The 41 Best Sagas in Magic Ranked

Last updated on October 11, 2025

Reflection of Kiki-Jiki | Illustration by Joseph Meehan

Sagas are a relatively new card type, introduced back in 2018's Dominaria. They’ve quickly become a great addition to the game and have created a lot of fun interactions. Some of these cards, like Urza's Saga, are also very strong pieces for competitive decks.

Sagas are very cool from a flavor standpoint. Instead of representing a single event or action, they tell a story through each chapter of their effects. For example, There and Back Again tells the story of The Hobbit. The first chapter represents Bilbo getting the Ring and being able to sneak past things. The Mountain you find represents The Lonely Mountain, and when the Smaug token you create dies, you get a bunch of Treasure to show how the dragon’s hoard was up for grabs after it was killed. This type of mechanical storytelling is a great way for players to learn about story events or a plane’s history.

The sagas here are the best mostly from a mechanical standpoint. While this list is good for deck building advice, I’d also recommend just scrolling through a gallery of the game’s sagas when you have a chance. They’re fun cards to try and decipher the game’s lore with by studying the art and the effects to see what you think each chapter means.

What Are Sagas in MTG?

Likeness of the Seeker | Illustration by Lindsey Look

Sagas are enchantments that progress through a certain number of chapters. After your draw step each turn, you add a lore counter and the effect corresponding to the number of lore counters triggers. Sagas are immediately sacrificed after their last chapter ability resolves.

Honorary Mention: Greatest Show in the Multiverse

Greatest Show in the Multiverse is a very good saga, but unfortunately you can only play it if you’re playing with Unfinity or your playgroup is cool with breaking a few different rules. That said, it can be a lot of fun going through your collection and looking for cards by the same artist. It’s a good way to get to know some of the regular contributors to Magic and their unique styles.

#41. Terra, Magical Adept / Esper Terra

Terra, Magical Adept is an okay card that transforms into the extremely powerful Esper Terra. Creating a load of enchantment copies adds tons of value to the battlefield—but the fun really starts if you find a way to make a nonlegendary copy of Esper Terra.

#40. Fall of the Thran

Fall of the Thran isn’t an “every deck” kind of card, but it can be helpful in certain decks. It can give you a nice advantage in decks that are built to play lands from the graveyard. It lets you recover more quickly than your opponents from this saga’s land destruction and pull ahead in the game. Of course, some of your opponents might not be too thrilled about you playing mass land destruction, so this one might necessitate a Rule 0 conversation.

#39. Azusa’s Many Journeys / Likeness of the Seeker

Azusa's Many Journeys can be a good way to ramp early on. Its triggered ability on Likeness of the Seeker can also give you a good bit of extra mana. It also works well with combat tricks since it untaps your lands before damage.

#38. The Eldest Reborn

The Eldest Reborn is a good but slow game piece for Commander since it affects all your opponents as opposed to just one. Between sacrifices and discards, you’ll be filling your opponents’ graveyards with more options for chapter 3.

#37. Ballad of the Black Flag

Ballad of the Black Flag does well if you like consistent self-mill, and the substantial cost reduction more than pays for itself in two uses.

#36. Vault 75: Middle School

I evaluate Vault 75: Middle School as a one-sided board wipe since you choose the creatures in your deck and when to start chapter 1, and parts two and three are meaty gravy.

#35. The Creation of Avacyn

The ability to tutor up any card is always valuable. Though The Creation of Avacyn takes a few turns to pull it off, it's a decent rate and sometimes your opponent simply won't have an answer in time.

#34. The Hunger Tide Rises

Make some buggers, then treat them like Eldrazi scions to turn several tokens into a reanimated or tutored big creature or combo piece. The Hunger Tide Rises requires dedication but it's a good card.

#33. Jecht, Reluctant Guardian / Braska’s Final Aeon

Flipping Jecht, Reluctant Guardian takes work, but Braska's Final Aeon is well worth the effort. It has some of the most effective disruptive chapters in the game, not to mention that it applies plenty of pressure with its massive body.

#32. Korvold and the Noble Thief

Korvold and the Noble Thief’s third ability can be a good way to both gain some resources for yourself while denying your opponent of them. The Treasure this card creates can help you cast cards that aren’t in your color identity that you get off your opponent’s deck.

#31. Summon: Knights of Round

Summon: Knights of Round takes over games. It generates an obscene board state over four turns, and indestructible makes it hard to remove. Once you reach the final chapter, you ought to win the game either straight away via the anthem or because your board is beyond most interaction. All this power comes at the cost of being very slow, as this costs 8 mana and needs a few turns to go off, but that just regulates this to the world of Commander battlecruisers.

#30. Summon: Bahamut

Summon: Bahamut has potential. If you reach that last chapter, you probably win because this hit hard for several turns and generated a ton of advantage. But that comes at the cost of it being incredibly vulnerable—not only does Bahamut die to Doom Blade, it also dies to Naturalize! I expect this to become an interesting card to reanimate since you always get a solid two-for-one, but I’m not sure I want to spend 9 mana on it.

#29. Elspeth’s Nightmare

Elspeth's Nightmare is good early game removal since it can also help you avoid a threat in a player’s hand, and then exile it the following turn. While none of the effects are super flashy, this card is definite worth its mana value when you put them all together for only 3 mana.

#28. Esper Origins / Summon: Esper Maduin

Esper Origins fits well into graveyard-based decks. Surveilling cards away is a great way to fill the graveyard, and this card looks really good when you mill it and just play it as a 4-mana 4/4 with a load of useful abilities. Summon: Esper Maduin’s a powerful finisher with the Overrun attached to the final chapter.

#27. Jugan Defends the Temple / Remnant of the Rising Star

Jugan Defends the Temple is a good saga for decks that care about +1/+1 counters or modified creatures. The front side allows you to distribute a few counters, but the real power comes from Remnant of the Rising Star. This enchantment creature allows you to use any extra mana you have to buff your creatures. This means you’ll never have to waste mana on your turn, and drawing a weak creature later in the game isn’t such a dead draw.

#26. Jin-Gitaxias / The Great Synthesis

The Great Synthesis is a great source of card draw, and it can also give you quite an edge. You can replay all your own creatures for free while your opponents are forced to pay for theirs. You’re also likely to draw into a lot of other cards to play thanks to the first effect on this card. It would easily be one of the most powerful sagas in the game if you didn’t have to first transform Jin-Gitaxias into it.

#25. In the Darkness Bind Them

In the Darkness Bind Them is a good addition to a deck using one of the Grixis Sauron cards as a commander. It fits well with the Nazgûl and the several Witch-king cards thanks to the wraiths, and extra Ring temptation can be pretty powerful too. If this saga manages to stay on the board for all four turns, you can also do a lot of damage by stealing your opponents’ best creatures.

#24. The Mirari Conjecture

The Mirari Conjecture is a good bit of recursion, but its best chapter is definitely its third. Getting to copy all your instant and sorceries for a turn at no additional cost can give you a chance for a very powerful turn. It even rebuys a few spells for you to build up towards that final turn.

#23. Joshua, Phoenix’s Dominant / Phoenix, Warden of Fire

Joshua, Phoenix's Dominant provides a powerful value engine for midrange decks, rummaging through your deck while it sets up to unleash a powerful value engine in Phoenix, Warden of Fire. That's an exceptional saga that provides plenty of pressure with its damaging chapters before it seals the door by reanimating whatever Joshua discarded a few turns prior.

#22. Binding the Old Gods

Binding the Old Gods is a pretty comprehensive form of removal. Because its second chapter fetches a forest, you can grab a dual or tri-land with the forest type. It’s a bit of a joke that the last chapter of this saga rarely does much, but in truth it can be helpful in the right situation.

#21. Summon: Valefor

You need multi-target removal in Commander to deal with three opponents’ worth of threats. Summon: Valefor does this with its first chapter then continues the disruption by tapping creatures down. It offers a host of synergies, including distributing stun counters for proliferation and giving you a strong flicker target.

#20. One Ring to Rule Them All

One Ring to Rule Them All can be a board wipe that also takes a good amount of life from opponents. It gets really good if you put it in a legends matter deck where you keep most of your board intact through the board wipe. Remember, your Ring-bearer becomes legendary, so if you have a non-legendary creature you want to save from the board wipe, you can do that too.

#19. Summon: Fenrir

Summon: Fenrir will be one of the most played summons, if only because it offers such clean, simple value. A little ramp, a bit of pressure, maybe some card draw. If you care about this card’s synergies, namely enchantments and counters, it’s fantastic.

#18. Phyrexian Scriptures

Phyrexian Scriptures can be a very powerful board wipe in decks that run a lot of artifact creatures. If you have a Necron Dynasties precon and are looking for cards to upgrade with, this one can be very powerful. It’s also nice that it allows you to save one non-artifact creature before the wipe goes off.

#17. Summon: Kujata

Summon: Kujata is an awesome Cube card that provides stompy strategies top-end that blasts through opposing board states with haste and interactive chapters.

#16. Awaken the Honored Dead

Awaken the Honored Dead is a perfect setup piece. Between milling yourself, discarding a card, and sacrificing the saga, it pushes tons of cards into the graveyard to fuel your graveyard strategy, while the removal chapter gives you time to exploit those resources. I wouldn’t play it without significant graveyard synergies, but it shines in the right deck.

#15. The Antiquities War

The Antiquities War can be a powerful addition to artifact decks. Its first two chapters help you sort through a huge chunk of cards and can let you grab something you may not have seen for quite a few turns. Its third chapter can be very impactful in a deck running a lot of artifacts and could possibly even be a finisher if you’ve got a big enough board state.

#14. Boseiju Reaches Skyward / Branch of Boseiju

Boseiju Reaches Skyward makes sure you keep hitting land drops and also thins out your deck. Branch of Boseiju is likely to be decently powerful thanks to all the lands it has already found for you as a saga.

#13. Rediscover the Way

Getting the best card out of three is always better than drawing a random one, which makes Rediscover the Way a potent Divination. It works particularly well with cards like Narset, Enlightened Exile and Shiko, Paragon of the Way that recast it from the graveyard.

#12. Huatli, Poet of Unity / Roar of the Fifth People

Roar of the Fifth People gives you a lot of value. The Dinosaur tokens are both solid power and toughness and also help with ramp after chapter 2 of this saga. Since the mana ability sticks around throughout the saga, you can likely cast the dinosaur you search for, then deal a lot of damage the following turn.

Huatli, Poet of Unity’s ETB effect makes you more likely to be able to transform it quickly, and it can be reliable mana fixing if you run Huatli as your commander. It’s also nice that it has no additional requirements to transform into a saga besides paying the cost.

#11. Sheoldred / The True Scriptures

The True Scriptures can have a very big impact on the game if it’s able to get all the way to its third chapter. What’s nice is that even if you just get the first chapter off, you still get a good bit of removal. Sheoldred is easier to transform than some of the other praetors, since it’s just checking for numbers of cards in graveyards instead of requiring you to do something.

#10. The Akroan War

If used appropriately The Akroan War can do a lot for you. You can either take control of a powerful creature and use it for yourself for a few turns, but you can also pick a creature you want to sacrifice or block with to remove it from your opponent's side of the field. Forcing your opponents to attack opens them up to retaliation and lets you block creatures they might be intentionally keeping out of combat. A lot of creatures have power equal to or greater than their toughness, so the creatures you forced your opponents to attack with will likely end up destroying themselves when this saga resolves.

#9. Urabrask / The Great Work

The Great Work can do some serious damage to a player who’s running smaller creatures. Its third chapter’s ability can also give you access to a lot of powerful spells, which the Treasure this saga makes can help you cast.

Urabrask also has lots of benefits on the creature side. Although it might be tough to cast three instants or sorceries, if you do you’ll be able to transform Urabrask no matter what since it gives you an extra red mana when you cast your third spell.

#8. Thunder of Unity

I’m a big proponent of Impact Tremors variants in Commander, but the card class suffers from diminishing returns. Thunder of Unity gets around that with the draw two. And, in all honesty, a 3-mana draw two with a bit of upside is perfectly playable in many situations—this is basically a highly synergistic Divination.

#7. Kumano Faces Kakkazan / Etching of Kumano

Kumano Faces Kakkazan is a great turn-1 play. It can make another one of your early creatures a bit stronger, and when it transforms into Etching of Kumano you’ll get another quick attacker. This can be a good saga for a fast Red Deck Wins strategy and had a good little run in Standard for a while.

#6. There and Back Again

There and Back Again can help you get through your opponent’s defenses by stopping their best creature from being able to block. The ramp is nice, but the best part of the saga is definitely the Smaug token you get to create. It’s a powerful creature that your opponents will be worried about removing because of all the mana you’ll get from it.

#5. Elesh Norn / The Argent Etchings

The Argent Etchings gives you enough tokens to replace the creatures you sacrificed to transform it and gives you a few more. If you’re running other incubate cards, you’ll also get to transform your other Incubators for free. The following two chapters can help you do some serious damage and clear the board while allowing you to keep your Phyrexians.

Unlike other praetor sagas, Elesh Norn might honestly be the better side of this card to be honest. You can impose a serious tax on your opponents, especially if they’re running a lot of weaker creatures.

#4. Kiora Bests the Sea God

Kiora Bests the Sea God significantly slows down an opponent, opens them up for attack, and gives you the pick of their permanents. It also gives you a massive attacker to hit them with while their creatures are tapped down.

#3. Elspeth Conquers Death

Elspeth Conquers Death can remove some big threats for you. It also significantly slows down your opponents for a little while, which can help you continue to get ahead. Chapter 3 can help you get back a creature that was removed or cheat out a creature that you’ve put in your graveyard. Overall, this card is just a lot of value for 5 mana.

#2. Fable of the Mirror-Breaker / Reflection of Kiki-Jiki

Fable of the Mirror-Breaker is a surprisingly good saga for just 3 mana. The token it creates can help make you a good amount of Treasure as long as you have someone to safely attack or a way to protect it. It can help you replace some bad cards in your hand or discard a card you want in the graveyard. Reflection of Kiki-Jiki can be very powerful, especially if you’re running creatures with good ETB or death triggers.

#1. Urza’s Saga

Urza's Saga is unique because it’s a saga land. Though you’ll lose it after a few turns, it can do a lot for you while it’s on the field and help you fetch some good artifacts. There are also plenty of builds that can help you get this colorless enchantment back from your graveyard, allowing you to continue making Constructs and fetching artifacts throughout the game.

Best Saga Payoffs

There are a good number of cards that give you an additional benefit when a saga reaches its final chapter. For example, Historian's Boon creates a Soldier when you play a saga, and a more powerful Angel when that saga finishes. Some cards like this can make good saga commanders, like Narci, Fable Singer and Tom Bombadil.

Sagas can provide constant benefit if you use some counter-removing cards like Power Conduit, Thrull Parasite, and Xavier Sal, Infested Captain to be your bookmark and keep you on one chapter.

There are also other useful ways to manipulate counters and make your sagas better, like Goldberry, River-Daughter and Nesting Grounds to accelerate your sagas to the often-powerful final chapters.

You can also exploit regular enchantment synergies. Yuna, Hope of Spira works nicely to recur sagas after they sacrifice themselves, while Sythis, Harvest's Hand tacks on even more value to the sagas.

Some of the Doctor Who cards are also good ways to interact with sagas. Barbara Wright’s ability to give all sagas read ahead can allow you to skip some weak early abilities and skip right to the most powerful chapter. This way you don’t have to worry about your saga being removed before you get the best part. Ian Chesterton allows you to copy your sagas, though you’ll need a lot of mana to copy some of the more powerful ones.

Wrap Up

The Eldest Reborn | Illustration by Jenn Ravenna

Sagas are some of the more unique cards in Magic, and some are also very powerful. The best sagas are the ones that give you a lot of value for their initial cost, and whose chapters all contribute something meaningful. This way, even if they get removed before the final chapter, you’ve still gotten something for your mana.

Which is your favorite saga? What other cards do you think do a good job of telling Magic’s story? Is there a specific plane you’d like to see sagas from? Let me know in the comments or on Draftsim’s X (formerly Twitter).

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!