the field clear of monsters that could attack over Elf, but in some situations it’s going to let you clear out Ojama tokens to get the full five-token lock into place. Right now, this format is all about keeping monsters on the table, and Newdoria prevents your opponent from doing that. In the rare situation when your opponent gets out a Monarch or Jinzo, Newdoria will clear it away and get you back on track.

Moving on to spells, three Rush Recklessly cards are a definite must. They let Toon Gemini Elf take down Cyber Dragon and Monarchs, and flipping Rush when it comes under attack is just brutal. You lose your Rush Recklessly, but the opponent loses life points, the attacking monster, and a card from his or her hand. It’s especially important to be able to do that since the Elf can’t attack the turn it’s summoned. Rush Recklessly will keep it from being a sitting duck.

Two Smashing Ground cards also help deal with big monsters, while sometimes clearing the field in order to set up a complete Ojama lock. Big monsters rule in this format, and Smashing Ground cuts them down to size.

Lastly I’ll add three more traps: Mirror Force, Ring of Destruction, and Torrential Tribute. While Mirror Force and Ring of Destruction are no-brainers, Torrential Tribute can be conditional in this deck, so use it carefully. You don’t want to wipe away Ojama tokens with it, but it can be a great way to clear a packed field to prep it for Ojama Trio to begin with. Remember too that Ring of Destruction can be used to snipe an Ojama token and create an opportunity for the five-token nightmare scenario.

Here’s a recap of the changes I made:

-2 Toon Masked Sorcerer

-2 A Cat of Ill Omen

-2 Lightning Vortex

-1 Toon World

-1 Book of Moon

-3 Toon Defense

-2 Judgment of Anubis

-3 Solemn Judgment

-3 Spirit Barrier

+3 Ojama Trio

+2 Toon Gemini Elf

+3 Toon Goblin Attack Force

+1 Breaker the Magical Warrior

+2 Newdoria

+3 Rush Recklessly

+2 Smashing Ground

+1 Mirror Force

+1 Ring of Destruction

+1 Torrential Tribute

The fixed deck looks like this:

Toon Control—Jason’s Fix—40 Cards

Monsters: 18

1 Toon Masked Sorcerer

1 Toon Cannon Soldier

3 Toon Gemini Elf

3 Toon Goblin Attack Force

3 Mystic Tomato

2 Newdoria

1 Magician of Faith

1 Breaker the Magical Warrior

1 Sangan

1 Morphing Jar

1 Spirit Reaper

Spells: 15

2 Toon World

3 Toon Table of Contents

3 Rush Recklessly

1 My Body as a Shield

1 Graceful Charity

2 Smashing Ground

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Premature Burial

1 Confiscation

Traps: 7

1 Mirror Force

1 Ring of Destruction

1 Torrential Tribute

3 Ojama Trio

1 Call of the Haunted

This deck isn’t terribly fast, since many of its monsters can’t attack the turn they come into play. It isn’t supposed to be fast, though, because it’s truly a control deck. In an incredibly speedy format, this strategy can slow down the opponent and then rip apart his or her hand, dealing damage all the way. You certainly want to get Ojama tokens onto the field as soon as possible, but once you do, you can relax a bit and take your time digging for Toon World and some attackers.

Your ideal opening play is Mystic Tomato or Newdoria set in defense position. Either will help you regulate field presence, and that makes them both ideal. Spirit Reaper, or even Morphing Jar (with everything in your hand set to your back row) are also very acceptable. When you’re still building your lock, remember that you have two goals: get to Toon World and Ojama Trio, and minimize the opponent’s field presence. The second goal is where all of your removal tricks come in handy.

This deck can definitely compete without Toon World and Ojama Trio, but speed becomes an issue if you’re forced into that situation. On one hand, if you attack whenever possible, you leave yourself open to Sakuretsu Armor and Mirror Force. If you don’t attack, you can lose monsters to Zaborg the Thunder Monarch. You need to rely on Rush Recklessly and My Body as a Shield, and which of those you draw will often determine how you play out of a bad situation. Don’t try to force your will upon your draws—play the hand you’re dealt as best as you can, and roll with what the deck gives you. Sooner or later things come together . . . usually sooner.

Even just one good shot with Toon Gemini Elf can turn an entire game around. Never underestimate the impact of a successful attack from any of your Toons, since virtually everything save Toon Cannon Soldier can create big swings in momentum.

A side deck for this deck might look like the following:

3 Chiron the Mage

2 Judgment of Anubis

3 Bottomless Trap Hole

2 Forced Back

3 Mind Crush

2 Secret Barrel

Three Chiron the Mage cards will allow you to use your plethora of spell cards to trump Royal Decree. That’s important, since Decree and Ojama Trio don’t mix. Just rotate out a Mystic Tomato, Toon Cannon Soldier, and Toon Masked Sorcerer to accommodate them.

Judgment of Anubis protects your Toon World from removal-heavy decks and can be used in conjunction with Forced Back to stop Mobius the Frost Monarch. Forced Back is cool here because it can negate the summoning of a Monarch and leave it stranded in the opponent’s hand. Then Toon Gemini Elf follows up to discard it on the following turn. Bottomless Trap Hole is also Monarch tech, but it makes the cut just in case you need extra removal. It’s nice against Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys too, which has recently seen an upswing in play.

Mind Crush and Secret Barrel come in against dedicated Stein OTK decks. Mind Crush can rip Cyber-Stein, Exiled Force, or Last Will from the opponent’s hand in response to a variety of effects (say, Giant Trunade?), while Secret Barrel combos with Ojama Trio for big damage. For this matchup I’d probably rotate out the two Smashing Ground cards, Premature Burial, My Body as a Shield, and maybe one of the three Rush Recklessly cards.

So, there it is: a competitive Toon deck! Who’d have thought, eh? Hopefully Tim enjoys it, and some of you readers might give it a shot too. It’s a ton of fun to play, and as I built it, I started liking it more and more. While it can get a rough draw here and there, it’s surprisingly consistent, and if you can play around its slower pace, it does very well. Try it out yourself!

—Jason Grabher-Meyer

Working on a deck for the new Advanced format? Looking for some help, or just want to see your creation right here on Metagame? Send it to me, and you might see your deck featured in an Apotheosis column! I’m Jason (at) metagame (dot) com, and I’m always looking for cool new decks to write about.