Magi-Nation Card Review
Bograth
by Kroodhaxthekrood
Rating Scale
Magi-Nation Duel has only one traditional format,
Constructed, where all cards are legal except for a limited few. Cards will be
rated in this context with the rating scale shown below. These grades do not tell
the whole story and should be viewed in the context of the writing which
accompanies them.
1: Unplayable. Actively bad or
detrimental to your board own board in some way.
2: Low-Impact. Not actively bad but
doesn’t do a whole lot.
2.5: A little better than “meh”.
3: Role Player. Cards which are
simply not played as much but either could be good given
support or are at least decent or fun options.
3.5: Very strong with the required
support.
4: Staple. Strong cards which see
lots of play (or should) but are not completely busted.
5: All-star. Practically an
auto-include in most if not all of decks from that region.
Now, on with the show:
Magi
Abger – 3
The Dealer of Rare Goods is a funny magi who wants to perform
as a setup, drawing cards with Barter. Barter is in fact a good effect, but
since some decks don’t really play relics and your opponent gets to choose not
to, he isn’t very consistent. Shrewd is nice when it’s a factor but that’s
exceedingly rare. Try Abger as a first magi if you’re interested in playing a
lower-powered game or in multiplayer where Barter can trigger much more often.
All-High King Korg – 2
He’s not a 1, even though Super Clever is a horrible
drawback and Super Brave is even worse. At 24/6 he just has tons of energy.
That’s all he does but that makes him better than a lot of other magi in the
game. Make sure to pack some Climbing Staffs if you are running AHKK, because
these can prevent him from dying! That said, Super Brave is awful and will have
him killed out of nowhere in 90% of the games in which he sees play.
Baa – 4
Hordes lets Baa draw insane amounts of cards, and each extra
card drawn is above rate at 1 energy per. Baa is Bograth’s second-best setup
magi. He is less consistent than Eryss: If he draws non-creature cards for his
random 2, he’ll use Hordes 3 times and draw a total of 10 cards on turn 1,
which is less than her 12. He also has less energy to work with which can
sometimes cause you not to use Hordes. On the other hand, if Baa survives for a
few turns and you have enough creature density (you better, you’re playing
Bograth), he can get aggressive and start taking the enemy down which Eryss
doesn’t usually get to do.
Blygt – 4
Waking Dreams is very powerful with a big discard pile,
getting two bodies into play before the Attack Step. The creatures can’t attack
right away, but this is still very relevant since a lot of Bograth creatures
have powers that have to be used prior to attacking, for example his starting
Moss Quido. I think many players would rate Blygt a 5 because of Waking Dreams’
massive utility, but it has two significant drawbacks. The first is that your
opponent gets a choice. The second is that it’s often all Blygt can do in a
turn. Three energy uses up most of his energize of five and is always an energy
loss of one on board. This can lead to games where Blygt just falls further and
further behind the opponent and can never really pull ahead. Also, if you have
too much card draw (somewhat easy to do with Bograth), you can cycle your discard
pile back into your deck and then Blygt becomes very sad. Even with all these
drawbacks, Waking Dreams is still an incredible power and Blygt goes last in a
great many good Bograth decks.
Brog – 4
Fertilize is an incredible effect. First of all, it triggers
on both your creatures and your opponent’s creatures, which means Brog usually
has a bunch of energy to work with. Second, Fertilize combines with Great
Throne Mushrooms to allow Brog to draw tons of cards. While he can’t
consistently find Great Throne Mushrooms which means he can’t start your
lineup, if you have a setup magi into Brog you’ll be cycling through your deck
at an extremely rapid pace. All this combines to make Brog the best magi
possible in a Bograth Aggro deck, a deck type that was receiving more and more
support with each expansion.
Brog, Swamp Thug – 4
Brog’s alternate form loses one energize and the might of
Fertilize, which are both pretty big. On the other hand, he starts with a Black
Stuff, the most useful Bograth creature, and has a great built-in way to
synergize with it in his Intimidation power. As a result of Black Stuff +
Intimidation every turn, Brog, Swamp Thug can have a pretty big energize rate
while dealing damage to the enemy field. Additionally, that power allows Brog
to deal consistently and easily with giant creatures, which can be a weakness
of some Bograth builds.
Bulomp – 2.5
A lot of Bograth creatures already have Shifty, making
Shiftier a pretty useless bit of text. Bograth has much better options than a 15/5
vanilla magi.
Drig – 3.5
Leech is potentially quite powerful, which is why it’s so
expensive. With four creatures on the board (in any combination of yours and
your opponent’s), it starts turning a profit, and Bograth is known for its
ability to get lots of small creatures in play. Also, Leech triggers his
starting Torpar’s Community effect, which is cool. Drig has the same problem
that Blygt has, which is that he can run out of energy pretty quickly and not
have ways to get it back. Drig needs to build resilient boards, because if he
falls behind due to an AOE removal card he doesn’t have any good ways to come
back.
Emlob – 5
Emlob is the most powerful Bograth magi but for newer
players, it’s pretty difficult to see why. The reason is because a lot of
Bograth cards require a specific number of creatures in play or count the
number of your Bograth creatures in play for scaling abilities. Having +3 to
every one of those counts is very powerful. The biggest reason to play Emlob,
though, is the Mist Hyren + Updraft combo. With enough creatures and/or a
Deadwood Staff, Emlob can play Mist Hyrens for free and then Updraft them to
gain 13 energy (Updraft costs 2 with penalty). Magi that can energize for 18 tend
to win the game. Starting with a Mist Hyren pushes this over the top, because Emlob
just needs to draw an Updraft from his setup magi and you get to play 3 copies
of it, making this combo very consistent. So, the combination of an abusive
combo and the ability to get a lot more value than average out of cards that
count the number of creatures makes for a very strong magi.
Eryss – 5
Eryss is one of the game’s most consistent setup magi and probably
goes first in almost every Bograth deck (unless you’re running Baa for a
specific reason, like a Transformers setup). Since this isn’t obvious, as Eryss
doesn’t say “draw cards” anywhere on her text box, I’ll explain. She has four
starting cards, draws all of them, and plays all of them (plus the fifth card
if it’s a card she can play). She then uses Gremble’s Parasitic Growth to
discard the (maybe) one card left and draw 3. Then Fog Hyren draws 2 with
Obscure Knowledge. Then draw another 2 cards for the turn. By the end of Eryss’
first turn, you have drawn 12 cards into your 40-card deck, which is more than
25% of your deck’s cards. From there, she can often last another couple turns
to play additional card draw, and especially use Fog Hyren again (a good reason
to Dreamwarp it as big as possible). Whatever your main magi is, Eryss will set
them up for success with an extremely high degree of consistency. Also, never
forget about Discordia. It almost never comes up, but when it does, it’s
extremely strong.
Golthub – 3
You won’t want to play Golthub outside of dedicated Bograth/Core
decks, having energize 4 is pretty horrible, even in Bograth where there’s a
lot of small stuff. That said, her flip turn is still pretty good. Mire,
unfortunately, is pretty bad since you don’t get to keep your cards in play. In
a dedicated deck she’s good enough just for being dual-region.
Gorran – 3
Affinity and Jile-treats let Gorran play a for-fun Jile
theme deck. It’s not competitive because Jiles are not synergistic in any way
and none of them are particularly powerful. Jile and Forest Jile are some of
the best ones, and she at least starts with one of each. Additionally, Gorran’s
flip turn has access to the most energy a Bograth magi who isn’t All-High King
Korg can get (at least on paper), and that’s nice. Since she doesn’t protect
her puppers from removal and has a low energize rate, Gorran will lose steam
pretty fast. Only use if you’re interested in fun more than winning.
Grahnna – 4
Grahnna has great starting cards, and Share allows her to
generate a lot more energy per turn than her four energize would suggest. As
soon as she plays one creature, she has generated the normal five energy for
the turn, and it gets better from there. In combination with a bunch of cards
and Mirago, Grahnna can build a big board when she flips. From there, she just
wants to keep playing creatuers and pumping them up. I highly recommend her for
starting Bograth players because she’s simple and powerful. She also goes third
in Transformers setups, which is another cool reason to run her (see Ninibom).
Keggerop – 3.5
Keggerop has a similar playstyle to Grahnna: he wants to
swarm the board. Momentum wants him to trigger it on the last creature he
intends to play each turn to get the biggest boost out of it. Discarding Black
Stuff to Momentum is an easy way to reduce the cost to your board presence. Of
note, unlike other similar abilities, Momentum counts the creature before it is
discarded, meaning you get one more energy than you might think. Without Black
Stuff, discarding one of your creatures matters quite a bit (less so on his
flip turn, but it’s a real pain on every subsequent turn). Again, four energize
is quite low. Momentum does offset this somewhat, but not if your opponent
wipes your board, where Grahnna is more resilient.
Ninibom – 3.5
Okay, so the Transformers setup. In Bograth, Ninibom is
almost never seen unless he is the fourth magi following Baa, Wiep, and Grahnna
(a reference to the Universal Greeting in the Transformers toy franchise and
why his subtitle is what it is). The power of the Transformers setup actually
lies in Wiep and Grahnna’s Transform effect, which allows them to get a
specific card from the discard pile when they flip over (though sadly not a
Warrior’s Boots). With a Bog Stone, this means the Transformers can get a bunch
of value from one-of tech choices or just play more copies of their best
creatures. Ninibom then comes in and requires the opponent to stretch their
resources a little more, which can sometimes be enough to take down the game.
As an 8/7 magi, he pales in comparison to magi like Brog or Emlob, or even
Grahnna herself.
Obgren – 3
Obgren is a really interesting magi who was the main magi
component of the original infinite energy deck at one point. Nowadays, Obgren
doesn’t see much play because it’s difficult to know what to do with Delusions.
12/6 is quite nice, especially in Bograth, and his starting cards are all quite
good. Of note, Obgren is the only Keeper who actually starts with the Staff of
Keepers. He’s in a very unexplored state right now.
Olabra – 3.5
Olabra has a few things going for her. First, she is the
biggest Bograth magi who is actually good (All-High King Korg and Gorran are
the only ones who have a higher energy index). Second, Resilience allows Olabra
to build large boards of creatures and worry a lot less about them getting
blown up (Ormagon still works though). Third, starting Jile and Moss Pendant
help her boost up her wide boards. Olabra doesn’t have a specific niche, but
these traits combine to make her pretty solid as a follow-up to your primary
magi, as she doesn’t need specific cards to be good, making her just pretty
good in a good deck.
Phlouk – 3.5
Phlouk’s Ring Testing power is one of the coolest powers in
the game. It allows him to do some really neat stuff. First of all, Ring
Testing works well with creatures that discard themselves and/or creatures
whose power needs to be used before the Attack Step. Cards like Moss Quido and
Ainjer become strong in Phlouk’s hands where normally they are pretty
lackluster. On the other hand, Phlouk can use Ring Testing on a Swamp Hyren to
get a big discount from Nightmare Gate. This works really well when he flips
over. You can just spend his energy down to lower than eight and discard the
Hyren, or keep it in play, whichever works best. A surprise Swamp Moga before
combat is also a pretty nice way to use Ring Testing after Phlouk has already
established a board. There are a ton of uses for his power and he’s probably
the most fun Bograth magi to build around.
Whilp – 3
Plague is better than it looks, since it’s always energy
efficient damage even if it only hits one creature. Situations where it will
harm your own cards are also quite rare. Against decks with multiples of a
specific creature or against tribal decks in particular, Plague gets a lot
better. That said, this magi is never amazing and you can’t control whether or
not Plague will be powerful.
Wiep – 3.5
Wiep is only really ever played in the Transformers setup where
he’s just fine. If he can kill one opposing magi, that exceeds expectations.
That said, he starts with some ways to blow stuff up. Darkness is extremely
expensive but can blow up the world, and Spirit Drain is Bograth’s main tool
for killing magi. Power Drain, like Eryss’ Discordia effect, rarely comes into
play but when it does it’s very powerful.
Yog – 3.5
Played straight up, Yog can be fine as a last resort magi.
Turn can set up flip kills pretty easily, and she mostly guarantees a second
piece of removal in Yog’s Maul. Having a 3 energize after using Turn means she
won’t last more than a couple turns after her initial burst of strength. There
is one specific deck, built by Me, Silly which pushes Yog to a 3.5
build-around. In that deck, Orwin interchanges back and forth between Yog,
allowing her to steal a creature each time she flips up. Outside of that exact
deck, Yog should only go in your deck if you’re looking for an aggressive burst
to finish the game after your main magi goes down.
Magi: TLDR
5
Emlob
Eryss
4
Baa
Blygt
Brog
Brog, Swamp Thug
Grahnna
3.5
Drig
Keggerop
Ninibom
Olabra
Phlouk
Wiep
Yog
3
Abger
Golthub
Gorran
Obgren
2.5
Bulomp
2
All-High King Korg
1
N/A
Creatures
Ainjer – 3.5
Ainjer has a lot of setup cost but can be a hyper-efficient
removal “spell” if you can set him up. He needs two things: a bunch of
creatures in play (Emlob or Bog Stench help here), and a way to cheat him into
play (Phlouk, Crushing Stench, Trulb Horde, Warrior’s Boots, etc). If you can
manage to do this, Ainjer can kill even large burrowed creatures for the low,
low cost of one energy and that’s very powerful.
Black Stuff – 5
This card is easily the best creature in the region.
Regenerate allows you to always have a body in play. The thing can even attack,
if that’s what you decide to do with it, but it has so many options. Anything
that requires you to discard a creature (Yog’s Maul is a particularly good one)
becomes much better with this guy. It also helps you get your creature count up
for the payoff cards while maintaining card economy. A lot of times, you can
build a big board and then lose because you don’t have resources in hand after
a board wipe. Black Stuff helps you climb back from those spots.
Bleph – 3
Bleph can work as an efficient attacker, trading up with
Bleph-Fu, but it has to survive a round first or you have to spend a valuable
Boots effect on this, which is often not that impactful.
Bog Wellisk – 4
Dream Draft just lets you play a 3-energy creature for free
on your opponent’s turn. That’s insane, even given the fact that you can’t
always do it. It’s never overpowered, but it’s so stinking energy efficient
that you can’t really go wrong with this guy in your deck.
Bolobog – 3
This guy is very similar to Ainjer, but Strengthen is less
impactful than Grr. Building one big creature isn’t typically what Bograth
wants to do. It’s not bad by any means, but Bolobog typically only sees
competitive play as a starting card. There are better options.
Creeping Ainjer – 2.5
Strong, narrow effect. Doesn’t go in the deck.
Flame Trulb – 4
The first many times I read this card Familiarity was very
confusing so here’s the DL: 1) Bograth/Cald decks are not a thing, 2) They see
themselves so the first one you play grows to 3, and if you have multiples they
become 4, then 5 energy when they hit play. That’s awesome. They’re also Trulbs
for cards that care about that sort of thing.
Fog Hyren – 4
The only reason this isn’t a 5 is that it’s a big creature
in Bograth, and those aren’t normally what you want. That said, you can
Dreamwarp this thing down to 4 if you want. The flexibility of a creature you
can play with anywhere from 4-8 energy combined with Obscure Knowledge which
(in Bograth) is 2 energy for 2 cards makes for an exceptionally solid creature.
Furlosk – 1
Bograth/Naroom decks are not real. Even if they were,
Companionship would still make this card a huge liability, even post-errata
where they changed it from “and” to “or”. The benefits of Swamp Lore and Forest
Power are real, but all they have to do is kill off your other stuff and you’re
eating a 7-energy loss for free. That’s too big to recover from.
Glablit – 3.5
Glablit does two things: One, he lets you actually play
Zungg Swarm, which can be an immensely powerful spell. Two, he allows you to
play the Voice of the Storms spell, generating a ton of energy on a Bograth
board full of little critters. These are both very powerful things.
Green Stuff – 4
A free creature is a really good deal. Also, if they don’t
deal with your free card, it has an energize rate. Another hyper-efficient guy.
You do have to watch out because it’s pretty low-impact by itself.
Gremble – 3
This card is usually only played because of Eryss. At most
other times during a normal game, you will have more than three cards in your
hand and you won’t want to use Parasitic Growth. When you’re low on cards
though, it’s pretty nice. As a result, this card combines with Mirago pretty
well.
Gwaeg – 2.5
There’s nothing bad to say about Gwaeg. It lets you play
Wudge in Bograth decks but A) there are dual-region magi already and 2) you
can’t do that consistently. Escape is fine but they can play around it if they
want.
Jile – 3
Jile is a little bit too big compared to most Bograth
creatures and it’s a removal-magnet. In the rare situation where your opponent
doesn’t kill it, Vitalize is quite strong. Its potential is above a 3, but in
practice that’s the amount of board impact this creature has.
Looph – 3
Looph getting to attack and trigger Regroup allows you to
keep up the pressure. It also lets Brog cycle and play creatures mid-combat
with Great Throne Mushrooms. The best thing to Regroup into is probably a
Wither Twee, but Bleph isn’t bad either. You’re paying all costs for Regroup,
so bear that in mind.
Makoor – 3.5
This card has an entire deck type/power turn named after it:
the Makoor Bomb. It’s not too complicated in theory. You just use Onslaught and
blow stuff up. In practice, this requires lots of math but otherwise it’s very
powerful. Of note, you can use Ruid to turn your creatures into Core creatures
so they don’t die to your own Onslaught if you don’t want them to.
Mirago – 4
Bograth can draw a lot of cards, and sometimes Extra Focus lets
you use those resources to make your small creatures much more impactful on
board. At worst, it’s a 2-energy Shifty creature, which is just fine, but it
has a high ceiling when trying to swarm, even if you’re not using specific
discard pile synergies. It gets better with Transform, Black Stuff (works with
everything), Blygt, and Bog Stone.
Mist Hyren – 3.5
Part of the Emlob + Updraft combo with Deadwood Staff.
Doesn’t see play apart from that, but that’s a very strong combo. You can also
just attack with it because it’s huge.
Moob – 2
They errata’ed the hell out of this poor little thing. Now
it just doesn’t work. As printed, it was completely disgusting though.
Moss Quido – 3.5
They had to errata Moss Quido because it was too powerful,
so that’s a good start. Capped at a maximum of four cards, Dark Secrets is
still incredibly efficient draw power if you can get it. You need four other
creatures out before the Attack Step, so like with Ainjer you want Black Stuff
and ways to cheat. It’s a great payoff card that keeps the engine of your deck
working.
Moss Trulb – 3.5
Multiply is an efficient-to-awesome power that grows this
card at the expense of your opponent’s board. The only cost is that you must
run Trulbs. Flame Trulb is already a solid card, as is regular Trulb, so having
nine Trulb creatures in your deck is actually completely fine. Given that, this
card can be really good, especially if your opponent is trying to swarm.
Muck Vinoc – 3.5
While this isn’t the kind of card you want many copies of,
having access to a one-of way to kill giant creatures is nice. Grapple takes a
little bit of work, so certain magi are going to get more out of this card than
others. Drig and Grahnna are great examples, as is anyone with a Moss Pendant.
Muggum – 2.5
In Bograth, you don’t have burrow synergy like you do in
Underneath. Coupled with the fact that most of your stuff is very small anyway,
and you have a worse card than in Underneath. That said, burrowing some Jiles
for a round so they can actually survive is pretty nice. There are plenty of
situations in swarm decks where burrowing one or two key creatures gives you a
bunch of resilience. You don’t see a lot of this adorable mushroom crab but it
has its uses.
Mydra – 3
While tough to attack into, people run Crushing spells and
that feels really sad. Dreamwarping up to five energy doesn’t really help too
much in that regard either. If they don’t have spells or powers to deal with
your Mydra it’ll be great for you but they always do in competitive.
N’kala – 4
This card provides a body anywhere from 2-4 energy and
Support is just free energy on your magi. What’s not to love?
Ooze Arboll – 3
You’d normally much rather have this guy than a Bolobog,
even though it costs one more energy to add the same total amount. First, you
don’t have to cheat this in before the Attack Step. Second, spreading the
energy wide is more often where Bograth wants to go. That said, it’s still not
amazing.
Poison Baloo Root – 4
Like a lot of Bograth/Paradwyn dual-region creatures,
Dreamwarp gives this thing a flexible cost (here from 3-5). That’s cool. Wither
is also just good. I spent many years thinking this card was bad and it just
isn’t. If they have even two creatures in play Wither is really nice and it
scales very well. Also like N’kala, decks tend not to run many copies of this
creature but it’s quite solid.
Pyder – 1
IT’S A TRAP! This card permanently sets your magi to one
energy. What happens then is they Shockwave your Pyder and easily kill you.
Summoning is nice and all, but when it opens you up to dying like Pyder does,
the payoff has to be a lot better than making already cheap creatures even
cheaper.
Quido Swarm – 3
This card is super funky. You can’t play it onto an empty
board because it just dies (unless you’re Emlob). Its cost fluctuates with how
many creatures you have out, so when you’re doing really well it becomes
prohibitively expensive. It also plays very well with Dream Balm: play one
creature, play this, play all your other stuff, restore it to its full size. You
have to constantly check how big this thing is. Sometimes your opponent can’t
kill it or won’t want to, and I’ve seen it run over people. It’s quite uncommon
though.
Rot Arboll – 3
Blight is very annoying, even if it suffers from diminishing
returns. Dropping a bunch of these guys right before your opponent has a power
turn can make their life difficult. It’s easy to kill a Rot Arboll, but Shifty
helps a little and they might have to sequence their plays in an awkward manner
to really play around this card. You don’t see a lot of it, but it’s completely
fine.
Rous – 2.5
“If all your ROUS are ROUS, discard ROUS”. Even though this
card will kill itself to the Myth effect in every single game in which it sees
play (though you can Belt the Myth), Hit is really good. If Myth simply
discarded some energy from the ROUS, this card would be pretty strong. As is,
the best thing about it is that it’s one of the Three Terrors of the Fireswamp.
Ruid – 3
Invigorate is awesome if this creature lives long enough.
Mutate allows it to control the outcome of your Makoor Bomb turns to a greater
degree. Don’t know of other uses for the card, and it tends to only see play in
Makoor Bomb decks as a result. In a normal deck, N’kala is just a better way to
give your magi energy because that energy is immediate.
Sarazen Outcast – 2.5
Too narrow against almost all competitive decks, as Tribal
themes aren’t very common.
Slarnath – 4
Drawing cards is good. Drawing one card for one energy is
very nice. This is almost always active, especially in decks that can draw a
lot of cards, which this helps accomplish.
Sludge Hyren – 3.5
I haven’t seen a deck configured in such a way that Creeping
Growth becomes powerful, but the potential is certainly there.
Swamp Hyren – 3.5
Too expensive for most Bograth magi to play straight-up.
Nightmare Gate is a powerful ability offset by the cost of the creature to
which it’s attached. Note that it affects “cards” and not just creatures like
Pyder. Watch out you don’t make relics more expensive, but otherwise this is
great. Finding a way to cheat this card into play can give you really powerful
flip turns.
Swamp Moga – 3.5
Another good payoff to cheat into play prior to attacks.
With a lot of small creatures, sometimes they have trouble attacking into big
stuff, and Roar provides you a way to trade up over and over, which is really
good value.
Swamp Weebo – 3.5
Requires a ton of setup, but Devitalize can blow up your
opponent’s entire board under the right conditions. Grahnna and Keggerop are
particularly well suited to enabling this type of play. Grahnna + her starting
Mirago can set Swamp Weebo to five energy, and Keggerop’s Momentum can do that
pretty much at will.
Taglat – 3
As a 4-6 energy creature, Taglat is a bit expensive for what
many Bograth decks want to do. However, Dream Cross is a powerful and fun
ability that gives creative players a lot of neat tools. So, while you don’t
see this a lot because it’s not particularly aggressive and it doesn’t help you
activate your own deck’s combos, I certainly wouldn’t fault any player for
putting one of these cards in their deck. If nothing else, this can copy
Rayje’s Belt.
Tar Hyren – 3
More annoying than good. It’s too expensive for what it
does, and a six energy creature wants to survive combat while Cling wants it to
die. Cheating this in is useful, but only Trulb Horde really lets Tar Hyren do
its thing since the other cards either cost the full amount (Boots) or prevent
the creature from attacking. Certainly better in Bograth than in Core.
Torpar – 3.5
In Bograth, Community combines well with Drig, Ooze Arboll,
Moss Pendant, and Wither Twee, all of which are at least playable. Protection
also gives your swarm strategy a protective layer against spell and power
damage, which is quite valuable. The only drawback to Torpar is that it’s a bit
expensive at 3 energy. For instance, Drig can’t play a Torpar and use Leech off
one energize.
Treepsh – 4
Treepsh is almost always included in Bograth decks as a
three-of. Supply can draw two cards for two energy, giving you another tool to
dig through your deck. If you don’t need the draw power, Watchful allows
Treepsh to protect your big swarm boards from getting blown up (Ormagon still
works). Both of these modes are fantastic.
Trulb – 3.5
Trulb’s Dream Hatch means the adorable guy is never in play
for too long, making it a poor choice for aggressive or swarming strategies
most of the time. However, in Bograth combo decks, Trulb is incredible,
allowing you to churn through your deck very fast, sometimes finding specific
creatures, sometimes just finding anything. Dream Hatch + Great Throne
Mushrooms is a very powerful draw engine.
Umbu – 3.5
Umbu also combines really well with cards that discard your
own creature for benefit. This card can pull double duty as a Bograth creature
for cards which count them while at the same time dealing with opposing relics.
Be careful you don’t accidentally Mud Clod your own card, because the effect is
mandatory!
Vard – 3
Another way to make a free creature. This is the worst of
the three (Green Stuff and Bog Wellisk), but it’s still fine. Turning off when
you have more creatures in play isn’t terrible.
Wither Twee – 3.5
Sweet Rot is really powerful. Try to make sure you get to
trigger it. That means cheating this card into play with Warrior’s Boots,
Looph, or Trulb Horde specifically. The opponent attacks into this a surprising
amount of the time though.
Zungg – 5
Zungg is an automatic 3-of in Bograth decks because it’s
extremely efficient, even if it only gets to Gnaw once. You’re paying 1,
getting 2 on board, and dealing 1 to your opponent’s board. That’s 1 energy
spent and 3 energy worth of value.
Creatures: TLDR
5
Black Stuff
Zungg
4
Bog Wellisk
Flame Trulb
Fog Hyren
Green Stuff
Mirago
N’kala
Poison Baloo Root
Slarnath
Treepsh
3.5
Ainjer
Glablit
Makoor
Mist Hyren
Moss Quido
Moss Trulb
Muck Vinoc
Sludge Hyren
Swamp Hyren
Swamp Moga
Swamp Weebo
Torpar
Trulb
Umbu
Wither Twee
3
Bleph
Bolobog
Gremble
Jile
Looph
Mydra
Ooze Arboll
Quido Swarm
Rot Arboll
Ruid
Taglat
Tar Hyren
Vard
2.5
Creeping Ainjer
Gwaeg
Muggum
Rous
Sarazen Outcast
2
Moob
1
Furlosk
Pyder
Relics
Blygt’s Ring – 3.5
Not one of the better Purity rings. Still, it’s not a bad
payoff for playing only Bograth cards. A lot of Bograth decks want to do that
naturally since the cards reference “number of Bograth creatures”.
Bog Stone – 4
While it is expensive to use, Rummage lets you continually
make use of your key Bograth creatures, especially those that discard
themselves from play.
Crown of Grath – 3
Mostly Regal Presence is mostly not that useful. It’s not
exactly a bad card but it doesn’t do quite enough to protect your cards.
Deadwood Staff – 3.5
Mostly seen with Emlob + Mist Hyren + Updraft. Could also
help you play your big Sludge Hyrens.
Great Pool of Wisdom – 2.5
It’s fine because it doesn’t cost any energy, but it does
cost you a card slot and does nothing often enough that you’re probably better
off leaving this one at home.
Great Throne Mushrooms – 5
Enduring Renewal is pretty ridiculous. When one of your
creatures dies for any reason, you can basically get a Hordes trigger from Baa.
You have to have energy reserves on your magi to make use of this tool, but
even if you don’t have enough to cover your whole board, you can still get a
lot of extra value here.
Heart of Paradise – 2.5
The alternate win condition on Korg’s War never, ever
happens. This is just a second copy of Water of Life with a drawback. Just play
Water of Life if that’s what you’re into, unless you’re also trying to use
Blygt’s Ring that is.
Korg’s Poetry – 2
Korg is bad, so this card is also bad. It’s too expensive
for Performance Art alone, and the other two effects don’t do anything. Unless
you’re trolling people.
Korg’s Sceptre – 1
This card is even worse. Just play Poison Baloo Root if you
want this kind of effect. The cost is way too high for the effect.
Moob Ring – 4
Protects your hand and turns all your creatures into Treepsh
on defense. That’s a lot of value. Works best with Black Stuff which comes
right back after protecting the team.
Moss Pendant – 3.5
It’s a little expensive to keep using Decay over and over,
so ideally you have a good reason to do that. It’s still a way to pump the
whole team and does enough good things to warrant inclusion in swarm-style
decks.
Muck Shovel – 2
I’m going to be honest, I have no idea what to do with this
card. You can get value from Quido Swarm sometimes. You can try to make Moob
happen. None of that seems particularly useful. It also seems too expensive.
Olabra’s Staff – 2
Skipping your attack step is awkward. What are you pumping
your team for if you don’t want to attack? Too conditional.
Slime Stone – 3.5
Bograth has Sneak Attack. Even though that’s about the
extent of it, there’s also always the combo of Grand Nightmares + Dream Balm
which works on anything that survives the round (Black Stuff is so good).
Statement of Core Values – 2
This card is awful. It only goes in Bograth/Core decks but
that’s fine. All-High King Korg can’t play it. Uh oh. Bograth creatures are
already tiny so Pals doesn’t really matter. As a matter of fact, an active Pals
makes your Green Stuff cost 1 so avoid that pitfall. Buddies can be pretty
good, especially on those flip turns. The problem is, you somehow need to
generate 3 discounted creatures for this card to earn start profiting, and you
have to accomplish that the turn you play it to be sure you’ll get enough
value.
Trulb Bracelet – 3.5
Costs 2 to get into play, which is bad. Requires you to play
lots of Trulbs, but as we established in the Moss Trulb entry, that’s totally
fine. The first time you use Sweet Sorrow, you’re paying 2 to draw 2-3 cards
and discard your Trulb. That’s about even or possibly a little less than. If
you use Sweet Sorrow a second time, the card starts to look pretty appealing.
Yog’s Maul – 3.5
Black Stuff. Emlob. Even a Bog Stench turn is pretty nice
with this card. While it doesn’t help you against Burrowed creatures (you have
Ainjer, Muck Vinoc, and Muck Rain for those), Yog’s Maul can kill big creatures
with the greatest of ease. Repeatedly. That’s a good card. It does require you
to actually have a board built up though, so it’s not quite a 4.
Relics: TLDR
5
Great Throne Mushrooms
4
Bog Stone
Moob Ring
3.5
Blygt’s Ring
Deadwood Staff
Moss Pendant
Slime Stone
Trulb Bracelet
Yog’s Maul
3
Crown of Grath
2.5
Great Pool of Wisdom
Heart of Paradise
2
Korg’s Poetry
Muck Shovel
Olabra’s Staff
Statement of Core Values
1
Korg’s Sceptre
Spells
Ainjer Swarm – 2.5
Very cheap, but this is relatively low impact for not being
allowed to play it 100% of the time. You want bigger, better effects than this
out of your non-creature cards. Again, you could just play a Poison Baloo Root.
Bog Stench – 3.5
This card does nothing whatsoever by itself. It is the
definition of an enabler, making your other cards better. Not every deck runs
this card, but I’ve seen 1, 2, and 3 copies in different deck lists, all of
which were good. You do need to play multiple cards that benefit from the
effect in the same turn to make it worth the investment of a card though.
Creeping Chill – 1
KT/Bograth is not real. I wish it was.
Crushing Stench – 4
Though it doesn’t specify on the card text, you don’t have
to pay costs for the creature you play off this card. There are a great many
Bograth creatures that want to be in play before the attack step. For all those
which don’t actually need to attack, this card is extremely good at getting
them into play.
Darkness – 3
So expensive. Requires your board to survive. Probably best
on Olabra as a result, but Wiep starts with one, meaning you often only see it
in the Transformers deck. Very powerful though. You need to Shockwave at least
two creatures with this to make it remotely worthwhile. Three preferably. Above
three and you did it.
Frenzy – 3.5
Frenzy also boosts your opponent’s board. While this might
help you make friends in multiplayer, in one-v-one battles, that’s quite a
liability. Sure, you’re supposed to have more creatures than they do, but even
so. Splashing Jip in your Bograth decks is a good reason to run this card
though.
Lightning Sand – 2.5
Helps protect against attacks. Otherwise Moob Ring and/or
Treepsh cost less and are better.
Muck Rain – 3.5
I rate this a 3.5 not because of any specific thing you have
to do to make it work, but more because of its highly variable nature. Against
Nar magi, Core Magi, Quilla, etc. this card can be dead in hand a lot of the
time. Emlob makes it much better, as does Bog Stench. Muck Vinoc can be easier
to set up a lot of the time, but this can hit smaller targets which might be
frustrating otherwise.
Mud Bubble – 4
Very similar to Bog Stone, this card lets you recycle your
key creature and helps you draw cards in the process. The card draw helps
offset the spell’s actual cost, as 2 energy for 1 card is on rate, and you’re
really getting 2 cards.
Mydra Swarm – 2
Before errata this card was a house. Now, it’s a minor
annoyance.
Ominous Chill – 3
While it’s less total energy than Swamp Moga, the fact you
need to discard one of those potential attackers does hurt this card, as there
will be situations where this becomes unplayable. However, the two effects do
stack up nicely together. Again, Black Stuff.
Sneak Attack – 3.5
What an annoying card. While Bograth does not have access to
Kioko or Bagala Fangs to mess abuse Sneak Attack, it does have Slime Stone.
Additionally, cheating in a big creature with Crushing Stench or Trulb Horde is
a good way to combine well with Sneak Attack.
Spirit Drain – 4
Competitive decks draw lots of cards. In that environment,
this card just says kill a magi who has no creatures in play. Bograth has a
bunch of good ways to deal with creatures.
Spirit of Bograth – 3.5
If you’re looking to swarm the board, having 5-ish extra
energy on your flip turn sure helps you accomplish that goal. It’s a lot of air
in combo decks though, so they can’t really run this card that well. Works
pretty well in Transformers since they have one additional opportunity to play
it.
Trulb Horde – 4
Energy neutral way to cheat your creature in before attacks.
This comes up as useful quite a lot.
Trulbble! – 3
This card is Trulb Bracelet but all at once. Trulb Bracelet
is much better because it’s better card economy. The Bracelet gets to stay in
play and be useful again later. The spell version doesn’t.
Vard Stampede – 4
You should almost always run at least one copy of this card
in Bograth, regardless of what your deck is doing. This effect is insanely
powerful. You get to blow up all their relics and their Shadow Geyser or Dream
Channel or Crystallize or whatever. Four creatures is a minimal cost.
Zungg Swarm – 3.5
One of the more powerful effects in the game, this card
requires a massive 7 dual-region Bograth/Core creatures before you can play it.
Without Glablit, this is an impossible task. Even with Glablit, seven bodies is
a lot to ask on a turn when you need six extra energy to play the spell. If you
can pull it off though, you effectively kill your opponent’s entire board.
Spells: TLDR
5
N/A
4
Crushing Stench
Mud Bubble
Spirit Drain
Trulb Horde
Vard Stampede
3.5
Bog Stench
Frenzy
Muck Rain
Sneak Attack
Zungg Swarm
3
Darkness
Ominous Chill
Trulbble!
2.5
Ainjer Swarm
Lightning Sand
2
Mydra Swarm
1
Creeping Chill
Find all the regional reviews on the Magi-Nation Duel hub page.