Subject: Tips for building a Toon Deck, Version 2.0- The New Era Outlaw First off, I wish to thank all of the Yu-Gi maniacs out there who read my first article: "Tips for building a Toon Deck" and gave me some much needed feedback. Now, with the release of Pharonic Guardian, I have returned, with some more tips and tricks to make your Toon themed deck one of the best in the game! Now, before I begin, there is one thing I would like to rectify....I made a mistake in the previous article. In that article, I said that Imperial Order was a staple for a Toon deck because it would negate the fact that you would pay the 1000 LP. Somebody E-mailed me a couple of weeks later and alerted me to this mistake. According to Upperdeck rulings, the user wrote, Toon World, in essence, has NO effect. Instead, what you see written on the card is a cost, or the price you pay for playing a card or keeping a card in play. In other words, while an Imperial Order would negate the 'destroy all opponent's monsters' part of a card like Raigeki, it would not negate things like 'Pay 100 life points otherwise this card is destroyed' text on cards like Messenger of Peace. (You still have to pay.) And yes, before you ask, this also applies to effects like Jinzo as well, where if you have an Imperial Order on the field at the same time as a Jinzo, you STILL have to pay 700 to keep it on the field, since it's a cost, not an effect. So, in a nutshell, Imperial Order does not allow you to escape paying the 1000 life points. But don't let that discourage you, Imperial Order is still a staple to a Toon Deck, for the reason that cards like Heavy Storm, Harpie's Feather Duster and Mystical Space Typhoon can hurt you plenty. Now, without further ado, on to the tips! Now, one card I knew about (but forgot to mention in my last article) that is a must for a Toon deck is ScapeGoat. Yes, those adorable yet so very, very annoying little sheep can actually help you out here- in more ways than one. Now, aside from it's great defensive and stalling capabilities, there's one more thing you should know about the wonderful card you all know as Scapegoat (and the Good Lord above knows that I'll get a LOT of feedback on this statement, both good and bad). IT CAN BE USED TO TRIBUTE SPECIAL SUMMON HIGH-LEVEL TOON MONSTERS. Yes, you heard me right. Now, I was sceptical at first, and I know what you're going to say: "But the card says these tokens can NOT be used for a Tribute Summon!!!" ....which, by the way, is what a LOT of people I duel tell me when I pull this off. Now, here's the reason why this move is legal. According to the rulebook's definition of 'Tribute Summoning', Tribute summoning is done when you summon a level 5 or higher monster on the field by offering one of your monsters already on the field as a tribute. However, since (and I'm using the exact words here) Tribute Summons are considered NORMAL summons, they can only be done ONCE per turn. So, what does this tell us? Well, for one, that Upperdeck considers the term 'Tribute Summon' as a 'Normal Summon', or a 'Tribute NORMAL Summon'. Using this reasoning, they've conveniently left out the word 'Normal' out of the card. Now, let's look at the high-level Toons. These cards, which include Toon Summoned Skull and Blue Eyes Toon Dragon, need a tribute to come out. However, they are NOT, I repeat NOT Normal summons because of that. According to the rules, any monsters that are summoned with the aid of a Magic, Trap, Effect monster, Ritual or Fusion card are considered SPECIAL SUMMONS. With that in mind, these high level Toons are to be considered as such since they require the aid of a MAGIC CARD (TOON WORLD) to even be summoned on the field in the first place. These monsters, therefore, are in a class all by themselves...they are known as Tribute SPECIAL Summons. Since ScapeGoats forbids any Tribute Summoning (which the rulebook describes as a Tribute NORMAL Summon), but mention NOTHING about Special Summoning requiring Tributes, you can, I repeat, CAN use them for Tributes for high level Toon monsters, since they are NOT 'Tribute Normal Summons', but 'Tribute SPECIAL Summons.' If anybody still doubts you even after all of the painstaking research I did to reason out why this move is legal, just print this article out and show them the logic behind the move. You have my permission to do so. These tokens are also good with another card: "United We Stand". Since each token is a face-up, special summoned monster by the name of 'Sheep Token' (but mind you, it's not a monster CARD), each token adds 800 to the target monster's attack. In other words: "Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon + 4 Sheep Tokens+United We Stand = DEATH." Another staple I forgot to mention for a Toon Deck is the infamous Cyber Jar. Just plunk this baby down alone on the field when you're stuck with a Blue-Eyes toon Dragon and no tributes in sight, and, come next turn, you're at least guaranteed to have some monsters to Tribute for your high-level toons. If not, at least you got some cool Magic and Trap cards out of the deal, right? This is one of the fastest ways to get some much needed firepower and defense on your side. Now, with the release of Pharonic Guardian, two more cards that can greatly enhance your toon deck have been revealed, and they are: Ring of Destruction Barrel Behind the Door Combined with a Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon, that's 9000 damage your opponent is facing if he can't counter that flow somehow. How, you may ask? Well, here's a little step by step I've pulled together: 1. Attack with Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon on your opponent's LP. 2. Then, blow him to kingdom come with Ring of Destruction. 3. Because that 3000 damage you take is effect damage, use Barrel Behind the Door to counter that effect and reverse it on your opponent!! Even if you don't get all these cards together, look at it this way: Ring of Destruction can easily blow up the most irritating monsters your opponent can pull (except for Jinzo), or if his or her LP are low, blow up one of your own and put him\her out of his\her misery. As for Barrel Behind the Door, it makes your deck Magic Cylinder proof and Ceasefire proof. 'Nuff said. Now before I cap off this article, I just have one more thing to write about. It's not enough that I talk about a Toon deck's best friends, as if your deck will counter each and every one of the strategies that are out there, but I have to write about a Toon deck's greatest enemies as well. They can really wreck your game if your opponent plays them, and it'll hurt you even more if you don't have cards to counter them. I'll explain a Toon Deck's worst enemies in full detail in a later article, but here's a list of them. You'll do well to stack your deck with cards to counter them, or you and your wacky Toons are in a butt-load of trouble: 1. Magic Cylinder 2. Mirror Force 3. Change of Heart 4. Snatch Steal 5. Harpie's Feather Duster 6. Raigeki 7. Heavy Storm 8. Solemn Judgement 9. Mystical Space Typhoon 10. Dust Tornado 11. Kuriboh (Yes, Kuriboh) 12. Exiled Force Here are a list of cards that might help in fending off these cards, use them wisely: 1. Seven Tools of the Bandit 2. Imperial Order 3. Solemn Judgement 4. Mystical Space Typhoon/Dust Tornado/Harpie's Feather Duster 5. Jinzo 6. Magic Jammer 7. Magic Reflector 8. Raigeki Break 9.Torrential Tribute (don't be afraid to nuke your own Toons if something worse if heading your way!!!) Well, that's it for now. Maybe in the near future I'll write again, when I find some new info on those wacky Toons. Until then, contact me at neweraoutlaw@hotmail.com 'Till next time, Toon fans!!