The 35 Best Druids in Magic Ranked

Last updated on February 29, 2024

Shigeki, Jukai Visionary | Illustration by Anna Podedworna

Creature types are a fantastic part of Magic. They do so much heavy lifting. In deckbuilding, kindred strategies come from playing as many versions of one card type as possible, but they also do plenty of work for Magic’s storytelling through its game pieces.

The creature types on a plane do a lot to establish the plane‘s lore and the creatures' relationship to it. The difference between an elf warrior and an elf druid is often immense, reflected in art and card text. Today, we’re looking at the best druids, a creature type associated with an attunement to nature and green mana.

What Are Druids in MTG?

Archdruid's Charm | Illustration by Liiga Smilshkalne

Druid is a creature subtype that’s especially prevalent on green creatures. Having the druid type in MTG often signifies that the creature in question has a deep connection to the natural world, which is why they’re predominantly green creatures. There’s also a deep overlap between elves and druids.

This affinity for nature manifests itself in several ways, but the most prominent ability among druids is the ability to tap for mana. Sometimes it’s just a bit, like Llanowar Elves, but other times it’s enough to resemble Gaea's Cradle. In addition to producing mana, many druids interact well with creatures, like Beast Whisperer and Bennie Bracks, Zoologist.

#35. Ley Weaver + Argothian Elder

Getting to untap lands is a pretty powerful source of mana ramp, but Ley Weaver and Argothian Elder have a lot of combo potential. If you can turn them into lands, such as with Ashaya, Soul of the Wild, or maneuver their abilities onto land creatures, you can untap either druid and a land infinitely.

#34. Circle of the Land Druid

Circle of the Land Druid is an efficient means of filling you graveyard. It plays best with decks that can sacrifice the Druid to reliably use the death trigger.

#33. Druid of Purification

Druid of Purification doesn’t matter outside Commander, but it’s a powerful interactive tool. It often removes two or three permanents when it comes into play, and it’s pretty easy to maximize ETB triggers with effects like Panharmonicon and Displacer Kitten.

#32. Rift Sower

Rift Sower will never be the strongest dork in the deck, but it’s more than serviceable. 1 mana for a dork tapping for any color is sick, even if paying full price is weak. Suspend is also relevant as casting spells from exile gets more and more support.

#31. Rashmi, Eternities Crafter

I have a deep fondness for Rashmi, Eternities Crafter. It’s a great little value engine that draws at least one card a turn cycle and potentially far more if you build with tons of instants. Rashmi also plays well with top-deck manipulation, like Sensei's Divining Top and Mystical Tutor.

#30. Skull Prophet

Skull Prophet is always a role-player, even if they’re never the star of the show. Many Golgari+ decks want mana acceleration and cards in the graveyard, both of which Skull Prophet provides at an unexciting but acceptable rate.

#29. Rootpath Purifier

Changing card types is a powerful effect with loads of potential, so what are the best things we can do with Rootpath Purifier? Cracking Evolving Wilds for a Strip Mine is near the top of my list.

The general value comes from how many more tutors find basics than nonbasics. Rampant Growth, Explosive Vegetation, and all the Evolving Wilds variants suddenly tutor Field of the Dead, Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle, and Dark Depths combo pieces right into play.

#28. Accomplished Alchemist

Who doesn’t love a mana dork that taps for infinite mana? Accomplished Alchemist has an incredibly high ceiling, but the floor’s pretty solid. You need a dedicated lifegain deck to leverage this expensive mana dork’s power, but the right deck sees this tapping for 4-5 mana a turn.

#27. Evolution Sage

Landfall is an intrinsically broken mechanic because of how hard it is to interact with. Evolution Sage bolsters any deck using counters, from +1/+1 counter decks to planeswalkers and even the occasional infect deck that doesn’t mind spreading some toxicity.

#26. Gyre Sage

Gyre Sage needs to be in a deck focused on +1/+1 counters or proliferation, but decks meeting that requirement have an incredibly powerful mana dork on their hands. It takes little work to get Gyre Sage tapping for 4-5 mana, which coincides with it becoming less of a dork and more of a threat.

#25. Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald

Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald only gets better with time. While plenty of mechanics let you cast spells from exile, like cascade and discover, exiling spells to cast later—or impulse draws—has become red’s premier source of card advantage. Nearly every set introduces a new card or two that makes Faldorn better.

#24. Elvish Archdruid

Elf-ball decks are built upon a fundamental strength of the creature type: They produce near-infinite mana. Elvish Archdruid is one of the strongest mana dorks in a dedicated elf deck, and the lord's ability gives them a little extra oomph.

#23. Shigeki, Jukai Visionary

Shigeki, Jukai Visionary is the complete package. It fuels self-mill strategies while acting as a minor payoff via its channel ability and getting a bit of ramp to tie it all together. Channel is especially powerful as it goes on the stack as an ability, not a spell, making it much harder to interact with than spells like Regrowth or Eternal Witness.

#22. Chulane, Teller of Tales

Growth Spiral got banned in Standard. It’s a pretty unassuming but powerful card. After all, the best game actions you can take in Magic are drawing cards and making land drops. So what if your commander gave you a free Growth Spiral every time you cast a creature? Chulane, Teller of Tales is a dominant value engine that rewards you for taking basic game actions by drawing cards and ramping. The lands don’t even come into play tapped!

#21. Questing Druid

One of the most impactful cards from Wilds of Eldraine, Questing Druid does several things very efficiently. A 2-mana 1/1 that essentially grows every time you cast a spell does a great Tarmogoyf impression. The traditional weakness of such a card is that it’s incredible on turn 2 but weaker and weaker the later you draw it. The adventure portion nullifies this, turning it into a source of card advantage and a late-game threat, and makes it even better in multiples.

#20. Rocco, Cabaretti Caterer

Chord of Calling is a fantastic spell, and Rocco, Cabaretti Caterer gives it to you on a stick. You can find silver bullet answers like Collector Ouphe or Harsh Mentor, or just assemble combos. Rocco also plays well with Wirewood Symbiote.

#19. Gwenna, Eyes of Gaea

I think Gwenna, Eyes of Gaea is underrated in green EDH decks. Jumping from 3 mana to 6 is pretty powerful, and Gwenna lets you activate the abilities of creatures. Even more importantly, the untap ability allows them to generate tons of mana for explosive turns while turning Gwenna into a hefty threat.

#18. Jaheira, Friend of the Forest

Who doesn’t love generating silly amounts of mana? Jaheira, Friend of the Forest works best with Clue, Food, and Treasure tokens, essentially turning them into endless copies of Mox Diamond. The right deck finds Jaheira mana neutral when cast, if not mana positive.

#17. Heritage Druid

Making 3 mana is often the magic number. Heritage Druid provides this service to elf decks, letting them ramp out of control. It plays well with cards that help untap creatures, like Nettle Sentinel and Quirion Ranger, but elves are so cheap 3 mana is often enough to play three more anyway.

#16. Bennie Bracks, Zoologist

Passive card advantage lets players draw cards after an initial mana investment. Bennie Bracks, Zoologist is a great way for token decks to see at least an extra card each turn with a minimal mana investment, thanks to convoke often making this close to, if not entirely free. This can often draw two or three cards per rotation if you can generate tokens on your opponents’ turns.

#15. Beast Whisperer

Beast Whisperer provides nearly unchecked card advantage in creature decks. Green decks already want to produce immense amounts of mana, and Beast Whisperer ensures they have the cards to spend it on. It’s best in decks that focus on playing small creatures, but your Vorinclexes and such cantripping is still pretty powerful.

#14. Marwyn, the Nurturer

Marwyn, the Nurturer provides elf decks one of their best commanders. It’s a powerful mana engine that works especially well with effects that pump Marwyn’s power and untap it, like Stony Strength.

#13. Priest of Titania

Priest of Titania is practically Gaea's Cradle for elf decks. It’s one of the best mana engines in the deck and one of the primary reasons to run untap effects. It helps you go off like none of the other mana dorks, especially as many cheap elves are effectively mana-neutral with Priest in play.

#12. Llanowar Elves

There are many Llanowar Elves variants that are also druids but listing them takes a lot of space. Elves of Deep Shadow gets a shout-out for fixing mana, but all the 1-mana dorks are incredible. They can be format-defining cards. Accelerating from turn 1 pressures your opponent to have immediate interaction or it snowballs out of control.

#11. Faeburrow Elder

Mana dorks that tap for multiple mana are quite valuable. Faeburrow Elder does it better than most. The ceiling is quite high. The threat potential is also worth considering; the more mana the Elder taps for, the more imposing your vigilant creature becomes.

#10. Noble Hierarch

Noble Hierarch is one of the strongest 1-mana dorks in the game. Getting to fix multiple colors helps curve out cleanly and unlocks lots of color-intensive early plays. Exalted is a useful keyword that lets this creature attack when you don’t need the mana and has made it powerful in archetypes that care above every point of damage, such as infect.

#9. Somberwald Sage

You can only spend Somberwald Sage’s mana on creature spells, which is a restriction, but when have green decks ever lacked large creatures to play? The burst in mana from 3 to 7 can swing a game instantly, especially if you accelerate this creature out. The body is spongy, but the mana accelerating will end games.

#8. Mesa Enchantress

There are a host of powerful 3-mana enchantress druids like Mesa Enchantress, including Satyr Enchanter and Verduran Enchantress. Enchantress decks often run lots of cheap cards and mana acceleration that allows these cards to tear through your deck.

#7. Hermit Druid

There are some Magic cards so fundamentally broken you can’t play them fairly. Hermit Druid is among them. If you don’t put any basic lands into your deck, it mills the entire thing for 1 mana. Even if you try and play it “fairly” with basics, the number of cards you mill often well exceeds the two or three cards one would expect from a 1-mana investment.

#6. Devoted Druid

Devoted Druid’s primary claim to fame is its utility as a combo piece. From ways to prevent it from getting -1/-1 counters to changing its card type so the counters don’t matter, turning this into a source of infinite green mana is trivial. Even without combos, it’s still a pretty powerful dork. 2 mana for a creature that taps for 1 is reasonable enough, and the extra mana on a turn where you can use it makes this a well-rounded card, fair and unfair.

#5. Bloom Tender

If a 2-mana dork that taps for 1 is reasonable, what about a 2-mana dork that taps for 5? While having permanents of every color is ideal with Bloom Tender, it’s perfectly fine even in 2-color decks. A 2-mana dork that taps for 2 is above rate, so this is at least good in any deck that’s not mono-green.

#4. Argothian Enchantress

Argothian Enchantress is the best enchantress. It’s cheap and, most importantly, nearly impossible to remove without a board wipe or edict. Such a cheap, reliable source of card draw is hard to beat.

#3. Circle of Dreams Druid

Gaea's Cradle is one of the best lands ever printed, and Circle of Dreams Druid is Cradle on a stick. is a very intensive mana cost, but this creature is worth the price.

#2. Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary

Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary is a significantly powerful mana dork, though it practically requires you to be in mono-green. Of course, the reward for sticking to one color is doubling your mana. Playing a turn-2 Rofellos into turn-3 Primeval Titan is the height of unfair Magic and just the beginning of what this elf druid enables.

#1. Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy

Speaking of mana doublers, Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy does it better than most. A creature that just doubled the mana produced by dorks and rocks would already be powerful, but Kinnan takes it further. It’s an outlet for all that mana! If you’re playing a card like Kinnan, you already want tons of big creatures in your deck. Making them non-human in Simic is an irrelevant hurdle, and putting them into play without worrying about countermagic is incredible. As an enabler, payoff, and combo piece with Basalt Monolith, Kinnan is a hell of a druid.

Best Druid Payoffs

Big green spells are the best payoffs for building a deck with a bunch of druids. Cards like Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger, Apex Altisaur, and Last March of the Ents that turn games in your favor work well with druids because the best druids do one thing: produce immense amounts of mana.

A druid kindred deck has a few payoffs, notably Seton, Krosan Protector and Gilt-Leaf Archdruid. Seton can be a great commander, allowing your druids that aren’t already mana dorks to become Llanowar Elves. Gilt-Leaf Archdruid is a powerful win condition. Making all your druids cantrip ensures you see the cards needed to end the game, and it’s hard for your opponents to make a comeback after you steal all their lands.

Wrap Up

Gilt-Leaf Archdruid | Illustration by Steve Prescott

As a creature type, druid does a lot of storytelling. It shows a creature with a deep connection to the land and the natural forces of their plane. As this often manifests in creatures that produce a bunch of extra mana, it’s also a powerful creature type many decks can leverage.

What’s your favorite druid? What character type do you think has the most storytelling impact? Let me know in the comments below or on the Draftsim Discord!

Stay safe, and keep in touch with nature!