If you’re a fan of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! TV series, then you’ll remember Maximillion Pegasus, the mastermind behind the Duel Monsters card game and commander of the Toon Monsters! The Toons are a very special group of monsters that focus on quick Summons and attacking directly. Since the Toon Monsters have been reprinted in Legendary Collection 3: Yugi’s World, now is the perfect time to talk about how they work!

Some of the Toon Monsters are slightly different from each other, but as a group they are very different from regular monsters in a number of ways. Pegasus’ classic Toon Monsters all have the same “Toon monster effects”, but they don’t have any other effects since they’re all based on Normal Monsters. Toon Mermaid, Toon Summoned Skull, Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon, and Manga Ryu-Ran can all be Special Summoned (and you have to Tribute monsters for their Special as directed) if you control Toon World, but they can’t attack on the turn they’re Summoned. Also, you must pay 500 Life Points to declare an attack with them, and they’re destroyed if Toon World is destroyed. Toon Dark Magician Girl is similar to these monsters, except that she can attack during the turn she’s Summoned, and you don’t have to pay 500 Life Points each time you attack with her.

The final 4 Toons are Toon Cannon Soldier, Toon Masked Sorcerer, Toon Gemini Elf, and Toon Goblin Attack Force. These 4 can’t be Special Summoned from your hand like other Toons, but they don’t need Toon World on the field to be Summoned. In addition, they each have another effect that’s similar to their non-Toon counterparts. Toon Cannon Soldier can Tribute a monster to inflict 500 damage to your opponent, Toon Masked Sorcerer allows you to draw after inflicting Battle Damage, Toon Gemini Elf will discard a card from your opponent’s hand after inflicting Battle Damage (OK, maybe that one isn’t like the regular card), and Toon Goblin Attack Force will switch to Defense Position after its attack. As long as you control Toon World and your opponent doesn’t have a Toon on the field, all of your Toons can attack your opponent directly! This will let you trigger the effects of Toon Masked Sorcerer, and Toon Gemini Elf very easily. The Toon Monsters are extremely powerful, but they can only gain this strength while you control Toon World. Therefore, it’s vital that when using a Toon Deck you’re able to protect it properly.

There are lots of cards that you can use with Toon Monsters. Toon Table of Contents is a must-have card, allowing you to grab any of your Toon cards from your Deck, including Toon World, when you need them. Cards like Scapegoat and Dandylion that Summon multiple Tokens to the field work well with Toons, as you can use all of these Tokens as Tributes, since you’re not Tribute Summoning your Toons. Card Guard is another great pick, allowing you to place a Guard Counter on your Toon World to protect it from destruction. There are also some cards that you can use to help keep your Toons on the field for longer, without having to worry about Toon World as much. If your opponent tries to activate a card that would destroy Toon World, you can chain Forbidden Chalice to target your Toon Monster, negating its effect for the turn and preventing it from being destroyed by its own effect. Book of Moon will also work in a similar way, stopping one of your Toons from being destroyed. Since the Toon Monsters are so reliant on Toon World, it’s a good idea to find ways to allow them to function without it as much as possible.

While the real-life Toon Monsters are vulnerable to the same things that regular monsters are (unlike Pegasus’ wacky invincible Toons), they are also capable of fast, massive direct attacks that Pegasus couldn’t make. Nevertheless, their weakness is something that can be fixed in a number of ways. Now that Legendary Collection 3: Yugi’s World is here, you can find all the Toon Monsters for the first time in years!