Elder Gargaroth
Creature — Beast
Vigilance, reach, trample
Whenever this creature attacks or blocks, choose one —
• Create a 3/3 green Beast creature token.
• You gain 3 life.
• Draw a card.
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- G
- Rarity
- mythic
- Set
- Core Set 2021
- Price
- $2.70
- EDHREC rank
- #2370
Elder Gargaroth hits the board as a 6/6 with vigilance, reach, and trample, then generates a card, a life gain trigger, or a Beast token on every attack and block — that's three forms of immediate value before your opponent can answer it. Five mana is the honest cost, and at that rate Elder Gargaroth is one of the cleanest mid-game creatures green can run, including in Slinza, the Spiked Stampede builds that want repeatable payoffs stapled to a body that can't be ignored.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Slinza, the Spiked Stampede
Slinza, the Spiked Stampede cares about attacking creatures with counters, and Elder Gargaroth's triple-keyword body turns every combat into a guaranteed draw, token, or life swing — exactly the incremental advantage Slinza wants stacking up turn after turn.
Indominus Rex, Alpha
Indominus Rex, Alpha splices keyword abilities onto itself from the graveyard, and Elder Gargaroth donates vigilance, reach, and trample in a single card — three keywords for one slot is an unusually efficient contribution to the Indominus engine.
Wulfgar of Icewind Dale
Wulfgar of Icewind Dale doubles attack triggers, so Elder Gargaroth's on-attack ability fires twice each combat — two draws, two tokens, or two life swings every time it swings, which compounds quickly across a game.
Xenagos, God of Revels
Xenagos, God of Revels doubles power and toughness at the start of combat, turning Elder Gargaroth into a 12/12 trampler that still generates two triggered payoffs per attack with vigilance left over to block.
Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma
Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma reduces the cost of big green creatures, bringing Elder Gargaroth down to three mana and granting it trample and +1/+1 on each attack — the discount and the attack bonus both apply, making it one of Goreclaw's best hits.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Elder Gargaroth is a legitimate role-player: the combination of three keywords and a choose-one attack trigger generates card advantage, board presence, or lifetotals on a body that demands a removal answer. Modern sees it as a sideboard threat in green midrange — resilient against burn and evasive enough to close games, though five mana is slow for a format defined by turns three and four. In Legacy and Vintage it's fringe at best, outclassed by faster threats, but the card is legal and occasionally appears as a singleton toolbox piece in creature packages. Pioneer is its most competitive home outside Commander, where Elder Gargaroth lines up well against aggressive decks and rewards the green ramp shells that can actually deploy it on curve.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$2.70 cheap tier
At $2.70, Elder Gargaroth sits in the cheap tier — strong performance for the price given that it's a mythic-rate card in terms of board impact. The price is unlikely to climb significantly given wide print availability, but at this rate it's an easy include with no budget concern attached.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.