Frog
| Frog | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||||||||
| Japanese |
| ||||||||||||
| French |
| ||||||||||||
| German |
| ||||||||||||
| Italian |
| ||||||||||||
| Korean |
| ||||||||||||
| Portuguese |
| ||||||||||||
| Spanish |
| ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Anime appearances | |||||||||||||
| Lists | |||||||||||||
"Frog" (ガエル Gaeru) is an archetype of WATER Aqua monsters that debuted in Cybernetic Revolution. This was both the first WATER archetype and the first Aqua archetype. The archetype is used by Princess Rose in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime. The "Toad" series is a related series of monsters that support the "Frog" archetype.
"Froggy Forcefield" is not a member of this archetype, as its name does not contain「ガエル」.
Contents
Design[edit]
True to their their name, the general design of "Frog" as well as the related "Toad" monsters resemble their real-life counterparts. Some "Frog" monsters like "Flip Flop Frog" and "Poison Draw Frog" showcase their long, sticky tongues in their artwork. Most of the "Frog" and Toad monsters have distinctive colorful markings on their bodies and heads, most notably "Swap Frog", "Dupe Frog", "Beelze Frog", and "Ronintoadin".
Some "Frog" and Toad monsters resemble angels like "Treeborn Frog", while others resemble demons like "Beelze Frog" and "Swap Frog". This thematic resemblance to angels and demons is further highlighted by the contrasting half-angel, half-demon appearances of "Substitoad" and "Tradetoad".
Etymology[edit]
The Japanese name of the "Frog" archetype, gaeru, is the voiced form of the word for "frog", kaeru; kaeru in turn is used in the Japanese names of the Toad monsters. Most TCG languages localize gaeru as "frog" and kaeru as "toad" in their own languages. In Portuguese, however, the reverse is true: "Frog" is translated as "Sapo" ("toad"), while "Toad" is translated as "Rã" ("frog").
In the Japanese, the names of "Frog" and Toad monsters are puns on gaeru/kaeru, primarily exploiting the fact that many verbs in Japanese end in one of those sequences.
Gaeru puns[edit]
| English name | Japanese name (romaji) | Japanese name (base) | Japanese name (translation) | Pun | Pun (translation) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beelze Frog | Amagaeru | 悪魔ガエル | Devil Frog | アマガエル | Japanese tree frog |
| Des Frog | Desugaeru | デスガエル | Death Frog | ですがえる | "to come across" |
| Centerfrog | Negaeru | 寝ガエル | Sleeping Frog | 寝返る | "to switch sides or to betray" |
| Dupe Frog | Machigaeru | 魔知ガエル | Evil Wisdom Frog | 間違える | "to make a mistake" |
| Flip Flop Frog | Uragaeru | 裏ガエル | Reverse Frog | 裏返る | "to be turned inside-out" |
| Poison Draw Frog | Hikigaeru | 引きガエル | Draw Frog | 蟇蛙 | Japanese common toad |
| Submarine Frog | Michigaeru | 未知ガエル | Unknown Frog | 見違える | "to be hardly recognized" |
| Swap Frog | Kigaeru | 鬼ガエル | Ogre Frog | 着替える | "to change clothes" |
| Treeborn Frog | Yomigaeru | 黄泉ガエル | Underworld Frog | 蘇る | "to be revived" |
| Unifrog | Kangaeru | 貫ガエル | Penetrating Frog | 考える | "to think about" |
Other puns[edit]
| English name | Japanese name (romaji) | Japanese name (base) | Japanese name (translation) | Pun | Pun (translation) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D.3.S. Frog | Gaeru Sandesu | ガエル・サンデス | Frog Three-Death | ガエルさんです | "I'm Mr. Frog" |
| T.A.D.P.O.L.E. | Otamajakushi | 悪魂邪苦止 | Phono-semantically matched ateji of Otamajakushi, the Japanese word for "tadpole"; literally translates to "evil, soul, vice, pain, stop" | オタマジャクシ | Tadpole |
Playing style[edit]
Though with weak stats, "Frog" monsters are very versatile and their effects include rapid Summoning, the option to increase their ATK or protect themselves from destruction, and wiping out all cards the opponent controls, with "Des Croaking".
One card that kept "Frogs" versatile and powerful was "Substitoad", but after Frog FTK won the 2010 World Championships, it was Forbidden, so many "Frog" Decks lost their supreme speed.
Before "Monarch" monsters gained support through recent years, they were commonly combined with monsters like "Treeborn Frog", "Swap Frog" and "Ronintoadin", that could provide fodders for the Tribute Summons. This granted them popularity and competitive viability and the Deck became known as Frog Monarch.
Another popular combination is "Sea Lancer". It can equip itself with as many banished Aqua, Fish and Sea Serpent monsters as possible, which raises is ATK by 1000 and those targets can be easily provided by "Ronintoadin". It can send an equipped monster to the Graveyard to prevent its destruction and by sending a "Dupe Frog" or "Poison Draw Frog", it is possible to prevent a loss in card advantage, by drawing a card or search/retrieve a "Frog" monster.
In 2016, with the Invasion: Vengeance Booster Pack, the archetype gained its boss monster, "Toadally Awesome", a very solid Xyz that is able to negate the activation of cards and effects, steal the negated card, Special Summon a "Frog" monster from the Deck and retrieve a WATER monster when it is sent to the Graveyard. Combined with the "Paleozoic" Trap Cards, that can Summon themselves from the Graveyard as Level 2 Aqua monsters, the Deck rapidily gained popularity and competitive relevance, which later resulted in "Toadally Awesome" becoming Limited in the OCG.
"Toadally Awesome" is currently banned in the OCG, because its powerful effects caused Decks based on Level 4 WATER monsters (which could Summon it throught "Bahamut Shark") and Level 2 like "Spright" (which could Summon it with a "Frog" engine) to dominate the metagame.
Recommended cards[edit]
Recommended cards
| ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Weaknesses[edit]
Cards such as "Zombie World" can be used to prevent "Toadally Awesome" from being Summoned. Card effects that banish cards that would be sent to the Graveyard, such as "Masked HERO Dark Law" and "Dimensional Fissure", greatly hamper the strategies of "Frog" Decks.
