The Gitrog Monster – Shadows over Innistrad
Date Reviewed: July 17, 2025
Ratings:
Constructed: 2.83
Casual: 3.65
Limited: 3.37
Multiplayer: 3.75
Commander [EDH]: 4.00
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Speaking of single-card combos, The Gitrog Monster is the kind of card you have to make an effort to keep out of synergistic situations. And even then, you’re fighting uphill, because his minimum case is a gigantic combat machine that trades you a land for an extra draw each turn. And that helps feed his extra land play ability, and it only escalates from there. The main barrier is his mana cost, meaning he’s not as fast as the kinds of combos we associate with the archetype in, say, Modern. But again, if you’re in black and green, it’s almost harder not to get big creatures into play ahead of schedule.
I always find it amusing when creatures with stats in this range also have deathtouch. It’s not as though they wouldn’t be winning most combat steps without it. Although, it does give comparatively fair decks a way to fight things like Eldrazi, without having to use deck slots on the cheaper deathtouch creatures that have low impact in other scenarios. This card makes it all around easier to be green!
Constructed: 3
Casual: 4
Limited: 3.5
Multiplayer: 4
Commander [EDH]: 4
f o r g
Everyone’s favorite amphibian atrocity is here to create chaos and consume all in its path, and The Gitrog Monster has been a combo-centric creature that enables a lot of disgusting engines, thanks to the wording of that last ability. When a land goes to your graveyard from everywhere, it gives you a card draw, and there’s a land that combos beautifully with this (especially if you have a discard outlet). While the abhorrent amphibian consumes a land each turn to stick around, this does trigger a card draw on its own, and it lets you come out ahead if you keep getting cards.
That said, The Gitrog Monster is a pretty…underwhelming “fair” creature. It’s a Frog of Unusual Size, yes, and deathtouch is fun, but it has a merely okay body, and deathtouch can only go so far. But you’re not playing him as a fair creature…you’re playing him to enable degenerate shenanigans, and degenerate shenanigans are fun.
Constructed: 3
Casual: 3.5 (hard to play fairly, and people who see it will suspect shenanigans)
Limited: 3.5
Multiplayer: 3.75
Commander [EDH]: 4.25
Thijs
The Gitrog Monster shows that he’s here to mess things up. He eats lands for a living (literally, he dies if you don’t sac lands) and lets you draw tons of cards.
Golgari would in my opinion be the perfect outlet for these effects. Let opponents discard lands (Bandit’s Talent), destroy lands with Thermokarst, drain the board and become the (slightly hated) victor.
And we haven’t even talked about what makes Gitrog fun! According to edhrec.com, this little frog of terror currently makes 550(!) possible combos. Yes, it’s practically impossible not to combo with this card on the battlefield. Fun!
Constructed: 2,5
Casual: 3,2
Limited: 3 (not a great bomb, but a bomb nonetheless)
Multiplayer: 3,5
Commander [EDH]: 3,7
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