The 49 Best Creatures in Magic Ranked

Last updated on April 13, 2026

Colossal Dreadmaw | Illustration by Jesper Ejsing

Creatures are vital to playing Magic. Even decks focused on other card types use a few creatures to help impact the board. The few devoutly creatureless decks, like many iterations of Pioneer Azorius Control, still look to win by making creature tokens.

Creatures have played a massive role in shaping the game we know and love for more than 30 years. With such a legacy, there are many, many creatures worthy of power and attention. But which of them are the greatest?

What Are Creatures in MTG?

Deathrite Shaman | Illustration by Steve Argyle

Creatures in Magic are cards with the creature card type. It’s as simple as that. However, there's much more to creatures than a type. They’re the backbone of the game. Magic would suffer from losing any card type but couldn’t exist without creatures.

Most decks win with creatures. How this happens varies wildly; you have aggressive decks that swarm the board with as many Savannah Lions and Monastery Swiftspears as they can and controlling decks that use two or three Torrential Gearhulks as their win condition. Even combo decks tend to lean on a subtype of creatures; Legacy decks want to get some of Magic's best battlecruisers like Griselbrand and Emrakul, the Aeons Torn into play instantly, while dredge decks utilize creatures like Golgari Thug and Narcomoeba to win.

As a card type with a fundamental impact on how we play the game, there are tons of powerful creatures. Some that were strong at one point have seen their glory days fade. This list focuses on present-day power level, so some classics have fallen by the wayside over time.

Honorable Mentions

Here I’ll reserve a space for creatures that once belonged on this list, but no longer do. The heavy hitters of yesteryear, if you will. Cards like Delver of Secrets, Tarmogoyf, and Pack Rat shaped their respective metas, but they’re just outclassed in modern Magic. Dark Confidant’s in that conversation too, but has one last chance to shine with a recent Standard printing in Final Fantasy. Consider this respect where respect is due, but these historically powerful cards just aren’t what they were 5+ years ago. “Delver” decks don’t even play Delver anymore, if that gives you an indication of how things have changed.

#49. Yawgmoth, Thran Physician

Yawgmoth, Thran Physician is an amazing engine that needs some support. Getting board control, a sacrifice outlet, card draw, and a discard outlet in a single 4-mana creature is a lot of valuable text. Thanks to some combos with undying, you can do a lot with the Father of Machines if you don’t mind getting your hands dirty.

#48. Baleful Strix

I may be a little biased in my love for Baleful Strix but look at this beauty of a card. It screams elegance. A cheap, evasive threat that replaces itself and functions offensively and defensively is strong, but the artifact card type makes this appealing to a broad range of decks. Baleful Strix is never the strongest card in a list, but it’s such a solid role-player and an amazingly designed card.

#47. Ketramose, the New Dawn

It’s a bit early to be calling Ketramose, the New Dawn an all-timer, but there’s no way it’s getting worse over time. It’s had a great early showing after debuting in Aetherdrift, creating an entirely new archetype in Modern and Commander. “Exile-matters” doesn’t have much support, but this indestructible card draw machine gives it an excellent starting point.

#46. Voja, Jaws of the Conclave

The hate for ward spread across some communities with Voja, Jaws of the Conclave taking up territory. Elves and wolves are already strong types and so is this creature before ward . In the command zone, Voja is among the strongest Naya commanders, one of the best card draw commanders, and one of Magic's best elf commanders.

#45. Hullbreacher

If Hullbreacher was one of those incarnation creatures named after an emotion, it’d be called “Misery.” Why they felt the need to create a flash threat that steals opposing draws and converts them into Treasure for you is beyond me. It’s similar to Orcish Bowmasters, where someone clearly wanted to push back against rampant card advantage, but overtuned the answer and produced something that needed to be banned from the format it was created for.

#44. Prophet of Kruphix

Forget about Nyxbloom Ancient, have you ever played with a mana quadrupler? That’s Prophet of Kruphix as it relates to Commander. Seedborn Muse and Vedalken Orrery in one card is obscene, hence the card being banned in Commander for almost a decade now. Maybe it could come off as a Game Changer, but there’s a lot of apprehension around releasing a card of this power level back into the format.

#43. Hermit Druid

Hermit Druid is an amazing combo enabler. Paying a single green mana to dump your entire deck into your graveyard (assuming you don’t run basics) enables a bunch of busted combos. Even if played fairly, Hermit Druid fills your graveyard like nobody's business.

#42. Displacer Kitten

Displacer Kitten is an odd-ball because it was printed during the era of “this ability triggers only once per turn” effects, and yet that text isn’t present on such an obviously broken ability. It’s almost like WotC wanted the blink kitty to create infinite loops, and the only check on such an absurd ability was an underwhelming statline.

#41. Roaming Throne

Players value versatility, and you wouldn't be the first to want multiple Roaming Thrones for your decks. Golems are fun, and adapting to any creature type you need is practically Panharmonicon on legs. I can't help but imagine a red targeting laser coming from its head like a Breath of the Wild guardian.

#40. Dragon’s Rage Channeler

How much value can you get for 1 red? WotC has been pushing that answer for a few years, and Dragon's Rage Channeler is one example. This 1-mana surveil card that becomes a 3/3 with a bit of effort that gives you a lot of card selection has become a staple in Izzet tempo decks. It takes a little work – you need a high concentration of noncreature spells and the ability to get delirium, but the payoff is worth the price.

#39. Omnath, Locus of Creation

Landfall is arguably one of the strongest mechanics because it magnifies the basic game action of playing lands. Omnath, Locus of Creation is one of the strongest landfall cards, to the point many decks have been built around it and it was deemed too powerful in several formats. It’s a one-card value engine that replaces itself and rewards you handsomely for taking basic game actions, which is kinda busted.

#38. Primeval Titan

The Titan cycle printed in M11 are all powerful and iconic Magic creatures, but Primeval Titan has stood the test of time the best. Getting any two lands like Field of the Dead or Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle enables powerful strategies. It’s so powerful that Amulet Titan exists to maximize the power of the Titan.

#37. Shardless Agent

Shardless Agent was always a good value engine, but it peaked once introduced to Modern via Modern Horizons 2. It’s the backbone of various cascade decks, most notably ones leveraging either Crashing Footfalls or Living End. Some Legacy decks even lean on this for Rhinos.

#36. Questing Beast

Playing Standard with this Arthurian legend was certainly an experience. Questing Beast is a prime example of what happens when you try to “answer” cards like Field of the Dead and Oko, Thief of Crowns by pushing an opposing threat: You get a massively powerful creature with more lines of text than even the greatest Magic scholars remember.

#35. Esper Sentinel

Esper Sentinel did what no card before it could do by giving good, clean card draw to white. No more Mentor of the Meek nonsense, this Modern Horizons 2 card almost single-handedly bridged the gap between old white decks and new white decks, allowing them to compete in an age of Magic defined by mana production and card advantage.

#34. Delighted Halfling

Delighted Halfling is one of the best mana dorks, being able to generate mana of any color to cast a legendary spell. This makes the card playable in multiple Magic formats, seeing as casting good 3- and 4-mana legendary creatures on curve is relevant in many scenarios. Plus, the spell can’t be countered as a good side effect.

#33. Arclight Phoenix

Arclight Phoenix is a creature that sees play in almost all non-singleton formats as one of the best win conditions for red decks, as long as the graveyard isn’t targeted as a metagame call. Playing three spells per turn and/or milling yourself is easier in older formats that have access to cantrips like Careful Study and Mental Note. The turn when you get to pull two or more phoenixes from your graveyard into the battlefield attacking is usually backbreaking.

#32. Golgari Grave-Troll

Broken strategies often begin in the graveyard. To exploit those strategies, you need to fill your graveyard, and Golgari Grave-Troll is one of the best ways to do so. A card that proved too strong for Modern several times, it’s the backbone of Dredge decks in Legacy and Vintage, despite being restricted in the latter. It turns out that replacing your draw step with a virtual draw six is pretty busted.

#31. Dockside Extortionist

Dockside Extortionist’s relevance was once constrained to Commander, but what an EDH card this was before it got banned. It was the centerpiece of many infinite mana combos, utilizing other cards like Temur Sabertooth, Barrin, Master Wizard, and Cloudstone Curio. Even if it doesn’t go infinite, it’s the best red ritual, often netting a ton of mana that fixes and can be saved for later turns.

#30. Yorion, Sky Nomad

The companion mechanic certainly was an interesting design choice. Yorion, Sky Nomad has always fascinated me for its power. Adding 20 cards to your deck seems like a massive drawback that would hamper the consistency of your deck – yet Yorion got the ban hammer in several formats, and some Modern decks still tinker around with 80 cards, even without the extra creature in their sideboard.

#29. Griselbrand

If you’ve played Legacy, you’ve encountered Griselbrand, potentially the strongest demon in Magic and one of the best card-draw effects in black. It pops up in Modern from time to time alongside Goryo's Vengeance, but its primary home is in Legacy, with decks like Sneak and Show and Reanimator abound. When you’re cheating something into play, it’s hard to do much better than the terror of Avacyn Restored. Unfortunately its title of the best reanimation target of all time has fallen off over time.

#28. Walking Ballista

Walking Ballista is kind of busted. It’s a fantastic combo engine, often seen alongside Heliod, Sun-Crowned for a lethal combination that’s banned in some formats. It serves as an infinite mana outlet, acting as the payoff for other combos. Even as a fair play, it’s incredibly powerful, becoming a threat that kills off opposing creatures or sends lethal damage to your opponent’s face.

#27. Endurance

Modern Horizon 2’s cycle of evoke elementals has redefined Modern and much of Magic, for better or worse. Endurance is one of these. A free, instant-speed way to remove your opponent’s graveyard is incredible, especially since so many broken strategies begin in the graveyard. A 3/4 flash with reach is also a fine Ambush Viper that applies a bit of pressure.

#26. Atraxa, Grand Unifier

Atraxa, Grand Unifier is topping off Standard ramp decks, but its impact extends well beyond Magic’s smallest format. Decks in all sorts of formats with the means to cheat Magic's most powerful angel into play can casually draw a fresh hand. Phyrexia's mascot isn't the most popular creature to cheat into play, but it’s certainly relevant, and it's among the best 4-color commanders in the game.

#25. Psychic Frog

Psychic Frog is heavily inspired by a great creature from MTG’s past: Psychatog. While it doesn’t have the same explosive potential, just getting a card back when it deals combat damage to a player or planeswalker means that this card is stronger in the late game. The frog can create a vicious cycle where it's drawing into more fodder for its own abilities, all while becoming an increasingly large threat.

#24. Devoted Druid

Devoted Druid may appear to be a humble mana dork, but this little creature is a combo machine. There are tons of ways to use it to make infinite mana, with Vizier of Remedies, Swift Reconfiguration, and Solemnity coming to mind. It’s part of so many cheap, 2-card infinites that it deserves respect – but a 2-mana dork that jumps you to 5 mana on turn 3 is a fine floor too.

#23. Sheoldred, the Apocalypse

The black creature with stats like a green monster, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse reigned over Standard with a few cameos in Pioneer midrange decks; it's also a very popular commander, and an excellent wheel commander in particular. Being a 4/5 for 4 helps here; Sheoldred dies to removal, but it’s nearly impossible to attack into without it. The life drain abilities seal the deal, turning Sheoldred into a clock even if it must remain defensive.

#22. Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

The taxes portion of Death & Taxes lists, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben is among Magic’s best-designed creatures. The tax makes it good against spell-focused decks, while first strike gives it legs against opposing creature strategies. It puts a decent clock on the opponent while slowing them down, but neither is overly stifling. It’s an amazingly elegant design and honestly deserves the endless alternative arts.

#21. Orcish Bowmasters

Orcish Bowmasters is one of the newest boogeymen on the block, designed to punish opponents trying to draw a billion cards with equally busted effects like The One Ring and Up the Beanstalk. This orc archer’s a clock, and it’s the perfect answer to creatures like Esper Sentinel, Birds of Paradise, and Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer. It’s also fun to play on turn 2 and follow up with Timetwister in Cube or Commander.

#20. Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis

Who could forget the release of the original Modern Horizons that introduced the world to the Gaak and indicated that every Horizons set would shake the hell out of Modern? Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis earned its spot on the list for its brief notoriety following MH1’s release, where it held Modern in a stranglehold. Even as Faithless Looting caught a ban and desperate players began maindecking Leyline of the Void, the Gaak proved too strong and caught the banhammer itself.

#19. Fury

Pitch cards like Solitude and Force of Will are primarily balanced by being card disadvantage. If you pay no mana, you’re trading two resources for one of your opponent's. Fury, the (former) scourge of Modern, completely ignores this, often being card-neutral by killing two creatures or even becoming card advantage as a Plague Wind that also wins because it’s a powerful double striker.

#18. Grief

Grief is the centerpiece of Scam decks that began in Modern but have also found their way to Legacy. While pitching this and immediately returning it to play with Reanimate or Not Dead After All is backbreaking, Grief is also just a strong card on its own. A reasonable threat that discards a card and can be pitch-cast in an emergency to stop your opponent from comboing off does a lot of work.

#17. Ocelot Pride + Guide of Souls

Maybe a little weird to lump these two together, but Guide of Souls and Ocelot Pride show up in the same decks at an alarming rate. Together with Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, these form the trifecta of absolutely unfair cheap white creatures from Modern Horizons 3 (honorable shoutout to Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd).

Guide looks like an energy card, and it is, but it’s also just a Soul Sister that dumps a bunch of extra evasive power into play for free after a few turns. And Ocelot Pride is a 1-mana token doubler for some reason? It really didn’t take long for these turn-1 plays to take over Modern after their release.

#16. Urza, Lord High Artificer

A great hint to the most busted cards in Magic lies within the Power Nine. There’s a reason all nine cards are artifacts or blue spells; that’s as busted as it gets. Urza, Lord High Artificer, one of the best artifact commanders, is a blue card that loves artifacts, so you know it's broken. The Construct token is a nasty threat, Urza generates a bunch of mana and can be an infinite mana outlet or just a mana sink to keep the gas flowing, and we can’t ignore the synergy with Winter Orb.

#15. Atraxa, Praetors’ Voice

Atraxa, Praetors' Voice is here as a nod to EDH, as one of the most popular commanders according to sites like EDHREC. This version of Atraxa lets you play plenty of colors to do different stuff, and it gives you a free proliferate every turn. This goes so well with +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters, planeswalkers, artifact charge counters, infect/poison… the list continues. Plus, it’s a very solid 4/4 creature with many relevant abilities on its own.

#14. Ajani, Nacatl Pariah / Ajani, Nacatl Avenger

Ajani, Nacatl Pariah is already super pushed as a 1/2 that enters the battlefield with a free 2/1 cat creature. It fits go-wide decks, blink decks, cat typal decks, and the like just with this ability. The thing is, if any of your other cats die, you’ll transform this card into a mighty planeswalker, so it gives all your other cats life insurance. Ajani, Nacatl Avenger is a powerful flipwalker that allows you to play other copies of Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, getting around the legendary downside nicely.

#13. Archon of Cruelty

One of the best black ETB cards, Archon of Cruelty has become one of the best creatures to cheat into play. It has an incredible impact as soon as it comes into play, generating card advantage by drawing a card while making your opponent discard and stopping them from developing a board if you cheat it out fast enough. This has made it the weapon of choice for Modern Creativity and a powerful tool for various Legacy decks whose general gameplan is a big creature on turn 2.

#12. Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury

Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury, like Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath, shows that this titan design is very strong. Getting a spell-like effect when the card hits the board is already good, but this Boros card is inevitable, as you’ll escape it at some point. From there, your opponent will have to deal with a 6/6 creature that spawns Lightning Helixes. Plus, red decks have plenty of ways to give it haste, so you can escape it, drain 3, attack for 6, and drain 3 more to deal 12 damage total. That’s not bad for 4 mana.

#11. Solitude

It turns out that tacking Swords to Plowshares onto a creature with flash that costs no mana is good. Solitude, one of Magic's best lifelink creatures, doesn’t scam as hard as Grief, but this is still an amazing creature that swings games in your favor for no mana investment.

#10. Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath

You don’t see Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath around often enough to think it’s busted, but that’s just because it’s been banned in practically every format but Cube and Commander. Uro, the best giant in Magic, does all the strong things: drawing cards and making land drops. A relatively cheap, resilient threat that provides mana and card advantage makes for a busted creature.

#9. Vivi Ornitier

Vivi Ornitier is to Final Fantasy what Orcish Bowmasters was to Lord of the Rings: the most obviously overpowered creature in a Universes Beyond set, so strong that it feels like no internal testing really happened with the card.

Vivi being its own self-contained wincon via ping damage while also generating ungodly amounts of mana for a color pair that shouldn’t be able to do that combine to make one of Izzet’s best ever Magic cards.

#8. Thassa’s Oracle

One of the best blue creatures, and specifically one of blue's best ETB cards and the key to many combos, Thassa's Oracle has especially impacted cEDH. This better edition Laboratory Maniac can win on the spot with Demonic Consultation or Tainted Pact. Don’t mistake this for an EDH exclusive; Oracle was a key component of the Inverter of Truth decks in Pioneer and has given some niche combo decks in older formats new life.

#7. Birds of Paradise

“Bolt the Bird” is one of the game’s oldest heuristics, and it’s as relevant today as it was 30 years ago. Birds of Paradise is the best mana dork, unless you’re playing exactly elves. Even as the speed of some formats hampers its power, the Bird is a notable piece of Magic history and a boon to many creature decks.

#6. Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, the best Eldrazi card, is also pretty much the best creature ever printed to put into play with cards like Sneak Attack and Show and Tell. WotC ensured every one of the 15 mana you need to invest in this creature was worth it without considering that nobody would ever pay the actual mana cost.

#5. Stoneforge Mystic

Stoneforge Mystic was thrown on the Modern ban list at the format’s inception, primarily to avoid reliving the reign of Cawblade. It came off many years later and has had a positive impact on the format. But the Mystic’s impact goes well beyond Modern; it’s a fantastic Cube card and a staple of Legacy Death and Taxes lists that use it to find some of the strongest equipment in the game.

#4. Deathrite Shaman

Everybody lost their minds over Wrenn and Six as a 2-mana planeswalker, but the game has secretly had a 1-mana planeswalker the entire time in Deathrite Shaman. It's a great mana dork in Eternal formats filled with fetch lands, but the activated abilities are also incredibly powerful. A 1-mana creature that ramps you and fixes your mana is excellent, but one that also gains a bit of life or drains your opponent? This Golgari card‘s busted.

#3. Lurrus of the Dream-Den

Lurrus of the Dream-Den is one of my favorite cards to build around in the Vintage Cube. That’s also the only place you can play it since this nightmare has been banned virtually everywhere. Even after the companion mechanic got rebalanced, Lurrus proved too powerful for most formats that could easily match its deckbuilding requirement and turn it into a grindy value engine.

#2. Nadu, Winged Wisdom

A last-minute change to Nadu, Winged Wisdom that attempted to make it more appealing in Commander instead created one of the most outlandish creatures of all time. It just turned every knob up as high as it could. Twice per turn per creature on any target from any player, and the lands it flipped come into play untapped. It was broken before it hit players’ hands, and it only stayed there long enough to ruin a few tournaments.

#1. Colossal Dreadmaw

Colossal Dreadmaw may seem like an odd choice to top this list but bare with me. There’s more than raw power that goes into designing creatures. You could argue that this slot belongs to something like Magic's best pirate Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer (it does), but Dreadmaw is a triumph beyond power level.

Colossal Dreadmaw is the perfect Draft common. Sure, Ragavan wins the game if it goes unanswered and applies that oppressive pressure on turn 1, but Dreadmaw mops up games of Limited. You can have as many of these in play as you want since it doesn’t have that pesky legendary supertype. How many opponents can handle two or three copies of this card?

Dreadmaw also functions as a beautiful expression of green’s color identity. A 6-mana 6/6 with trample strikes the perfect balance of a powerful threat that’s efficient regarding its mana cost. Meanwhile, Ragavan provides such an insane amount of card advantage, mana fixing, and ramp for 1 mana (or 2, if you’d like to ignore summoning sickness and dodge sorcery speed removal), replacing the Dreadmaw’s elegance with blunt force – which does sound kind of red, so Ragavan has that going for it.

Best Creature Payoffs

You don’t often need payoffs to make it worth playing creatures, since they’re often the way you’re trying to win the game already. But you can go deeper on creature strategies than simply playing them and using them in combat.

Look for payoffs that trigger when your cast creatures or when they enter. Beast Whisperer and Glimpse of Nature cover the casting payoffs, while alliance permanents and other creaturefall cards trigger when they enter (Gala Greeters, The Great Henge, etc.).

Sacrifice decks tend to be creature-heavy as well. Disposable creatures that either recur themselves or produce sacrificial fodder are perfect here. Think things like Reassembling Skeleton or Doomed Traveler. The payoffs also tend to be creatures, like Blood Artist and such.

Creatures are also the conduit by which auras, equipment, and pump spells work. No creatures, no use for most of those other permanents types. Look for creatures that complement those strategies (Aura Gnarlid in an auras deck, for example).

Wrap Up

Lurrus of the Dream-Den | Illustration by Slawomir Maniak

Creatures have one of the longest histories in Magic and are arguably the most important card type in the game. This is especially true for those who love Limited and Standard, two formats defined by their creatures.

With such importance to the game, there are tons of great creatures everybody can enjoy playing. What’s your favorite creature? Can you play it in your favorite format? Let me know in the comments or on the Draftsim Discord!

Stay safe, and curve out!