Frog the Jam

alright class, today we're going to special summon 1 "Frog" monster

Slime Toad ———————————————— 'A slime with the head of a frog, it attacks by croaking terribly.' ———————————————— Can Be Found In: OTS Tournament Pack 3 (OP03-EN015), Mc Donald's Promotional Cards (MP1-004)

During the first years of the game when archetypes weren't even a mechanic and the only official one were Toons with their own Monster Type, many cards would have quite different names between the TCG and OCG. Archetypes mainly functions by certain words stated in the card's name, and thus became quite troublesome as more of these themes were being added to the game. Archetype effects had to state that certain cards weren't part of their core mechanics, the official TCG website had to list cards part of the Archfiend archetype, and overall absolute confusion among players without this knowledge. As archetypes became more prominent big changes were needed to not keep going with these clarifications, and old school cards got reprinted with either new names to state their position arround and archetype or carry a line of text to be always treated as part of that group.

"Slime Toad" was previously known as "Frog the Jam", a monster that was mainly known for being constantly stated in Frog cards as not being part of their archetype. But even if was a Frog doesn't have much to offer, due being a Normal Monster wouldn't cooperate with their effects in any way possible. However, even if is not a Frog the fact that is a Normal Monster with pitiful stats places it in a great position as a material of other setups and summons, so even if is not part of an archetype it can function in a similar way as the archetype "Slime Toad" was known for not being part of.

Normal Monsters greatly compensates their weakest cards with a wide pool of supporting options to work with, and "Slime Toad" goes from early to late game being constantly appearing on the field for any purpose. Right from our first turn "Unexpected Dai" will rbing "Slime Toad" from the Deck to our field without any effort, while otherwise "Painful Decision" will add it to our hand as a copy is sent to the Graveyard for later use. Some options will even let us bring several Normal Monsters at once, going from "Rescue Rabbit" and "The League of Uniform Nomenclature" summoning several copies of "Slime Toad", to "Enchanting Fitting Room" giving us a chance to swarm the board by excavating this monster along other Normal Monsters. But "Slime Toad" will really stand out thanks to the variety of revival effects at its disposition, which can go from being summoned by many cards like "Swing of Memories" and "Surface" to being brought back along other Normal Monsters by "Tri-Wight". This is further expanded with the assistance of "Junk Synchron" reviving "Slime Toad" when summoned, allowing us to work together as materials for bigger creatures residing our Extra Deck.

As any Normal Monster of its kind, "Slime Toad" compensates its pitiful stats with a reliable role as material as well some options to surprise the opponent while on the field. With the costant revival effects including chainable Trap Cards such as "Limit Reverse" and "Graceful Revival", as soon "Slime Toad" is milled by an effect like "Advanced Ritual Art" or the mentioned "Painful Deciision" there won't be any turn where is not Special Summoned from the Graveyard for any purpose. From Link Summons to paying certain costs such as "White Elephant's Gift", in combination with other small Normal Monsters "Slime Toad" will keep aiding our setups by little to no effort. But although will often work as material that doesn't mean that "Slime Toad" cannot lead battles, as cards like "Moon Mirror Shield" and "Amulet of Ambition" will assure it has the upper hand against strong enemies. Otherwise WATER strategies involving effects like "Mistar Boy" and "Wetlands" will assure our weakest Normal Monsters are ready to stay on the offense, while playing arround "The Law of the Normal" can assure an OTK in combination with boost effects like "Thousand Energy".

Even if is not part of the Frog archetype, "Slime Toad" has a lot of wonderful mechanics and strategies to work along with. As a WATER monster not only gains the proper support arround the Attribute, but easily combines with Normal Monster options to either gather together with other materials and/or setup ATK boosts arround cards like "Wetlands" and "Thousand Energy". Obviously as a frail monster without any effects of its own "Slime Toad" is a card completely dependant of its own support to obtain results. But as soon is in our Graveyard it will be repeatedly revived along the rest of Normal Monsters if any to keep working towards either big summons or stat boost to lead the board with.

Personal Rating: B-

+ Greatly supported specially by revival effects + Easy to use either as material or arround stat boosts

gem knight garnet as a tribute to the original brick in hand

and slime toad because they're slime toad

• Gagagigo (one of the best and most storylines in the cards)

• Warrior Dai Grepher (another iconic storyline)

• Giant Red Seasnake (one of the strongest starting cards in the first Tag Force game)

• Skull Servant (part of a stronger deck than you’d expect from a 300 ATK 200 DEF normal monster, even if nobody plays it seriously)

• Slime Toad (the change from Frog the Jam because they didn’t want to specify it’s not a Frog card is funny and a really interesting piece of yugioh history)

• Sonic Duck (silly)

• Bolt Penguin (I found it on the ground one time)

Sorry they’re all older cards! I love the newer cards but most new monsters have effects and the ones that don’t honestly tend to have some of the weaker designs and aren’t old enough for interesting history