The 34 Best Frogs in Magic

Last updated on March 15, 2023

Grolnok, the Omnivore | Illustration by Simon Dominic

Undoubtedly the most sophisticated creature type for the most distinguished players, frogs made their official debut in Magic in Exodus with the venerable Whiptongue Frog. Reach wasn’t a keyword yet, but the flavor was established that frogs can use their long tongues to block flyers. In Whiptongue’s case I imagine it slapping the ground with its tongue to fling itself into the air over the enemy defenders and deal a point of damage.

There are 34 cards in Magic with the “frog” creature type. Befitting of a frog’s natural habitat of Swamps, Islands, and Forests, they’ve only been printed in those colors.

But that’s enough talk. Today I’d like to take a  journey through the history of frogs in MTG. I’ll rate each frog on two scales: playability, and inherent frogginess. Let’s go!

Best Pre-Modern Frogs

Noxious Toad

The first actual frog in MTG. Noxious Toad didn’t have a printed creature type at first, but all toads are frogs so it was eventually updated.

Playability: This card costs too much and doesn’t really do anything. 1/5

Inherent Frogginess: It’s clearly a frog in the picture, but the ability doesn’t evoke any frog feelings. 3/5

Whiptongue Frog

Playability: Not very good. 1/5

Inherent Frogginess: Whiptongue Frog’s art depicts a frog impaling someone with its tongue. The ability makes you think of a frog using its tongue to block flyers. 4/5

Bloated Toad

Playability: Protection from blue and cycling make Bloated Toad serviceable. 2/5

Inherent Frogginess: A big chonky toad. Protection from blue probably because of its amazing camouflage. 5/5 just because I love the art.

Anurid Scavenger

Playability: Three mana for a 3/3 was relatively big for a creature in Anurid Scavenger’s time, so having a downside in exchange for protection from black made design sense. It’s not worth including in any deck these days. 0/5

Inherent Frogginess: Of all the Anurid this one resembles a frog a little bit more, but nothing about it screams frog to me. 1/5

Anurid Barkripper

Playability: Like many old cards, Anurid Barkripper was never good and doesn’t hold up. 0/5

Inherent Frogginess: The flavor text makes me giggle. 3/5

Anurid Swarmsnapper

Playability: Anurid Swarmsnapper surprisingly holds up to this day. A 1/4 reach for three mana with an extra ability is still a gold-standard Limited staple. 2/5

Inherent Frogginess: While its body is severely mutated, Swarmsnapper is clearly a frog-thing doing frog things. 4/5

Anurid Brushhopper

Playability: I remember at one of my first Nationals a friend of mine pointed out that Brian Kibler (who I’d never heard of before) was playing nearby and said he was a professional gamer. The idea that somebody could professionally game blew my mind and I immediately became a fan. He had Anurid Brushhopper in play so it must be great. 3/5

Inherent Frogginess: Nothing about this card makes me think about frogs. It also breaks the frog color pie. 0/5

Anurid Murkdiver

Playability: Six mana is such a steep cost for little effect. 1/5

Inherent Frogginess: The retconning of all Anurids to frogs really missed the mark on some of these. 0/5

Wretched Anurid

Playability: Two mana for a 3/3 is decent stats but losing life when other creatures enter the battlefield can kill you fast. 1/5

Inherent Frogginess: The flavor text claims Wretched Anurid is a frog, but I’m not buying it. 0/5

Best Modern Frogs

Omnibian

Playability: Omnibian is overcosted for what it does, but the ability is unique. 2/5

Inherent Frogginess: I don’t think you could make a froggier card if you tried. 5/5

Chub Toad

Playability: The stats are a little bit lackluster, but Chub Toad was a fine card when you put it in the context of its Limited environment. 2/5

Inherent Frogginess: “Chub toad, chub toad/At the door/Run away quick/Or you’ll run no more.” 5/5

Haze Frog

Playability: You can do a whole lot better for five mana. 0/5

Inherent Frogginess: Not very froggy. 1/5

Morgue Toad

Playability: Morgue Toad is interesting. The stats are lackluster (a theme for these frogs) but the ability is unique enough. 1/5

Inherent Frogginess: My frog radar barely blips on this one. 1/5

Crocanura

Playability: Crocanura was a high draft pick in its time. 3/5

Inherent Frogginess: It has the classic frog-using-its-tongue-to-eat-flyers flavor. 3/5

Species Gorger

Playability: Five mana for a 6/6 is nice stats and returning your enter-the-battlefield creatures to your hand is an upside if you build around it. 3/5

Inherent Frogginess: It’s a stretch to call Species Gorger a frog. 0/5

Witch’s Familiar

Playability: Not much to say about vanilla stats. 1/5

Inherent Frogginess: This frog stands proud. Witch’s Familiar knows it’s a frog. 4/5

Frogmite

Playability: Frogmite has been a staple of affinity decks since it was printed. 5/5

Inherent Frogginess: Mechanical frogs are still frogs. 3/5

The Gitrog Monster

Playability: I believe Commander players appreciate The Gitrog Monster quite a bit. 5/5

Inherent Frogginess: I’m going to go against popular opinion and say this one is only a frog in name. 1/5

Yargle, Glutton of Urborg

Playability: A big chonker for five mana, but Yargle, Glutton of Urborg doesn’t have a lot of applications. 1/5

Inherent Frogginess: The story goes that a demon was transformed into a maggot and the frog that ate the maggot became this giant monster. Cool. 3/5

Leapfrog

Playability: Leapfrog was solid filler in Limited but it doesn’t really match up to other cards outside of that. 1/5

Inherent Frogginess: This frog is nice and cute. 3/5

Steeple Creeper

Playability: Good stats for Limited, but not beyond that. 1/5

Inherent Frogginess: As a hybrid snake-frog I think Steeple Creeper is lacking in both snake and frog characteristics. 1/5

Trollbred Guardian

Playability: These are some nice stats. 2/5

Inherent Frogginess: I’m not sure which part of this troll warrior is a frog. 0/5

Galloping Lizrog

Playability: Galloping Lizrog requires a lot of setup for a mediocre payoff. 1/5

Inherent Frogginess: These frog hybrids rarely give me frog feelings, but this one in particular resonates with my frog side. 3/5

Excavating Anurid

Playability: Excavating Anurid was a staple in its Limited formats. 2/5

Inherent Frogginess: I appreciate a good pun. 3/5 because of the flavor text.

Spore Frog

Playability: Spore Frog was great in Modern Horizons Limited. You could use it to loop fog effects via Genesis or just play it to blank ninjutsu triggers from your opponent. 5/5

Inherent Frogginess: This cute little frog is the froggiest frog that ever frogged according to AlphaFrog. 6/5

Pollywog Symbiote

Playability: Pollywog Symbiote made a small splash in the Standard pond but never really saw major tournament play. 2/5

Inherent Frogginess: It leans into the idea that frogs mutate into other things in Magic. 4/5

Plaxcaster Frogling

Playability: Plaxcaster Frogling is fine. Not too good, not too bad. 2/5

Inherent Frogginess: I love the art of this little frog protecting its friends. 5/5

Burrog Befuddler

Playability: Burrog Befuddler didn’t see a lot of play even in Limited. 1/5

Inherent Frogginess: Frog puts on cape, presumably to fight crime. 5/5

Unwilling Ingredient

Playability: Unwilling Ingredient isn’t the most serviceable card but it’s certainly not bad. 2/5

Inherent Frogginess: Frogs are good eating according to a lot of people, although I don’t practice cannibalism myself. 3/5

Jade Avenger

Playability: This frog samurai isn’t messing around! 2/5

Inherent Frogginess: Jade Avenger’s ability isn’t very frog-like but the picture is sweet. 2/5

Froghemoth

Playability: Froghemoth has so much text and it’s all upside so it has to be pretty good! 3/5

Inherent Frogginess: I’m a little intimidated by this frog so I’m going to give it a lower rating. 2/5

Grolnok, the Omnivore

Playability: Grolnok, the Omnivore is the first “frog lord,” in that it affects your other frog creatures. I think its playability will scale as time goes on and more frogs get printed. It always gets better! 4/5

Inherent Frogginess: Clearly a wise frog worthy of much veneration. 5/5

Gitrog, Horror of Zhava

Playability: Four mana for a 6/6 with menace is beefy stats! 4/5

Inherent Frogginess: Gitrog, Horror of Zhava is truly a frog of my nightmares. 3/5

Papercraft Decoy

Playability: Papercraft Decoy seems like classic Limited filler. Solid for any deck. 3/5

Inherent Frogginess: Origami frogs are still frogs. 3/5

Top 5 Frogs

#5. Chub Toad

This was a close call between Bloated Toad and Chub Toad. Bloated is arguably the better card, but Chub gets +2/+2 and winds up eating the Bloated if they fight each other in combat so it earns the #5 spot.

#4. Frogmite

Frogmite has been hopping around from format to format as a solid role player since it was printed and easily earns a spot in the top 5.

#3. Gitrog, Horror of Zhava

One of the newest frogs and only available on MTG Arena, Gitrog, Horror of Zhava is what frog moms use to scare their tadpoles into obedience.

#2. Grolnok, the Omnivore

Grolnok, the Omnivore is the lord of the frogs and earns its spot as the second-best frog of all time by merit of clearly being a frog in the art and having very froggy abilities.

#1. Spore Frog

Spore Frog is the best frog of all time solely based on how many times I’ve cast it compared to the other frogs. This little feller has prevented more combat damage than all the other frogs combined!

Best Frog Payoffs

There probably aren’t enough frog synergies to build a deck around (yet), but some recent printings indicate that frogs might get more cards in the future.

Grolnok, the Omnivore

Grolnok, the Omnivore helps fuel your graveyard with each frog attack.

Tatsunari, Toad Rider

Tatsunari, Toad Rider can give your frogs evasion.

Croaking Counterpart

Cards like Croaking Counterpart might increase in value if having frogs becomes more important in the future.

Honorable Mention: Frog Tongue

It’s not a frog, but it sure is part of one.

Are Anurids Frogs?

The Anurid were originally beast creatures but were later errata’d to be frogs. Their art ranges from frog-like things lashing the sky with their long tongues to beastly blobs.

Wrap Up

Plaxcaster Frogling | Illustration by Greg Staples

There you have it! Every frog creature in Magic’s history rated by the top authority on Magic frogs, AlphaFrog! Whether you’re a princess in the market for a date, or a player looking for ideas, hopefully this list has left you satisfied.

What’s your favorite frog on this list? Do you think any of these are more (or less) froggy than I gave them credit for? Let me know in the comments down below or hop on over the lily pond to our Discord.

Until next time, ribbit ribbit, croak!