The 59 Best Human Cards in Magic Ranked

Last updated on October 22, 2026

Increasing Devotion | Illustration by Bruno Biazotto

Humans are the most prevalent creature type in MTG. They’re everywhere in the MTG Multiverse, and frequently in high numbers. They’re available in all colors, shapes, and sizes, from 1/1 blue humans to 4/4 multicolor ones, with a few planar exceptions—apparently there aren’t humans on planes like Lorwyn or Bloomburrow, and their numbers really dwindled on New Phyrexia.

There are literally thousands of human cards printed across all colors, including artifact humans and enchantment humans, and here we’re going to rank the best human cards Magic has to offer. I’m considering staples in various formats and historical relevance, so let’s check out the best humans across all multiversal walks of life.

What Are Humans in MTG?

Esper Sentinel | Illustration by Eric Deschamps

Human is a creature type, and one of the most used ones. 99% of MTG’s planes are inhabited by humans, and they’re usually the protagonists of the story, including planeswalkers like Kaya, Jace, Chandra, Teferi and the like.

There was a Grand Creature Type Update in 2007, in which creatures that lacked appropriate creature types were changed to reflect that, many of which became humans. The article cites Samite Healer, a card that was originally a cleric but is now a human cleric.

Honorable Mentions

Rusko, Clockmaker

Rusko, Clockmaker is a very strong card in Brawl. You’ll get a mana rock each time you cast it, which will give you mana back to recast Rusko when it dies. If it stays on the battlefield you’ll drain your opponents and speed up your Midnight Clocks. For those interested in playing with this card, it had a Mystery Booster 2 physical printing, so it’s not strictly a digital-only card anymore.

Crucias, Titan of the Waves

Crucias, Titan of the Waves is a nice midrange card, allowing you to convert a card you don’t need into a Treasure and another card from your deck. It’s good early and late, and helps you with situational cards, like discard spells against an empty-handed foe, or removal against control decks. Notably this card was originally a 3/3 but was nerfed to a 3/1.

#59. Argothian Enchantress + Verduran Enchantress

These two very similar humans are enchantresses that allow you to draw cards each time you cast an enchantment. Argothian Enchantress has a lesser mana value and has shroud, so you should prioritize it unless you’re aiming to enchant your own enchantress. Both are fine in EDH, so you can absolutely play Verduran Enchantress in enchantment decks.

#58. Feldon of the Third Path

Feldon of the Third Path is an awesome tool in artifact-heavy decks, and it can also be your commander. You’ll fill the deck with looting/rummaging effects, and then proceed to create copies of big, impactful artifacts like Cityscape Leveler and Blightsteel Colossus.

#57. Hermit Druid

Hermit Druid is a powerful self-mill card that can mill a good chunk of your deck in a single activation. The only requirement is to play as few basic lands as possible; if you do, Hermit Druid is an amazing combo-enabler. From there you can win via reanimation combos or Thassa's Oracle.

#56. Grand Abolisher

Grand Abolisher is the ultimate “don’t mess with my turn” card, though this text box appears more frequently on other cards nowadays. Abolisher still has one of the most comprehensive stax effects if you just don’t want opponents interacting on your turn.

#55. Augur of Autumn

Cards that let us play lands from the top of the library are good sources of card advantage. Add to that the coven ability to also play creatures, and we have a strong 3-mana human in Augur of Autumn. Green makes good use of this effect, and it pairs well with red’s impulse draws.

#54. Notion Thief

What does Notion Thief do best? It denies extra card draw, and the cards go to you instead. Flashing this in response to a wheel effect is brutal, since they’ll be empty-handed and you’ll draw half your deck. Your opponents will always go out of their way to get extra cards, so you can take the same approach to steal them with this Game Changer.

#53. Leonardo da Vinci

As the great inventor himself, Leonardo da Vinci excels at reanimating powerful artifacts as thopters, which is very powerful but manageable as they become small 0/2 thopters. You want to discard cards like Portal to Phyrexia or Akroma's Memorial to copy or play cards that make Thopter tokens, like Sai, Master Thopterist. Leonardo even buffs its own air force for the win. 

#52. Tireless Tracker

Tireless Tracker is your go-to midrange guy, allowing you to transform fetch lands into multiple Clues. You’ll usually cast it and immediately play a land just to get the small value. The Tracker also shines in Clue-heavy decks, landfall decks, and more.

#51. Captain America, First Avenger

Captain America, First Avenger is already a strong creature as a 4/4 for 3 mana, clearly an effect of the super soldier serum. But what’s best about this card is that you can play with expensive equipment since Cap attaches them for free before unattaching them to deal damage equal to their mana values.

Equipment cards like Excalibur, Sword of Eden mean 12 damage to the face in Cap’s hands, which can become an inefficient board wipe over time. You can also attach said equipment, attack for a ton, and unattach later for more benefits.

#50. Pia, Aether Ascetic

Pia, Aether Ascetic is green’s first direct enchantment tutor and it’s amazing. Discarding a card lets Pia set up enchantments like Animate Dead or Tortured Existence. Since it’s an enters ability, Teleportation Circle is a great grab to flicker it and find more enchantments. There are just so many niche synergies to draw on….

#49. Pensive Professor

Pensive Professor puts a spin on Fathom Mage, except it’s often better. It costs less and goes in more decks, and increment is generally better than evolve because you can trigger it more reliably without needing creatures or even needing the spell to resolve.

#48. Voice of Victory

Voice of Victory’s main benefit is to prevent people from messing with your combat or countering your spells. This has implications not only in EDH, but also against control decks in Standard, for example. Token decks appreciate the two free tokens this card provides with its mobilize trigger.

#47. Spider-Punk

The red Questing Beast of sorts, Spider-Punk is versatile enough to see play in plenty of formats just on the uncounterability and damage prevention abilities alone. Of course, it gets better in a spider deck since it gives them all riot. It’s a strong addition for any environment where protecting combos is paramount to success.

#46. Kess, Dissident Mage

Any Grixis deck interested in casting instants or sorceries from the graveyard? Here’s Kess, Dissident Mage, who’s among the strongest and most popular Grixis commanders. The spell recursion is powerful, but a 3/4 flier is also a significant threat, unlike Snapcaster Mage and similar cards that offer a one-time only effect and have a small body.

#45. Calix, Guided by Fate

Calix, Guided by Fate is a nice engine, turning each enchantment you cast after it into a +1/+1 counter. The play pattern here is to play a lot of cheap enchantments, preferably those that give card advantage, and hit with your creatures, making enchantment tokens and getting more value. Calix is practically a lord among enchantments, and it fits its intended strategies perfectly.

#44. Chulane, Teller of Tales

Chulane, Teller of Tales does it all. It’s really easy to build a deck around Chulane, playing lots of cheap creatures that ramp and give you cards. As if it wasn’t enough, you can return a key creature to your hand and play it again. Chulane is the enabler and the payoff to a “creaturefall” strategy.

#43. Meren of Clan Nel Toth

Meren of Clan Nel Toth has earned its title as a top-tier recursion card. Each turn you’ll get a creature from your graveyard back to your hand or straight onto the battlefield, depending on the experience counters you’ve got. It only gets better as time passes, and your graveyard becomes a toolbox if you have some self-mill going on.

#42. Liliana the Faultless

Soul Sisters are the tried-and-true glue of lifegain strategies. While there are a great many variants, Liliana the Faultless stands above the rest thanks to its powerful protection ability. It even works as a discard outlet for graveyard strategies, which can overlap with lifegain—think Moseo, Vein's New Dean or Case of the Uneaten Feast.

#41. Kambal, Profiteering Mayor

Kambal, Profiteering Mayor is an interesting win condition in token decks. If your opponents ever create tokens, you get copies of them and more life drain. It’s an intriguing card that naturally works against pretty much anything you’ll play against due to the constant proliferation of new tokens being added to Magic.

#40. Kenrith, the Returned King

Kenrith, the Returned King does it all: It draws cards, gains some life, and gives haste to your creatures. Kenrith’s a potent 5-color commander that transforms mana into card advantage. Kenrith also shines in Fires of Invention decks, where you’ll use your unspent mana to activate their abilities.

#39. Adeline, Resplendent Cathar

I like the raw power that Adeline, Resplendent Cathar provides. It’s a strong card in 1v1 already, and each time it attacks in Commander, you’ll get to put three tokens on the battlefield, while Adeline gets +3 power. Not to mention the powerful equipment it’ll be wearing or the cards you’ll play to buff your team and tokens.

#38. Sorin of House Markov / Sorin, Ravenous Neonate

Sorin of House Markov is a very flexible 2-drop. It’s already a good creature to include in a defensive lifegain deck, but if you manage to gain 3 life, it becomes a powerful planeswalker to drive your lifegain engines. It’s interesting to include this card in decks that care about Food or gain life in increments of 3-4 at a time.

#37. Archmage Emeritus

Archmage Emeritus is one of the most played blue cards in EDH overall. The fact that you can draw cards after casting instants or sorceries is already strong, but adding that to spell-copy effects is comborific! Don’t leave home with your spellslinger deck without it.

#36. Massacre Girl, Known Killer

Massacre Girl, Known Killer is a house. Not only does it give your creatures wither, but when you kill an opposing creature with -1/-1 counters, you get to draw a card. Blocking creatures commanded by this card is already a losing proposition, and few commanders give you a better incentive to play with -1/-1 counters or toughness-based removal like Last Gasp. Or you can Infest all their small tokens and refill your hand.

#35. Outcaster Trailblazer

Outcaster Trailblazer works as a payoff for big green creatures. Drawing a card each time a creature with power 4 or greater enters the battlefield is miserable for your opponents because they have to deal with what you have now and the cards you draw later.

#34. Lavinia, Azorius Renegade

Lavinia, Azorius Renegade is the anti-cheating system. The card comes into play early and puts a stop to players trying to ramp with mana rocks, Treasure, or what have you. Players won’t play free spells like Pact of Negation or Fierce Guardianship anymore. It also sees some play in formats like Vintage and Legacy as a stax piece.

#33. Jodah, the Unifier

Jodah, the Unifier is one of the best incentives to play a 5-color EDH deck filled with legends. You can play any legendary creatures you want without color restriction, and then you’ll buff them with a +3/+3 or even a +6/+6 bonus. And if that wasn’t enough, each time you cast a legendary spell you’ll get another one for free.

#32. Tifa Lockhart

Tifa Lockhart made some waves in formats like Standard and Pioneer considering that you can easily combo off with it. Just some combat tricks and one fetch land or ramp spell can give this creature huge power, and we’re talking about a mere 2-mana card!

#31. Liliana the Repentant

Liliana the Repentant gives graveyard decks incredible velocity early on. Drop it on turn 2 and you spend the rest of the game milling yourself to set up graveyard synergies. The exhaust ability gives you a payoff for the mill but also means that this creature remains relevant later in the game.

#30. Dark Confidant

How the mighty have fallen. Still, Dark Confidant is a good card, giving you value every turn as long as it lives. It’s better with cheaper cards around, but you’ve got a high enough life buffer in EDH to afford a hit or two. This used to be the king of midrange, but power creep has caught up to it.

#29. Zulaport Cutthroat

Blood Artist is a vampire, so it doesn’t qualify for the list. However, Zulaport Cutthroat is a nice partner for the Artist, and they really shine in aristocrats/sacrifice decks. As an added bonus, Zulaport deals damage to each opponent every time your creature dies, making it a good role player and win condition in a sacrifice deck.

#28. Magus of the Wheel

Wheel of Fortune is a pretty good card, so a mere magus who has this power is an interesting card as well. Magus of the Wheel sees play in the wheels EDH archetype where you need to discard and draw very frequently to turn on synergies, be it discard, draw, reanimator, or madness.

#27. Azusa, Lost but Seeking

Ramp is the soul of many decks and formats, and Azusa, Lost but Seeking allows us to play two extra lands a turn. Two. Like Archmage Emeritus, it’s a staple and sees play in plenty of green EDH decks.

#26. Cloud, Midgar Mercenary

Cloud, Midgar Mercenary is very similar to Stoneforge Mystic, and it acts as redundancy in equipment-heavy decks if you need more tutors. Equipped with its Buster Sword or any Mirran sword, Cloud is extremely dangerous with its trigger-doubling skill.

#25. Delver of Secrets / Insectile Aberration

Delver of Secrets has dominated so many formats, and although it’s no longer a hallmark of formats like Modern, people still use the “Delver” moniker to describe blue tempo decks. Delver of Secrets is a lowly 1/1 human, but it’s easy to transform into the 3/2 Insectile Aberration and start attacking on turn 2.

#24. The Queen of Dale

If you love playing Magic, you should love seeing extra cards, which The Queen of Dale does extremely well. It scales beautifully in Commander since you have multiple opponents casting spells, though recruiting is a far cry from drawing cards. I’d only run this with an explicit synergy for making tokens or drawing/discarding cards.

#23. Teysa Karlov

Teysa Karlov decks are filled with potent death triggers. Doubling your triggers is extra-fun, and it’s a good cornerstone to support a deck. Teysa is an incredibly popular aristocrat commander, and you can play it in the 99 of other similar EDH decks too. As an added bonus, it gives vigilance and lifelink to all your tokens.

#22. Éowyn, Shieldmaiden

Éowyn, Shieldmaiden is a 3-color Jeskai commander that can make two 2/2 human knight tokens each turn. That’s already a strong proposition, which is better when tacked onto a first striking 5/4 body with card draw attached as well.

#21. Dualcaster Mage

Blue usually has access to the fun and broken stuff, but what about red? Dualcaster Mage is one of the most played red creatures in EDH. Copying spells is very powerful, and there are a bunch of ways to double the triggers you obtain from wizards. If you manage to copy a spell that blinks Dualcaster Mage, like Ghostly Flicker, there’s your game-winning combo.

#20. Samut, Tyrant of Naktamun

Samut, Tyrant of Naktamun gives spellslinger decks a stellar form of protection. Giving your spells split second is subtly stronger than uncounterable. Firstly, it deals with counterspells that don’t technically “counter target spell” like Mindbreak Trap or Reprieve. This also means you automatically win a counter war. Secondly, it prevents your opponents from interacting with other things. For example, if you cast a combat trick targeting a creature, your opponents can’t pop the creature until after the spell has resolved. The reverse is also true; Tamiyo's Safekeeping won’t inhibit your removal.

#19. Eternal Witness

Eternal Witness is a green staple in Magic, thanks to being among the best ETB effects in green. You can return any card from your graveyard to your hand, and that’s why it sees heavy play in EDH. It’s pretty easy to set up a recursive combo too, and just getting your best card again with E. Witness is good enough.

#18. Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER

Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER is a very powerful card to play with equipment in general, or just as an equipment/Voltron commander. Attacking immediately with haste is strong, but the best ability is to attach any equipment like Colossus Hammer or Blackblade Reforged for free so you can draw cards and generate Treasure. Later in the game, you can draw multiple cards per attack.

#17. Iron Man, Titan of Innovation

Iron Man, Titan of Innovation is an interesting Marvel commander. You have Birthing Pod for artifacts tacked onto a 4/4 flying haste. It also creates a Treasure for free which you can use for ramp, to start the pod chains, or as sacrifice fodder.

#16. Imperial Recruiter

Imperial Recruiter is a staple red tutor of many formats, including EDH. It’s a blinkable/recursive tutor for small creatures, including combo pieces like Painter's Servant. Many staples have power 2 or less. The Recruiter also fits typal decks, allowing you to get 2-power lords.

#15. Witch Enchanter

Humans get their own Reclamation Sage that doubles as a land you can easily add to your decks by shaving a basic Plains. Witch Enchanter sees play in many Constructed formats as a good blink target, sideboard material, and more. Its natural home is in EDH, where you aren’t as punished for the tapped land or life payment aspect of the MDFC, and there are ample targets in the format.

#14. Urza, Lord High Artificer

Next we have Urza, Lord High Artificer, one of the most played commanders overall. Urza does it all: You can turn your artifacts into mana and mana into cards. Having a lot of artifacts and mana means a hell of a big turn, and cards that untap your artifacts fit perfectly into this big mana/storm-style deck.

#13. Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER / Sephiroth, One-Winged Angel

Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER is one of the most popular black commanders, and it didn’t take long to get there. It’s a Blood Artist from the command zone that generates immediate value when it enters. And if you manage to transform it, Sephiroth, One-Winged Angel is even better. Play Sephiroth if you have some sacrifice fodder around to reap the benefits.

#12. Guide of Souls

Guide of Souls is one of the cornerpieces of Modern energy decks. This card sits at the intersection of blink, lifegain, and energy, helping cards like Ocelot Pride, Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, and good energy cards. 

#11. Mother of Runes

Mother of Runes (AKA Mom) is the ultimate protection machine, and quite the effective rattlesnake. They can protect themselves, your best threat, or your commander from enemy removal. Its ability can be used for protection, evasion, and blocking.

#10. Sakashima of a Thousand Faces

Sakashima of a Thousand Faces is one of the most-played partner cards in EDH, especially with Krark, the Thumbless, where you can set up a storm wincon really fast. You can partner it with many other combinations, or use it as a clone variant for copy-focused decks.

#9. Academy Rector

Academy Rector is slow but has one of the most interesting abilities in MTG. You can sacrifice it to cheat an enchantment into play, and there are lots of interesting targets. Your opponents won’t be attacking or removing it in fear of what can come after, be it Omniscience, Cacophony Unleashed, Battle at the Helvault, or what have you.

#8. Snapcaster Mage

Snapcaster Mage is one of the most versatile cards ever printed. You flash it in and play your best instant or sorcery again, which could be a counterspell, an extra tutor, removal, or extra damage. Decks have moved away from old Snappy in formats like Modern or Legacy, but that probably has to do with MTG becoming a more proactive game. If blue reactive control is good in the meta, Snapcaster Mage will be there.

#7. Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

Thalia, Guardian of Thraben is on the opposite spectrum. It’s the queen of proactive play and beatdown, and it’s incredibly annoying to have to pay 1 more for each noncreature spell. It’s not too shabby as a 2/1 first strike itself.

#6. Opposition Agent

Did you see what this card does? You effectively get to stop your opponents from tutoring. They can still do those actions, but you’ll get a massive advantage, getting to search for and play what they exile instead. Opposition Agent was created as a way to combat tutor-heavy decks, which is what cEDH decks usually do to win.

#5. Spellseeker

Spellseeker is like an Imperial Recruiter, only for cheap instants and sorceries. In formats like Vintage it provides extra access to Ancestral Recall, and you can get a card like Demonic Tutor which will give you any card you want later. Ephemerate’s a great target to find, letting you search up two more cards in the long run.

#4. Yawgmoth, Thran Physician

Yawgmoth, Thran Physician is a black staple that sees play everywhere. The card is a part of an infinite combo in Modern that involves cards like Grist, the Hunger Tide and undying creatures. It’s also a popular commander that controls the board via -1/-1 counters and proliferates at will.

#3. Esper Sentinel

Speaking of staples, here’s Esper Sentinel. This card sees as much play as Eternal Witness in EDH, letting white players draw more cards, and it sees plenty of play in other formats like Modern. Being a human plus artifact fits a lot of different decks, including humans, affinity, stax, and Death & Taxes.

#2. Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy

Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy is a Simic commander that wins games by itself. You only need mana. You’re already getting more mana from mana dorks and mana rocks from turn 2 onward. Once you get to 7 mana, you’ll start to cheat big guys into play. All of that wrapped into a 2-mana commander package.

#1. Tymna the Weaver

If Sakashima of a Thousand Faces is the second best human partner in EDH, Tymna the Weaver is the best. You can draw so many cards with this legend online that it’s not even funny. Moreover, you can add white and black to other red, green, or blue partners too.

Best Human Payoffs

Now that we have a list of the best humans available in MTG, let’s look at some of the best human creature type payoffs.

Thalia's Lieutenant is a classic payoff, buffing your humans, being an enabler and a payoff for this creature type. Éomer, King of Rohan can be a giant double strike creature if you’re playing some humans. Kyler, Sigardian Emissary can become a massive human lord in no time.

Riders of the Mark is excellent if you control a bunch of humans, and you can cast it for cheap. Also, you can get more humans at the end of the turn, so it’s an enabler as well. Meanwhile, Minas Tirith Garrison can use humans you control to draw cards. Horn of Gondor can be considered a Krenko, Mob Boss for humans that gives you more of what you already have. Karvanista, Loyal Lupari helps humans both as a creature and as a sorcery adventure, be it for protection or for +1/+1 counters.

Greymond, Avacyn's Stalwart can give two relevant abilities to all your humans, and possibly +2/+2 if you have enough of them. Sigarda, Champion of Light is an excellent human lord that can give you more humans when it attacks, while Sigarda, Heron's Grace gives your humans hexproof.

General Kudro of Drannith is a nice human lord that can turn your weaker humans into removal. Katilda, Dawnhart Prime turns your humans into mana dorks while boasting an activated ability that pumps them all.

Moonmist became a little better in human decks thanks to the number of strong double-faced humans printed in recent sets, like Kefka, Court Mage and Bruce Banner

Is Human a Creature Type?

Yes, it is. Creatures in MTG are described by their type and subtype whenever possible, so you’ll see a lot of creatures that are human warriors, human artificers, and human rogues, but very few that are rogues, warriors, and artificers with no other creature types. Many cards from sets before 2007 received errata that added the human type, so they’re considered humans even though the type isn’t printed on the card. When in doubt, check the Oracle Text online.

Are Humans Good in EDH?

The short answer is yes. The longer answer is that humans are great as a creature type, whether or not you actually build around the creature type with a typal strategy, because it’s Magic’s most prolific creature type by far. That means many stronger designs go to humans simply because a creature is more likely to be a human than another type of creature.

Many strong commanders are humans, mostly just because. Jodah, the Unifier, Aragorn, the Uniter, Kenrith, the Returned King… I could list good human commanders all day. The same goes for staples like Boromir, Warden of the Tower, Esper Sentinel, Avacyn's Pilgrim, etc.

Human typal decks also benefit from this. Typal support cards are only as strong as the type they support, and the range and strength and depth of the human creature type mean commanders like Éowyn, Shieldmaiden and Kyler, Sigardian Emissary have ample tools and support to shine.

The Most Magical Humans

As the saying goes, Magic would be nothing without the Gathering, and there are a great number of magical humans worth celebrating. Here are a very few.

Luis Scott-Vargas, better known to the community as LSV, is a Magic Hall of Famer, who got the title in 2013. In addition to many Pro Tour Top 8s, LSV is the only pro player to have a 16-0 record in the Swiss portion of a Pro Tour; he earned this accolade in 2010, during Pro Tour San Diego. He’s also been a commentator on the Pro Tour and has a storied history of content creation as the co-host of the Limited Resources podcast and current host of a YouTube channel that posts daily gameplay (typically Cube and other Limited formats).

When talking about content creation, it’s hard to champion anybody more than Brian Lewis, known far better to the community at The Professor who lectures on the Tolarian Community College YouTube Channel. While the channel got its start reviewing MTG accessories like sleeves and game boxes, it has flourished over the years to encompass value reviews of MTG products, how-to guides, Commander gameplay, and opinion pieces on the various happenings and developments of the game. It’s one of the most genuine and informative Magic channels out there, especially for new players.

Another part of the gathering that helps connect Magic players is the willingness of Wizards of the Coast employees to communicate with the player base. While there are several prominent employees, Gavin Verhey, a Principal Magic Designer, is at the forefront. Part of this is the Good Morning Magic YouTube channel he posts on, part of it is activity on social media, especially X, and part of it is his role in community-driven formats. Verhey is the official WotC liaison with the Pauper Format Panel and Commander Format Panel, which oversee their respective formats, so he’s also the face of two of the most popular formats in the game. It’s hard to imagine what it would be like without him.

Wrap Up

Thalia, Guardian of Thraben | Illustration by Jana Schirmer & Johannes Voss

This is a big list, no doubt, and I’m sure I’ve not included half as many cards as I should have. In particular, I’ve tried to avoid narrow commanders, but rather tried to include cards that have a little story in Constructed formats. More cards like Dark Confidant, less cards like Najeela, the Blade-Blossom. There are so many humans these days.

But now I want to hear from you. Which powerful and impactful humans did I miss? Let me know in the comments section below or in the Draftsim Discord. And check out The Daily Upkeep newsletter to stay up to date on all the latest MTG news.

Thanks for reading, and stay safe out there. Cheers!