Tips for building a Toon Deck in 2015 - Ryan Rodriguez
October 2015

 

Hey, folks, long time no see.
Way back in 2003, I was writing articles for duelists eager to learn about building their very own Toon Decks.

Much has changed since then. Up until July, Toon decks being anything but a laughingstock were unheard of.
It even seemed that Konami turned its back on the decktype, ignoring it for close to ten years.

As a dedicated Toon user myself, I even wrote to Konami in March 2015, stating that it was saddening to see one of the classic decktypes not receiving the support that the likes of Harpies and Gravekeepers were getting in 2014, and I was contemplating leaving the game afterwards.

Lo and behold, my prayers were answered, and with the release of Dragons of Legend 2 in July, Toon decks were given the shot in the arm that they needed! Alleluyah!

*ahem*

So, uh, anyway, let me cut to the chase.
A few of you have heard of what these cards can do, and believe it or not, they can actually make Toons playable.
I actually tested a Toon deck during the Regional Qualifiers yesterday, and I managed to beat several Meta-decks, inclusive of Shaddolls, Qliphorts and Tellarknights (of course, wise side decking helped, too.)

What I'm going to do is tell you what cards are necessities for your deck, and list out some combos that you can try to help your strategy along. Your main objective with this deck is to get Toon Kingdom out as quickly as possible, and keep it there.

So, for starters, let's talk about staples.
To start building your Toon deck, you MUST at least have the following:

2 or 3 x Toon Gemini Elf
2 or 3 x Toon Masked Sorcerer
3 x Toon Kingdom
3 x Toon Table of Contents
2 x Comic Hand
2 x Toon Briefcase

Elf and Sorceror go hand in hand with this deck. One is a beatstick and takes cards away, and the other is a wuss with draw power.

You might be thinking that I'm bashing on Sorceror's stats, but believe it or not, his measly stats are a plus. Most people will watch him and deem him unworthy of wasting their Mirror Force on him, so more often than not, they will let you hit them and draw. Unbeknownst to them, that one card you'll draw could be just the card you needed to screw them over.

Toon Kingdom needs no explanation. This is the heart and soul of your deck. Toons become indestructible and can't be targeted. What more can you want? With that said, the next best thing in your deck are your searchers - Toon Table of Contents. 3 of them, no less than that. They are a Godsend for this deck and are borderline splashable in others.

Toon Briefcase is a funny card. It has one of the best effects for a Trap card that I've seen. Monster jumps in, monster jumps back out, straight back into the deck. Feel free to match Briefcases with the number of Elves/Sorcerors you'll be running. I put 2 in case you want some ideas about making room in your deck for other cards.

As for non-Toon staples:

+ 2 or 3 Mystical Space Typhoon
+ Dark Hole/Raigeki
+ Torrential Tribute
+ Solemn Warning
+ Bottomless Trap Hole
+ Vanity's Emptiness

Vanity's Emptiness is a must have for this deck. This one card has saved my ass so many times. Ironically, these days Toons aren't really known for their Special Summons, so it's all dandy. Just be careful when you use this with Toon Cyber Dragon/Toon Mermaid. Torrential is here as a field cleanser and the fact that Toon Kingdom will just have your Toons sipping martinis on the beach while everybody else drowns. The rest I'd pretty much expect to be in any competitive deck, really.

The remaining 15 cards are up to you, but here are some combos that I use, because Toon Kingdom needs to be protected, and if you can keep it there, it becomes a huge problem for your opponent.

- Card Guard/Summoner Monk: Use Summoner Monk's effect > Special Summon Card Guard > Use effect, put counter on Toon Kingdom.

- Number 66: Master Key Beetle: Use Combo #1 above, XYZ Summon, detach, target Toon Kingdom or Vanity's Emptiness (detaching is not sending a card from the field to the Graveyard.)

- Vanity's Emptiness/Macro Cosmos: Cards never go to the Graveyard, screws over a lot of Meta decks, especially Shaddolls, Necroz, Ritual Beasts and Infernoids.

And now, for the cards that I don't consider must-haves, but should still be considered.

- Dark Bribe
- Effect Veiler
- Cairngorgon, Anti-Luminescent Knight

Negation is a good thing. These can actually protect Toon Kingdom if your opponent tries anything funny. Caingorgon gets double douchebag points for blowing up something else in its place, so there's that.

- Toon Cyber Dragon
- Toon Mermaid

Adds Special Summoning power and more Toons to your deck. Toon Mermaid is a particularly poignant wall with Toon Kingdom out. However, be careful when trying Vanity's Emptiness.

- Toon Dark Magician Girl

Can attack directly the same turn that she's summoned, is a Special Summon herself, and if you don't want to chance your opponent Typhooning a Comic Handed monster, tributing for her is a safe bet.

- Terraforming

Makes drawing Toon Kingdom easier.


Some of you may be wondering why I haven't spoken about cards such as Mimicat. I mained Mimicat during Regionals, and don't get me wrong, when it works, it works. But it can just sit there in your hand doing jack all if you haven't been particularly God-fearing this week. As for Toon Ancient Gear Golem....a great card if you have it out, but I feel like you'd get way more benefit from having Toon Gemini Elf and Sorceror out, simply from the +1s you'd be getting with them. Toons with Trampling make no sense when you can attack directly, and yes, his effect to clamp down Spells/Traps is nice, but overall, I barely use him.

Now there's a build that I've seen using Vylon Cubes to add some Synchro Summoning power to the deck with Ancient Fairy Dragon and Stardust Spark Dragon, you can try that if you like. I'm currently siding them. Truth be told, they were barely a factor in any of my duels, hence why I swapped to 2 Effect Veiler in my most recent build.

I've included a sample decklist in this article, I don't know if Pojo would print it or not, but that's an example of what I'm talking about.  (Pojo Note:  Click on the thumbnail on the right.  ;-)

(By the way, swap Toon Mask for Instant Fusion and Vylon Tetra for Mimicat if you see it.)

If you have any suggestions for me, feel free to send me an e-mail at your convenience.

Thank you all, and happy building!