Magic: The Gathering - The Gitrog Monster Commander Deck Guide

The Gitrog Monster reigns supreme as a popular Golgari (black/green) commander in Magic: The Gathering. This powerful commander enables a strategy centered around playing multiple lands per turn, utilizing potent combos for victory or prolonged survival.

A Gitrog Monster deck offers impressive versatility and ease of play. It's an excellent choice for combo-focused players and serves as a strong introduction to competitive Commander (cEDH).

Decklist

Commander: The Gitrog Monster
Wrenn and Seven	Aftermath Analyst	Ancient Greenwarden	Avenger of Zendikar	Azusa, Lost but Seeking	Braids, Arisen Nightmare
Courser of Kruphix	Dryad of the Illusian Grove	Elves of Deep Shadow	Elvish Mystic	Elvish Reclaimer	Golgari Grave-Troll
Llanowar Elves	Loot, Exuberant Explorer	Lotus Cobra	Lumra, Bellow of the Woods	Noose Constrictor	Putrid Imp
Rampaging Baloths	Ramunap Excavator	Scute Swarm	Skull Prophet	Springheart Nantuko	Stinkweed Imp
Sylvan Safekeeper	Tireless Provisioner	Titania, Nature's Force	Titania, Protector of Argoth	Uurg, Spawn of Turg	Wild Mongrel
World Shaper	Farseek	Finale of Devastastion	Gaea's Blessing	Life from the Loam	Nature's Lore
Rampant Growth	Scapeshift	Splendid Reclamation	Sylvan Scrying	Toxic Deluge	Abrupt Decay
Archdruid's Charm	Assassin's Trophy	Beast Within	Crop Rotation	Entish Restoration	Grisly Salvage
Harrow	Rain of Filth	Realms Uncharted	Roiling Regrowth	Arcane Signet	Expedition Map
Fellwar Stone	Golgari Signet	Lotus Petal	Sol Ring	Talisman of Resilience	Wishclaw Talisman
Case of the Locked Hothouse	Oblivion Crown	Undergrowth Recon	Walk-In Closet // Forgotten Cellar	Zendikar's Roil	Barren Moor
Woodland Cemetery	Brokers Hideout	Cabaretti Courtyard	Command Tower	Crystal Vein	Dakmor Salvage
Drownyard Temple	Echoing Depths	Fabled Passage	x6 Forest	Ghost Quarter	Glacial Chasm
Llanowar Wastes	Lotus Field	Myriad Landscape	Nurturing Peatland	Reliquary Tower	Riveteers Overlook
x5 Swamp	Tainted Wood	Tranquill Thicket	Twilight Mire	Urza's Cave	Vesuva

This deck features one planeswalker, 31 creatures, ten sorceries, 11 instants, Eight artifacts, five enchantments, and 34 lands. Its core strategy revolves around cards that generate extra land plays or benefit from them.

Key Cards

The Gitrog Monster

The Gitrog Monster is both a combo enabler and a primary source of card advantage. While the land sacrifice cost is mandatory, the subsequent card draw is crucial, especially when combined with cards that recycle lands from the graveyard. If necessary, sacrificing the Gitrog Monster itself is a viable option to protect essential lands. The card draw triggered by land placement in the graveyard is key to initiating combos. Even without combos, naturally discarded lands (like fetchlands) provide card draw while maintaining land saturation. Recycling these lands yields further card advantage.

Dakmor Salvage

Dakmor Salvage is the deck's most critical land due to its dredge ability, allowing for milling two cards and returning itself to hand from the graveyard. Its ideal state is in the hand, not on the battlefield. It's looped with The Gitrog Monster to mill and draw the entire deck.

The combo operates as follows: A permanent capable of discarding a card, The Gitrog Monster, and Dakmor Salvage in hand are required.

Step Number	Description
1	Discard Dakmor Salvage, triggering The Gitrog Monster's draw effect.
2	Utilize Dakmor Salvage's dredge ability, milling two cards and returning it to hand.
3	If no non-lands were milled, repeat steps 1 and 2.
	If one or two lands were milled, discard Dakmor Salvage as the Gitrog trigger resolves, repeating steps 1 and 2. This stacks another Gitrog trigger, allowing you to save the milled land(s) for later use.
4	If a card that shuffles the graveyard into the library is milled, prioritize the shuffle effect before the Gitrog trigger. Then discard Dakmor Salvage after the shuffle, but before the Gitrog draw trigger.
5	The numerous draw triggers from milled lands allow for drawing the entire deck. The shuffle effect prevents milling oneself out, enabling continued looping until the entire deck is in hand (ensure the shuffler is discarded before the draw trigger once the deck is in hand).

Glacial Chasm

As a combo deck, protection is vital. Glacial Chasm prevents opponents from dealing damage. The inability to attack is negligible, given the deck's focus. The cumulative upkeep is easily managed by utilizing a permanent that plays cards from the graveyard and another that plays two lands per turn. Glacial Chasm is sacrificed to upkeep (or to The Gitrog Monster), then played from the graveyard after sacrificing a land, locking out opponent damage.

Gameplay

The Gitrog Monster deck is primarily a combo deck with a secondary landfall strategy. Avoid over-reliance on the combo, as Dakmor Salvage's exile can disrupt it. Creatures generated upon land entry serve as a backup plan and provide defense. Cards like Scute Swarm, Zendikar's Roil, and Titania, Springheart Nantuko are valuable in this regard. Enchanting a creature with additional land play capabilities with Springheart Nantuko allows for exponential land play through creature copying.

Dakmor Salvage is paramount; prioritize getting it into your hand using tutors like Sylvan Scrying, Expedition Map, and Archdruid's Charm. Tutoring directly onto the battlefield for immediate use with The Gitrog Monster is also effective.

The primary win condition is the combo. With the entire deck in hand, infinite mana is generated using a land, Gaea's Blessing, Dakmor Salvage, and a Lotus Petal by looping discard effects and utilizing Gaea's Blessing's shuffle effect. Discarding a land triggers the draw, while Dakmor Salvage is dredged to mill Gaea's Blessing and return itself, with Lotus Petal returning to the library. Infinite mana allows for winning through mass permanent destruction (looping Assassin's Trophy) or overwhelming creature generation via Finale of Devastation.

The deck's weakness is its combo dependency. While a backup plan exists, the combo is preferred. Losing Dakmor Salvage significantly weakens many other cards.

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