Overview:

This deck leverages The Gitrog, Ravenous Ride's saddle mechanic and landfall synergies to generate massive card advantage and board presence. The core strategy involves ramping lands, sacrificing high-power creatures to trigger Gitrog's draw/land cheat ability, and overwhelming opponents with value engines like Tireless Tracker and Avenger of Zendikar. While lacking infinite combos, it uses efficient reanimation and land recursion to maintain momentum.

Primer:

Core Strategy: This deck prioritizes land acceleration (Elvish Reclaimer, Exploration) to enable The Gitrog's saddle-triggered card advantage. Key phases:

1. Early Setup: Ramp with 1-2 CMC creatures (Llanowar Elves) and land cheats (Crop Rotation). Mill/discard fuel for reanimation targets.
2. Midgame Engine: Saddle Gitrog with high-power creatures (Daemogoth Titan, Yargle and Multani), sacrificing them post-combat to draw 7-18 cards and deploy lands from hand. Recur threats via Reanimate/Persist.
3. Late Domination: Overwhelm with doubled power (Zopandrel, Hunger Dominus) or landfall tokens (Rampaging Baloths). Alternate wincons include Exsanguinate or commander damage via Blackblade Reforged.

Mulligan Priorities:

• Keep hands with 3 lands + ramp (Fyndhorn Elves, Exploration)
• Prioritize Dakmor Salvage for dredge synergy
• Reject hands without land acceleration or creature sac outlets

Key Tips

• Time Gitrog casts after developing sac fodder
• Use Life from the Loam + Splendid Reclamation loops for explosive landfall
• Protect Ancient Greenwarden/Ramunap Excavator to enable graveyard land plays
• Imp's Mischief protects critical sorcery-speed plays

Avoid Traps

• Overextending creatures before board wipes
• Keeping slow starts with 5+ CMC cards
• Wasting reanimation on low-impact targets

Weaknesses:

Critical:

• Graveyard hate (Rest in Peace) cripples land recursion and reanimation
• Board wipes disrupt saddle enablers and token armies

Moderate:

• Limited instant-speed interaction (only 4 premium answers)
• Relies on resolving 5-CMC commander

Minor:

• Mana base resilient to nonbasic hate (14 basics, Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth)

Most Important Cards:

• Life from the Loam
• Splendid Reclamation
• Ancient Greenwarden
• Entomb
• Crop Rotation
• Tireless Tracker
• Greater Good
• Avenger of Zendikar
• Zopandrel, Hunger Dominus
• Exsanguinate

Attribute Ratings:

Speed: 5/10

• Goldfish win ~T8 via landfall tokens/commander damage
• Fast mana limited to Sol Ring/Arcane Signet

Resilience: 6/10

• 7 recursion effects (Ramunap Excavator, Conduit of Worlds)
• Vulnerable to graveyard exiling but has alternate land tutors

Consistency: 7/10

• 11 land tutors, 6 card draw engines
• Dredge/landfall provides inherent deck filtering

Interaction: 5/10

• 8 targeted removal (Assassin's Trophy, Toxic Deluge)
• Lacks free counterspells/stack interaction beyond Imp's Mischief

Rating Justification:

This deck exceeds precon-level consistency with redundant land tutors and graveyard recursion (Rubric 5.0-5.5 "Optimized Casual"), but lacks:

• Turbo ramp for T5-6 wins (6.0 "Focused" threshold)
• Infinite mana/damage outlets
• Stax/resource denial locks

Power level: 5.0 - 5.5