Gitrog Lands.dec

Commander / EDH BG (Golgari) Dredge Loam Pox Stax TurboFog

elting44

Land (45)

• 1x Ash Barrens
• 1x Barren Moor
• 1x Bayou
• 1x Blasted Landscape
• 1x Blighted Fen
• 1x Blighted Woodland
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dakmor Salvage
• 1x Dark Depths
• 1x Drownyard Temple
• 1x Dryad Arbor
• 1x Ebon Stronghold
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 7x Forest
• 1x Foul Orchard
• 1x Glacial Chasm
• 1x Golgari Rot Farm
• 1x Havenwood Battleground
• 1x Jungle Hollow
• 1x Llanowar Wastes
• 1x Maze of Ith
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Polluted Mire
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Slippery Karst
• 4x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Wood
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Thespian's Stage
• 1x Tranquil Thicket
• 1x Twilight Mire
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Wasteland
• 1x Woodland Cemetery

Creature (19)

• 1x Acidic Slime
• 1x Azusa, Lost but Seeking
• 1x Creakwood Liege
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Greenwarden of Murasa
• 1x Groundskeeper
• 1x Lotus Cobra
• 1x Nyx Weaver
• 1x Oracle of Mul Daya
• 1x Rampaging Baloths
• 1x Ramunap Excavator
• 1x Satyr Wayfinder
• 1x Scavenging Ooze
• 1x Simian Brawler
• 1x Sylvan Safekeeper
• 1x Terravore
• 1x Vinelasher Kudzu
• 1x World Breaker
• 1x World Shaper

Sorcery (10)

• 1x Damnation
• 1x Drown in Filth
• 1x Edge of Autumn
• 1x Green Sun's Zenith
• 1x Hour of Promise
• 1x Life from the Loam
• 1x Monstrify
• 1x Splendid Reclamation
• 1x Sylvan Scrying
• 1x Worm Harvest

Enchantment (5)

• 1x Burgeoning
• 1x Deadbridge Chant
• 1x Exploration
• 1x Squandered Resources
• 1x Sylvan Library

Commander (1)

Instant (13)

• 1x Abrupt Decay
• 1x Constant Mists
• 1x Crop Rotation
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Grapple with the Past
• 1x Grisly Salvage
• 1x Harrow
• 1x Hatred
• 1x Krosan Grip
• 1x Noxious Revival
• 1x Putrefy
• 1x Realms Uncharted
• 1x Sudden Reclamation

Artifact (7)

• 1x Crucible of Worlds
• 1x Golgari Signet
• 1x Horn of Greed
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Perpetual Timepiece
• 1x Smokestack
• 1x Sol Ring

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The Gitrog Monster, Insatiable Toad Beast of Lake Zhava

Thanks for checking out my Gitrog Monster EDH deck

If you haven't already, make sure and read this short story from Wizard's of the Coast's MTG Site. It is very well written, and gives insight into the lore behind the Frog Horror that inhabits the highlands of Nephalia on Innistrad.

I knew I wanted to make a Gitrog EDH deck the day it was spoiled, as I have a always been a fan of Legacy Lands and Loam Pox style decks. This deck has a lot of the same cards as the Legacy Lands and Loam Pox decklists (Exploration, Mox Diamond, Dark Depths/Thespian's Stage, Life from the Loam, Wasteland, etc). I had been waiting for a GB Lands based commander to take the helm of an EDH. Additionally, it is a 6/6 Frog Horror, what is not to love.

Game Plan

Attrition/Stax vs Combo

My version of the Gitrog Monster focuses on generating card advantage through various synergies while at the same time denying your opponent's resources and making yourself impervious to damage until you can win by various means. Many Gitrog pilots tend to build their decks to focus on winning via combos and creating infinite loops, which you will not find in this deck and I will address in more detail below. Because of this I would consider it a "75%" deck that can audible into a more competitive deck if need be. This is by no means a budget deck.

This deck requires a good deal of knowledge of the interactions between the cards herein. There are a lot of triggers to keep track of and order properly.

Lets dig into what makes this deck tick as well as some of my card selection:

Disclaimer regarding power level: This commander deck focuses on generating tons of value and card advantage. It is not meant to be an oppressive or combo-centric version of The Gitrog Monster. I have opted for no permanent discard outlets** (Skirge Familiar, Wild Mongrel, Noose Constrictor, Putrid Imp etc.) as these cards combo with Dakmor Salvage to allow you to draw your entire deck and in the case of the Skirge generate arbitrary amounts of black mana. I think infinite combos and combo kills in general make for linear gameplay. I have also intentionally withheld Avenger of Zendikar and Titania, Protector of Argoth because I feel Avenger is everywhere in my meta and Rampaging Baloths make Titania somewhat redundant. I have also purposefully withheld from adding Demonic/Diabolic/Vampiric Tutors, relying instead on land tutors and Entomb.

The Core of the Deck:

Life from the Loam: The card that drives the deck's engine. LftL allows you to recur 3 lands at a time, so you are able to hit your land drops and put your cycling lands back into your hand, and re-deploy your utility lands. Be warned, being too aggressive with LftL (i.e. repeatedly Strip Mineing/Wastelanding your opponents lands) as it will put a huge target on your back before you are able to get your soft lock in place.

Crucible of Worlds: While the monetary cost is somewhat prohibitive, this 3 cmc artifact breaks the deck wide open. See the above warning regarding abuse. Nothing says "Kill me in the face" like having Crucible in play and a Strip Mine in the yard. Keep the table in check, don't turn them against you. Ramunap Excavator was a great addition, and is functionally the same card in Naga form.

Glacial Chasm/Constant Mists: These cards are your protection. Playing to former and saccing it every turn to itself or Gitrog, is what buys you the time to sink in the choke-hold.

Dakmor Salvage: Being able to add cards to the yard and get a land back into the hand for the cost of replacing a card draw is good enough on its own, factor in that you will likely hit a land and be able to draw a card if Gitrog is in play is icing on the cake. Dakmor Salvage is the best target for our land sac effects, including Gitrog's upkeep triggers as Dakmor can be returned back to your hand off of its own Gitrog trigger ensuring you always make land drops and essentially negating the Gitrog Monster's 'sac a land per turn' drawback. A must have.

Entomb: Many people tend to assume Entomb can only put creatures in the bin. Not the case. It usually gets Life from the Loam, other times it gets Dakmor Salvage, keep in mind it is an instant and is best played at your opponent's end step. Other great targets are Centaur Vinecrasher and ...

Barren Moor/Tranquil Thicket/Ash Barrens/Blasted Landscape/Polluted Mire/Slippery Karst: Paying 1 or 2 mana to draw 2 cards when Gitrog is in play is bonkers. Return these cards to hand with all of our recursion to find what you need.

Crop Rotation: Does everything this deck wants at instant speed. Your opponent is going to Reanimate something nasty? Respond to his cast with Crop Rotation and grab a Bojuka Bog, he wants to attack you with blightsteel colussus? sneak in a Maze of Ith. You have a Dark Depths but no Thespian's Stage? Crop Rotation gets you there.

"Win Conditions"

The deck actually wins by out-drawing your opponents 3:1 while denying your opponent's resources with Smokestack/Waste land/Ghost Quarter and making them unable to do damage to you via a Glacial Chasm recursion lock or Constant Mists. Below are some of the ways the deck deals lethal.

Worm Harvest: Creating and army of 1/1s is often the way the deck wins. Being able to cast Worm Harvest every turn and making additional worms each time, gives you plenty of fodder for Smokestack, and you opponents will be left with little (and will often scoop when the writing is on the wall) On its own Worm Harvest is very resilient because of retrace and the worms start getting formidable with Creakwood Liege in play .

Dark Depths+Thespian's Stage: The classic Legacy Lands win con takes more than one swing more often than not in EDH, but a 20/20 Indestructible Flier is serious business.

Hatred: This probably belongs down in the personal touches section, but for whatever reason, no one seems to want to block Gitrog in my meta. Him being a 6/6 Deathtouch puts people in a weird position on whether or not to block or just take the 6 (loss aversion I guess). Putting 15 life into Hatred to take someone out isn't often seen coming in a Gitrog deck (as of June of 2018, only 4 of the 1607 Gitrog decks on EDHrec use Hatred)

My Personal Touches:

Commander is about making your deck your own and embody your essence as a magic player. Here are what makes this deck different than what you see on most lists

**Simian Brawler: OK, ok... I know I said I am against permanent based discard outlets because they make things get degenerate. Simian Brawler was too cool for me to pass up. He is still pretty much a fair card, as he doesn't have trample/evasion and requires specifically a land card to be discarded.

Might of Oaks: The Urza's Destiny Ron Spencer artwork is some of my favorite art in the game. Its a good combat trick. Removed

Perpetual Timepiece: Mills 2 every turn, which is great if it hits lands or finds your dredge/retrace cards. Better yet is it's second ability; Bokuja Bog and other mass GY hate are this deck's biggest hosers. This allows you to respond by shuffling anything you want to keep back into your library.

Monstrify: Only makes the cut over Raven's Crime for its 'on theme' artwork. Raven's Crime can get out of hand, Monstrify is slightly more fair.

Top Ranked	Achieved #15 position overall 6 years ago
Date added	7 years
Last updated	6 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	13 - 0 Mythic Rares 36 - 0 Rares 19 - 0 Uncommons 21 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.91
Tokens	Beast 4/4 G, Marit Lage, Worm 1/1 BG, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	Decks to try, Stuff I like, EDH, Gitrog, Interesting Commander Decks, Decks of interest, Cool Decks, immediate make, Edh, EDH