Swap Frog

     This is my first true article for the Angry Ginger Blog. I want to take this time to say, this is no longer a Yu-Gi-Oh only blog. I am going to also use this blog to talk about various opinions and just thoughts that come through my head during the day here in China.

If you have seen my Facebook page you know that I am a lover of all things Swap Frog. I have loved this card since it was first introduced a few years back. Lets start with taking a look at what Swap Frog is and what it does:

“You can discard 1 WATER monster to Special Summon this card from your hand. When this card is Summoned, you can select and send 1 Level 2 or lower Aqua-Type WATER monster from your Deck or your side of the field to the Graveyard. Once per turn, you can return 1 monster you control to your hand to Normal Summon 1 "Frog" monster, except "Swap Frog" or "Frog the Jam", in addition to your Normal Summon or Set this turn.”

     Alright so lets take a look at the ways to Summon Swap Frog. You can normal summon it and then use its effect to send 1 Level 2 or lower Aqua-Type water monster to the graveyard or you can Special Summon him by discarding 1 water monster to the graveyard. So there are two ways to summon him, this allows for a few interesting plays. I will discuss these plays in a minute lets take a look at the rest of his effects first. “Once per turn, you can return 1 monster you control to your hand to Normal Summon 1 “Frog” monster, except for Swap and Frog the Jam, in addition to your normal summon or set.” Alright so he has a built in effect that allows you to normal summon a second time during your turn as long as its a Frog monster. This effect is usually used every single turn you summon a Swap Frog. The extra Normal summon is not important, it is just an added bonus. I can not remember the last time I used his extra Normal summon. The big thing here is the cost!! Returning 1 monster you control... You can return Swap Frog to use him again!

     So let's say we are playing Slushy Frog. We can discard Slushy to Special Summon Swap Frog, then use Swap Frog's effect to send a second Slushy to the graveyard. Now just from this place you already have two Slushy in the graveyard waiting to use their awesome effect to bring out a Poseidra or other Sea-Serpant you may be running. Then you can pay the cost of his effect to return Swap Frog to the hand. Then either Special Summon OR Normal Summon the Swap Frog to send the final Slushy to the graveyard! Now just from two summons you have your graveyard loaded up with Slushy and ready to go. Alright lets think about this from a different approach.

    You are running Frog Monarch. The turn before you dropped a Caius the Shadow Monarch on your opponent. Your hand consists of Swap Frog, Dupe Frog, Mystical Space Typhoon. Your opponent T-Set (set 1 monster 1 spell/trap) and ended his turn. You use the Mystical Space Typhoon, the discard Dupe Frog to Special Summon Swap Frog. With Swap Frogs effect you are now free to send an Aqua to the graveyard, lets say you already have Ronintoadin in the Graveyard so you opt to send a Treeborn Frog to the grave for later use. Now you can return Caius to your hand for Swap Frogs effect. Banish your Dupe Frog for Ronintoadin and then Tribute the toad to resummon Caius to banish their only monster on the field. So in these examples you are using Swap Frog's ability to not only spam himself, but also spam other bigger monsters if need be.

     The Swap Frog engine is pretty versatile in that it can fit in most tribute heavy decks and full the tribute summons. Now lets look further at how Swap Frog works. Here are the rulings posted on the yugioh wikia about Swap Frog:

• You can Normal Summon this monster. (This is pretty obvious and is what makes him so versatile when dumping frogs into the graveyard.
• Discarding 1 WATER monster is a cost. (So you have to discard the monster to gain the SS)
• Sending a monster from your Deck to the Graveyard does not target. (So you don't have to worry about misplaying by saying one monster and then while flipping through the deck you change your mind)
• Returning a monster you control to your hand is a cost. (This is a big one. This allows you to re-use Swap if the opponent Effect Veiler'd him or just return Swap if they flip up a Skill Drain)
• If you activate the effect of more than 1 “Swap Frog”, you can only Normal Summon 1 time in addition to your Normal Summon or set. (His effect is not accumulative, not that it really matters)
• If the effect of “Swap Frog” activates and is resolved, and later during the turn “Skill Drain” is activated, you can still Normal Summon a “Frog” monster in addition to your Normal Summon or Set. (This just feels kind of obvious to me....)
• You do not Normal Summon at the resolution of “Swap Frog's” effect. It allows you to Normal Summon a “Frog” monster at any time you would be able to Normal Summon a monster during that turn. (Again this seems pretty obvious, you don't have to use his effect at all if you don't want to)

     Alright so those are the basic rulings for Swap Frog. Some are helpful in clarifying how his effects work and some are just things you'd think people would understand based on how the game works, but none the less they are there and I'm sure they have helped someone in the past. In my examples I have talked about the Swap Frog Engine. I will discuss this in my second article and show you why these little Level 2 monsters are worth sending to the graveyard. Besides the obvious one of giving you tribute fodder for Monarchs.

     Thanks for reading the article and if you didn't read it thanks for just coming to the website. Leave a comment below or on my official Facebook page. If you have any video ideas or anything you want to say just give me a message.

Cya around

Angry Ginger OUT BITCHES!!!!!