All 21 Archon Cards in Magic Ranked

Last updated on July 10, 2026

Archon of Justice | Illustration by Jason Chan

When you think iconic white battlecruiser creatures, angels are probably the first thing that comes to mind. But archons give them a pretty good run for their money, even if they're significantly less common.

If the idea of some ironclad warrior riding a winged beast of sorts into battle excites you, read on as we see what archons we've got in MTG.

What Are Archons in MTG?

Archon of Sun's Grace | Illustration by Matt Stewart

Archons are large flying creatures with powerful abilities that often involve removing permanents from the battlefield or restrincting game actions in some way. With the exception of one mono-black creature, archons are either mono-white, or white and another color.

#21. Ornitharch

Ornitharch is a 5/5 for five, or five power and toughness spread across three bodies if an opponent doesn't pay tribute. The power/toughness spread is the same either way, but this could be a fun political card in a low-power environment.

#20. Archon of Absolution

Archon of Absolution was a solid sideboard card against white decks when it was legal in Standard, and solid in the early Historic metagame from time to time. It also randomly hoses dredge decks in hyper-powerful formats, since they play so few mana sources while putting tons of creatures in play.

#19. Archon of Coronation

Monarch is a vital ability, and it can be game-changing when the game is down to two players despite it putting a target on your back. The second ability on Archon of Coronation isn’t irrelevant, but it's not something I'd play this creature for.

#18. Silent Sentinel

Silent Sentinel wreaks of 2010s intro deck fodder, and was hardly playable when it released, let alone now. With the right combination of haste enablers and enchantment synergies you might give it a second look, but it never makes the first pass.

#17. Vengeful Archon

Opponents will think twice before attacking you as long as you have enough mana since Vengeful Archon can redirect the damage to them or their planeswalkers. Realistically this just stops players from attacking you while you have mana up, though you can force the issue with self-damaging spells like Earthquake.

#16. Archon of Falling Stars

I remember playing Archon of Falling Stars in Theros Beyond Death Limited but have yet to see it much since then. It’s a passable card to play in enchantress decks as a part of an Omniscience combo, but that's too difficult to pull off.

#15. Archon of the Triumvirate

Similar to Silent Sentinel, Archon of the Triumverate is a throwaway intro deck-quality rare that had a moment in Return to Ravnica Limited and now just takes up bulk bin space. Detain is useful, just not so much on a 7-drop.

#14. Archon of Redemption

Archon of Redemption is serviceable as a lifegain card, though you also need a significant number of fliers to make it worthwhile. Flying + lifegain is a fine combination of abilities, but doesn't make a strategy on its own.

#13. Krond the Dawn-Clad

Krond the Dawn-Clad has an attractive textbox held back by an ugly mana cost. Perfect for Bracket 1-2 gaming, but it drops off hard in any semi-competitive setting.

#12. Celestial Archon

I can see Celestial Archon in Voltron-like strategies where you want a flexible enchantment that can sometimes be used as a creature for your auras to target. It's a clunker, but there's some merit here.

#11. Guardian Archon

Guardian Archon is a weird creature to play. The surprise factor is a plus when you attack and may keep your opponent's creatures from attacking, but I don't know. Making it a player-based activated ability is weird.

#10. Archon of the Wild Rose

Archon of the Wild Rose makes a lot of sense in the context of its native set, which had role tokens as a way to enchant many creatures. That's great if you're going wide with auras, though that's not the way most aura decks operate, and this isn't all that enticing in a Voltron build.

#9. Ezrim, Agency Chief

People might remember Ezrim, Agency Chief as one of the mega-bombs from Murders at Karlov Manor Limited, though Ezrim hasn't made much of a splash outside of that Draft format. This sort of protection and card advantage wins games of Limited; it's merely fine anywhere else, and fairly hard to cost either way.

#8. Harmonious Archon

Harmonious Archon is a board-wide anthem for all creatures, and brings along two 1/1s (functionally 3/3s), adding a total of 10/11 stats plus the boosts to any other creatures you already controlled. It probably also pumps your opponents' boards (and maybe shrinks some larger creatures), but the Archon can hold off 3/3s while your pumped up tokens start dealing damage.

#7. Archon of Justice

I like Archon of Justice specifically in reanimator decks that can sacrifice it and later return it to sacrifice again to start killing permanents with that interaction.

#6. Ashen Rider

Ashen Rider is a better version of Archon of Justice since it triggers when it enters the battlefield on top of its death ability. That's all assuming you're not hard-casting either creature, but no one's paying 8 mana for an 8-drop Orzhov creature.

#5. Archon of Valor's Reach

I can see Archon of Valor's Reach exceeding expectations if you can cheat it into play early to deny entire strategies. If you're naming a card type in the dark, I'd put my money on sorcery to shut down most catch-all board wipes.

#4. Archon of Emeria

Bant () decks running Collected Company love Archon of Emeria because it's the perfect partner with other cards like Aang, Swift Savior since nonbasic land hate and spell-casting limitations deny your opponent entire turns while adding an evasive creature to the board.

#3. Blazing Archon

Again, Blazing Archon can stop entire strategies from winning if you can cheat this monster into play early with a reanimation spell or a Show and Tell strategy, which is basically manditory if you want to see a 9-mana white creature in play.

#2. Archon of Sun's Grace

Generating an army of lifelinkers isn't unique to Archon of Sun's Grace, but it's something this pegasus-lover does better than most. The stats are already pretty good solo, and any number of constellation triggers put it over the top.

#1. Archon of Cruelty

Archon of Cruelty has been a staple of Modern and Legacy decks since it was printed. It's not only one of the best black ETB cards but also triggers when it attacks, and it's not legendary. Pretty sick. Interesting too that the one archon that bucks the trend of being a white creature also happens to be the best.

Best Archons Payoffs

Archons aren't a cohesive creature type, and aren't really designed to be played together. They mostly exist to fill out some “big white bomb” role in Limited, and archons play into the individual themes of their sets. There are some commonalities you can build towards, though.

A reanimator approach works best with the big archons like Archon of Cruelty where you can tutor it with Entomb and put it onto the battlefield with Reanimate. An early Archon of Cruelty can end games in a turn or two, while Blazing Archon and Archon of Valor's Reach can present early lock pieces.

The one thing all archons share in common is flying. That means they all benefit from deliberate flying payoffs like Jubilant Skybonder and Jackdaw Savior. Cost reduction goes a long way here, since the cheapest archon costs 3 mana and most trend up towards 6+ mana. Watcher of the Spheres and Warden of Evos Isle are an archon's best friends.

Wrap Up

Archon of Emeria | Illustration by Ryan Pancoast

We have, on average, less than one archon per year, but what they lack in quantity they make up for in quality. Archons offer a lot of generic power, while the best ones provide opportunities for synergy as well.

Do you run any archons in your deck? Do they deserve to be printed and supported more often? Let me know in the comments or over on the Draftsim Discord. And check out The Daily Upkeep newsletter to stay up to date on all the latest MTG news.

As always, take care and I’ll see you next time!