Frog

"Frog" (ガエル Gaeru) is the first WATER archetype and Aqua archetype, debuted in Cybernetic Revolution. It is supported by a few related "Toad" cards. The archetype is used by Princess Rose in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime.

Design
True to their their name, the "Frog" as well as the "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 "Frogs" and "Toads" 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
"Froggy Forcefield" is not a "Frog" card, because it does not have 「ガエル」 in its Japanese name, as with "Frog the Jam" (which was eventually renamed to "Slime Toad" for clarity.

Since the late 2016, the archetype name was capitalized as "RANA" for the Spanish and Italian prints to make it more distinguishable, similar to how the "HERO" archetype is capitalized in all TCG prints.

Almost all of members the "Frog" archetype and the supporting "Toad" cards have their Japanese names designed to be intended as puns. These have been removed from the TCG names, if not replaced by other puns, since the Japanese puns are largely untranslateable.

Playing style
Though weak, "Frog" cards can unleash devastating effects that include rapid Summoning, the option to increase their ATK or protect themselves from destruction, and wiping out all cards the opponent controls. Many "Frog" cards have low Levels, which lets them benefit from cards like "Gravity Bind", "Pride of the Weak" and "Graceful Revival".

Frog Decks use the Field Spell "Wetlands" that increases the ATK of all Level 2 or lower WATER/Aqua Monsters by 1200. Frogs can use "T.A.D.P.O.L.E." (which allows you to add up to 2 more copies of itself from your deck to your hand when destroyed by battle), "Substitoad" (Traditional Format), "Flip Flop Frog", "Treeborn Frog" (though you can't Special Summon him with "Wetlands" out), "Froggy Forcefield", and "Dupe Frog" to stall while building up combos. "Beelze Frog" can gain up to 2100 ATK with all 3 "T.A.D.P.O.L.E." in the Graveyard, a sizeable amount for a Level 3 monster. "Mermaid Archer" is also useful with Frogs, since all Frogs except for "Des Frog" are Level 3 or lower. "Star Boy" can power up Frogs in a flash; even with only "Wetlands" and its own effect, it has 2250 ATK. "Unifrog" can be used to make direct attacks, having 1600 ATK while "Wetlands" is active, and can also destroy an opponent's Spell/Trap Card if you control another Frog.

Because this Deck often heavily revolves around "Wetlands" and easily swarms the field with Frogs for Tribute fodder, it can easily accommodate an "Earthbound Immortal". "Earthbound Immortal Chacu Challhua" works superbly because its effect lets it deal damage even with cards like "Gravity Bind" active. "Earthbound Immortals" that require Tributes for their effects, such as "Earthbound Immortal Uru", also have great synergy with the Frogs' aforementioned swarming power.

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. "One for One" allows easy Summoning of "Substitoad", so a Normal Summon/Set is not spent to get "Substitoad" out.

"Fishborg Blaster" (Traditional Format only) and "Deep Sea Diva" are good Tuners to include in a Frog Deck; they are easily Special Summoned and benefit from "Aegis of the Ocean Dragon Lord", "Water Hazard" and other WATER support. "Cryomancer of the Ice Barrier" is another effective Tuner, as "Wetlands" grants him 2500 ATK. "Dewdark of the Ice Barrier" also works thanks to his ability to attack directly while you only control Level 2 or lower monsters, which is easily manageable with the Frogs teamed up with "Wetlands" in this Deck.

Frog Burn FTK/Mass Driver FTK (Traditional)
This FTK is hard to stop, and relatively easy to pull off. First, you need to get a "Substitoad" on the field (easy with "One for One" or "Swap Frog" + "Salvage"). Then, you just need another monster on the field as fodder for his effect. At that point, dump as many Frogs as you possibly can into your Graveyard (cards like "Banisher of the Light" and "Dimensional Fissure" are the bane of this strategy). If you have three copies of "Ronintoadin" in your Deck, there is a very good chance that if he's not already in your hand, he will be very soon, likewise with "Mass Driver" (Traditional Only). All you need to do now is get "Ronintoadin" in the Graveyard, either by "Swap Frog's" effect or by other means (Magical Merchant), and "Mass Driver" (Possible to substitute "Cannon Soldier" instead) on the Field. Use the effect of "Ronintoadin" to bring him back to the Field and then Tribute him for 400 LP damage. Repeat until you win.

With the banning of "Substitoad" in September 2010 and "Mass Driver" in March 2011, this strategy is no longer playable in the Advanced Format.

Des Frog OTK
The rapid summoning of "Des Frog"s can be used to OTK as follows: 1. Tribute Summon "Des Frog" when at least 2 "T.A.D.P.O.L.E.s" are in your Graveyard. See below for 1 turn set-up. 2. Use "Des Croaking" to destroy all cards on your opponent's side of the field 3. (option A): Activate "Solidarity" or "United We Stand" and then attack for 8100 damage with the 3 "Des Frogs". 3. (option B): Attack with all "Des Frog"s, then activate "Super Polymerization", summoning "D.3.S. Frog" and finally attacking for 8200 damage.

Special Summon "Ronintoadin" card from your Graveyard then, activate "Inferno Reckless Summon" and Special Summon 3 "Des Frog". Then use "Des Croaking" to clear your opponent's field. Xyz Summon Rank 5 like "Shark Fortress" then, Xyz Summon "Daigusto Phoenix" and win.

Use "Tidal, Dragon Ruler of Waterfalls", "Swap Frog" and "Foolish Burial" with the help "Salvage" to send "T.A.D.P.O.L.E.", "Gazer Shark" or "Des Frog" to the Graveyard. You can banish Gazer Shark for a free Rank 5 WATER Xyz Summon. "Sea Lancer" can also be used to recycle "Gazer Shark".

There can also be an FTK if you add a "One for One" or "Swap Frog" into your Deck. If you draw a "Des Frog", a "Des Croaking", a "T.A.D.P.O.L.E." and "One for One" or a "Swap Frog", you can either: OR Tribute your Monster for a "Des Frog" and follow from stage 2 above!
 * Activate "One for One" and discard "T.A.D.P.O.L.E." from your hand to Special Summon "T.A.D.P.O.L.E." from your Deck
 * Discard one "T.A.D.P.O.L.E." from your hand to Special Summon "Swap Frog", then use its effect to send the second "T.A.D.P.O.L.E." from your Deck to the Graveyard.

It is also possible to Normal Summon "Substitoad", then Special Summon with "One for One" or "Swap Frog" to tribute for "Substitoad"'s effect. Summon "Swap Frog" and use its effect to send "T.A.D.P.O.L.E." to the Graveyard. Tribute "Swap Frog" to Summon another if you need to to make sure you have two "T.A.D.P.O.L.E."s in your Graveyard, then use "Swap Frog's effect by returning it or "Substitoad" to your hand to Tribute Summon your "Des Frog".

As an alternative for step 3.(B), use "Polymerization" after using "Des Croaking", then "De-Fusion" after attacking with "D.3.S. Frog".

You can use the Frog search cards like "Moray of Greed" and "Substitoad", "Tradetoad", along with stall cards like "Dupe Frog", "Treeborn Frog" and "Froggy Forcefield" to more reliably complete this OTK/FTK. Watch out for "Starlight Road", "Bottomless Trap Hole" and "D.D. Crow", however.

Dragon Frog Exodia (Traditional)
This strategy uses "Substitoad" (Traditional Only), "DNA Surgery"/"D. Tribe" & "Super Rejuvenation" to draw through your entire Deck in one turn in order to cause a win condition using the 5 parts of "Exodia".

First get the "Substitoad" & your Type change trap on the field, then after playing "Super Rejuvenation" tribute enough "Frogs" to draw the rest of your Deck during the End Phase.

Like most "Frog" combos, use "One for One" and such to get "Substitoad" as fast as possible, and from there setup the rest of the 3 card combo. Other cards that could be used are "A Cat of Ill Omen" to search for the Type Changing traps, as well as "Magical Mallet" / "Hand Destruction" to allow controlled drawing through the Deck, in order not to lose any parts of "Exodia".

Bear in mind that when you tribute "Poison Draw Frog" or "Dupe Frog", their effects do not activate.
 * You can use "Swap Frog" to send them to the graveyard from the field to activate their own effects when "Swap Frog" is Summoned, however they will not actually be 'tributed' and therefore will not count for "Super Rejuvenation".

Frog beatdown Decks
Keep in mind that, in a Beatdown Deck, "Wetlands" is much more important than in a OTK Deck. Make sure you use 3, and at least one "Terraforming". Not drawing "Wetlands" can be a huge problem. Hybrid Decks involving other monsters using Wetlands can be found on the Wetlands Deck page.

Using "Flip Flop Frog" is also crucial as you can easily clear the field every turn as long as he's not destroyed, and can also be a powerful beatstick with "Wetlands".

Although not a "Frog", "Penguin Soldier" can be a great help. You can use it to return 2 monsters on the field for a Direct Attack, and it gains the attack boost for "Wetlands".

Ancient Prophecy also added some great new support for low Level WATER monsters including "Aegis of the Ocean Dragon Lord" to prevent your Frogs from being destroyed by any means. This is particularly useful against "Lightning Vortex", "Mirror Force" and "Torrential Tribute". Also, "Moray of Greed", while a powerful card, is skippable as it's better to use "Pot of Avarice".

Since a combo of 2 "Dupe Frogs" or a "Dupe Frog" in Defense Position and a "Substitoad" (Traditional Only) essentially renders your opponents attacks completely useless, your main worry is monster destruction. It is therefore essential to include cards to negate this, such as the aforementioned "Aegis of the Ocean Dragon Lord" or "Destruction Jammer" from the Light of Destruction set.

If you want to incorporate Synchros, "Junk Synchron" works well as almost all Frogs are Level 2 or lower, but "Cryomancer of the Ice Barrier" is one of the best tuners for Frogs. Not only is it the strongest monster affected by "Wetlands", he also has a powerful stalling effect (Though this would require running other "Ice Barrier" monsters). You can easily summon "Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier" using "Cryomancer of the Ice Barrier" and a "Mother Grizzly" or two of any Level two monster. "Junk Warrior" is probably the best synchro monster for a Frog Deck to to his gaining the attack of every Level 2 monster on the field which means "Wetlands" makes him incredibly strong if you have at least one frog on the field.

Finally, it should be noted that a "Frog" Deck is excellent at quickly filling the field with monsters thanks to its ability to lock down the opponents attacks. This makes it an ideal Deck to include some very powerful monsters, as you will be able to easily summon even monsters requiring three tributes.

Without using high Level monsters, "Dewdark of the Ice Barrier" is a great monster to combo with "Cryomancer of the Ice Barrier" because it can be a 2400 Direct Attacker and also block attacks from Level 4+ monsters.

Frognarch
This type of Deck utilizes "Swap Frog" and "Substitoad" (Traditional Only) to speed up the chances of getting "Treeborn Frog" on the Field. This Deck utilizes the potential of getting "Light and Darkness Dragon" out to stop your opponents, but also using "Dupe Frog" to stall, and "Ronintoadin" to get even more Tribute fodder.

Use "Swap Frog's" effect to bounce a "Monarch" monster back to your hand, and then tribute a monster like "Treeborn Frog" or a opponent monster using cards like "Soul Exchange" and "Enemy Controller" to Normal Summon the "Monarch" and use its effect again.

Normal Summon "Substitoad", tribute for its own effect, and then Special Summon a "Swap Frog" to dump a "Treeborn Frog" to the Graveyard.

A popular play is the "Raiza Loop", which uses "Swap Frog" to return "Raiza the Storm Monarch" to your hand to continually return a card controlled by the opponent to the top of their Deck, disallowing them to Draw any new cards.

This Deck can be played without "Substitoad" meaning you will have a Frognarch Deck ready for advanced format. Just use "Swap Frog" to thin the Deck and you can thin it very quickly. Other then that the Deck is basically the same as the above.

See the article: Frognarchs or Frog Engine

Toadally Awesome beatdown
"Toadally Awesome" can negate the activation of any Spell/Trap Card or monster effect, then Set that card on your side of the field. A well-structured usage of "Ronintoadin" and "Swap Frog" can easily swarm the field and grave with Level 2 monsters to either Summon "Toadally Awesome" or be used as fodder for it.

Beware of cards such as "Zombie World" (which will prevent you from summoning "Toadally Awesome" at all) and cards that banish what goes into your Graveyard such as "Masked HERO Dark Law" and "Dimensional Fissure".

Lancer Frogs
This Deck uses "Ronintoadin" to banish your own frogs, while "Sea Lancer" brings them back from the banished zone and equips them onto itself. "Gachi Gachi Gantetsu" can be brought out easily with this Deck being able to Summon Level 2 monsters very quickly. It is recommended to use both "Dupe Frog" and "Poison Draw Frog" because both get their effects when they are sent as "Sea Lancer's" equip card to the Graveyard.

Use "Tidal, Dragon Ruler of Waterfalls", "Swap Frog" and "Foolish Burial" with the help "Salvage" to send "T.A.D.P.O.L.E.", "Gazer Shark" or "Des Frog" to the Graveyard. You can banish "Gazer Shark" for a free Rank 5 WATER Xyz Summon. "Sea Lancer" can also be used to recycle "Gazer Shark".