Mount & Saddle up: MTG’s cowboys try to ride a familiar giant deadly frog

Saddle is poised to be MTG Outlaws of Thunder Junction’s breakout mechanic, and The Gitrog, Ravenous Ride is giving a dangerous example of Saddling creatures.

The Gitrog Monster is one of Magic’s most memorable beasties. This oversized frog is just one of many monstrosities lurking in the depths of Innistrad, but the new Omenpaths have let it loose to wander the multiverse.

Now, a band of incautious cowboys on MTG’s old-west plane of Thunder Junction have attempted to tame The Gitrog Monster, introducing a brand new, highly-requested gameplay mechanic in the process: Saddle.

Gitrog has always been a menace for MTG players to deal with, particularly in the Commander format. But regardless of where it shows up, the combination of combat tricks like Deathtouch and a beefy body make this creature almost guaranteed to do some real damage to opponents’ life totals.

WOTC

This time around, Gitrog is forgoing Deathtouch in favor of sheer force. The Gitrog, Ravenous Ride comes equipped with the Trample ability, along with using Saddle for a new spin on its real strength: Land ramp.

Saddle will be familiar to MTG players with an affinity for Artifacts, as it functions similarly to the Crew ability. Crew is used by Vehicle artifacts, allowing Creatures to power up and ride mechs, airships, trains, and much more. Saddle is effectively Crew for living Creatures, allowing smaller fighters to mount up and use their power to activate whatever Creature they have Saddled in combat.

The Gitrog, Ravenous Ride can sacrifice any Creature that has Saddled it when it deals combat damage to a player, drawing cards and placing Land directly onto the field based on the power of the Creature that was sacrificed.

As part of a recent press briefing MTG head designer Mark Rosewater admitted that players had been asking for an ability to let them ride monsters for years now. Thunder Junction, with all of its cowboy flair, seemed like the perfect place to finally put plans for the Saddle ability into action.

While Saddle is great news for combat-focused MTG players, Gitrog, Ravenous Ride may be hiding a tragedy that keen-eyed MTG fans have spotted. When Gitrog was last seen, it was as part of March of the Machine’s Thalia and The Gitrog Monster card. With Thalia nowhere in sight, Reddit users like ultrazai have argued that this means Thalia met an untimely end:

“Gitrog having saddle means she successfully rode him in and then got eaten.

“So all according to Gitrog’s plan.”

Still, other Reddit commenters like AporiaParadox have chosen to interpret these cards in a more positive light:

“I think Gitrog really enjoyed having Thalia ride it and wants to repeat the experience. But yes, somebody should check up on Thalia.”

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