Magic’s lore turned 30 not too long ago, and the last three decades gave us quite a few memorable villains. These bad guys range from understandable and ultimately redeemable to pure evil, which can help keep Magic’s story feeling fresh. It might get a little exhausting if every villain was an over-the-top monster like Yawgmoth.
Though some of these villains have been long-dead in Magic’s history, that doesn’t mean they won’t show up again in the game at some point. Products like Modern Horizons and Commander precons have included characters from Magic’s past before. The Brothers’ War also proved that Magic is up for doing sets that take place in the past, opening the door for any of these characters to potentially return at some point.
The Phyrexians have done pretty terrible things, and probably were the most multiversal-threatening menace. But in terms of build-up and story, from my personal standpoint, that’s Nicol Bolas.
MTG had a golden age of storytelling between 2010-2020, with the whole Gatewatch arc and the rise of Nicol Bolas. This is also when WotC cared about the story of the sets with nice set-up videos, and the two-block structure helped a lot, too. Blocks like Shadows over Innistrad, Kaladesh, and Amonkhet had pretty interesting stories, with Bolas as the looming menace and the development of the Gatewatch as heroes.
It’s also important to note that Nicol Bolas isn’t dead or defeated, so it’s totally possible that Bolas will be a relevant villain again.
(Dis)honorable Mention: Urza
Anyone who has played against an Urza, Lord High Artificer deck probably doesn’t need too much convincing to see Urza as a villain, but it’s worth mentioning why he is also somewhat villainous in Magic’s story.
While Urza is depicted as the lesser of two evils during The Brothers’ War, he is still responsible for continuing to escalate the conflict between himself and Mishra. Urza ended the war with the Golgothian Sylex, killing massive numbers of people, sinking the entire continent of Argoth, and causing Dominaria’s ice age.
Urza would later prove that he was mostly interested in power when he eventually traveled to Phyrexia. He wept at its “beauty” and when Yawgmoth asked what his wish was, Urza said it was to study artifice with the god of Phyrexia. For all Urza’s claims that everything he did was to fight Phyrexia, he proved more interested in understanding its power than actually stopping it.
Urza would eventually die when Karn activated the Legacy Weapon during the events of Apocalypse.
Honorable Mention: Universe Beyond Villians
With the advent of Universes Beyond, Magic has introduced many more villains into the game. Even outside the literal villain creature type, these sets are flooded with evil-doers and alternate IP antagonists. But they’re not canonical to Magic’s story, so we’ll leave it at a quick mention and move on.
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV is a villain from Magic’s Dissension set. Augustin IV sought to use the breaking of the Guildpact as an opportunity to seize control of Ravnica and reshape it into an authoritarian state under his control.
While Augustin IV isn’t one of Magic’s most exciting villains, he is the perfect illustration of how ideologies from the color pie that seem benevolent can become problematic when combined. White mana’s focus on creating peace and blue’s endless search for self-improvement aren’t necessarily bad goals. However, Augustin IV’s idea of improving Ravnica would have meant taking away individual rights, and he aimed to create peace through the strict subjugation of its citizens.
Villains like Augustin IV help keep Magic’s story a bit more complex. Instead of aligning every villain with a dedicated “bad” color, Magic gives us villain cards that share color alignments with some of our heroes to show how their ideals can be corrupted.
#18. Ertai
Ertai was originally introduced to Magic’s story alongside the Weatherlight MTG set in the story Fortune Favors the Bold by Michael G. Ryan. Originally, he was a young wizard who helped the Weatherlight crew rescue Sisay from Rath, as depicted in the card Ertai, Wizard Adept from Exodus. However, the Weatherlight crew left him behind, where he was captured by Phyrexians. Ertai was eventually compleated and turned into Ertai, the Corrupted. He blamed the Weatherlight crew for his fate and held a grudge against them, especially Gerrard Capashen.
Perhaps one of Ertai’s most notable contributions as a villain was turning the goblin Squee immortal. While that might not seem like a villainous act on its face, Ertai only did it so he could kill Squee repeatedly in an endless cycle of torture.
Though Squee managed to kill Ertai in an accidental explosion, Ertai would later return in Dominaria United when he was brought back to life by Sheoldred. Ertai continued his revenge on his old allies by compleating Gerrard’s descendant Aron Capashen and Squee’s goblin allies.
Ertai wasn’t given a definitive death scene, and it’s unclear if – as an original Phyrexian – he would have been shut down with the New Phyrexians at the end of March of the Machine.
#17. Heliod
Heliod, God of the Sun is an interesting case for a villain. He starts Theros’s story as the Sun God, the white embodiment of mana that we don’t consider a villain at first. But then, we learn that “the spear of Heliod can crush any point of the plane of Theros, including the Underworld,” so this guy wields a genocide dictator-like power which is kind of suspect.
Then, there’s Elspeth, Sun's Champion, a planeswalker emboldened with a mission. Xenagos, God of Revels, the main villain of the story, is a mortal that ascends to godhood via his followers’ beliefs. Elspeth then needs to find out how to kill a god, and she effectively kills Xenagos, committing Deicide with Godsend.
But Heliod knows that, as Xenagos ascended to godhood because of his followers, so can Elspeth. As the people of Theros rejoice with the end of the villain Xenagos, Heliod acts preemptively to maintain the status quo. “No more mortals shall become gods,” he thinks.
Heliod uses his sword, Godsend, to finish Elspeth, and our beloved white planeswalker dies, going to Theros’s Underworld. She later comes back as Elspeth, Sun's Nemesis, and Heliod confronts her again. The Spear of Heliod clashes with Elspeth’s Shadowspear, and Heliod loses because Elspeth has a lot of devotion on her side. He’s punished by Erebos in the Underworld, as depicted by Heliod's Punishment.
Volrath was a long-running antagonist during Magic’s Weatherlight Saga. He was originally called Vuel, and was raised alongside Gerrard Capashen. Vuel was eventually banished from his clan when he failed a rite of passage, and he came to resent Gerrard for saving his life during this trial.
Vuel would later return to his home with a group of raiders which resulted in the death of his father Sidar Kondo, further creating animosity between Vuel and Gerrard. Vuel would eventually be transported to the plane of Rath and turned into the Phyrexian Volrath, as shown in the card Volrath the Fallen from Nemesis.
Volrath would continue to trouble the Weatherlight crew, most notably by capturing their captain, Sisay. Volrath ultimately met his fate, not at the hands of Magic’s heroes, but those of his supposed Phyrexian allies. In-fighting over Volrath’s position as leader of Rath eventually led Ertai and another Phyrexian, Crovax, to team up and take Volrath down.
#15. Memnarch
Memnarch was originally a golem created by Karn to serve as the warden of Karn’s castle, Galdroon, on Argentum. Karn’s warden was born from the Mirari, a powerful artifact that helped Memnarch become more intelligent.
When Karn left Argentum to train Jeska, he left Memnarch in charge of the plane, which proved to be a major mistake. Memnarch renamed the plane Mirrodin, in honor of the Mirari which had given him life. He instructed the other golems created by Karn to help terraform Mirrodin into a plane that could sustain natural life and rewarded them for their service by destroying most of them.
Since Mirrodin had no natural life, Memnarch kidnapped creatures from other planes using devices called soul traps to populate the plane. He also began consuming large quantities of Blinkmoth fluids which further altered his mind and drove him towards a new goal: becoming a planeswalker.
Obsessed with gaining a spark, Memnarch turned Mirrodin into a surveillance state, searching endlessly from his Panopticon for a creature with a spark. This would eventually lead him to try and harvest Glissa Sunseeker’s spark, and brought him into conflict with the last of Karn’s remaining creations: Bosh, Iron Golem.
With help from the goblin Slobad, Glissa eventually defeated Memnarch, allowing Karn to return to the plane. Though Memnarch died during the events of Fifth Dawn, his impact on Mirrodin caused long-lasting changes to the plane. He created the myr and Memnites which remained after his death, and he populated the plane with organic life. Without Memnarch’s introduction of living beings, Mirrodin likely never could have become New Phyrexia.
#14. Xenagos
Xenagos was a satyr introduced in the original Theros block. Despite a violent childhood, which involved him killing another child and making repeated attempts to kill his mother, Xenagos grew up to be a somewhat normal satyr, even serving as host at many of their revelries. However, when Xenagos’ spark ignited, his visits to other Magic planes made him increasingly disillusioned with life on Theros.
Xenagos, the Reveler no longer found joy in the hedonistic lifestyle of satyrs, and no longer respected Theros’ gods upon learning that their powers had no significance in the wider multiverse. After discovering that the gods of Theros gain their power through followers, he begins a scheme to become a god himself.
Xenagos successfully gathered enough worshippers to turn him into Xenagos, God of Revels, though he would be quickly defeated by Elspeth. Since Xenagos died in Nyx, he did not go to Theros’ underworld and is presumed permanently dead. However, his discovery of how Theros’ gods gained their power was a significant contribution to the plane’s history.
Aside from being the block’s main antagonist, Xenagos was also the main antagonist of Journey into Nyx Game Day events where players would face off against the Defeat a God Challenge Deck. The deck piloted itself against players and featured a special Xenagos Ascended card that players had to defeat in order to win the game.
#13. Ob Nixilis
Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath was a human who spent over a thousand years in constant conflict on his home plane. He finally won his seemingly endless war by summoning demons to wipe out the entire plane, leaving him as the sole survivor. His planeswalker spark ignited following the slaughter, leading him to try and conquer other worlds.
His lust for power led him to Shandalar where he attempted to use The Chain Veil to empower himself. Instead, it cursed him with a new demonic form. Ob Nixilis would then travel to Zendikar where he hoped he could use the plane’s powerful mana to cure himself.
On Zendikar, Nahiri used a hedron to rob Ob Nixilis of his power and spark, leaving him trapped on the plane. For years, the demon attempted to trap other planeswalkers, eventually tricking Jace Beleren into removing the hedron from him.
With his power regained, Ob Nixilis confronted several planeswalkers during Battle for Zendikar, managing to overcome Nissa, Jace, and Gideon. Only when Chandra joined the other three original Gatewatch members were the planeswalkers able to drive Ob Nixilis off.
Ob Nixilis next popped up during War of the Sparkas a reluctant ally of his former enemies, desperate to free himself from Ravnica. He was quickly back to his villainous ways in his next appearance in Streets of New Capenna as Ob Nixilis, the Adversary, where he attempted to overthrow the plane’s five crime families and seize power for himself.
Following March of the Machine, Ob Nixilis was once again desparked and is currently stuck on New Capenna. With all five crime families now out to get him, he will be lucky to survive and regain his lost power.
Left to his own devices, this greedy blue-black-artifact planeswalker is an enemy to humans, animals, and aliens alike.
#11. Valgavoth
Valgavoth was a demon originally summoned to the plane that would come to be known as Duskmourn. The demon’s obvious malevolence caused his summoners to quickly reverse their mistake by binding Valgavoth to the house he had been summoned into.
Years later, Valgavoth would manipulate a young girl named Marina Vendrell into granting him power. Valgavoth used his newfound power to expand the walls of the house he was bound to until it encompassed the entire plane, also gaining his massive form as seen in Valgavoth, Terror Eater. Valgavoth uses his control of the House to terrorize Duskmourn’s inhabitants. He is also powerful enough to open doors to other planes, luring in unsuspecting victims from across the multiverse.
Valgavoth was wounded during the events of Duskmourn by the planeswalker Kaito Shizuki, but he managed to survive. This is likely establishing Valgavoth as a major threat in a future story. It’s nice to see Magic creating another multiversal threats after so many years dedicated to Nicol Bolas and the Phyrexians.
#10. Mishra
In many ways, Mishra was the opposite of his brother Urza. Mishra was more connected to the people around him, and showed interest in the natural world as well as artifice, according to Mishra, Excavation Prodigy’s flavor text.
Despite being different from Urza in many ways, Mishra like his brother would ultimately become a warmonger and cause much death and destruction in Dominaria throughout The Brothers’ War. Mishra’s bloody takeover of his brother’s kingdom would even earn him the label “The Butcher of Kroog.”
As Mishra’s health began to fail, he would turn to the followers of the Phyrexian Gix to replace his body with mechanical parts. Mishra was eventually compleated as shown in Mishra, Claimed by Gix. This means Mishra is not only significant for leading one half of The Brothers’ War, but also for making Urza aware of Phyrexia’s existence, and fueling Urza’s vengeance against them.
Though Mishra seemingly died at the end of the war, Urza did see his brother again when he visited Phyrexia in Apocalypse. Whether Mishra was truly in Phyrexia or Urza was simply imagining it was left up to interpretation, though since Old Phyrexia has been destroyed according to Magic’s official site, Mishra is likely gone either way.
#9. Geyadrone Dihada
Geyadrone Dihada was one of Magic’s earliest villains, introduced alongside the Legends MTG set. Despite being such an old part of Magic’s story, she didn’t get her first card until Modern Horizons 2. She would reappear shortly after this in the events of Dominaria United and get her second card, Dihada, Binder of Wills.
Dihada was a shapeshifting demon who used her magic to bend others to her will. She corrupted and controlled Dakkon Blackblade until a young man named Carth helped free him from her control.
In Dihada’s more recent appearance, she used the confusion from the Phyrexian invasion of Dominaria to take over the Tolarian Academy. She also took over the island of Corondor, the site of an ancient war, hoping to lure Jared Carthalion to confront her. As Carth’s descendent, Dihada is hoping to use Jared to regain control of Dakkon.
Geyadrone Dihada hasn’t popped back up in the years since Dominaria United, but it’s safe to assume she is still alive and likely still scheming. Whether she pops back up soon, or we have to wait another 26 years between appearances is yet to be seen.
#8. New Phyrexian Praetors
Once Mirrodin was turned into New Phyrexia, the plane was ruled over by five Phyrexian Praetors, each aligned to a different color of mana.
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite was the white-aligned praetor who sought to unite all Phyrexians under a religion worshipping Karn, who she redubbed the Father of Machines. Elesh Norn’s mission for unification under her religion was not a peaceful one and the Machine Orthodoxy was more than happy to torture other beings to follow their teachings.
Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur, the plane’s blue-aligned praetor, instructed his followers on his idea of the “Great Synthesis”, a philosophy on how to improve New Phyrexia which conflicted with the teachings of the Machine Orthodoxy. Jin-Gitaxias sought to redesign New Phyrexia in his image through constant progress.
Sheoldred, Whispering One was new Phyrexia’s black-aligned praetor and one of the Seven Steel Thanes. Sheoldred used her powers of manipulation to gain control of the Thanes, and seeks to enslave all other beings, a goal that caused conflict between her and Elesh Norn.
Though the red-aligned praetor Urabrask the Hidden also supported New Phyrexia’s compleation of other living beings, he also believed in the idea of individualism. This made him slightly more sympathetic to the Mirran resistance, and his constant insubordination led him to align with Magic’s heroes on multiple occasions.
Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger took the concept of “survival of the fittest” very literally and sought to become the apex predator of New Phyrexia. His behavior was far more animalistic than the other praetors.
Following their successful invasion of Dominaria in Dominaria United, the New Phyrexian praetors attempted to conquer the multiverse. They would be much higher on this list if their defeat in March of the Machine hadn’t been a rushed and disappointing conclusion to this story arc, making the praetors look somewhat weak and inefficient. This is especially true given how most of them died quickly and far more easily than one would assume given how much they were built up.
Despite the underwhelming conclusion to their story, the Phyrexian praetors were still some of the coolest designed villains in Magic, and the build-up before March of the Machine was still exciting.
#7. Nahiri
Nahiri, the Lithomancer is Magic’s embodiment of the phrase “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.” Nahiri appointed herself the defender of her home plane Zendikar, which has led her to feats of heroism like sealing the Eldrazi titans. However, her hot temper has often caused her to go overboard when either trying to defend her plane or avenge it.
When the Eldrazi returned to Zendikar, Nahiri tried to summon her old ally Sorin to help her. When he didn’t show up, she traveled to Innistrad to confront him. Unsatisfied with his explanation that the Helvault absorbed her message, Nahiri attacked Sorin and found herself sealed in the stone prison.
Nahiri spent a thousand years in the Helvault, and was understandably pretty pissed when she eventually got out. However, instead of simply confronting Sorin, she took her revenge way too far and attempted to destroy Innistrad by summoning the Eldrazi titan Emrakul. This earned her the moniker Nahiri, the Harbinger.
Nahiri and Sorin would eventually hash things out during War of the Spark, and eventually team up to take on Nicol Bolas’ forces. During Zendikar Rising, Nahiri attempted to stop the Roil on Zendikar which she felt responsible for. Again, Nahiri’s goal was to protect her home plane, but it quickly became apparent that if she succeeded it would mean killing much of the natural life on Zendikar. Nahiri was eventually stopped by Nissa and Jace.
In an uncharacteristic move, Nahiri put her grudge against Jace aside to help the Gatewatch fight the impending Phyrexian invasion during Phyrexia: All Will Be One. This led to a more unwilling villainous turn from Nahiri when she was compleated and turned into Nahiri, the Unforgiving.
Nahiri was eventually cured but lost her spark in the process. Seeing planeswalkers as the cause of her and Zendikar’s troubles, she decided to stop any planeswalkers from entering her home plane. This will likely bring her into conflict with any major characters that visit the plane in future Zendikar sets.
#6. Liliana Vess
Liliana Vess is another prominent planeswalker who has spent time as both hero and villain, though most of her heroic acts have been fueled by a sense of self-preservation. Liliana has spent much of her time in Magic’s story trying to free herself from a Demonic Pact that granted her eternal youth and secured her pre-Mending power, and she has often acted selfishly or outright destructively in pursuit of this goal.
During her journey to free herself, Liliana’s reckless and selfish acts included cursing Garruk Wildspeaker, destroying Innistrad’s Helvault and freeing the demons trapped inside, killing an innocent angel, and betraying her friends and allies numerous times for her own gain. Liliana was also an unwilling villain during War of the Spark when her demonic contract was revealed to default to Nicol Bolas’ control after the defeat of the four demons who had signed it.
Liliana finally made a genuine face turn after Gideon sacrificed himself to save her at the end of War of the Spark. Taking up the alias Professor Onyx, Liliana now resides on Arcavios and teaches at Strixhaven. After a short stint trying to find a way to resurrect Gideon, she has decided to instead follow his example by being a hero.
#5. The Theorist
The Theorist is the final version of Jace Beleren, a character that’s become almost synonymous with MTG lore. In the last couple of years of MTG story, Jace became obsessed with understanding the Multiverse, with the intent of creating a perfect Multiverse to replace the existing one. Jace’s Echoverse, if you will.
Many of the events in the Omenpaths arc, including Outlaws of Thunder Junction, Aetherdrift, and Tarkir: Dragonstorm told the story of Jace going from plane to plane with Loot, a creature with a unique understanding of the current multiverse no one else has. Jace tried a bold move at the end of Tarkir: Dragonstorm, but it backfired, and he was fragmented. Jace became The Theorist, “an amalgamation of our worst traits magnified, without any of the empathy that made us a leader.” Further quoting the original story:
“No Phyrexians. No Eldrazi. No Bolas. The Echoverse—a term the Theorist stubbornly refuses to use—contains a reproduction of every plane from the Multiverse, except for the components we deemed too great an evil.”
The Eldrazi are one of Magic’s most mysterious creature types. They originate in The Blind Eternities, the space between planes, and consume mana to stay alive. They travel between planes, devouring each world’s energy before moving on to the next.
Emrakul is one of the three main Eldrazi titans. The planeswalkers Ugin, Nahiri, and Sorin trapped the three giant Eldrazi titans on the plane of Zendikar, a plane that could hold them, using a Hedron network of Nahiri’s design. Nahiri would later regret that, as the unleashing of the giant Eldrazi titans almost destroyed her entire native plane.
After helping with the destruction of Zendikar in the events of Rise of Eldrazi, Emrakul was summoned to the plane of Innistrad by Nahiri, as we can see in cards like Coax from the Blind Eternities. She corrupted the plane of Innistrad by herself, acting like a Cthulhu of sorts, and ended up imprisoned in Innistrad’s moon by the planeswalkers Tamiyo and Liliana.
Later, in the events of Reality Fracture, Emrakul was freed from her prison to consume the Echoverse, Jace’s parallel Multiverse. She’s now loose, and we don’t know what else she’s going to devour.
#2. Nicol Bolas
Nicol Bolas has been a part of Magic’s story since 2003 and has spent most of his years plotting ways to gain more power. He is a great villain to hate since he doesn’t have any redeemable qualities, but this also means he lacks the depth of someone like Liliana or Nahiri.
The definitive Nicol Bolas story is Hour of Devastation, when Nicol Bolas conquered the plane of Amonkhet and became Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh. This storyline brought Nicol Bolas into direct conflict with the Gatewatch, who he trounced embarrassingly. This was a great way to set him up as a major threat and build up excitement for War of the Spark.
Bolas’ plan to trap planeswalkers on Ravnica and absorb their sparks was an excellent setup for a final confrontation. If only the tie-in novels hadn’t been such a disappointment, it would have been the perfect conclusion to Nicol Bolas’ reign of terror over Magic’s story.
Bolas was trapped in the Meditation Realm with no spark following the events of War of the Spark, with Ugin watching to make sure he didn’t escape. Unfortunately, Jace’s meddling interfered with his imprisonment and Bolas is currently free.
#1. Yawgmoth
With Phyrexians new and old being such a large presence in Magic’s story, it’s hard not to put their creator at the top of the list. Yawgmoth, Thran Physician started life as a human in the Thran empire. This black cleric had an insatiable lust for both knowledge and power, which eventually led him to create the first Phyrexians through experiments on living beings.
When Yawgmoth’s ally, Rebbec, realized the depths of his depravity, she sealed him on the plane of Phyrexia, hoping to keep him away from Dominaria for good. During this time, Yawgmoth focused on further altering the inhabitants of Phyrexia and sending them to conquer other planes. Through unknown means, he also ascended to a twisted form of godhood, becoming the horrifying creature depicted in Yawgmoth's Vile Offering.
Yawgmoth and his followers would eventually find their way back to Dominaria, posing a threat to its inhabitants throughout the times of The Brothers’ War and later the Weatherlight Saga. Even after Yawgmoth and Phyrexia were destroyed by the Legacy Weapon, his legacy lived on through the New Phyrexians.
Magic’s story is in an interesting place at the moment, with formerly defeated villains like Nicol Bolas and Emrakul now free, as well as lingering threats like Geyadrone Dihada, Ob Nixilis, and Valgavoth all in the background. I’m excited to see where things go from here, and if we get a brand-new villain or the return of an old one.
Who is your favorite Magic villain? Are there any you think would work for Magic’s next big bad? Let me know in the comments, or on Draftsim’s Discord. And check out The Daily Upkeep newsletter to stay up to date on all the latest MTG news.
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Sean Migalla has been playing Magic consistently for the past 6 years. His favorite aspect of the game is building new decks, which makes Draft and Sealed two of his favorite formats. He also enjoys playing competitive constructed formats on MTG Arena like Standard and Historic, as well as a casual game of Commander.
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