“Anything and everything can happen in Toon World, Yugi-boy.”
– Maximillion Pegasus
 
Toon monsters were first released in the early days of the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG. While some players noticed them right away, Toon monsters became truly famous when they appeared on the Yu-Gi-Oh! animated series. Pegasus’s Toon monsters could perform many tricks that were challenging for Kaiba and Yugi to overcome. The Toons’ real-life counterparts aren’t quite as unbeatable, but they do have their own bags of tricks.
 
This week’s article will focus on the mechanics of the older Toon monsters, which I will refer to as the “classic” Toon monsters: Toon Mermaid, Toon Summoned Skull, Manga Ryu-Ran, and Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon.
 
Welcome to Toon World
 
None of the classic Toon monsters can be normal summoned or set. Each monster has the following text.
 
“This card can only be special summoned while ‘Toon World’ is on your side of the field.”
 
You can never normal summon or set these Toon monsters—special summoning them is the only option you have for bringing them onto the field. In addition, you can only special summon the classic Toon monsters while Toon World is face up on your side of the field. It doesn’t matter if your opponent has a face-up copy of Toon World.
 
This restriction applies to any method of special summoning the classic Toon monsters. For example, if I want to use Premature Burial to special summon Toon Summoned Skull from my graveyard, I need to have Toon World face up on my side of the field.
 
Let’s look at more of the text.
 

“You can special summon this monster from your hand, but tributes are required for monsters of level 5 or more.”
 
Normally, this restriction applies to Toon Summoned Skull, Manga Ryu-Ran, and Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon. When you special summon one of these Toon monsters from your hand, you will need to offer tributes as if you were tribute summoning a high-level monster. Toon Summoned Skull is a level 6 monster, so you need to offer one monster as a tribute. Because Manga Ryu-Ran is a level 7 monster, you have to offer two monsters as tributes.
 
Keep in mind that you’re still performing a special summon. Even though you’re offering tributes, that doesn’t change the fact that this is a special summon and not a tribute summon. Because you’re doing a special summon that requires tributes, you can use sheep tokens to bring out a high-level Toon monster!
 
Let’s say that I have Sangan and Toon Summoned Skull in my hand and only Toon World face up on my side of the field. In order to special summon Toon Summoned Skull from my hand, I need to have a monster to offer as a tribute. At the moment, I don’t have a monster available. But then, it hits me—because I’m looking to special summon the Skull, I can normal summon Sangan first and then use it as a tribute to bring out the Toon monster. When Sangan’s effect resolves, I grab Toon Mermaid from my deck and special summon it right away, because the Mermaid is a level 4 monster that doesn’t require a tribute. Now I have two Toon monsters, and my opponent will be in for some trouble on my next turn.
 
But why do I have to wait until my next turn?
 
Attack Limitations
 
“This card cannot attack in the turn that it is summoned. Unless you pay 500 life points, this monster cannot attack.”
 
No matter how you bring out a classic Toon monster, it can’t attack during the same turn that it was summoned. This is one of the biggest weaknesses of Toon monsters, because your opponent will have a turn to disable your monster or set up a trap in anticipation of the Toon attacking on the following turn.
 
Toons also demand payment when you want to attack with them. The cost of 500 life points isn’t returned if something goes wrong, so you need to be prepared for that.
 
“If your opponent doesn’t control a Toon monster, this card can attack your opponent’s life points directly. If a face-up Toon monster is on your opponent’s side of the field, you must select the Toon monster as an attack target.”
 
If your opponent has a face-up Toon monster, the classic Toons must battle with it when they attack. They can’t ignore it or battle a different monster. Fortunately, the odds that your opponent will have a Toon monster aren’t high. However, your opponent might grab one of your Toons with a card like Snatch Steal or Creature Swap, so watch out.
 
Let’s move on to the good stuff. If your opponent doesn’t have any face-up Toon monsters, your classic Toon can attack directly. This is usually what draws a player to the Toons. Being able to attack directly with a strong monster like Toon Summoned Skull or Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon is definitely a plus.
 
The End of Toon World
 
“When ‘Toon World’ on the field is destroyed, this card is also destroyed.”
 
In the animated series, Yugi used Living Arrow to destroy Pegasus’s Toon World and stop the threat of the Toon monsters once and for all. In the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG, Toon World is far from safe. Heavy Storm, Mystical Space Typhoon, Dust Tornado, Breaker the Magical Warrior, and a host of other cards are just waiting for the chance to destroy Toon World. Once your copy of Toon World is destroyed, your Toon monsters will be toast as well.
 
How can you help your Toons avoid this fate? Your best bet is to remove Toon World from the field in a safe manner. Anything that removes Toon World without destroying it will do the job nicely. Emergency Provisions is one such card. When you activate Emergency Provisions, you can pay its cost by removing Toon World from the field. Another cool bonus is that you gain 1000 life points, which is the same amount that you paid to activate Toon World. Giant Trunade is another option to consider, because it returns all spell and trap cards on the field to their owners’ hands. The returned cards are not destroyed, so your Toon monsters will be safe.
 
Exposing the Myths
 
Over the years, players have had many false impressions about Toon monsters. Let’s take a look at the most common errors so we can set them straight.
 
“I don’t have Toon World on my side of the field, so I can’t take my opponent’s Toon monster with Snatch Steal.”
 
This isn’t correct, because using Snatch Steal isn’t the same as summoning a monster. All Snatch Steal does is shift control of the monster to another player. You can target a Toon monster with Snatch Steal even if you don’t have Toon World.
 
Some players think that hitting a Toon with Snatch Steal will somehow destroy the equipped monster. You should know that this isn’t the case.
 
“Regular monsters can’t attack Toon monsters.”
 
This restriction was never written in a Toon card’s text, and nothing should lead you to believe that a non-Toon monster can’t attack a Toon monster. Some players think otherwise because of the animated series, but Toon monsters can be attacked just like other monsters. Toons don’t have any specific effects that protect them from attacks.
 
“Toons can’t attack directly without Toon World.”
 
This is also not true. If you read the text, you’ll notice that it doesn’t say anything about classic Toon monsters needing Toon World in play in order to attack directly. However, it’s a different story with the next-generation Toon monsters. What are these other Toons, you ask? “Toon” in next week to find out.
 
Send all comments to Curtis@metagame.com.