The 35 Best Dimir Card Draw Cards in Magic Ranked

Last updated on April 29, 2024

Talion, the Kindly Lord | Illustration by Olena Richards

Dimir’s a sneaky color pair. Combining blue’s cunning and black’s underhanded tactics results in a guild all about trickery, cleverness, and outsmarting one’s foes. That manifests in several ways on Magic cards, but the duo also pulls the two best card advantage colors together into what’s arguably one of the best guilds for drawing extra cards.

Any self-respecting Magic player knows the more cards you have in your hand, the more options available to you, and moving from mono-colored options to 2-color and beyond usually means a bump up in the power level and effectiveness of your draw spells. Dimir’s got you covered with everything from card advantage typal lords to looters and effects that punish opponents’ actions by putting more cards in your hand.

What Is Dimir Card Draw In MTG?

Notion Thief | Illustration by Clint Cearley

First off, a “Dimir card” for our purposes is any card with exactly blue and black in its color identity. in its mana cost isn’t necessary, just and symbols on the card somewhere. For example, Rona, Herald of Invasion counts despite being a monoblue card on the front.

As for “card draw,” I’m considering any effect that can add multiple cards to your hand. It doesn’t have to literally use the word “draw,” and it doesn’t have to net multiple cards all at once, but it has to have the capability of adding two or more cards to your hand over the course of a game. Cards like Thief of Sanity and Fallen Shinobi won’t make this list, since even though they’re card advantage tools, they don’t add extra cards to your hand.

Lastly, I’m focusing on Commander here. It’s what I know, it’s what I do best, and there aren’t many Dimir card draw all-stars for Constructed anyway. Let’s get to it, shall we?

#35. Scarscale Ritual

I think Scarscale Ritual’s neat, since it’s easy to mitigate the cost of putting a -1/-1 counter on one of your own creatures. Volrath, the Shapestealer is the only commander that comes to mind where you’d want to do this, but regardless the upside isn’t that huge, it’s just an interesting design.

#34. Dream Salvage

Really digging up some niche cards here. I’d never seen Dream Salvage before, but surely there’s a wheel deck or discard deck that can make this a 1-mana draw-6 or something right? Sound off if you’ve been rocking this card for years and I just gave away your secret tech.

#33. Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas

Tezzerator! Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas is artifacts all the way, with a +1 that should draw you a card every turn. This used to be a Modern powerhouse that’s since dropped off, and it’s definitely not a top-tier Commander card, but it’s worth consideration in any deck interested in the million other artifact-centric versions of Tezzeret.

#32. Likeness Looter

Looters are resoundingly “okay” in Commander, shaping up your hand without actually netting cards. They’re nothing special considering Commander’s full of pure card advantage tools that usually trump looting effects, but you’ll still consider Likeness Looter in faerie decks or ones interested in pitching cards to the graveyard.

#31. Master of Death

Master of Death is a sneaky addition to this list because it doesn’t ever draw cards, it just adds itself back to your hand every turn. Assuming you can pitch it to a discard or sacrifice effect, it does technically fit our definition of adding multiple cards to your hand over the course of a game. As it turns out, that card is always another Master of Death.

#30. Shadowmage Infiltrator

The G.O.A.T., to some. Shadowmage Infiltrator isn’t winning any awards in 2024, but it’s a classic saboteur. Is it an exaggeration to call this a Phyrexian Arena that pings your opponent instead of you?

#29. Satoru Umezawa

Great card, if you’re either all in on ninjas or getting cheeky by sneaking huge creatures into play. Oh, Blightsteel Colossus? Definitely graduated from the ninja academy. Satoru Umezawa’s card draw is directly tied to using ninjutsu abilities, which can’t always be achieved, and it’s not even the best ninja commander out there.

#28. Tegwyll, Duke of Splendor

The typal lords are coming in low on the list not because they’re weaker than other cards above them, but because they only fit one type of deck, so they naturally won’t see as much play. Tegwyll, Duke of Splendor is everything a faerie deck wants from its commander, but I can’t see Tegwyll making an appearance anywhere else.

#27. Anowon, the Ruin Thief

Anowon, the Ruin Thief gets the same treatment as Tegwyll; it’s a phenomenal rogues commander, and that’s about it. It’s the sixth most popular Dimir commander according to EDHREC, which I thought was surprising, but then I realized the Top 5 Dimir commanders are also typal legends.

#26. Whispering Madness

Windfall, but harder to cast. isn’t often the wheel color of choice, but if Windfall’s on your radar, it probably doesn’t hurt to have Whispering Madness as a backup. Cipher’s an awkward mechanic, but it’s starting to look more appealing with the uptick in “cast from exile” effects in Magic.

#25. Forbidden Alchemy

You know, I wouldn’t fault anyone for casting Forbidden Alchemy in Commander. The fact that it fills up your graveyard and gives you a second crack at the effect is probably just enough to justify its expensive costs in a casual setting.

#24. Mask of Riddles

What’s blue and black and turns any creature into a Shadowmage Infiltrator? Mask of Riddles, of course! It’s a color-intensive piece of equipment, so you don’t see it equipped often, but plenty of decks are interested in making their creatures evasive and drawing extra cards, even if fear’s not the most reliable form of evasion.

#23. Jon Irenicus, Shattered One

Weird one, that Jon Irenicus, Shattered One. Donate some detrimental creatures to your opponents, goad them, and draw cards as they swing into your opponents. It takes an entire deck built around it to work, but it seems like a unique strategy if it comes together.

#22. Vohar, Vodalian Desecrator

Another day, another looter. At least Vohar, Vodalian Desecrator can turn itself into your best spell in the graveyard late-game. The residual ping effect isn’t anything special, especially considering you’re not usually dying to throw away your instants and sorceries anyway.

#21. Kels, Fight Fixer

Blue doesn’t get in on the aristocrats game that often, so Kels, Fight Fixer certainly has their own little niche. Unfortunately blue also doesn’t offer much to the strategy aside from some casualty cards and stray token generators like Poppet Stitcher. That, and it’s unclear how much better Kels is than, say, Midnight Reaper or Morbid Opportunist.

#20. Lochmere Serpent

The card draw mode on Lochmere Serpent is the least important of the bunch, but it’s nice to have the option. Aside from that, it’s a giant flash ambusher that can chew through enemy graveyards to recur itself and make itself unblockable at will. You know, just a few extra abilities.

#19. Slitherwisp

Slitherwisp is a key piece of a very specific strategy: flash matters. Alela, Cunning Conqueror and Nymris, Oona's Trickster are your usual frontrunners, but if your deck has a healthy number of flash cards and supports a spell, Slitherwisp probably makes the cut. Sadly, it doesn’t interact with Vedalken Orrery and Leyline of Anticipation the way you’d prefer, since those don’t actually give your spells flash.

#18. Ancient Excavation

Basic landcycling is the perfect ingredient to make just about any card playable. When it’s not being cycled for a basic land, Ancient Excavation can shape up your hand and fill your graveyard, though casting it as a spell is card disadvantage.

#17. Sauron’s Ransom

I’ll get to Atris in a moment, but that’s usually the preferred card over Sauron's Ransom if you’re going for the opponent-agency card draw effect. The Ring-tempting add-on is mostly throwaway text, unless your deck is actively trying to charge up The Ring, in which case this is probably one of your most important cards.

#16. Kaito Shizuki

Constructed player Kaito Shizuki takes a hit in Commander. Well, not the first turn on account of the phasing, but you know what I mean. You want an unblockable 1/1 or an attackable looting machine? Kaito’s the cyborg ninja for you.

#15. Atris, Oracle of Half-Truths

Everyone loves a good Fact or Fiction, especially the ones with hidden information involved. You can basically always guarantee drawing two cards off Atris, Oracle of Half-Truths, though in dire situations you might be able to persuade someone to make an 0-3 split and get all three cards at once.

#14. Dihada’s Ploy

On top of shaping up your hand, Dihada's Ploy comes with some lifegain and jump-start for a one-shot chance to cast it again. That all adds up to a serviceable bread-and-butter effect that’s mostly appealing for self-mill and self-discard decks.

#13. Soul Diviner

With the right supporting cast, Soul Diviner becomes a reliable draw engine. That cast consists of cards that generate their own counters, like unleash creatures or amass tokens, as well as permanents with detrimental counters on them, like Thing in the Ice. Non-creature permanents work as well, though sadly, Diviner can’t pull counters off of sagas (intentionally) or battles (since they released much later).

#12. Sire of Stagnation

“But Tim, Sire of Stagnation’s a colorless card because of devoid!” Color identity, my friends.

I’ve grown weary of 6-mana plays that opponents can ignore by just not doing something, though Mr. Stagnation sometimes doesn’t leave players a choice. If you can ramp it out early, opponents are often forced to hit a few land drops and fill up your hand. Land this late though and it’s pretty easy to sidestep the trigger altogether.

#11. Rona, Herald of Invasion / Rona, Tolarian Obliterator

Surely we’ll run out of looters eventually, right? Rona, Herald of Invasion’s actually a big step up from the others. It blocks well enough early on, provides extra loots whenever you cast legendary spells, and even transforms into a modern-day Phyrexian Obliterator when you so choose. Note that you can get creative with Rona, Tolarian Obliterator by damaging it yourself and randomly playing a card from your own hand.

#10. Eloise, Nephalia Sleuth

Someone please explain how this random investigator is a 4/4? You’re telling me Eloise can tussle with an Emerald Dragon or Atraxa, Praetors' Voice and put up a fight? Anyway, you can either run Eloise, Nephalia Sleuth as a token-based attrition commander or go off the deep end with March of the Machines and Blood Artist for a reliable combo kill.

#9. Tasha, the Witch Queen

Tasha, the Witch Queen says that magic phrase “draw a card” on its +1, which is all it takes for a planeswalker to make this list. I’ve said before that I believe Tasha’s extremely clunky and people value the card too highly, but it’s fun, and that’s really all that matters.

#8. Sygg, River Cutthroat

Maybe it’s an availability thing, but I feel like I don’t see Sygg, River Cutthroat as often as I should. It’s pretty easy for this to be a 2-drop that draws an extra card every turn, and it can even trigger on other players turns. This looks like the perfect card to pair with Jon Irenicus, Shattered One, since that’ll force other players to smash into one another and trigger Sygg for you.

#7. Kaito, Dancing Shadow

A dancing shadow implies that Kaito’s dancing too, yeah? Kaito, Dancing Shadow’s a big improvement over Kaito Shizuki, for Commander at least. It does ninja-y things without ever explicitly saying “ninja” on the card, and being able to double-activate each turn is a unique design for a planeswalker. The key is turning the self-bounce effect into an advantage, perhaps by picking up a cheap ETB creature. Baleful Strix, perhaps?

#6. Notion Thief

Notion Thief is great for drawing cards and losing friends. But who needs camaraderie when you can have all the cards? You can play this “fairly” and steal all your opponents’ extra draws, or you can be an especially heinous kind of sicko by comboing it with wheel effects. I did mention Whispering Madness already, didn’t I?

#5. Nymris, Oona’s Trickster

I love a card that rewards you for playing correctly. If you’ve ever encountered that resident LGS player who does everything at sorcery speed instead of leaving their mana up, I highly suggest you introduce them to Nymris, Oona's Trickster. Perhaps you’re already in the know and you just love instants and flash threats. Nymris can help you there, too.

#4. Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver

Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver being the seventh most popular commander of the last two years is a testament to just how popular typal decks are. Unlike the typal payoffs that peppered the bottom half of this list, zombies are so heavily supported that you can build multiple Wilhelt decks that barely overlap cards. Seventh most popular? Seriously?

#3. Yuriko, the Tiger’s Shadow

That brings us to Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow, the fifth most popular commander. Good representation, Dimir! I left Ingenious Infiltrator off the list entirely because Yuriko’s just significantly better, and it promotes interesting deckbuilding choices, favoring expensive spells that you can cast cheaply. Commander ninjutsu just hits that cool factor too, you know?

#2. Toxrill, the Corrosive

It’s kind of a joke that I have to include Toxrill, the Corrosive on this list, because the draw ability is such an afterthought to the absolutely, appropriately toxic abilities that make up the rest of the card. But, it fits our criteria, so this one’s for all you Toxrill lovers out there, you filthy heathens.

#1. Talion, the Kindly Lord

And wearing the crown, sitting upon their throne, we have none other than Talion, the Kindly Lord as the best card drawer for Commander. Most people have figured out that you usually just name 2 or 3 and end up drawing about 5-10 extra cards throughout the game while taking potshots at your opponents’ life totals, too. Add in faerie typing and a great stat-line with evasion and it’s no wonder why this quickly became such a popular commander.

Best Dimir Card Draw Payoffs

Oh, drawing a bunch of cards isn’t good enough for you, you need payoffs too? Well, if you insist….

The first place to look are the obvious “whenever you draw a card” abilities, found on creatures like Psychosis Crawler and Chasm Skulker. Starving Revenant’s a newish card in the same vein, but there are plenty of options out there.

If you can keep your grip full of cards, chances are you’re poised to take advantage of discard effects, too. Cards like Skirge Familiar and Mind Over Matter can convert extra cards into bonus effects, while others like Bone Miser and Containment Construct trigger off the cards you’re discarding.

This list featured a number of looters, which are especially useful for getting key cards into your graveyard. Likeness Looter, Rona, Herald of Invasion, and Vohar, Vodalian Desecrator all have extra abilities, but their collective main purpose is to dig for the right cards and loot reanimation and recursion targets into your graveyard.

Let’s Not Draw This Out

Whispering Madness | Illustration by Clint Cearley

That should be plenty of fodder for all you sleuthy sneaky Dimir players out there looking to stock up on extra cards. Truth is, any color pair that’s touching blue is going to have an easier time drawing cards than most non-blue decks, and it just so happens that black’s pretty good with card advantage, too. Combine them together and nothing can get in your way… except maybe a Dimir rival running their own copy of Notion Thief.

That said, I want to hear from all the Dimir players out there. Am I missing a crucial card draw card for the color pair? Remember some all-star Dimir cards like Baleful Strix and Fallen Shinobi are excellent, but don’t quite fit our definition. Think you’ve got a good defense for a card I omitted? Let me know in the comments below or over in the Draftsim Discord.

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