All 21 Chandra Planeswalker Cards in Magic Ranked

Chandra, Awakened Inferno | Illustration by Chris Rahn

Few characters in Magic are as iconic as Chandra Nalaar. The hot-blooded pyromancer was one of the first planeswalkers to receive a planeswalker card in Lowryn, and she has remained a staple since, in large part because of her central role in the Gatewatch and the trials of Zendikar.

With nearly two decades of cards under her belt, Chandra is one of the most familiar planeswalkers players can lean upon in times of need. But which of these planeswalkers are actually worth a slot in your deck?

What Are Chandra Planeswalkers in MTG?

Chandra, Pyromaster | Illustration by Winona Nelson

Chandra planeswalkers depict the character Chandra Nalaar in planeswalker form, with one transforming card which shows her as a legendary creature pre-sparking. Chandra planeswalkers are always mono-red, and have the “Chandra” planeswalker subtype. As a core planeswalker who has received cards since Lowryn, Chandra planeswalkers have a range of abilities and costs, but they generally center around dealing damage, creating tokens (often elementals), producing mana, and drawing cards, either through rummaging/looting or impulse draws.

#21. Chandra, Bold Pyromancer

Chandra, Bold Pyromancer, like all other Planeswalker deck planeswalkers, is just unplayable. These were designed in the vein of Starter Deck rares—that is, heavily nerfed. This planeswalker’s abilities are too basic and low-impact to be worth running at 6 mana.

#20. Chandra, Flame’s Fury

The problem with Planeswalker Deck Chandras (and PD planeswalkers in general) is how vanilla they are: Small amounts of damage get locked behind high mana costs. Chandra, Flame's Fury’s Shock is basically irrelevant by the time it comes down, and there are much better, cheaper Chandras that deal 4 damage to an opposing creature.

#19. Chandra, Pyrogenius

Another Planeswalker deck card, another dud with Chandra, Pyrogenius. These abilities would make for a mediocre 4-mana planeswalker, let alone a 6-drop.

#18. Chandra, Flame’s Catalyst

Chandra, Flame's Catalyst is the only Planeswalk Deck Chandra that might have potential; in Commander, the uptick deals a collective 9 damage, which is easily exploited by commanders like Solphim, Mayhem Dominus. But by the time you cast this, your opponents likely have the board presence to kill it.

#17. Chandra Ablaze

Chandra Ablaze’s art has stood the test of time, but its textbox hasn’t endured so kindly. Turning random red cards into removal and drawing cards is fine and all, but 6 mana needs to do more in the 2020s. At least it has a high enough loyalty count to ultimate very soon after casting.

#16. Chandra Nalaar

Chandra Nalaar is one of the Lowryn Five, the original planeswalkers that debuted the card type. Sadly, power creep hasn’t been kind, and this glorified removal spell doesn’t do nearly enough for its mana cost. Compare it with modern planeswalkers like Elspeth, Storm Slayer and Nissa, Ascended Animist to observe power creep in action.

#15. Chandra, the Firebrand

Copying instants and sorceries is a neat ability, but Chandra, the Firebrand either requires a ton of mana to cast it and a spell worth copying or the luck to see it survive a turn cycle. Either way you cut it, there are more impressive copy effects in Magic.

#14. Chandra, Flameshaper

Chandra, Flameshaper has a very notable +2 ability: Mana and card draw is pretty significant. It even lets you play another card the turn you cast this, making it feel like a 4-mana planeswalker. Except it isn’t; as juicy as the uptick abilities are, 7 mana is a lot outside of Limited.

#13. Chandra, Novice Pyromancer

Chandra, Novice Pyromancer is actually decent in formats like a Peasant Cube. The +1 ability rarely matters, but a double Shock plus a ritual sets up strong plays and it provides a payoff for a potential proliferate theme, should that be your desire.

#12. Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh / Chandra, Roaring Flame

Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh has an incredibly unique and interesting design, but it’s a little slow. Zapping your opponent three times is harder than it sounds, and Chandra, Roaring Flame is only okay after all that work. The most significant part of this card is its status as a legendary creature, which lets it lead Oops All Chandras decks in Commander.

#11. Chandra, Pyromaster

Chandra, Pyromaster has potential as a card draw engine. Impulse drawing each turn has meaningful synergy in red, and making creatures unable to block can be a finisher in the right circumstances. It also has some excellent (and expensive) promotional versions from San Diego Comic Con.

#10. Chandra, Acolyte of Flame

Chandra, Acolyte of Flame works best as a support piece in superfriends or sacrifice decks since both 0 abilities are powerful synergy effects. Spreading loyalty counters across red planeswalkers gets you to the precious ultimate faster, but creating two tokens as sacrifice fodder for cards like Ashnod's Altar and Skullclamp might be what this planeswalker does best. A 3-mana engine that pumps out two pieces of sacrifice fodder a turn is an excellent rate.

#9. Chandra, Legacy of Fire

Chandra, Legacy of Fire was printed specifically to give superfriends decks in EDH a faster win condition than waiting seven turns to ultimate multiple planeswalkers, and three more to actually leverage those ultimates into a win. The burst of card advantage or mana as the situation demands gives you the resources necessary to advance your game plan. It’s the narrowest Chandra, but it excels in its tiny niche.

#8. Chandra, Flamecaller

Chandra, Flamecaller works best in decks that make good use of the 3/1 tokens it summons, so generally aggressive decks. It applies lots of pressure with cards like Purphoros, God of the Forge and Enduring Courage. If you don’t care about the tokens, don’t run it.

#7. Chandra, Heart of Fire

Chandra, Heart of Fire is interesting specifically because of its synergy potential on the +1 ability. Red increasingly cares about discarding cards and casting spells from exile, making this a potent draw engine with cards like Inti, Seneschal of the Sun and Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald.

#6. Chandra, Fire Artisan

Few planeswalkers actively punish opponents for pressuring them, which makes Chandra, Fire Artisan pretty unique: A draw engine that deals damage on the way out. If you ever reach the ultimate, you get a great stab at finishing the game with the burst of damage and card draw.

#5. Chandra, Spark Hunter

Chandra, Spark Hunter comes with a 3/2 vehicle most of the time, which means you get a lasting board impact from it. The uptick’s pretty sweet: Converting random artifact tokens like Blood and Treasure into cards is a great value engine, and the ultimate is a pretty achievable win condition. It’s far from mediocre, even if it isn’t the pinnacle of Chandra design.

#4. Chandra, Dressed to Kill

Chandra, Dressed to Kill is one of the more aggressive Chandras. Its mana production drops finishers or 1-drops while pressuring your opponents, and the impulse draw works best with a critical mass of cheap red spells. It basically has to be run in Red Deck Wins, but it works great in the archetype as a powerful engine.

#3. Chandra, Hope’s Beacon

Many 6-mana Chandras fail to justify their cost, but Chandra, Hope's Beacon is worth every mana. The static ability does much of the work, providing a free way to copy a spell. You can often trigger it right away since the first ability produces mana, so casting this equates to more than 6 mana value‘s worth of spells being cast. It is narrow since it requires a spellslinger shell, but that represents a wide enough range of decks to overlook it.

#2. Chandra, Awakened Inferno

Chandra, Awakened Inferno works best in and against control decks: It’s a slow win condition that takes advantage of the time control decks earn, but also punishes control decks because it can’t be countered and they often don’t pressure the planewalker well enough.

#1. Chandra, Torch of Defiance

Planeswalkers with four abilities are always powerful (though it’s less remarkable now that planeswalkers with static abilities are a thing) because you get many options. This Chandra offers card draw and mana—Magic’s two most important resources—on top of removal and a game-ending ultimate. Chandra, Torch of Defiance maximizes your turn’s potential; while you control it, it’s hard to have a bad turn.

Chandra Payoffs

Several cards directly pay off Chandra planeswalkers. First and least significant are cards like Chandra's Firemaw and Chandra's Outburst printed in Planeswalker Decks that tutor for the specific planeswalker they were printed with. Like the planeswalkers they find, these spells are overcosted and underwhelming.

Chandra's Embercat and Chandra's Triumph are reasonable spells that become stronger when Chandra enters the picture. Easily the best Chandra payoff, however, is Chandra's Regulator, which lets you copy Chandra’s loyalty abilities. Notably, it doesn’t add any loyalty to the planeswalker whose ability you copy, but it’s often a worthwhile investment, assuming you’re playing a good Chandra.

In addition to these Chandra-specific payoffs, Chandra works well with generic planeswalker payoffs like ability copiers, counter doublers, and proliferate effects.

Who Is Chandra Nalaar?

Chandra Nalaar is a planeswalker from Avishkar whose spark ignited as a young girl when the Consul was set to execute her for having magic. Her first planeswalk brought her to the plane of Regatha, where she was taken in by the monks of Keral Keep and studied pyromancy under the tutelage of Jaya Ballard. Chandra became a master pyromancer, a skilled planeswalker known for being impulsive and passionate.

In her adulthood, Chandra Nalaar stole a scroll that brought her into direct conflict with Jace Beleren, dispatched by the Infinite Consortium to reclaim the scroll. After this fight, she met Gideon Jura and was drawn into the politics of Regatha for a short time; after her journey with Gidoen ended, Chandra set out in search of Zendikar, eventually being part of the cause of the Eldrazi awakening. She would later return to Zendikar to help protect the plane and be a founding member of the Gatewatch, who would go on to battle Nicol Bolas in War of the Spark and work to end the threat of New Phyrexia.

Is Chandra Dead? Desparked?

Neither! Chandra is currently alive and well, with her spark intact. She and Nissa (who has lost her spark) are traveling through the Omenpaths, attempting to find a path back to Nissa’s home plane of Zendikar.

What Other Chandra Cards Are There?

• Chandra's Defeat – a powerful sideboard card in red-dominated metas.
• Chandra's Embercat
• Chandra's Firemaw
• Chandra's Flame Wave
• Chandra's Fury
• Chandra's Ignition – a nasty damage-based board wipe that easily becomes a win condition with massive creatures or Stuffy Doll effects.
• Chandra's Incinerator
• Chandra's Magmutt
• Chandra's Outburst
• Chandra's Outrage
• Chandra's Phoenix
• Chandra's Pyreling
• Chandra's Pyrohelix
• Chandra's Regulator
• Chandra's Revolution
• Chandra's Spitfire
• Chandra's Triumph
• Oath of Chandra

Wrap Up

Chandra, Dressed to Kill | Illustration by Viktor Titov

Chandra is an iconic Magic character (and one of my favorites) and has the history to match, with no shortage of cards. While not every Chandra is a banger—in fact, most see next to no play—some of the most powerful planeswalkers in the game depict the master pyromancer.

What’s your favorite Chandra card? Did you know she had this many planeswalker cards? Let me know in the comments below or on the Draftsim Discord!

Stay safe, and thanks for reading!