JUNE 2008

Deck Fix: Froggy Exodia While researching how to create a competitive Frog deck after the release of LoDT, I happened to stumble upon several Exodia Frog decks utilizing a revolutionary Frog Draw Engine (FDE).   Unfortunately, I found all of them had fundamental consistancy issues which made them unviable for competitive play. As such, I began the process of redesigning the deck from the ground up.   While there are some variations to the basic design, all Exodia Frog decks I have seen are similar enough that I feel the following deck list can be used as a base model with which to compare.   It is worth noting however that some variations have chosen to run Des Frog and Beelze Frog in multiples, with the intent of thinning their deck of 13 cards with a single Substitoad, however I found these decks were prone to even worse draws than the one presented below.   Froggy Loves Exodia [created by Snowypowers]   Monsters: 20 3 Substitoad  3 Unifrog 3 Poison Draw Frog 1 Treeborn Frog 1 Dark Magician of Chaos 1 Marshmellow 1 Spirit Reaper 1 Snipe Hunter 1 Sangan   1 Exodia the Forbidden One 1 Right Arm of the Forbidden One 1 Left Arm of the Forbidden One 1 Right Leg of the Forbidden One 1 Left Leg of the Forbidden One Spells: 15 3 Pot of Avarice 3 Magical Mallet 3 Double Summon 2 Magical Stone Excavation 1 Heavy Storm 1 Mystical Space Typhoon 1 Monster Reborn 1 Premature Burial Traps: 5 3 Frog Barrier 1 Mirror Force 1 Torrential Tribute Ideally, all Exodia decks should focus on winning on the first turn due to their inherrent vulnerability to deck, hand, and graveyard disruption.   Since we will be trying to win on the first turn - Spirit Reaper, Marshmallon, Snipe Hunter and the decks entire trap line up are my first cuts, as none of these cards contribute directly to a first turn win.   While Double Summon is included to set-up the Froggy Draw Engine, they can result in bad draws. All 3 copies will be cut in favor of a much more consistant Special Summon Engine.   While powerful cards, Dark Magican of Chaos and both Magical Stone of Excavations are second on the chopping block, as both create consistancy issues, and are bad top-decks.   For space reasons, 1 Magical Mallet will be cut from the deck, while Heavy Storm and Mystical Space Typhoon are both relegated to the side-deck.   -1 Spirit Reaper -1 Marshmallon -1 Snipe Hunter -1 Dark Magician of Chaos   -3 Double Summon -2 Magical Stone of Excavation -1 Heavy Storm -1 Mystical Space Typhoon -1 Magical Mallet   -3 Frog Barrier -1 Mirror Force -1 Torrential Tribute   Destiny Heroes have long been regarded as one of the most supported draw engines, while also having a variety of special summon effects. When redesigning this deck, increasing the decks draw engine(s) was my primary concern, while supporting Substitoad via Special Summons was a close second. Destiny Heroes filled both goals.   Naturally, my first addition was to include a full compliment of Plasma, Malicious, Disk Commander, Destiny Draw, and Allure of Darkness. With only 3 level 8 monsters in the deck, I also included 2 Trade-In for added support, for a total of 13 cards.   With only 3 cards that could special summon a monster on turn 1, my next goal was to increase those odds to consistant levels. Only requiring a monster(s) in the graveyard in order to be summoned, Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden One was a natural choice. In this deck, Exodius fulfills a dual-role, as both Tribute for Substitoad, and as an extra Pot of Avarice. 3 Copies will therefore be included.   The final card(s) were the most difficult to add, as there were many viable choices. However, after careful consideration and playtesting, 2 Foolish Burial were added to further increase the odds of Special Summoning Malicious, Exodius, or Disk Commander on command.   +3 Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord +3 Destiny Hero - Plasma +2 Destiny Hero - Malicious +1 Destiny Hero - Disk Commander   +3 Destiny Draw +2 Allure of Darkness +2 Trade-In +2 Foolish Burial   Here is the final deck list:   Destiny Frog Exodia FTK: 41 Cards   Monsters: 25 3 Destiny Hero - Plasma 2 Destiny Hero - Malicious 1 Destiny Hero - Disk Commander   3 Substitoad 3 Poison Draw Frog 3 Unifrog 1 Treeborn Frog   3 Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord 1 Exodia the Forbidden One 1 Right Arm of the Forbidden One 1 Right Leg of the Forbidden One 1 Left Arm of the Forbidden One 1 Left Leg of the Forbidden One   1 Sangan   Spells: 16 3 Pot of Avarice 3 Destiny Draw 2 Allure of Darkness 2 Trade-In 2 Magical Mallet 2 Foolish Burial 1 Monster Reborn 1 Premature Burial Fusion Deck: 3 1 Gladiator Beast Gyzarus 1 Reaper on the Nightmare 1 Sanwitch   Your first priority when playing this deck, is to activate your Froggy Draw Engine as soon as possible. Due to the decks high level of synergy and multiple redundant features, achieving this is relatively simple, however regardless of the specifics, bringing the draw engine online will always follow the follwing format:   1) Send a monster(s) to the Graveyard Depending upon your hand, your ideal opening move is to activate Destiny Draw, Trade-In, or Foolish Burial in order to send Plasma, Malicious, or Disk Commander to the Graveyard. If all else fails, losing a monster in battle or to an opposing card effect is also a viable option.   2) Special summon a (Tribute) Monster Ideally, you will special summon Malicious or Disk Commander to tribute via Substitoads effect, however failing that, special summoning Exodius by returning all monsters in your graveyard to your deck is your second-best option. It is worth mentioning that returning the monster(s) to your deck is the cost of summoning Exodius, and that it does not target or use the chain. As such, your opponent will be unable to chain D.D. Crow or Transmigration Prophecy in an attempt to disrupt the summon.   3) Normal Summon Substitoad and Tribute a monster for its Effect. This part is self explainatory, however it is worth mentioning that there is a secret to the order in which you should special summon each frog from your deck in order to gain the most reliability from the effect.   Once you have activated the frog draw engine, the rest of the deck runs almost on autopilot. While the effects of most cards are self explainatory, several cards have particular importance in this deck and deserve special mention.   Pot of Avarice / Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord If at all possible, these cards should be used as your Frog-Reset button, allowing you to recycle the frogs in your graveyard, in order to reactivate the Frog Draw Cycle. It is worth mentioning that in most situations, summoning Exodius is inherrently superior to activating Pot of Avarice, for the simple fact that it involves no risk of accidentilly drawing a newly cycled frog monster.   Magical Mallet Ideally, you should reserve this card until you have drawn through the majority of your deck, as you will inevitably draw into multiple frog monsters as a result of the decks various draw effects. As in-hand frogs are useless in this deck, the Mallet allows you to recycle them to your deck with the potential of drawing additional pieces of Exodia, and/or draw cards.   Destiny Hero - Plasma Ideally, this card should be discarded with Trade-In, although Destiny Draw and Allure of Darkness are also viable options. On occassion however, it may be important to Special Summon Plasma in order to remove multiple on-field Exodius and/or Frog monsters, in order to sustain the froggy draw engine.   I hope you have enjoyed this article, and that it provides you with inspiration for your own creative decks. If anyone is interested in providing feedback, criticism, or suggestions to further improve this deck, or would like to submit a decklist for me to fix, feel free to contact me at kalanijasmine@hotmail.com.   Until next time (if there is a nex time)   Kalani