R-r-r-r-r-r-ribbit.

It’s amazing how small a core theme can be when you’re building a deck that fits a themed strategy. When we think of themed decks, a few examples usually spring to mind, and most of these examples have more cards than we could possibly need. Are you really going to use all those Warriors? Sampling one of every Fiend? I didn’t think so. Building a themed deck can be like attending a huge buffet at a Las Vegas casino—it’s hard to find exactly what you want.

It’s easy to overlook the potential for some new decks, simply because they only take a few cards to build and such small groups of cards are often easy to skip over. For instance, I took little note of the potential of the deck that today’s contributor has focused on.

Jason,

After attending the Sneak Preview in my area last weekend, I got as many packs as possible. I managed to get Cyber Twin Dragon, Cyber End Dragon, and two copies of Cyber Dragon. However, if and when I build a Cyber Dragon deck, two copies just won't cut it. So I searched the set for other cards that could come in handy. I stumbled upon some commons that weren’t very good in Sealed Pack, but when I could get enough of them into one deck, they’d be perfect. I’m talking about the Frogs!

The Frog theme gives us Des Frog, T.A.D.P.O.L.E., and Poison Draw Frog. I soon realized that this could be a very fast and destructive deck when these monsters are combined with Des Croaking. The goal is to use Poison Draw Frog to draw cards (either sacrifice it for one of the traps or use it with Dimension Wall) until you reach T.A.D.P.O.L.E.(Or you can search it out with Sangan or Mother Grizzly.) Set that, get it destroyed in battle, get more, get one more destroyed in battle, and wait until you get Des Frog and Des Croaking to swarm the field and attack directly.

Your opponent will lose most of their life from the first attack and shouldn’t be able to recover. After testing, this deck seems slower than it should be, which is why I need your help.

Thank you,

Luke G

Bethesda, Maryland

Cybernetic Revolution has three cards focused around the Des Frog line of monsters, and Poison Draw Frog sort of makes for a tagalong fourth card. That isn’t many cards, and none of them really scream “Look at me! I’m so powerful!” But lo and behold, Luke has made a perfectly playable Frog-based deck, which he calls . . .

Toad Control

40 cards

Monsters: 17

3 Des Frog

3 T.A.D.P.O.L.E.

3 Poison Draw Frog

2 Spirit Reaper

1 Sangan

1 Airknight Parshath

1 Cyber Jar

1 Sinister Serpent

1 Mother Grizzly

1 Tribe-Infecting Virus

Spells: 12

1 Brain Control

1 Graceful Charity

3 Des Croaking

1 Snatch Steal

1 Pot of Greed

1 Premature Burial

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Heavy Storm

1 Delinquent Duo

1 Swords of Revealing Light

Traps: 11

1 Horn of Heaven

1 Dust Tornado

3 Spiritual Water Art – Aoi

1 Mirror Force

1 Dimension Wall

1 Call of the Haunted

1 Torrential Tribute

1 Magic Cylinder

1 Ring of Destruction

This deck looks solid! It’s got a lot of the things that, at first glance, I figured I might need to add. Mother Grizzly keeps the deck consistent and allows it to open strongly while searching out copies of T.A.D.P.O.L.E. Spiritual Water Art – Aoi is a great new addition for any deck running heavy amounts of Water monsters, and it’s especially nice here because it gives us another way to get rid of copies of T.A.D.P.O.L.E. It also combos well with Mother Grizzly, which can be used to bring out Sinister Serpent. Sinister Serpent can then be used, along with Spiritual Water Art – Aoi, to get rid of an opponent’s hand.

That said, I think we can make some changes to the deck to make it a bit more effective. I’m going to streamline it and give it more focus by taking out the cards that don’t add to the main goal and adding in the cards that do.

First up, Airknight Parshath is gone. I’m a staunch believer that a new element of challenge enters a deck when you move from three to four tribute monsters, and while drawing is definitely good, Airknight will usually only get to attack once or twice anyway. Is it great Sheep token tech? Of course! It’s a fabulous card. But I don’t believe it’s worth its cost in a deck that sometimes draws poorly.

Next, I’ll remove one copy of T.A.D.P.O.L.E. While the ability to lose one T.A.D.P.O.L.E. and then grab two more is a nice bit of card advantage that operates along the lines of Thunder Dragon, I don’t like the thought of an opening hand filled with T.A.D.P.O.L.E.s and Des Frogs. I don’t think this deck has enough cards that require an in-hand discard to really take advantage of this kind of card advantage, and in order to get the most out of Des Frog’s effect, you only need two T.A.D.P.O.L.E.s in the graveyard anyway.

Next, I’m going to drop all three copies of Poison Draw Frog. While these little fellows play nicely with Tsukuyomi, we’re not running Tsukuyomi in this deck, and I don’t trust potential opponents to not, oh, I don’t know, attack. Instead I’ll be replacing these little draw engines with a couple of different monsters, which will work a bit better while providing us with some card advantage.

Have you ever noticed that Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive and Bokoichi the Freightening Car actually form a draw engine together—not only strategically, but also literally, since they’re a train? I didn’t even notice that hidden pun until just now. If you get nothing else from this article, take the pun.

Horn of Heaven is gone, because I can’t honestly think of any monster in particular whose summoning I’d like to negate. It’s a nice way to get T.A.D.P.O.L.E. into the graveyard, but I’m pretty sure we can accomplish that by summoning it and having the opponent attack it. I’ll be adding another discard card or two as well, so that’s not a major concern.

Torrential Tribute is a waste here, since this deck never wants to lose its board presence, and the cards I’m adding will help that goal. Finally, Dust Tornado will be relegated to the side deck. I’m taking a “Des Croaking or bust” attitude toward this deck.

Those frogs are gonna sing! They’ll sing or they’ll die!

Moving along to the additions, the first cards I immediately want to add are two more copies of Mother Grizzly. The Grizzly is just too good in this deck. Not only does it act as a wall and ensure that this deck is capable of having solid opening turns, it can search out Sinister Serpent for abuse with Spiritual Water Art – Aoi and T.A.D.P.O.L.E. It helps this deck get to its key cards and it protects its early-game weaknesses, while simultaneously thinning the deck to make it faster.

Next, I’m going to be replacing the three copies of Poison Draw Frog with two Night Assailant and one Card Destruction. The removal that Night Assailant offers will be invaluable, and it can net you substantial card advantage. Its ability to permit the reuse of Cyber Jar is also incredibly good, and it really fits the tempo the deck is trying to create. Use it to destroy pesky face down monsters, since this deck doesn’t have many other main deck options that can do just that.

Two copies of Messenger of Peace will give Luke some strong stall options. Mother Grizzly will still be able to attack as needed and Messenger has been used here over Gravity Bind or Level Limit – Area B strictly because we can “turn it off” once the Des Frogs hit the table and we’d like to attack with them. Until that point, this will slow down the game and force the opponent to start setting cards—which can then be destroyed with Des Croaking. It’s not a secret that this deck will sometimes have to wait around in order to draw into its combo. Messenger of Peace lets you live until you can do so.

I’ll add one Monster Reincarnation, too. Losing a single Des Frog to battle or an opponent’s effect can really hurt, and even blowing through a single Frog with Card Destruction can injure your chances at winning. Monster Reincarnation gives you another way to ditch your second T.A.D.P.O.L.E., and it has a variety of uses in the deck. Of course, it also works well with Night Assailant and Sinister Serpent, so keep that in mind when you topdeck it. You don’t always have to use Monster Reincarnation right after you draw it.

Here are my changes to Luke’s deck.

-1 Airknight Parshath

-1 T.A.D.P.O.L.E.

-3 Poison Draw Frog

-1 Horn of Heaven

-1 Dust Tornado

-1 Torrential Tribute

+2 Mother Grizzly

+2 Night Assailant

+1 Monster Reincarnation

+2 Messenger of Peace

+1 Card Destruction

The following is my fixed version of Luke’s deck.

Toad Control—Jason’s Fix

40 cards

Monsters: 16

3 Des Frog

2 T.A.D.P.O.L.E.

2 Night Assailant

2 Spirit Reaper

1 Sangan

1 Cyber Jar

1 Sinister Serpent

3 Mother Grizzly

1 Tribe-Infecting Virus

Spells: 16

1 Brain Control

1 Graceful Charity

3 Des Croaking

1 Snatch Steal

1 Pot of Greed

1 Premature Burial

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Heavy Storm

1 Delinquent Duo

1 Swords of Revealing Light

1 Monster Reincarnation

2 Messenger of Peace

1 Card Destruction

Traps: 8

3 Spiritual Water Art – Aoi

1 Mirror Force

1 Dimension Wall

1 Call of the Haunted

1 Magic Cylinder

1 Ring of Destruction

Spirit Reaper, Sangan, Cyber Jar, and Sinister Serpent are all acceptable opening plays, while T.A.D.P.O.L.E. and Mother Grizzly are your ideal first-turn monsters. Almost every non-tribute monster in the deck is good on turn 1, and that mitigates the fact that Des Frog is a dead draw in the early game.

When playing this deck, your overall goal is simple. Stall and thin your deck, attempting to dump the pair of T.A.D.P.O.L.E.s into your graveyard as early as possible. From there, you can either tribute summon one Des Frog to get the other two and rush the opponent, or hold on to your Des Frogs until you get Des Croaking. The approach that you decide to take will depend on the opponent’s play style, but since most duelists play conservatively in the current environment, Des Croaking will usually be the way to go.

Try to play so that you can get the most out of a single Croaking. Many players will commit to the field only as much as you do. If I can stay one card ahead of you in my total count of set traps and spells, you won’t gain any card advantage if you play Heavy Storm. If I match you monster for monster, you won’t be able to rush me, wipe me out, and attack me directly without going to some trouble. Take advantage of this tendency—play yourself out just enough to bait an opponent into establishing a big board presence, but not to the point that you over-commit and thus make your opponent feel like he or she has to make a move. Play smart, and then rip the opponent apart with Des Croaking.

My side deck suggestions mostly include spell and trap removal and negation. The Dust Tornado that I pulled from the main deck should probably be used in the side deck in triplicate. A Giant Trunade or two wouldn’t hurt either. As for negation, it’s Solemn Judgment all around! Anyone running Torrential Tribute and two Bottomless Trap Hole will be able to throw a wrench into your plans. Seeing one of your Des Frogs hit the graveyard before you can activate Des Croaking is just no fun. Aside from that, I’d recommend a third Messenger of Peace to handle aggressive decks, plus a few copies of Des Wombat to shut down direct-damage Burn variants.

Playable decks can be made around even the smallest of synergistic card groups, and this week’s finished product is proof of that! Props to Luke G. for taking a difficult concept and making it work. Here’s hoping the fix helps, and that it can inspire you to try that idea in the back of your head!

—Jason Grabher-Meyer