Why Yargle, Glutton of Urborg is one of my favorite cards.
This here is Yargle. A relatively unassuming card, he’s a legendary frog spirit for four generic mana and one black mana. He is a 9/3, and has no other lines of text. So why is this card worth of study? Well, honestly, I’ve been meme-ing about the card for about three weeks now and think it deserves a study.
First, let’s look at Yargle’s flavor text. The flavor text tells the story of one of Demonlord Belzenlok’s lieutenants who became too ambitious, and was turned into a maggot. This maggot was then in turn eaten by a frog. The frog swelled and burst as a ravenous spirit burst forth from it’s body. The art depicts this, funnily enough, in Yargle’s chest cavity, which seems to have exploded from the inside, and has instead turned into a dark and twisted maw. We also see how Yar-Kul’s ambition has translated into his form as Yargle, however, as a frog spirit, his ambition has become more of a gluttony.
Next, let’s look at the rest of Yargle. His 9/3 power and toughness is extremely well balanced for Dominaria limited, with cards like Shivan Fire and Wizard’s Lightning easily killing him. However, the 9 power still poses a nice threat on the board, making Yargle a rare uncommon to a degree.
Another important thing to note with Yargle is how well he synergizes with cards like Kwende + Jousting Lane in Dominaria limited (which I’ve seen people actually pull off and 5-0 with.)
So all in all, I love Yargle because of the flavor of the card and also the powerful applications of him.
