All 20 Holiday Promo Cards in Magic Ranked

Topdeck the Halls | Illustration by Kieran Yanner

Magic cards can do far more than capture a game piece. They can honor an individual, like Duelist of the Mind, Dark Confidant, and all the other Player Spotlight cards, or they could represent a snapshot in time, like the stamped rares in Prerelease Kits.

Some of the most striking promotional cards are holiday cards, which go beyond special treatments or frames; they’re unique, silver-border cards designed specifically as a gift for Wizards employees and WPN stores, rife with art and mechanics and puns that bring that holiday cheer to a slip of cardboard near you.

What Are Holiday Cards in MTG?

Eggnogger's ‘Stache | Illustration by Arif Wijaya

Holiday cards in MTG are special promotional, silver-border cards (and thus illegal in sanctioned play) that are printed by Wizards of the Coast to celebrate the holiday season. As celebratory pieces of art rather than serious game pieces, they’re flavored around the holidays with a love of puns and utter disregard for the Magic rulebook—they read like Un-set cards flavored with cinnamon, pine, and holiday cheer.

Since silver-border cards aren’t legal in sanctioned play, they work best in casual Cubes or Rule-0’d Commander games, and I’ll rank them as such, with an eye towards fun and intrigue over raw power.

#20. Season’s Beatings

This card has some distinctly uncomfortable flavor, though I suppose the ability is fine? It’s a weird board wipe-esque effect. It also has the least fun in the text box; of all the holiday cards, only Season's Beatings could be printed in a regular Magic set.

#19. Naughty // Nice

Naughty / Nice has a very vanilla interpretation of the name and feels like half a card due to how incredibly low-value casting Nice is unless you need to give the next player in turn order a board wipe or something. In performance and flavor, this one unperformed.

#18. Eggnogger's ‘Stache

Eggnogger's ‘Stache is just another attempt to force Loot down our throats, this time adorned with holiday cheer. If you don’t mind getting a little messy, this card could be a good source of counters.

#17. Stocking Tiger

Stocking Tiger could draw up to 15 cards—though the reality is much slimmer unless you’re in all five colors. But you can comfortably just discard the off-color effects to hand size without much worry—or even as a synergy engine all its own with cards like Inti, Seneschal of the Sun and other discard payoffs. Choose your booster pack wisely to get the most bang for your tiger.

#16. Yule Ooze

Yule Ooze can become the most fearsome threat on the table, presuming large permanents are foolish enough to wander near the neon pudding. Its regenerate ability is perfect for anybody in want of an excuse to indulge in holiday treats like cookies and candy.

#15. Decorated Knight

Decorated Knight boasts a fascinating little mechanic that requires two decks. At the very least, they must share blue; the first deck needs blue mana to cast the adventure, and the second so you can cast this card from exile. Beyond that, the sky’s the limit. Do you go for decks with complementary themes, or contrasting ones? Do you make Decorated Knight the centerpiece of your strategy or a fun card you might hit?

#14. Last-Minute Chopping

Last-Minute Chopping could be the cheapest Mind Control variant you ever saw… or a surprise cantrip. Knowledge of your pod goes a long way towards getting the most of this card, and you can easily double or triple down on the value with copy effects or ways to recast it.

#13. Fruitcake Elemental

Fruitcake Elemental combines the worst holiday treat with the worst gift-giving tendency: re-gifting that horrid candle that Aunt Barbara won’t stop buying but nobody in the family has the darksteel-lined nostrils to bear. It’s funny, and a cute way to tie up your opponents’ mana unless they want to lose lots of life; pair it with cost reducers to minimize the impact on you.

#12. Snow Mercy

Snow Mercy captures the horrors of Phyrexia in a winter wonderland that reduces their ability to harm you. Behind the cheeky ability cost that makes you shake the snowglobe is a surprisingly potent defensive effect that can save you in a tight spot.

#11. Bog Humbugs

Bog Humbugs mixes a delightful mini-game with aggression. It only needs a few turns to become a serious threat, especially with cards that care about counters. It’s also a great chance to show off your musical abilities.

#10. Cheer

In true 2025 fashion, Cheer could be messed up if you give it a chance. What happens when you make a token copy of this elemental incarnation? Well, you draw the game if you don’t have another token! Everybody gets so wrapped up in the holiday spirit that the game ends, one way or another.

#9. Evil Presents

How do you make a mono-black card that celebrates the holidays? It’s an interesting question that Evil Presents answers quite well with an almost-passive aggressive gift that reminds your opponent that gifts are best exchanged equally. Since the given creature attacks the controller, they count as the defending player for, say, annihilator.

#8. Gifts Given

Gifts Given feels shockingly cruel as you rifle through your opponent’s library to make use of their gifts. Swiping two good cards (the third and fourth best in the deck) makes for good card draw, assuming you have the colors to cast opposing spells. Putting them into your hand leads to some amusing rules questions: What happens when you follow this up with a Timetwister?

#7. Some Disassembly Required

Some Disassembly Required fits nicely with cards like Nightveil Predator and Akroma, Angel of Wrath to construct an elite strike force to end the game, perhaps with some lifegain. A cheap, repeatable sacrifice outlet is also generically strong, so you lose out on very little when you play this.

#6. Mishra’s Toy Workshop

Mishra's Toy Workshop tries to make one of the most busted lands in Magic fair, but it still falls short because 3 mana from one land is absurd. It has also aged very well since 2014; this came before Clues and Treasure became staples that appear throughout Magic, which greatly increases the number of cards this spell can cast.

#5. Thopter Pie Network

Thopter Pie Network is among the most flavorful holiday cards, and one of the spiciest. Swarming the battlefield with flying treats leaves your opponents drooling and jealous, even as you ping them to death. Perhaps you can represent the tokens with fresh-baked cookies and hope the smell affects their judgment….

#4. Seasonal Sequels

Puns abound with the holiday cards, but Seasonal Sequels stands out as the card that gives you the pen to write your own groan-worthy jokes. It’s a fun take on a copy spell that taxes not only your mana but your creativity for one of the most engaging holiday card mini-games.

#3. Goblin Sleigh Ride

Goblin Sleigh Ride leaves itself wide open to interpretation, which is a serious part of the fun. How will you slide the card? Will you make a little ramp or just flick it? How much of the targeted creature must touch Goblin Sleigh Ride to have “stayed on?” Try running this in Gruul () with big creatures, and be prepared for some spirited debates!

#2. Chaos Wrap

Chaos Wrap is amusingly broken. Sticking a card in so many sleeves that it rises above the rest of the table is funny, but also results in a messed-up threat that effectively has several shield counters. It could also be the basis of a drinking game: Have a sip of your hot chocolate (and nothing else) whenever somebody unwraps the present.

#1. Topdeck the Halls

Topdeck the Halls has aged beautifully due to the Booster Fun initiative that has resulted in a dizzying number of alternate frames and printings and art and promos… I doubt you’d struggle much to build an entire EDH deck with cards that you can miracle off this.

How Do You Get MTG Holiday Cards?

Wizards of the Coasts distributes holiday cards to members of their internal team and local game stores that are part of the Wizards Play Network (WPN). Once the stores receive their promo, they can use it at their discretion.

For regular players who don’t run an LGS or work at Wizards, your best chance to get a holiday card is through the secondary market; at some point, somebody who has one of the promos will want to sell them, so you can find listings on sites like eBay and TCGplayer.

Are MTG Holiday Cards Valuable?

They definitely can be due to scarcity and their status as a highly collectable game piece. The price varies greatly from card to card, with TCGplayer showing (at time of writing) that Seasonal Sequels is cheapest with a market price of $16, while Gifts Given leads the pack at a whopping $407.

Wrap Up

Thopter Pie Network | Illustration by Victor Adame Minguez

Much like how we let loose around the holidays and pretend calories don’t count, holiday cards give Magic designers a chance to tinker with nonsensical mechanics and ideas, putting flavor and fun at the forefront of the card’s design. Dripping with puns and cheer, these are excellent mementos for any collection.

What’s your favorite holiday card? Would you run these in your Cube or EDH deck? Let me know in the comments below or on the Draftsim Discord!

Stay safe, and thanks for reading!