What happens when a former College football player who can’t pay a witch to help him speak with his dead wife, is cursed into becoming a frog, meets Thor as a frog, and picks up a sliver of Mjolnir that was chipped off by one of Thor’s goats? You get Throg, and he’s commin’ to wreck your Heroclix games!

Believe it or not, that’s the actual history in a long sentence of who Throg is, the rare from The Mighty Thor that I’m building around today. We’ve gotten two actual clix of a frog Thor and while the original in Hammer of Thor was actually the Odinson, this version is a different character altogether, so it may shock some of you that the name on his card is actually not Thor.

Throg is a really great piece for only 45 points and brings a lot of value to a team if you build around him properly. I picked him for this week’s team build because I wanted to continue the trend of building around lower-rarity figures for a little bit to help those of you who can’t track down the expensive chases and/or primes. Thanks to the weapons in this set, it’s a bit tough for newer players to get a hold of all these wonderful toys. While I was scrolling through the set list as I often do when I look for a piece to build around, I stopped on Throg because his kit is so darn good for the points. It seems much of this new Thor set is like that.

So what does 45 points buy us? Throg comes in with 5 clicks of health, 3 range with a single target, one trait and a special damage ability. His keywords are pretty good with Animal, Asgardian, and Pet Avengers. He’s got standard combat symbols, except for his movement which does have Dolphin, meaning he gets that sweet new boost to his defense against ranged attacks if he’s in water terrain.

His stats aren’t anything write home about, but c’mon; dude’s a frog. Movement starts with 5 Sidestep, jumps to 6 Leap/Climb for two clicks (see what I did there?), swaps back to Sidestep on click four, and drops to a 5 on his last click. His attack is actually quite decent with 10 to start moving to Energy Explosion on his second click, dropping to a 9 attack on his third, swapping back to a vanilla 10 on four, and ending on a 9. Defense is his strongest area with 17 Toughness to start, bumping to an 18 on clicks two and three, and then down to a 17 with Combat Reflexes for his last two clicks. Damage values are steady with 2 across the board and his Special Damage Power on his first two clicks, and Close Combat Expert on his last two clicks. While this isn’t the best dial out there, it’s a bargain for 45 points.

His trait isn’t anything extremely special, and it’s something we see a lot in this set:

WIELDER OF FROGJOLNIR: Throg starts the game with TMT #s003 Frogjolnir equipped.

Okay, so Throg gets a weapon like a lot of pieces in this set. Let’s review that weapon to see exactly what we’re getting:

INDESTRUCTIBLE

EQUIP: ANY

UNEQUIP: DROP EFFECT: “Tiny Symbol”, but is still considered a standard character for equipping purposes. When this character occupies water terrain, modify attack and defense +1. Light Object

Indestructible is good. That means we never have to worry about actually losing the object. Equip: Any is a little scary because if Throg goes down, opponents have a chance at picking his teeny hammer up. As for the effect itself, it mainly just makes him Tiny, but allows him to still equip the hammer, while giving him better buffs in water terrain. Basically, Throg is actually Tiny and if he’s in water terrain, he’s a lot better. It’s certainly not the best equipment out there, but it’s not bad either.

Moving on to Throg’s Special Damage Power, we get to the real bread and butter to the character:

FIELD LEADER OF THE PET AVENGERS: Perplex. When Throg uses it to target a character with the Animal or Pet Avengers keyword, he may modify a combat value except damage +2 instead.

Perplex is always good and instantly transcends a dial like this, but Throg gives out a +2 modifier if he targets an Animal or Pet Avenger, which he has. Sure, he can only use a regular Perplex on damage, but with the new rules stating that a Perplexed value sticks around until the actual Perplex is lost, he can effectively give himself or someone on his team a +2 defense until your next turn. That’s really valuable and really escalates his worth. Even without friends to use this on, this helps his kit out tremendously:

Movement: Raises that pitiful 5 to a 7, along with Sidestep getting him into the action quicker.

Attack: 12 attack on 45 points is nothing to scoff at. While the 2 damage might not be much, you’re almost guaranteed to hit.

Defense: You’re already getting +1 against range for being Tiny. How about a base of 19 to start? He’s basically impossible to hit, or at least more trouble than he’s worth.

Damage: Okay, so he can only go to a 3; that’s still not bad for 45 points, and can be a good finisher once a piece is on Combat Reflexes, Regeneration, etc.

Range: 5 range makes Throg a decent little sniper, especially with his Sidestep.

Again, he’s not the best figure out there by any means; he’s just very efficient for how much you have to pay to add him to your force. Throg has a lot of options, and the great thing about him is that he really doesn’t have a bad click. You could argue that his third click with a 9 attack and no way to raise it is a little harsh, but he still dishes a decent chunk of damage with Energy Explosion. Throg has a lot of options, and you’re paying less than 1/6th of your build for him.

We have to go a little easy on the Positive vs. Negative analysis because Throg is on a different point scale than a lot of the pieces I build around. I don’t know if I’ve ever built a team specifically around someone less than 50 points before, so we have to readjust our standards towards the ’50 points for 5 clicks’ formula.

Positive: Efficient at 5 points under formula. Good keywords. Good defense values. Only two 9 attack values. Consistent damage. Very good Perplex. Threat on every click. Can be nearly impossible to deal with in water.

Negative: Very slow. Not many water maps in Modern. Rough on click three. Modifiers make his character (can be countered). Equipment isn’t great.

Honestly, it’s tough to judge him poorly for his cost. Think of any of the 50 point ‘standard’ characters as I like to refer to them, and compare them to Throg. I’ll be that Throg can either go toe-to-toe with them or beat them every time. He’s not perfect, but he’s far from flawed. I would say that his biggest weakness is the lack of water in Modern. There really aren’t many maps out there with water terrain, which is what Throg excels at. If he engages in water, he gets that sweet +1 to his attack and defense values, meaning he can actually use that Perplex on damage and have a nice kit. However, this isn’t Throg’s fault, so you really can’t condemn him.

Based on everything we’ve talked about, what does Throg need to succeed? More than anything, I think Throg needs a theme team. Running Animals or Pet Avengers will really help as he’ll be a very big team player, and that Perplex will go even further. He doesn’t really need transportation because he’s Tiny, so anyone can carry him around. Throg also probably wants a map with decent elevation or blocking terrain that he can hide behind and then Sidestep out to take pot shots. Other pieces that buff his stats as well as everyone else are going to be good too, so Empower and Enhancement seem like optimal choices.

For the build today, I want to use my regular which is 300 points, Modern, with no resources.

300 Point Modern Thorg Animal Team – No Resources

I opted for Animal over Pet Avengers because, well, there really isn’t a Pet Avengers team you can build in Modern. Also, animal is very potent and always has been.

For the primary attacker on the build, I went with Space Leonardo from the third Turtles set. This guy has incredible values, Leadership to help us maximize actions, doesn’t have a bad click anywhere on his dial, and most importantly, he completely gimps equipment-based teams. With all the love for Mjolnirs, Enchanted Ball and Chains, Mystical Mirrors, and whathaveyou’s, Leonarod puts an end to all that, giving you easy points and potentially ruining your opponents plans. He’s a fantastic primary attacker because he gets a +1 to speed and attack when he starts next to walls or higher elevation (giving him an 13-square reach with 12 attack), and Throg can buff him insanely well. How about a 13 attack for a guaranteed hit? If 12 will cut it, there’s nothing wrong with 4 penetrating damage. Need to cool off? 19 defense.

As a secondary attacker, I added Klarion, and why wouldn’t I? Klarion is seriously the best piece with the Animal keyword to come out since Prime Kraven back in Amazing Spider-Man. This kid is a rock star, and brings everything we could ever want to this team. Probability Control, another Perplex via Teekl, Phasing to move through all the elevation we want for Leonardo to do work, Stealth, and another use of Pen/Psy. Rather than Leo carting around Throg, Klarion seems like a great option as he wants to be defensive and let Teekl do the work. This will keep Throg out of harm and allow him to do his thing; sniping and buffing.

As a third attacker/support piece, I figured Rocket and Groot would be a really nice addition to the team. We’ve got a ton of Perplex, we’ve got Prob, and now we have Outwit too. R&G have some really good values, meaning they’ll benefit from Throg’s Perplex amazingly as well. Aside from the Outwit, the main reason for adding R&G is for the Groot Twig; a bystander with Plasticity and Enhancement. Throg can only buff damage by +1, so Groot can do the rest of the heavy lifting to make our guys hit hard. If Groot manages to go down, you get +1 to all Rocket’s combat values, making him a straight murder machine.

You probably noticed the pair of Serpent bystanders on the force. While these guys don’t help our theme team count, they do benefit from Throg’s Perplex since they have our keyword. Serpent Spider-Man is an insanely good harassment piece; Hypersonic with 10 movement, 11 attack, and 2 damage which can easily be raised on this team, along with Indom makes him a terror to deal with and will buy you a lot of time for the rest of your team to setup. Meanwhile, Serpent Punisher is for the late game. This guy has Sidestep, 11 attack, 6 range, and 2 damage with Ranged Combat Expert. With Groot next to him and Throg doing his thing, you can have a potential 13 attack and 5 damage for 15 points! There’s no reason to not have these amazing bystanders for just 15 points each.

The last element of the team build is Wrecker’s Enchanted Crowbar, and this is gonna be our means of breaking Leonardo. The only thing that really stands in our way is Invincible, and a lot of Power Cosmic kids are running around with this power now. The Crowbar will turn everyone’s hopes and dreams into dust as Leonardo penetrates through whatever reducers they have. This will ensure that the hits we make (which are borderline guaranteed with these values) are going to stick and cause a lot of problems. Once Leo and Klarion peel through defense values, Punisher can come in for the KO.

I mentioned that map choice is big here, and while there aren’t a lot of water maps around, something with lots of elevation would be good so Leonardo can keep doing his thing while the rest of your force stays safe.

Most of this team is about abusing Throg’s Perplex, but make no mistake; he functions very well as an attacker with this setup. The majority of the other guys on the force will end up being targets, meaning Throg can jump around and do his thing will little-to-no chance of retaliation. Remember that Groot can help his damage value for ranged attacks. Teekl can give him additional Perplex. Leonardo moves into Empower. There’s lots of options to make Throg the star of the show if that’s the route you want to take.

How did you like this team build? Do you think it turned out pretty good or was it way outside the ballpark and will probably get annihilated in practice? Was there a different Animal you would have liked to see on the team? Why didn’t I include LE Bebop and Rocksteady now that Damage Depletion Modifier is history? Let me know!

I’m not sure if you all had the chance to check out Two Clicks From KO last week, but I did make a really neat competitive Uni-Mind team that you competitive folk might want to check out. It’s not perfect, but I really like it!

Anyway, I’ll see you all there on Thursday and back here again in a week!