Grolnok, the Omnivore MTG Card
2021-11-19 - Number 238
2021-11-19 - Number 324
2022-01-28 - Number 505
2021-11-19 - Number 77
| Card sets | Released in 4 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 4 |
| Rarity | Rare |
| Type | Legendary Creature — Frog |
| Abilities | Mill |
| Power | 3 |
| Toughness | 3 |
Key Takeaways
- Grolnok’s ability provides a unique form of card advantage and resource acceleration, offering strategic depth.
- While powerful, it requires careful graveyard management and may be less flexible in certain decks.
- Countering its strategy involves leveraging exile effects and limiting your own graveyard card flow.
Text of card
Whenever a Frog you control attacks, mill three cards. Whenever a permanent card is put into your graveyard from your library, exile it with a croak counter on it. You may play lands and cast spells from among cards you own in exile with croak counters on them.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Grolnok, the Omnivore’s unique ability to exile cards from a library when a creature you control deals combat damage to a player essentially “feeds” you additional resources. Not only do you thin out your opponent’s deck, but you gain access to the exiled cards, which can be played for an edge over your opponent.
Resource Acceleration: This dynamic creature’s ability facilitates a potential surge in resource acceleration. Every time you play a creature with a Croak counter on it, thanks to Grolnok, it invites further action without depleting your hand, allowing you to maintain pressure and broaden your board presence efficiently.
Instant Speed: While Grolnok itself isn’t an instant, the Croak counter synergy complements a strategy built around instant-speed interaction. By leveraging creatures that operate or have effects at instant speed, you further the utility of creatures affected by Grolnok’s ability, making your plays less predictable and more adaptable in the heat of battle.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Grolnok, the Omnivore’s ability depends on exiling a creature card from your graveyard, and while this is not traditional discard, it works similarly by requiring you to diminish your own resources. The need to manage your graveyard as a resource can sometimes work against you, especially if you lack creatures in your graveyard to trigger Grolnok’s ability.
Specific Mana Cost: Grolnok comes with a specific mana cost that includes two green mana symbols, narrowing its utility mostly to dedicated green or green-involved decks. This specificity can limit the card’s flexibility, making it less appealing for multicolored decks that run minimal green sources.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: Carrying a mana value of four, including two green, can be cumbersome. For a 3/3 creature that requires a particular setup to utilize its full potential, players might find Grolnok a bit mana-intensive compared to other cards that can generate value more efficiently with less restrictive casting conditions.
Reasons to Include Grolnok, the Omnivore in Your Collection
Versatility: Grolnok, the Omnivore slides smoothly into a variety of deck types. Its unique ability to play with graveyard mechanics makes it a formidable choice for both commander and standard formats, enhancing strategies that capitalize on card recursion.
Combo Potential: Grolnok has a natural synergy with self-milling tactics, turning your deck into a veritable treasure trove of castable cards from exile. This enables intricate combos and increases the resilience of your game plan against common disruption methods.
Meta-Relevance: As the meta shifts and evolves, Grolnok remains relevant by challenging conventional graveyard hate strategies. This card can shine in a reactive meta, allowing players to maintain a steady flow of options and pressure opponents with constant threats from their exile zone.
How to Beat
Grolnok, the Omnivore presents a unique challenge in the MTG arena. This creature thrives on ingesting noncreature cards and translating them into powerful Croak counter advantages. Integrating exile strategies into your deck is key when facing this amphibious adversary. Consider cards like Path to Exile or Leyline of the Void to interrupt Grolnok’s feeding frenzy and mitigate the accumulation of Croak counters.
It’s also beneficial to limit the cards that go into your graveyard. Cards like Grafdigger’s Cage can be pivotal in turning the tide as they prevent creatures in graveyards from being played, directly impacting Grolnok’s potential growth. Another effective tactic is deploying instant speed removal, such as Fatal Push or Swords to Plowshares, to address Grolnok before it can capitalize on its ability.
By staying vigilant and countering Grolnok, the Omnivore’s unique ability with smart deck tech choices, you can keep this voracious creature from becoming an insurmountable threat. Knowing when to take preemptive action or respond to its presence on the board is essential in maintaining control of the game.
Cards like Grolnok, the Omnivore
Grolnok, the Omnivore is an intriguing creature card offering a unique angle to deck-building strategies. Strikingly similar in its blue-green color combination, we have Roalesk, Apex Hybrid, which also delivers a benefit upon entering the battlefield and upon death. Unlike Grolnok, Roalesk focuses on proliferating +1/+1 counters and doesn’t interact with the exile zone or the library.
In the same sphere of graveyard interaction, Scavenging Ooze stands out. While not duplicating cards into exile, Scavenging Ooze excels at selectively removing cards from the graveyard and growing stronger simultaneously. This gradual increase in power differs from Grolnok’s static size but provides a continuous threat and graveyard disruption.
When considering value garnered from the deck’s construction, The Mimeoplasm merits a comparison. Like Grolnok, it favors players who strategically stock their graveyard, but The Mimeoplasm emphasizes on becoming a copy of any creature card in a graveyard, gaining size and abilities in the process.
The multifaceted way Grolnok adds strategic depth to gameplay, by turning exiled creature cards into imitable Croak counters, positions it distinctively among MTG creatures especially for players who enjoy a complex and graveyard-centric game style.
Cards similar to Grolnok, the Omnivore by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Grolnok, the Omnivore MTG card by a specific set like Innistrad: Crimson Vow and Innistrad: Crimson Vow, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.
For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.
Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.
Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Grolnok, the Omnivore and other MTG cards:
- eBay
- TCG Player
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
- MTGO Traders Magic Online
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Printings
The Grolnok, the Omnivore Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2021-11-19 and 2022-01-28. Illustrated by 2 different artists.
| # | Release | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2021-11-19 | Innistrad: Crimson Vow | VOW | 238 | 2015 | normal | black | Simon Dominic | |
| 2 | 2021-11-19 | Innistrad: Crimson Vow | VOW | 324 | 2015 | normal | black | DZO | |
| 3 | Crimson Vow Art Series | AVOW | 77 | 2015 | art_series | borderless | |||
| 4 | 2022-01-28 | Innistrad: Double Feature | DBL | 505 | 2015 | normal | black | Simon Dominic |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Grolnok, the Omnivore has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Standard | Legal |
| Historicbrawl | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Commander | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Future | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Explorer | Legal |
| Brawl | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
| Timeless | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Grolnok, the Omnivore card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2021-11-19 | Grolnok's last ability allows you to play lands and cast spells from among all cards you own in exile with croak counters on them, regardless of whether they were put there by the Grolnok that's currently on the battlefield or by an earlier incarnation. |
| 2021-11-19 | Grolnok, the Omnivore's second ability exiles all permanent cards that are put into your graveyard from your library, not just those that you mill when a Frog you control attacks. |
