ROTDOG MtG Card of the Week: Plaxcaster Frogling
.jpg)
Greetings and welcome to this installment of the ROTDOG Mtg Card of the Week! I warned you all last week that I was feeling a change coming on, so this week’s card is from the Dissension Magic: the Gathering release, Plaxcaster Frogling.
This coming fall will bring us all back to the plane of Ravnica, so I decided to re-visit that card block with this very uncommon frog-mutant creature.
To maximize the potential of Plaxcaster Frogling you will have to re-familiarize yourself with the Graft ability, which sets the value of a number of +1/+1 counters that the creature enters play with, but also enables that creature to spread those counters around whenever another creature enters the battlefield.
The ability then printed onto this card is enabling a creature that has a +1/+1 counter on it to have the Shroud ability, effectively removing the chance any of your opponents could have to cast spells upon the creature of your choosing.
That’s two very modular and semi-complicated abilities there, but once you understand the Plaxcaster Frogling better, you’ll realize how very powerful and variable a frog he is.
So, with your very mutable toad, you will be both building up your creatures and protecting them from your opponent’s spells.
Within the Simic guild, which the Plaxcaster Frogling displays so very proudly underneath his rules text, there are quite a few creatures you can immediately shield such as the Cytoplast Manipulator, Simic Basilisk, and Sporeback Troll. Those come already equipped with +1/+1 counters on them, but you can always move counters onto them to make a bigger threat.
Some other +1/+1 counter support comes in the Simic Guildmage, who can move those counters around, and the Vigean Hydropon, who is just there to feed counters onto incoming creatures.
Other Simic beasties I like for some Plaxcastic protection include the Trygon Predator & Assault Zeppelid. Making them bigger and impossible to cast spells on is frustrating to your opponent and always a good idea.
If you throw a Shielding Plax on your Plaxcaster Frogling, you won’t have to worry about protecting your froggy wonder since he’ll have a nice Hexproof umbrella.
If you don’t want to utilize the Graft-ing ability in order to protect the Plaxcaster Frogling, there are a number of more recent spells that will help you spread the +1/+1 love. Blessings of Nature, Timberland Guide, Hunger of the Howlpack, and Travel Preparations all load creatures up with counters.
Don’t forget that Undying creatures all have that important +1/+1 counter on them when they come back from the graveyard, so use the frog to protect your Stormbound Geist, Relentless Skaabs, or Vorapede.
I find the blue/green combo on a creature really interesting. These creatures are usually aggressive or have truly unique abilities, so all the better to protect them with your Plaxcaster Frogling.
Gilder Bairn will double up all the counters, no matter what their type, on any permanent (Did you see that, Jace Beleren and Nissa Revane?). Lorescale Coatl is going to grow no matter what you do, but more so if you really press the card advantage with some blue cantrips a la Serum Visions, Ponder, or Gitaxian Probe. Stoic Angel requires that additional white mana, but she really stomps the tempo down to a crawl for an opponent who isn’t ready for that kind of effect.
Don’t forget that you can use the Plaxcaster Frogling’s abilities offensively instead of defensively. Graft triggers for any creature entering the battlefield, should you want to put a counter on it. Once a creature has that counter, you can Shroud them whenever you like.
Say your opponent plays an Arcbound Ravager and then wants to cast Giant Growth on it or equip it with a Sword of Light and Shadow; you can pay to de-frog them and essentially Cancel that spell by making the Ravager an illegal target.
And lastly, I have not before mentioned the Commander format. If you don’t know of it, check out the rules here.
Plaxcaster Frogling is a powerful enough card, that I highly recommend him in any Commander deck led by Animar, Soul of Elements, Experiment Kraj, Jenara, Asura of War, or The Mimeoplasm. This little Kermit-mutate will build and protect your Commander in countless scenarios so that you won’t ever consider NOT fielding him again in your deck.
Become one with the toad and you will not regret it, I swear. Thanks for taking a peek at this week’s MtG Card of the Week!!
-Andrew B @ ROTDOG
© 2012 – 2013, ROTDOG Games Blog. ROTDOG Industries. All rights reserved.
[...] Drake in there, too. Protect The Mimeoplasm with Plaxcaster Frogling and you can’t go wrong (didn’t I suggest that before?). To get your full advantage Fathom Mage needs its deck to build around it, but the [...]