The 24 Best Hats in MTG Art Ranked

Last updated on February 12, 2026

Hat Trick | Illustration by Sebastian Giacobino

Every year seems to be a good year for MTG fans to complain about Magic, but 2024 was special. It was the Year of the Hat. Although Murders at Karlov Manor had about the same number of cards with hats as sets on Ixalan or Innistrad, something about everyone wearing fedoras and trilbies rather than whatever hat we call what Thraben Inspector wore really set people off. Earth-style hats were the problem, maybe, except that that’s totally okay for pirate hats and visuals plundered from Egypt and Greece?

Outlaws of Thunder Junction dropping immediately after really was the feather in WOTC’s top-down design cap, though. With about 40% of the cards in the set depicting beings wearing cowboy hats, this was not only more hats than ever before, but the narrative strained credulity, even by the standard wisps of Magic’s usual narrative coherence. Did no one hop on the Omenpath Express from Ravnica to Thunder Junction while keeping the fedoras they’d worked so hard to source in a Phyrexian-ravaged economy, thinking the brim was wide enough for Indiana Jones?

All that said, I think hats are awesome. And aside from the relatively rote designs of the hundred hats in the offending sets, there are some over-the-top masterpieces in the more than 3,000 cards with hats in Magic, which is–hold on to your hats–almost 10% of the total number of unique images on Magic cards!

So let’s see who wore it best and rank the best hats in Magic.

What Are Hats in MTG?

Goblin Haberdasher | Illustration by Jesper Ejsing

We're looking at art on Magic cards featuring hats; you know, things that go on your head. You can use an art tag search on Scryfall to find them all. This sounds simple enough. We know what a hat is, right? Heh.

This is a fantasy world, and the lines can get blurred. Take Venerated Rotpriest. Where is the head, and what might be on top of it? Just that top part? Is there a difference between the head and the hat or helmet thing on top? Memnarch shows up in the Scryfall search. What part, exactly, counts as hat? And Boggart Harbinger is also in the search. Can hats be living beings? What percentage of the time does that snail need to be on the goblin’s head to count as a hat?

With 3,000 hats, we have enough to choose from and so anything too ambiguous we’ll just toss from consideration. But note that I did include helmets and hoods, as well as any sort of hat, like those that might circle around under the neck with a tie or loop of some kind. It can be windy in the multiverse!

We’re talking art, not playability, so even though Ancestral Recall features a hat, and it’s one of the Power Nine, as far as hats go, it will not make the Power 40.

Without further ado, let’s throw our hats into the ring and see who wore it best!

Honorable Mention: Sample Collector + Tinybones Joins Up

Nothing from Murders at Karlov Manor or Outlaws of Thunder Junction is interesting enough to make the list, but I do want to recognize decent haberdashery from those sets. Quite a number of the hats in those sets look wonky, like these fantasy artists have never done such prosaic headwear before. It’s not as bad as the suspiciously frustrating hat in Forget, but there are a lot that just look goofy. I want to shout out Borja Pindado’s Sample Collector and Wylie Beckert’s Tinybones Joins Up as the best in class of hats in those sets.

Even More Honorable Mention: Prodigal Sorcerer

This is a list of best hats, but the award for the person in art that wore the hat best is the indefatigable Tim, the original Douglas Shuler Prodigal Sorcerer, who dares you to make fun of red embossed rose colored beret while staring you down. He might as well have just said, “Don’t make me ping you.” Dan Frazier’s original Jester's Cap is a close second.

This is unlike Grafted Skullcap, which I want to love, but the wearer’s expression wants me to love it too much, which makes me want to love it less. I get that way about hats in real life as well.

Uncertain Mention: Kjeldoran Elite Guard

Artist Melissa A. Benson loves long things poking out the side of a figure’s head (see Adarkar Sentinel, Holy Armor, Marble Priest, and Xira Airen), but here science has gone too far. I refuse to believe that Kjeldoran Elite Guard has actual wings sprouting from the side of their head. I mean, I guess if that’s what’s required to gain “Elite” status in the Kjeldoran Guards, then that’s fine, as long as recruits know that's a pretty gated career path.

That would mean this is an awesome winged hat. But I can’t be totally sure, so we’ll just leave this here.

Not to Mention: Honkin’ Big Hats and Face-Blocking Hats

I love a big, giant, “I can’t actually raise my arms over my head in a world of war and danger” sort of hat. Here are the classics:

• Ratcatcher Trainee
• Wandering Ones
• The Wanderer
• Sleight of Hand
• Blind Seer
• Field of Reality

I also love hats that leave no room for the face, especially the eyes. We don’t need to see. Magic, yo!

• Basilica Guards
• Rag Dealer
• Magus of the Jar
• Knight of Sorrows
• Exquisite Archangel
• Charity Extractor
• Apostle's Blessing
• Angel of Invention

#24. Last Word

There are probably cooler hats than Last Word, but I just dig the Steampunk Jerboa styling here.

#23. Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet + Helm of Chatzuk

Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet and Helm of Chatzuk share the award for best cards inspired by Giger’s xenomorph designs.

#22. Cindering Cutthroat

Cindering Cutthroat is my only “less is more” design. I just love the flair here and I can see little lizard kids dressing up like this for Halloween.

#21. Avatar of Woe

Okay, one more less is more. Avatar of Woe is simple, but scary and visceral.

#20. Yavimaya Elder

If you look at the original art for Yavimaya Elder, you can see that Ray Lago’s guy is getting pretty thin on top. Matt’s Cavotta’s version boasts an awesome helmet of giant thorns, plus an attached facial portion. But I prefer to think of it as a full-on thorny toupee, complete with beard, as perhaps it’s not just typical pattern baldness but something which horrifically, eventually, came also for his beard!

#19. Helm of the Host

A hat with four extra heads. I like this. I just wanted it on a card where there was no reason for it except the sheer love of extra heads. With Helm of the Host, it feels just like a cheat sheet for reading the card. Omo, Queen of Vesuva‘s gracious enough to model it for us.

#18. Numai Outcast

Talk about suffering for one’s art! I prefer to think that Numai Outcast has this facial expression from the stress of keeping this fabulous hat upright as they fight, not out of deeper question of honor for a presumed ronin.

#17. Rix Maadi Guildmage

Rakdos characters have lots of great, showman-y hats, but Rix Maadi Guildmage is the best of the lot. Huge, over-the-top horns is what you need to go with your human skull charm collection and the sharp dorsal ridge from which your tail sprouts. It might be better if they hung from the hat, Blood Cultist style, but I’m good with it.

I actually like this better than the likewise over-the-top Juri, Master of the Revue, which is, in spite of its size, perhaps a little too simple? I realize that sounds ridiculous, so help me understand what I’m feeling here in the comments if you agree.

#16. Nut Collector

We’re talking Christopher’ Moeller’s original art from Odyssey here for the Andorian from Star Trek vibes. I love that Nut Collector’s hat is both subtle and super extra at the same time. Does the hat of a squirrel whisperer need dangly balls that will always visually distract as the Collector walks? Maybe disrupting one’s own attention is how you get in the proper squirrel mindspace.

#15. Kalastria Highborn

“Listen, modiste, have you seen what Rix Maadi Guildmage is wearing? Like that, but more! Like, can we dangle chains across all the head spikes? That just screams Kalastria Highborn and is the perfect way to distract from my aggressively open bodice so that I can get reprinted in the starter set that’s dropping right after the fuzzy animals set. Kids will love me!”

#14. Yixlid Jailer

Looking right out of Mad God, Matt Cavotta’s Yixlid Jailer has perhaps the longest protrusion on any hat in Magic. It’s hard to say a hat is too long when it’s still shorter than the length of the wearer’s arms, but this is a hat that commands the room.

#13. Timebender

Unlike the Jailer, Timebender‘s hat is JUST. TOO. LARGE! Call me crazy, but I think it might actually be easier to bend time if the wizard wasn’t working so hard to keep their head elevated under the weight of this insane hat. I recognize that as a bonus this hat looks like a raised middle finger from the back, which would be super useful if there are any stax players sneaking around back there, but even so.

#12. Mindslaver

This design is indelible in its combination of a bug’s face and a Greek bronze theatrical mask, in Glen Angus’ original and Volkan Baǵa’s reprint. I also like Gossip Goblin’s more recent reprint of Mindslaver, but it’s a very different kind of hat that looks like it’s controlling the wearer, while I’ve always interpreted the other versions the other way around. I love Riddlesmith and the other neurok cards with their bug-eye hat/cowls, but they feel like pale imitations.

#11. Daunting Defender

Daunting Defender and the other Daru cards, with their straw masks, are awesome pieces of Magic design that absolutely need to come back. How have we gone back to Dominaria so many times and not seen this style echoed somewhere else?

#10. Minister of Pain

Is Minister of Pain dealing pain with the blown skull dust here, or is that the ministry and is the pain the attempt to keep their head upright while wearing a sail on their head in a windswept desert environment? I wish the folds and doodads were clearer, but that doesn’t vibe with Izzy’s shadow drenched-style, which is probably for the best. I love that the big stick feels like a boom, given that there’s a sail hanging off it.

#9. Ib Halfheart, Goblin Tactician

Perfect. Since the goggles do nothing, why not just embed them in the helmet? I pity the artist tasked with doing another version of Wayne Reynolds’ indelible Ib Halfheart, Goblin Tactician artwork.

#8. Disrupt

If you keep your head in a bird cage, the “rays” can’t get to you and Disrupt your spells. Or thoughts. Or conspiracy theories. Depicting magical duels on blue cards is a difficult feat, and I’ve always played my copy of Adam Rex’s Weatherlight original because I love it, and because I actually think it’s awesome in Commander.

#7. Dawnhart Disciple

All the dawnhart cards have cool hats. It’s like part of the cult to copy the boss, Katilda. But special notice to Dawnhart Disciple, who quickly surpasses rookie level of hattery with the white betwigged donutty thing. We’ve seen the side horns before, but using them to support heavy and unwieldy deconstructed Princess Leia hair buns is genius.

#6. Katilda, Dawnhart Prime

You could almost sacrifice Edward Woodward and Nicholas Cage in Katilda, Dawnhart Prime’s hat! We have so many booms and buttresses and dangly bits it’s like “Checkmate, vampires. Just find a place to bite!” I appreciate Katilda’s skill in wearing this while wearing spiky clothes and having a big spiky staff. I see them turning at a sudden noise and getting so stuck in their own outfit they have to crawl out from underneath it to safety.

#5. Keldon Warlord

Antlers, teeth, tusks, and…a dorsal fin? Never change, Keldon Warlord. It’s been 30 years with Kev Brockschmidt’s art, so why not forever? I know the turducken of skulls on Chaos Lord has more stuff, but I appreciate the vivaciousness of the Keldon helmet.

#4. Icatian Javelineers

Was “Daredevil Enduring Octopus Storm” the art brief? No hate for artist Michael Phillipi, whose Citizen token is one of my top pieces of token art, but his Icatian Javelineers, first made as a DCI Promo, is just wild. Scott Kirshner, who originated this design (strong enough to keep faith with on a reprint, I see!), executed it more as “Jester Batman.” Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

#3. Mindswipe

I played this card in so many Commander decks where it didn’t belong just because of this absolutely bonkers hat. Rattleclaw Mystic has a more believable helmet, but Mindswipe abandons all pretense of believability, going full Dark Helmet, while also completely occluding vision with the teeth/horns in the front. Kudos to artists Ryan Alexander Lee. This is peak fantasy haberdashery.

#2. Haberthrasher

Haberthrasher is an Un-set hats-matter joke card featuring a hat made of whirling saws with an antenna, what looks like a desk fan, and probably an electric card shuffler worn by something called a “Hatificer.” And it’s still not as bonkers as our number one card!

#1. Curator of Destinies

I’m sorry, but what exactly is happening with Curator of Destinies? This is definitely a hat from the “More Is Still Not Nearly Enough” school of design. We have so many elements I need to use bullet points to keep them straight:

• A golden “woozy face” emoji

Actually, wait a minute. Let’s just hop off this train for a sec and consider that artist Ralph Horsely did this part of the piece and not only was not done, but clearly thought we needed more elements. Slow. Effing. Clap. Let’s go!

• A massive bronze flower in a golden angular vase with two tiny leaves sticking out the sides in case Melissa A. Benson is giving notes.
• An pharaonic Amonkhet-flavored Liliana, Death's Majesty headpiece.
• Two bigger horn thingies shooting out the side. Game on, Melissa A. Benson!
• A pair of orange feathers hanging from the ends of the side horns. As we do.
• Two little dangly coat hangers/earrings in the middle of each giant side horn to display two long blue ribbons.

“This spell can’t be countered.” Hell, no, it can’t! How you gonna concentrate when I roll up with this on my head? This is a solid win.

Best Hat Payoffs

They’re great for bad hair days. Or if it's super sunny out. Maybe raining, even. And that ball cap is the only thing that completes the full Dad from Dallas ensemble, with the Columbia vented shirt, goatee, and sunglasses resting on the back of the neck.

Really, though, there are no real payoffs for style but style itself.

Usually.

MTG has an actual hats-matter theme in Unfinity. None of the cards are officially legal in Commander. But if you bring the right set of awesome hats to FNM, I might be up for experiencing your hats deck. Here are the cards if this sounds like you:

• “Brims” Barone, Midway Mobster
• Goblin Girder Gang
• Goblin Haberdasher
• Haberthrasher
• Hat Trick
• Park Re-Entry
• Rat in the Hat
• Scavenger Hunt
• T.A.P.P.E.R.

Why Do Hats Matter in MTG?

I mean, they don’t. But I for one was shocked to find out how many cards have hats even before The Year of the Hat, 2024. It’s an unexplored MTG tradition.

Until now!

What Is “Hat Tribal”?

Hat typal refers to a joke deck with cards that all have hats, preferably on the central character in the art. From an EDH perspective, assuming none of the Unfinity hat typal payoffs are playable, this is really a meme deck. We expect there to be typal payoffs for these kinds of decks. In this case, it's for the love of chapeaus.

Some folks who have built this have insisted on Unifnity cards with acorns and played “Brims” Barone, Midway Mobster for those bonuses. But folks have built around Karona, False God, Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis, and Mikaeus, the Lunarch just for fun.

Putting a Lid on It

Haberthrasher | Illustration by April Prime

As we wrap up, I hope that this was useful if you’re building a hat-themed EDH meme deck or as an additional resource for your more obscure MTG cosplay needs. If not, I hope you liked the jaunt through a different element of Magic art, which is still the thing that pulls me into this game.

Did I leave off your favorite Magic hat? Let us know in the comments or on Discord, unless it’s Angus Mackenzie. That hat’s overrated. You know it, too.

I have a strong impulse to mark the end by throwing a hat up in the air like at graduation. One sec. There. Did it.

Happy brewing!