All 31 Green Planeswalkers in Magic Ranked

Last updated on November 7, 2025

Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury | Illustration by Adam Paquette

Planeswalkers have always been one of my favorite Magic card types. Sure, some of them are broken to the point of warping the game like Oko, Thief of Crowns, but I love the versatility and the plethora of options they open up.

I find green planeswalkers among the most interesting. Because they often rely on creatures and lands and have a lot of build-around potential you don't always see in other colors where planeswalkers just draw cards and such.

Let's find out which green planeswalkers are the best!

What Are Green Planeswalkers in MTG?

Nissa, Who Shakes the World | Illustration by Chris Rallis

Green planeswalkers are planeswalkers with green color identities that care typical green things, like creatures and lands. Not all green planeswalkers care about both, but they typically care about one or the other. Some common ultimates among these planeswalkers involve mass pumps, putting creatures into play for free, or putting tons of lands onto the battlefield.

I evaluate these cards for their utility in the Commander format. Before we begin, I want to discuss how I evaluate planeswalkers. I focus on the main abilities, the uptick(s) and downtick(s). I don't focus on the ultimates because you aren't guaranteed to reach them; playing a card solely because you expect it to sit in play uncontested for four or five turns isn't a winning strategy. I make exceptions for planeswalkers that either have very cheap ultimates or an ability that facilitates getting to the ultimate quickly.

We also need to talk about color identity. Most of these planeswalkers are mono-green on the front. But three of them – Garruk Relentless, Tyvar Kell, and Grist, Voracious Larva – have a Golgari () color identity; Garruk and Grist because they transform into black permanents and Tyvar because its static ability contains a black symbol. Just something to keep in mind as you scout planeswalkers for your green decks.

#31. Nissa Revane

I started playing Magic around the release of the original Zendikar Magic set. When I first laid eyes on Nissa Revane, I thought it was the strongest card ever. Unfortunately, the most interesting thing about this green planeswalker these days is its representation of a pre-retcon Nissa.

#30. Garruk, Savage Herald

The Planeswalker Deck cards are known for being over-costed and low-impact, which Garruk, Savage Herald demonstrates unfortunately well. Seriously, what's that uptick? It's not a real ability. The punch ability is fine protection, but this planeswalker just doesn't cut it for 6 mana.

#29. Nissa, Nature's Artisan

Gaining life isn't worth an uptick. The second ability could be interesting if it looked at more than two cards. Nissa, Nature's Artisan is another casualty of Wizards' fear of putting playable cards in starter products.

#28. Ellywick Tumblestrum

I could get behind Ellywick Tumblestrum in a deck focused on the initiative to help plunder the Undercity. Venturing in the dungeon is pretty meh in anything else. A thematic card, for sure, but not a strong one.

#27. Nissa, Genesis Mage

Nissa, Genesis Mage still costs too much, but that uptick has some serious potential. It can generate a bundle of mana by untapping lands and mana dorks or simply allow you to wring multiple activations from cards like War Room and Selvala, Heart of the Wilds. Too bad it doesn't have a downtick ability. What a shame.

#26. Jiang Yanggu

Jiang Yanggu is an example of a green planeswalker with a cheap enough ult to give it serious consideration, and it's a decent ult at that. I don't care much for the uptick's lack of permanent effect nor the creation of Mowu, but this can be a serviceable finisher in a pinch.

#25. Vivien of the Arkbow

Vivien of the Arkbow isn't terrible. Getting +1/+1 counters gives this a lasting impact on the game, even if Vivien dies, and you can punch your way through creatures. I wish this planeswalker cost about 2 less mana, but it's far from embarrassing.

#24. Vivien, Nature's Avenger

Vivien, Nature's Avenger distributes a genuinely impactful number of +1/+1 counters. The card advantage on the second ability always draws a card, which is better than you can say for some of these other planeswalkers. This is still more mana than I want to pay, but we've moved from “unplayable” to a “begrudging inclusion.”

#23. Arlinn, Voice of the Pack

There aren't many wolf-centric decks, but they love Arlinn, Voice of the Pack for making their wolves better. It's especially powerful alongside cards like Tovolar's Huntmaster and Nightpack Ambusher that spit out Wolf tokens.

#22. Tyvar Kell

Tyvar Kell is fantastic in elf decks. It does everything elves could want: It produces mana, untaps elves like Priest of Titania, and eventually draws cards. The biggest knock against this planeswalker is its lack of relevance in any other archetype. Note: Its color identity is Golgari.

#21. Nissa, Vastwood Seer / Nissa, Sage Animist

Hitting seven lands to flip Nissa, Vastwood Seer looks like a lot, but have you ever seen a green player with fewer than 20 lands in EDH? Once you get Nissa, Sage Animist, you have access to a decent-sized creature and plenty of card advantage. Drawing a card or ramping isn't much, but it's honest work and exactly what I’d expect from a green card advantage engine.

#20. Garruk, Unleashed

I don't like an uptick that doesn't have a permanent impact on the board, which has me lower on Garruk, Unleashed than I might otherwise be considering the efficiency of its Beast token production. The way that second ability works is interesting; since it adds an additional loyalty instead of costing less, you can use cards like Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider to make it loyalty neutral. There might be something there….

#19. Vivien, Arkbow Ranger

Hey look, it's Vivien of the Arkbow, but it costs 2 less mana! Looking at these two planeswalkers next to each other really exposes the flaws of the Planeswalker Deck cards… but we aren't talking about that!

Vivien, Arkbow Ranger works beautifully in +1/+1 counter decks. Spreading counters across multiple creatures does tons of work with counter doublers, easily getting four or more counters from one activation. The punch ability provides perfectly adequate protection. The ultimate is achievable since you only need to activate Vivien once, but it's relatively unimpressive in Commander.

#18. Grist, Voracious Larva / Grist, the Plague Swarm

It takes a little work to flip Modern Horizons 3‘s Grist, Voracious Larva into Grist, the Plague Swarm. For graveyard-centric decks, that work is worth the effort. The steady stream of Insect tokens and self-mill gives you all the fodder you could want. Some easy enablers for this planeswalker include Unearth and various Malakir Rebirth shenanigans.

#17. Garruk Relentless / Garruk, the Veil-Cursed

Power creep hasn't bee kind to one of my favorite Cube cards: Garruk Relentless. That doesn't make it worthless, however. Picking off small creatures to transform it into Garruk, the Veil-Cursed can be quite powerful, especially if you have some fodder sitting around for the creature tutor ability.

Remember that this Garruk transforms on the battlefield; it doesn't exile itself, so you can't activate Garruk, the Veil-Cursed the same turn that you activated Garruk Relentless.

#16. Jiang Yanggu, Wildcrafter

Jiang Yanggu, Wildcrafter delivers a powerful payoff to +1/+1 counter decks. It takes very little effort for this planeswalker to turn your entire board into mana dorks, which pairs nicely with power- or toughness-based card advantage like Rishkar's Expertise and Last March of the Ents.

#15. Vivien Reid

I've always been a fan of Vivien Reid. It's one of many planeswalkers designed in the pattern of 5-mana planeswalker with a card advantage uptick, protective downtick, and a game-winning ult. Green planeswalkers suffer the most for this, I think; they can only protect themselves so well and can't just draw cards, but this is still a reasonable value engine.

#14. Wrenn and Realmbreaker

Wrenn and Realmbreaker works best in multicolor decks where the static ability ensures you have perfect mana. The downtick works well in self-mill decks. I appreciate that this planeswalker cares about permanents, not just creatures; that gives it much more flexibility than other green planeswalkers.

#13. Vivien, Monsters' Advocate

Knock-off Future Sight effects are often powerful, and Vivien, Monsters' Advocate fills that role nicely.

The abilities are also quite powerful. The 3/3 Beasts provide more than adequate protection and the second ability convincingly steals games by cheating massive threats into play. I'm typically pleased to put this green planeswalker in casual decks, especially ones that can sneak in finishers like Craterhoof Behemoth with the second ability.

#12. Vivien, Champion of the Wilds

I like giving my creatures flash; it turns them into pseudo-removal spells. That might be an optimistic take on it, but you only need to eat one creature before your opponents turn their attackers elsewhere. Vivien, Champion of the Wilds is a great enabler for the ability. Its uptick does virtually nothing, but you can get some reasonable card advantage if you have enough creatures in your deck.

#11. Nissa, Voice of Zendikar

At 3 mana, Nissa, Voice of Zendikar doesn't need to win the game single-handedly. It's great early to build up a board of Plants and fine later to distribute +1/+1 counters across the team. I'm a big fan.

#10. Nissa, Worldwaker

The main draw to Nissa, Worldwaker is the ability to untap four forests. That's some crazy mana production; this is practically a 1-drop planeswalker! You need to be heavy in green to get full value from Nissa, Worldwaker, but what a reward for focusing on Forests in your mana base.

#9. Garruk, Caller of Beasts

Who doesn't love dropping creatures in play for a discount? Sure, Garruk, Caller of Beasts asks for 6 mana upfront, but that's still a discount on creatures like Craterhoof Behemoth, Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger, and Vaultborn Tyrant.

I'm also a fan of the uptick, which can draw a bunch of creatures with each activation. This is much more what I'm looking for from a 6-mana planeswalker.

#8. Nissa, Vital Force

Nissa, Vital Force bought its ranking with a very achievable, very powerful ult. You only need to activate it once, and the 5/5 provides some excellent protection. Getting an emblem that makes your lands cantrip dominates games. This is all about card advantage, and it's quite good at it.

#7. Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury

Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury can take over games quickly. The ultimate is on the achievable side, but it doesn't lose any impact. I appreciate how the uptick feeds the ult with green creatures to draw extra cards from and mana to spend on those cards. While Freyalise works well with elf decks, it's not limited to that archetype by any stretch.

#6. Wrenn and Seven

Wrenn and Seven stands out as a self-mill enabler. That uptick dumps tons of cards in the graveyard. The Treefolk token can be quite formidable, and you even get some ramp. I wouldn't want this in decks that can't do something with the cards you mill, but that's a broad enough application that I like this quite a bit.

#5. Vivien on the Hunt

Hey look, it's Birthing Pod! That's plenty of value in its own right, but Vivien on the Hunt goes further than a busted uptick that can assemble some nasty combos and game-ending plays. The second uptick gives you a chance to draw a bunch of creatures in one go for incredible card advantage. In the worst-case scenario, you can cash Vivien in for a herd of Rhino tokens. All in all, I'm quite pleased with this planeswalker.

#4. Garruk, Primal Hunter

Garruk, Primal Hunter might have the best card advantage ability on any green planeswalker. If you immediately cash this in, it's basically Rishkar's Expertise. If you get to uptick it first, you have a huge advantage. Triple green is a pretty daunting mana cost, but that's what Wrenn and Realmbreaker is for.

#3. Garruk Wildspeaker

Of the five original Lorwyn planeswalkers, Garruk Wildspeaker has aged the best. It has no bad modes, especially for its mana value. Untapping two lands kind of halves the mana value and makes sequencing it with your plays easy. You can get quick board presence via the Beast tokens and that Overrun is both very achievable and potentially game-winning. I love this planeswalker dearly.

#2. Nissa, Ascended Animist

Nissa, Ascended Animist is absurdly pushed. Phyrexian mana makes it easy to fit this planeswalker into your curve wherever you need it, and its tokens generally take over the game, regardless of when you play it. Paying the full 7 mana makes this one of the better mass pump spells in the game, at least if you're heavy on forests.

#1. Nissa, Who Shakes the World

Nissa, Who Shakes the World isn't a perfect mana doubler since it only makes forests tap for an additional mana. It is still plenty of value, especially since Nissa untaps lands, and allows a forest to tap for 4 mana in a single turn. With that kind of mana advantage, how do you lose (Armageddon)?

Best Green Planeswalker Payoffs

You want more reasons to slot green planeswalkers into your deck? Sandwurm Convergence and Palazzo Archers both offer flying hate and a degree of protection for your planeswalkers. Oath of Nissa, Vivien's Grizzly, and Varis, Silverymoon Ranger offer synergies with planeswalkers in zones like your library and hand.

Lastly, there are direct bonuses for controlling certain planeswalkers on this list, Predatory Wurm, Vivien's Jaguar, and Nissa's Triumph each look for you to control a specific planeswalker and provide extra benefits.

Wrap Up

Wrenn and Seven | Illustration by Heonhwa Choe

Green planeswalkers ask you to play lands and creatures and reward you handsomely for doing so. Those are pretty important card types, so it doesn't take much work to get the most from them.

The best green planeswalkers have immediate, lasting impacts on the game, and if you have the means to cast them, most of these cards are are worth checking out. There's almost certainly a midrange option here that'll help you cover gaps in a green commander‘s strengths.

Which is your favorite? Do you enjoy planeswalkers or wish they were designed differently? Let me know in the comments below or on the Draftsim Discord!

Stay safe and thank you for reading!