One day I decided to categorize all the frogs in MtG. I like frogs a lot, they're crucial ecological pillars of their communities, they make great noises, and are nice to look at.
All cards were found using Scryfall's "art:frog OR art:salamander" search terms and then selecting cards that actually have realistic-ish (my personal preference) amphibians. Originally it was just frogs but Scalding Salamander looks perfectly like a spotted salamander and I couldn't resist.
Three Custom Categories exist for these cards:
-
Frog and Center - These cards clearly and obviously depict amphibians as the focus of the card. Most are creatures, some aren't. These are the cards that most people will find when you look up "magic card frogs"
-
Where's Froggo - These cards make up a fun game! Try to find the amphibian on these cards if you're up for it, it can be quite challenging but they're there, I promise. Have fun with Fauna Shaman, but if you need a hint, look up the borderless art.
-
Artificial Anurans - These cards have metal or otherwise non-fleshy amphibians. Not really frogs, but they're more frogs than some.
-
Wind in the Willows - These cards have frog/person hybrids on them. Notably, this excludes people with frog heads, the body shape is critical in determining the frogacity of a creature.
-
Magical Anuramalies - These cards depict things that are kind of like amphibians, but are all messed up for various reasons. Size is not a consideration for this category, even if the creatures depicted are far larger than an amphibian's oxygen transfer could handle, because then there'd be no frogs left. I didn't want to entirely exclude these cards, but I felt compelled to separate them. Reasoning for each individual card I believe is warranted.
-
- Chub Toad Porcupine quills, otherwise it's a pretty good frog.
- Crocanura Frogs do not have scales, and have only a single pair of eyes.
- Excavating Anurid Big teeth and spines/scales on the arms.
- Galloping Lizrog I know, this one seems like a stretch. But it has no scales, it's not humanoid, and the back legs are perfect! (Except for the claws but that's not so unreasonable). It also has a buccal cavity and a seat patch!
- Gitrog, Horror of Zhava Ew. This is a frog being turned inside out by a praying mantis.
- Grolnok, the Omnivore The normal art is good, but this thing is all kinds of nasty. Two sets of eyes, tentacles on its head, teeth? Geez.
- Gudul Lurker Salamanders are almost entirely suction feeders and this thing has teeth, look closely at the waterline. Another that almost made the cut.
- Harmonious Emergence Despite the extra pair of limbs and the three sets of eyes, this is a pretty good salamander. Also the tadpoles are nice.
- Morgue Toad This one almost made the cut, but those teeth are far too large and jagged.
- Omnibian Three eyes.
- Plaxcaster Frogling Hair and mutant status are the only issues here.
- Pollywog Symbiote It's like a tadpole with the body of an otter. It's one of the better ones, but still too weird to not at least include here.
- Pteramander Despite the drake creature type, this one is a better representation of a salamander than most. It even has costal grooves!
- Tatsunari, Toad Rider Scales, teeth, and a protruding yet limp tongue. The token is pretty good ironically.
- The Gitrog Monster There are multiple arts of this fellow, and all are close enough to frogs to warrant inclusion but far enough to warrant discussion. Look below, he's got his own chapter.
- Uurg, Spawn of Turg I know this may seem petty after all the other frogs, but the teeth and claws land this version in this category while the original is actually not bad, if oddly proportioned.
- Wormfang Newt It isn't the size that bothers me, it's the back legs, the teeth, and the hair (?) as well as the lack of costal grooves. Looks more like an early depiction of an Iguanodon.
-- Notes on The Gitrog Monster--
The SOI art The Gitrog Monster is the second best frog, the teeth and general shape are really the only issue. The Gitrog Monster is the best one in terms of frog shape, but the tongue is now wrong. The last one The Gitrog Monster is a monster before it's a frog, but hey, a kid drew it.
For Thalia and The Gitrog Monster, the base art is ok, the showcase Thalia and The Gitrog Monster is about the same, and the promo Thalia and The Gitrog Monster is the best because the hind legs are properly articulated.
My decisions on which cards to keep and which to exclude are arcane and indecipherable, but I will do my best to explain two large groups of exclusions below.:
--Notes on Amphin--
Amphin do not resemble salamanders, frogs, or any other extinct species of amphibian in any way. They are incorrectly attributed merfolk and I will not yield on this. Genetic testing will confirm my hypothesis, and I am already in contact with WotC to confirm my suspicions. They are PELAGIC OCEAN DWELLING HUMANOIDS. The following cards are NOT amphibians:
--Notes on Yargle--
There may be people who complain about me not including Yargle, but it is clearly not a frog despite its creature type. You tell me Yargle even looks vaguely like a frog and I'll politely, yet firmly, disagree. Also, the jokes about Yargle being stupid and eating things aren't funny and get old fast. Yargle is a spirit, not a frog.
--Notes on other non-amphibian cards that are misidentified on Scryfall--
- Biomass Mutation Humanoids with frog heads are not frogs.
- Duergar Cave-Guard Frogs with human heads... are maybe frogs? I'm cutting these out because I think they're baby hobgoblins.
- Gray Slaad This is an ogre with a big mouth. Doesn't even look kind of like a frog person.
- Hydradoodle Humanoids with frog heads are not frogs.
- Lava Runner Creature type "lizard" isn't the end of the world, but it looks more like a proto-viashino than a salamander to me, despite the fire motif.
- Primal Vigor These are goblins, there's nothing froglike about them except the head shape.
- Pyric Salamander Salamanders cannot extend their tongues, and don't have claws. This is likely some kind of lizard, as the flavor text corroborates.
- Steeple Creeper This is just a lizardman with webbed hands and feet. Not a frog in the slightest.
- Trollbred Guardian This is just a troll. What, because it's green it's a frog? Fat chance.
- Wild Elephant Clearly depicts a skink, not a salamander.
Feel free to recommend cards that Scryfall missed, or to dispute a positioning of one of the cards. I'll check this the next few days or until I get bored and move on to some other autism soothing project.
