The 32 Best Advisors in Magic Ranked

Last updated on December 26, 2024

The Archimandrite | Illustration by Cristi Balanescu

From the Lord of the Rings’ sniveling Gríma Wormtongue to Game of Thrones’ enigmatic Varys, Master of Whispers, advisors are a stereotypical trope found in almost all fantasy and sci-fi media. They’re the guiding hand behind kings, emperors, and clerics, moving behind the scenes with subtlety and intelligence to enact their nefarious plans or make their puppets dance before them. Other advisors, like Smithers from The Simpsons or Jar-Jar from Star Wars, are genuinely honest folks that want what's best for their lieges. Advisors have a reputation for being noncombatants and heavily intelligent, wise, or charisma-based characters.

Advisors are surprisingly popular in Magic: The Gathering. While it never had much internal synergy, the release of The Archimandrite made a home for this oft-forgotten creature type. Which advisors should you run in your Archimandrite deck? Is there a way to build an advisors deck sans-Archimandrite?

Let’s dig into the best advisors in Magic: The Gathering!

What Are Advisors in MTG?

Ledger Shredder | Illustration by Mila Pesic

Advisor is a creature type in Magic: The Gathering with no real internal synergy, mostly used as a flavor creature type. The first cards with the advisor creature type were printed in the Portal Three Kingdoms MTG set. The Grand Creature Type Update retroactively errata'd two Legends cards into advisors, making Riven Turnbull and Tobias Andrion the two oldest advisors by a technicality.

Advisors primarily appear in blue and white, though they can show up in any color. There are 126 advisors in MTG as of Bloomburrow.

The class often gives the impression that the advisor in question is taking a secondary role to some other character. This isn’t necessarily true in Magic. Main characters like Teysa Karlov and Gaddock Teeg are the masters of their own destinies and simply use the class as the best flavorful fit.

#32. Council of the Absolute

Council of the Absolute is a weird sideboard card from Dragon’s Maze best deployed for the mirror match. I remember seeing an opponent cast Sphinx's Revelation in game one of one of my matches back in the day, and when I sideboarded in my Council of the Absolute and stuck it before they could cast their Revelation again, they scooped then and there rather than waste time trying to remove my Council before I could get off my own Revelation for cheap.

In Commander, it’s a lot harder to plan around what your opponents will cast, and you’re almost certain not to have the same cards in your deck as theirs. Best to keep this advisor to the low-power casual Constructed decks.

#31. Mavinda, Students’ Advocate

Recurring instants and sorceries from your graveyard isn’t usually in white’s wheelhouse, but Mavinda, Students' Advocate breaks the mold. Its effect is mostly intended for you to cast spells on your own creatures, but in a pinch I suppose you could pay 9 mana to Path to Exile a threat. I’d like to see Mavinda at the head of a heroic– and valiant-themed deck, personally.

#30. Naomi, Pillar of Order

Controlling both an artifact and enchantment simultaneously was one of the key mechanics of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. The Orzhov advisor () Naomi, Pillar of Order pumps out a 2/2 Samurai token whenever it enters or attacks while you control a permanent of each type.

Landing a cheap artifact and a cheap enchantment before you have the 5 mana to cast Naomi is easy-peasy; just look at all the 0-cost artifacts and 1-mana artifacts available in EDH, and then look at all the cheap enchantment options we have. Some cards like Whip of Erebos and Spear of Heliod are both types already!

#29. Hurkyl, Master Wizard

The Brothers’ War’s Hurkyl, Master Wizard is an advisor built to refill your hand after a turn of casting lots of noncreature spells. Hurkyl creates a fun balancing act when deck-building where you’ll want to include an even split of all the noncreature spell types to get the most hits off of Hurkyl’s triggered ability. This wizard advisor wasn’t so popular in BRO’s Standard (I guess that’s still today’s Standard… damn three-year Standard rotation), but I could see it in the 99 of any deck focusing on the prowess ability.

#28. Loyal Retainers

Loyal Retainers first appeared in Portal Three Kingdoms and was mostly forgotten until its reprint in Commander Masters. The two advisors on this card form the honor guard for your legendary creatures. This card is a little extra insurance for your commander when it's targeted with removal and saves you from having to pay 4 extra mana in commander tax after the second time it's been removed.

#27. Sokrates, Athenian Teacher

Peace-loving Sokrates, Athenian Teacher just wants everyone to stop fighting and talk out our differences. This 0/4 defender from Assassin's Creed prevents the combat damage dealt by one creature and splits it into card draw for the attacking and defending players.

While this is a cute interpretation of the famous philosopher, the advantage it generates is rather negligible. Sokrates is best used in the 99 of a group hug deck as some extra insurance against combat damage, but I wouldn’t want to give my opponents half of a Hunter's Insight each turn just because they have a big enough creature.

#26. Generous Patron

Battlebond‘s Generous Patron has an interesting effect that draws a card whenever you put a counter on a creature you don't control. This elf advisor seems like it’d go best with a deck running Noble Heritage, but I could see an argument for running it in a green and black infect deck to trigger off of those -1/-1 counters.

#25. Masako the Humorless

Masako the Humorless may be the only card in the game that lets tapped creatures block. Flash lets Masako surprise your opponent when they try to get an all-out attack past you while you’re tapped out, but once the initial combat trick’s been resolved, Masako kind of reverts to just being a 2/1 with a pseudo-vigilance anthem. I’d love to be proven wrong, though; if you can find some way to break this effect please let me know!

#24. Danny Pink

Danny Pink mixes the card draw that blue is known for with the mentor effect usually seen in Boros (). Alone as your commander, it’ll be hard to make enough +1/+1 counters consistently to draw your deck, but alongside any generic +1/+1 counter generating cards outside of blue Danny will be a powerhouse of value. He's not a Doctor’s companion, meaning he’ll be relegated to the 99 of our Reyhan, Last of the Abzan / Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker deck.

#23. Gríma, Saruman’s Footman

Gríma Wormtongue is the archetypal evil advisor. Brad Douriff’s interpretation of this sniveling snake of a man is perfect and has influenced portrayals of evil chancellors and councilors for over 20 years.

Gríma, Saruman's Footman is a Dimir () legendary advisor from the LTC Commander decks. This Gríma is unblockable and casts an instant or sorcery from an opponent’s library for free whenever it deals combat damage to a player. This effect is pretty swingy, as it relies on your opponents having an instant or sorcery you actually want to cast. Hitting their Plague Wind would be sick! But hitting their Negate or, like, Provoke won’t do anything for you right then. It’s even harder to play into this effect since your opponents soon realize their Vampiric Tutors and Scheming Symmetrys are much worse with Gríma on the field.

#22. Azor’s Elocutors

I’ve yet to see anyone pull off an Azor's Elocutors victory, but I’m holding out hope. Preventing any damage from being dealt to you can be difficult, especially after you’ve played the Elocutors and your opponent can see the clock placed on them. It’s probably best built into whatever group hug deck you’re running and surrounded by Fog effects and great blockers like Hundred-Handed One, plus protection spells for yourself like Leyline of Sanctity.

#21. Obzedat, Ghost Council

Draining 2 life on the way in seems a little slow for Obzedat, Ghost Council’s 5-mana casting cost, but it’ll do that ETB effect every turn while it still lives, and you can bounce it in and out. It’s also a 5/5, and it’ll gain haste every time it re-enters the battlefield from its own effect. What used to be a powerful bomb for the top-end of your Orzhov () deck in 2012’s Standard has now become a middling-at-best blink target for your Ephemerate.

#20. Ib Halfheart, Goblin Tactician

Ib Halfheart, Goblin Tactician holds a special place in my heart as one of the rares in the old Duel Decks: Elves vs Goblins. Ib makes a great 4-drop after you’ve played six or so goblins in your first three turns, making them all huge threats to any blockers and letting you profitably sacrifice all those extra lands if the game runs long for your aggro deck.

#19. Queza, Augur of Agonies

Queza, Augur of Agonies drains opponents for 1 whenever you draw a card. As you might expect, this cephalid octopus advisor can get out of hand quickly when your Mind Spring is suddenly an Exsanguinate. The beautiful thing about Queza is you already want to draw as many cards as you can in Magic, so Queza rewards you for doing what any self-respecting blue player was already planning to do.

#18. Phabine, Boss’s Confidant

Phabine, Boss's Confidant takes a creature tokens-focused Naya () strategy and turns it into a pseudo group hug theme. Phabine's parley ability lets the whole table draw a card during your combat phase, but not before making a number of 1/1 Citizen tokens and granting your creatures a small buff for the turn.

Phabine grants haste to all tokens, making you an immediate threat after you’ve compensated your opponents with some cards. Personally, I never like to run a card that generates any sort of advantage for my opponents, but there are definitely pods out there where Phabine’s value greatly outpaces anything your opponents draw into.

#17. Karlov of the Ghost Council

Commander 2015’s Karlov of the Ghost Council is an amazing Orzhov commander for any lifegain EDH deck. Karlov’s cheap, gets two +1/+1s whenever you gain life, and has an easily executable activated ability to exile a creature. I’ve seen Karlov decks win with Commander damage from this hugely swollen spirit advisor, and I’ve seen players lock down the board with three or more guaranteed lifegain triggers each turn to keep enough +1/+1s on Karlov to remove any threat.

#16. Imperial Recruiter

Imperial Recruiter is one of the best advisors out there. It’s a cheap creature tutor in colors that don’t often get to tutor, and the number of power 2 or less creatures that a red deck wants to fetch up is nearly infinite.

I use Imperial Recruiter in my Alesha, Who Smiles at Death deck to grab the exact 2-power creature I need in that moment and can recur it through the graveyard over and over to keep tutoring creatures.

#15. The Face of Boe

I have no idea who this horrifying floating face is; I’m not a Doctor Who guy. However, The Face of Boe has one of the best suspend synergies in the game, letting you skip the often costly mana value of a suspend card and instead cast it directly for its suspend cost. That means you can cast creatures like Greater Gargadon and Deep-Sea Kraken for dirt cheap! What about 1 mana for Heroes Remembered?

#14. Emissary Green

Emissary Green hails from the Ravnica: Clue Edition set and includes a fun voting mechanic that only ever benefits you! Green forces players to vote for profit or security, and then puts Treasure tokens or +1/+1 counters on your board depending on the outcome. For 5 mana, Emissary Green is a little slower than I’d like, but it still makes for a fun and interesting Advisor in mono-green.

#13. Gaddock Teeg

Gaddock Teeg is one of my favorite “small ball” Magic cards. It locks everyone out of any noncreature spell that costs more than 3 mana, as well as any X-cost spells. Turning off big fireballs like Crackle with Power and stopping most board wipes make Gaddock the perfect Selesnya commander for a creature-heavy deck.

#12. Auntie Blyte, Bad Influence

I love the design of Auntie Blyte, Bad Influence. This mono-red devil advisor advises you to damage yourself with your own sources before converting that damage into +1/+1 counters. Then, you can send this tiny devil flying at an opponent before turning those +1/+1s into direct damage in your own little Fireball. I love this card because it gives a home to all those Sulfuric Vortexes, Manabarbs, and other symmetrical damage effects. Perfect in the 99 of group slug decks, and as a group slug commander!

#11. Leovold, Emissary of Trest

Leovold, Emissary of Trest is famously banned in Commander for its oppressive effect to keep opponents from drawing more than one card per turn. It’s a little silly to me that it’s banned in the format when I don’t think I’ve ever seen a blue deck without a Narset, Parter of Veils, but I guess having access to that effect in the command zone is a tad bit broken. At any rate, Leovold, Emissary of Trest is among the strongest Sultai cards, for sure.

Is this where I make my case to unban Leovold?

Sure, it basically demands removal as soon as it hits the field, and it draws its controller a card once you do, but is that really that bad in today’s day and age? How many other commanders can you name that are “kill-on-sight?” How many of those also have ward or hexproof or recur themselves automatically? Let’s let this poor advisor back onto the council.

#10. Persistent Petitioners

Persistent Petitioners is by far the most popular advisor creature in Magic. As the blue version of a Relentless Rats, this is the ultimate basis for a mill deck. Petitioners doesn’t even need other exact copies of itself (like Shadowborn Apostle), and instead can slot right into any other deck with a lot of advisors for the most aggressive mill deck you can fathom. Slap a couple dozen in the 99 of your Bruvac the Grandiloquent deck and watch the cards fly off the top of your opponents’ libraries.

#9. Kambal, Consul of Allocation

Kambal, Consul of Allocation hails from Kaladesh and drains opponents whenever they cast a noncreature spell. This is a fairly basic effect, reminiscent of an aristocrats drain, but its value can’t be understated. An early-game Kambal sees you gaining 6 or more life as your opponents drop their ramp spells and mana rocks, and you’ll even gain life off of the targeted removal they need to use to kill it.

#8. Ledger Shredder

Ledger Shredder sees a lot of play in Pioneer, as it's one of the more valuable 2-drop in the format. A 1/3 with flying is an average rate for a rare card these days, but the connive trigger whenever you or your opponent casts their second spell is what really makes this bird advisor tick.

Ledger Shredder’s basically got two free looting effects for you each turn, and it pumps itself up with a +1/+1 counter each time since there’s no reason you shouldn’t be discarding a nonland if you’ve looted well. The best part is you can even trigger it the turn it comes down if you have a cantrip to cast on its heels (or, wings?).

#7. Bruvac the Grandiloquent

Bruvac the Grandiloquent is the go-to for mill decks. Bruvac doubles up on the number of cards an opponent mills with each instance, making even your cheap Tome Scour into a library-threatening 10-card mill. Mind Sculpt suddenly mills for 14. Traumatize wins you the game.

#6. Kethis, the Hidden Hand

Kethis, the Hidden Hand is banned in both Pioneer and Explorer for its incredibly consistent legendary recursion. Not only does it reduce their costs, but it also lets you cast them (for their reduced cost!) from your graveyard for what amounts to a very cheap activation effect. Most escape effects need you to exile at least three, usually five or more cards from your library to activate them; Kethis only needs two legendary cards.

With Kethis around, you can control the narrative and keep returning your favorite heroes and villains to the battlefield to fight out whatever epic tale you and Kethis decide to write.

#5. Grand Arbiter Augustin IV

Almost universally reviled, Grand Arbiter Augustin IV is an oppressive legendary advisor with one of the most frustrating stax effects in Commander. Making your opponents spells just 1 generic mana extra can completely obliterate their curve, effectively shutting off aggro decks and putting the rest of the board a full turn behind you in terms of actual expended mana. Nobody likes to see this guy set up across the table from you.

#4. Light-Paws, Emperor’s Voice

Light-Paws, Emperor's Voice is a 2-drop 2/2 that does quite a lot. Its effect triggers whenever an aura you've cast enters the battlefield under your control, and it lets you tutor up another aura with a mana value less than or equal to the first. When the new aura enters, it attaches to Light-Paws, making Light-Paws an effective Voltron commander.

#3. Vazi, Keen Negotiator

Vazi, Keen Negotiator is one of my favorite advisors. Vazi gives opponents Treasure tokens, which usually spells disaster for you, but it then buffs creatures and draws cards whenever opponents use their Treasure. This is fairly straightforward, but if you’d really like to incentivize your opponents to use their Treasures, might I suggest running some land destruction spells? You’ll get to play the part of the benevolent-yet-secretly-evil advisor, controlling everyone’s resources so they’re forced to appeal to you for Treasure tokens each turn.

#2. Teysa Karlov

If there’s something we’ve learned in recent years, it’s that any “do that effect an additional time” trigger is going to be bonkers. I have a friend who runs a Teysa Karlov aristocrats deck that’s nearly impossible to beat. It can assemble a Blood Artist combo in literal seconds and I’m frequently dead on the board before I know what hit me.

Teysa Karlov‘s creature token anthem is really just icing on the cake. As one of the best sacrifice commanders and designed to work with the Orzhov afterlife mechanic from Ravnica Allegiance, Teysa slots neatly into the helm of any deck that was already planning on sacrificing hundreds of creatures each turn.

#1. The Archimandrite

Possibly the entire reason for this list, The Archimandrite is the home for every other advisor you’ve ever wanted to run in a Commander deck. The Archimandrite is a powerhouse of value; it does it all. From gaining life to drawing cards to turning your (usually) weak advisor creatures into combat threats all at once. The Archimandrite is the ultimate Jeskai commander for an advisors deck, with access to two other creature types to synergize with just in case there weren’t enough advisors to your liking.

Best Advisor Payoffs

Besides The Archimandrite, there are tons of ways to synergize with your advisors.

The first, and most obvious, are the typal buffs and support cards. Coat of Arms, Door of Destinies, Etchings of the Chosen; these are all staples for any deck running lots of a single creature type.

If there aren’t enough advisors in the colors of your liking, consider Conspiracy or Arcane Adaptation as well to induct any of your warriors, nobles, bards, rogues, or whatever else into the small council!

Wrap Up

Teysa Karlov | Illustration by Magali Villeneuve

Whether they’re villainous antagonists like Chancellor Palpatine or hapless drunks like Tyrion Lannister or Haymitch Abernathy, advisors are a popular character archetype in fantasy media. They serve as both support for heroes, or as nefarious schemers working to further their own ends. Whatever flavor of advisor you like, there’s definitely one in Magic for you!

Which of these advisors are your favorites? Are there any uncommon and common advisors you think should fit the list? Let me know in the comments, or come shout at us on Draftsim's Twitter/X. Thanks for reading!