Toon Barrel Dragon? Why Did Yu-Gi-Oh Never Make This Before?

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

Barrel Dragon gets a Toon makeover in Yu-Gi-Oh's  Dimension of Chaos set.

As someone who used to be absolutely obsessed with Yu-Gi-Oh, when I came across Toon Barrel Dragon, a major wave of nostalgia hit me. For those unfamiliar with Barrel Dragon, in the early days of Yu-Gi-Oh, that monster could take down any card on the field - if you got 2 heads out of 3 coin flips.

In the Dimension of Chaos set, Yu-Gi-Oh finally printed the Toon version of Barrel Dragon. About time! It has the same basic stats and effect as the original Barrel Dragon, except it has the upside of being able to attack directly if you have Toon World or Toon Kingdom on the field.

Unlike some older Toon monsters, this cartoonish Barrel Dragon doesn't have the drawback of being destroyed without a "Toon World" card being on the field. It also can target any card on the field, and not just monsters, like the original Barrel Dragon. So the Toon version is, in fact, strictly better than the original.

Of course, there are so many Toon monster options today. Konami decided to go ahead and print monsters like Toon Cyber Dragon that have made the deck a bit more competitive. Yu-Gi-Oh continues to give classic monsters the Toon treatment on a regular basis now, recognizing how much people still love the archetype. Of course, Toon Kingdom is the card that brought Toons back into the Yu-Gi-Oh meta-game as a "troll" deck. I wrote a fairly extensive piece about the effect of Toon Kingdom on the competitiveness of Toon decks. It's one of the most popular Gaming articles I've ever written.

While this Barrel Dragon isn't going to cut it in today's Yu-Gi-Oh competitively, it's still a fun card to have simply for nostalgia's sake. Barrel Dragon was a card that many early Yu-Gi-Oh players hold close to their hearts.  Today, Toons are pretty much a "troll" deck, as it is. Players basically play them for the sake of being funny, although they can win some games against tournament-level decks at times from the sheer power of Toon Kingdom. The Toon Barrel Dragon may never come out of nowhere in some high-profile tournament. But he's going to be a beloved collectible card for anyone who loves Yu-Gi-Oh Toon Monsters.

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