Last updated on February 19, 2026

Mystical Tutor (Secret Lair) - Illustration by Mateus Manhanini

Mystical Tutor (Secret Lair) | Illustration by Mateus Manhanini

Blue mages love to keep their options and mana open. As a blue Commander player, you’ll often find yourself waiting and reacting to what other players are doing. That means tutors are your best friends, giving you a toolbox of possible answers to your opponents’ threats. Whether that’s a counterspell, a draw spell, or a finisher of your own, tutors help you find the silver bullet you need.

While black gets unconditional tutors like Demonic Tutor, blue’s searching capability is a bit more restrictive. Blue tutors tend to search for one of three things: artifacts, instants/sorceries, or the opponent’s library, with a few exceptions.

But what are the best ones out there? Let's find out.

What Are Blue Tutors in MTG?

Whir of Invention - Illustration by Christine Choi

Whir of Invention | Illustration by Christine Choi

Blue tutors are effects within blue's color identity that search for a card and pull it out of your deck or at least to the top.

“Tutoring” is Magic slang for searching your library, and it’s considered one of the more powerful things you can do in Magic. Think about how powerful drawing a card is. Instead of pulling a random card from the top of your library, tutoring lets you pick up your deck and find the exact card you need.

This ranking focuses on tutors with a mono-blue color identity. I exclude banned EDH cards and things like Mystical Teachings, which has an off-color flashback cost.

There are some tutor-adjacent abilities that search opposing libraries, but I'm here to discuss cards that search your library. I think the power to search opponent's libraries is more in line with “theft effects” than true tutors, so cards like Eternal Dominion, Acquire, and Bribery won't show up here.

#32. Loyal Inventor

Loyal Inventor

The assassin text on Loyal Inventor really hurts it, but that's maybe expected from an Assassin's Creed card. Still, people are happy playing Moon-Blessed Cleric in some of their enchantment decks, why not this card for an artifact deck?

#31. Step Through

Step Through

Step Through is an interesting one. It only tutors out a wizard if you cycle it, but that's not as big of a downside as it may seem at first. Blue has a lot of insane wizards. Just think about Archmage Emeritus, Thassa's Oracle, or even another tutor like Spellseeker.

However, if there aren't any wizards that you can put in your deck or make use of, it's not really a tutor at all!

#30. Quiet Speculation

Quiet Speculation

In exchange for running flashback spells in your deck, Quiet Speculation becomes something akin to a 2-mana draw three. It’s not the most generic tutor, but it works well with commanders that want to cast spells from the graveyard like Kess, Dissident Mage and Sevinne, the Chronoclasm. Weird that it can target another player, not sure why you'd want to do that.

#29. Long-Term Plans

Long-Term Plans

Long-Term Plans is a cheeky tutor for those who don’t mind a bit of delayed gratification. It lets you find anything you want but tucks it three draw steps away, so you want some extra draw spells to get it in your hand quicker.

#28. Intuition

Intuition

Intuition is less of a generic tutor and more of a game plan in a can. It’s hard to end up with exactly what you want since an opponent chooses which of the three cards you get.

But if all three cards have similar enough effects (say, three extra turn spells), then there’s not much of a choice to be made.

#27. Noble Benefactor

Noble Benefactor

You should always be careful when allowing other players to tutor their decks, especially when you’re the one spending mana on that effect.

Noble Benefactor does just that, allowing every player to search for any card when it dies. You could give this card a shot if you can prevent opponents from searching libraries, or you’re just feeling extremely benevolent.

#26. Transit Mage

Transit Mage

Transit Mage is the meaty middle ground between Trinket Mage, Trophy Mage, and Treasure Mage. Here are a few cards you should consider for the 4 and 5 slots of your mana curve: Phyrexian Metamorph, The One Ring, Conjurer's Closet, or Banner of Kinship.

#25. Faerie Harbinger

Faerie Harbinger

Typal cards take lower spots on this list because they’re only useful in hyper-specific decks. Faerie Harbinger is an excellent card for searching up faerie creatures, but does little else for other decks.

This card gets bonus points for having flash, meaning you can delay casting it until you have a more informed decision on what you should fetch.

#24. Merrow Harbinger

Merrow Harbinger

Merrow Harbinger is just as useful for a merfolk deck as Faerie Harbinger is for faerie builds. The only reason it gets the nod is because merfolk is a creature type with way more support cards, so it has a wider selection of cards it can find.

#23. Scour for Scrap

Scour for Scrap

Scour for Scrap gets you two cards with one instant and is excellent to help you get combo or support pieces. This Edge of Eternities instant is solid and you don't need to be deep into an artifact strategy for it to be good.

#22. Seahunter

Seahunter

Seahunter is another merfolk support card that works wonders in its intended deck, yet falls flat anywhere else. It’s a repeatable way to fish up merfolk from your library and put them directly into play but offers no utility to other decks.

#21. Treasure Mage

Treasure Mage

Treasure Mage is the first of an ongoing “vertical” cycle of blue creatures that tutor for artifacts with specific mana values. Its lucky number is 6, which nets you powerful cards like The Immortal Sun, Wurmcoil Engine, and even more expensive options.

#20. Higure, the Still Wind

Higure, the Still Wind

Being able to sneak Higure, the Still Wind in with ninjutsu means it’s more likely to get its trigger, and tutoring ninjas to your hand is arguably better than putting them on the battlefield. The activated ability helps enable further ninjutsu shenanigans.

#19. Dreamscape Artist

Dreamscape Artist

The effect on Dreamscape Artist is unique to blue decks. It’s not quite a staple card, but it is a great blue ramp option for a color that doesn’t often get ramp effects.

#18. Personal Tutor

Personal Tutor

Personal Tutor is a strictly worse version of another effect on this list, but it still deserves mention as a “backup” copy. It works well in decks that can draw extra cards or want to set up the top card of their library.

But the price tag is a bit hefty and there are better options.

#17. Micromancer

Micromancer

Micromancer didn't take off the way I wanted it to, but I'm still fond of this card. Only finding 1-mana spells might sounds too restrictive, but it can find cantrips like Ponder and Brainstorm, interaction like Pongify and Rapid Hybridization, and even another cheap 1-mana tutor to give you more options down the line.

#16. Jace, Architect of Thought

Jace, Architect of Thought

The tutor effect on Jace, Architect of Thought is locked behind a -8 loyalty ability, so it’s not happening often. Still, its -2 acts as a tiny Fact or Fiction effect, and the +1 makes your opponents’ creatures worse in combat.

Altogether this is a fine planeswalker with a looming ultimate that threatens to take everyone’s best card from their decks, including your own.

#15. Reshape

Reshape

The farther up the rankings you go the more artifact tutors you’ll see. They still require a specific type of deck or key cards to work, but most decks run artifacts worth finding.

Reshape isn’t the most efficient version since it requires a sacrifice as an extra cost, but it finds cheap artifacts well enough.

#14. Trophy Mage

Trophy Mage

The second artifact mage is Trophy Mage, which cares about artifacts with a mana value of 3. You’ll see this one used to find combo pieces like Blasting Station or one of the powerful protection swords like Sword of Feast and Famine.

#13. Muddle the Mixture

Muddle the Mixture

Transmute is an ability that lets you discard your card to search for something with equal mana value. With Muddle the Mixture you can either hold it up as an inefficient Dispel, or transmute it away at sorcery speed to find your 2-mana card of choice. Might I suggest Cyclonic Rift?

#12. Fabricate

Fabricate

Fabricate is a simple tutor that finds any artifact and puts it into your hand. No restrictions or extra costs, just an easy clean search effect.

#11. Tezzeret, Artifice Master

Tezzeret, Artifice Master

Tezzeret, Artifice Master’s repeatable tutor effect is undeniably powerful, but it isn’t the real reason to play this planeswalker. Making Thopters and drawing cards are the real merits to playing Tezzeret, with the last ability being a game-ending reward if you manage to get there.

#10. Tribute Mage

Tribute Mage

Tribute Mage is all about mana value 2, which includes mana rocks like Signets and Talismans, but also a few staple cards like Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots. The cheaper the artifacts these Mages get, the better they are.

#9. Trinket Mage

Trinket Mage

Rounding out the bunch we have Trinket Mage, which finds artifacts with mana value 0 or 1. Sol Ring is the card you find most often, but there’s a bevy of powerful artifacts this can search for including Skullclamp, Sensei's Divining Top, and Mana Vault.

#8. Tezzeret the Seeker

Tezzeret the Seeker

Tezzeret the Seeker’s tutor effect is flexible depending on what you’re looking for. As a -X ability you can adjust the mana value to search for, but you’re limited by the number of loyalty counters on Tezzeret.

If you want to search for more expensive cards you’ll need to +1 Tezzeret and keep it around for another activation.

#7. Arcum Dagsson

Arcum Dagsson

If turning random Servo and Construct tokens into game-winning artifacts sounds interesting to you, Arcum Dagsson is the card you’re looking for. The effect works at instant speed and can even target an opponent’s creature if you’re confident they won’t find something more powerful in their deck.

#6. Tolaria West

Tolaria West

Tolaria West is another transmute card, this time with a mana value of 0. Transmuting it lets you find any 0-mana card in your deck, which makes it a great tool for finding specific utility lands.

#5. Merchant Scroll

Merchant Scroll

Merchant Scroll is a bit too narrow to make it higher on this list. It’s a cheap tutor effect for a specific type of card, but it’s a type of card that blue decks love to cast.

#4. Solve the Equation

Solve the Equation

Solve the Equation is the spellslinger’s version of Fabricate. If you need a specific instant or sorcery right away and you have 3 mana to spare, this tutor finds it for you.

#3. Whir of Invention

Whir of Invention

Whir of Invention often works like an instant-speed Fabricate that puts the artifact you find onto the battlefield. It takes a bit more mana, or at least some help from your other artifacts thanks to improvise, but you should never underestimate the power of an instant-speed tutor.

The looming threat of this suspended card might draw the hostility of your opponents, though.

#2. Spellseeker

Spellseeker

Tutors tied to creatures with ETB effects are always much more powerful than they might seem. Spellseeker finds a cheap spell from your library but sticks around as a creature that can be flickered, bounced, recurred from the graveyard, copied, and so on, so you can reuse the ability multiple times.

#1. Mystical Tutor

Mystical Tutor

The king of blue tutors is Mystical Tutor. It’s limited to finding instants and sorceries but does so at instant speed for just 1 mana, and sets your library up with exactly the card you need to draw for whatever your situation might be.

Feeling Blue?

Spellseeker (Battlebond) - Illustration by Igor Kieryluk

Spellseeker (Battlebond) | Illustration by Igor Kieryluk

And with that we come to a close on the best mono-blue tutors in Magic. Whether you’re searching for typal creatures, instants and sorceries, or artifacts, blue provides plenty of options for tutoring.

Let me know if I missed your favorite blue tutor, and tell us how you put your tutors to good use in the comments. As always, make sure to follow Draftsim on Discord and Twitter.

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6 Comments

  • some random cedh player January 6, 2023 11:57 am

    take a look at the cedh scene again. intuition should be #1 or at least #3. If you are an experienced player it will win you the game faster than any other tutor listed here

    • Dan Troha January 6, 2023 12:53 pm

      Thanks for the feedback — FYI, this is not a cEDH-only focused article.

  • Eric April 17, 2025 2:25 pm

    I’m very surprised Library of Lat-Nam isn’t mentioned at all.
    [4U]
    Sorcery
    Target opponent chooses, you either draw 3 cards next Upkeep or search your Library for a card into hand and shuffle.

    If your playing heavy blue decks that can run this Alliance card it gives your opponent no good options.

    • Timothy Zaccagnino
      Timothy Zaccagnino April 17, 2025 11:20 pm

      Totally personal opinion, but Library doesn’t strike me as all that good.
      Opponents get to decide what happens here, and they’re pretty much always going to let you draw 3 cards. That sounds good, but if that’s all it’ll ever do, you could just play a better draw-3 (Jace’s Ingenuity would be a basic example that does the same thing as an instant).

      That said, there’s some potential for politics, so I won’t count it out completely!

  • Lucas May 7, 2025 9:36 am

    Isn’t Tinker a better option than Reshape? For a lower mana cost you can get to play pretty much any artifact…

    • Timothy Zaccagnino
      Timothy Zaccagnino May 7, 2025 2:27 pm

      Hey Lucas!
      I mentioned up top that I wasn’t including cards banned in EDH on the list, but you’re absolutely right that Tinker probably becomes #1 or #2 on the list easily.

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