The 47 Best Humans in Magic Ranked

Last updated on March 28, 2024

Augur of Autumn | Illustration by Billy Christian

Humans are the most prevalent creature type in MTG. They’re everywhere in the MTG Multiverse, and frequently in good 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 are really dwindling in New Phyrexia.

Jokes aside, there are more than 3,000 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 stay with me and let’s get through this list, shall we?

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. Creatures in MTG can be defined by their type and subtype, so we can have human ninjas, human rogues, human warriors and so on. We had 28 humans printed in Murders at Karlov Manor, 27 humans printed in The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, and more than 50 humans printed in Wilds of Eldraine. As we can see, humans continue to be pumped out in good numbers.

There was a great creature type update in 2007, and according to WotC: “Creatures that lacked races got a race. The vast majority of these are creatures that should be Human but were printed before Mirrodin. In fact, more than half of the cards involved in this update got “Human” added to them.” The article cites Samite Healer, a card that was originally a cleric but is now a human cleric. The same can be said of many cards that gained the human creature type. With these definitions out of the way, let’s see how the mighty humans fare against each other.

Honorable Mentions

Though very powerful humans, these two cards are Alchemy humans that only see play in MTG Arena formats like Brawl and Historic/Timeless. They’re also subject to digital changes as well.

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,

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.

#47. 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 also absolutely play Verduran Enchantress in enchantment decks.

#46. Fatespinner

Fatespinner is an annoying card in decks that just want to chill and pester people, like stax and prison decks. Your opponents will have to opt between not drawing, not attacking, or not casting spells in their main phase – but not you, obviously.

#45. Aether Channeler

Here’s the best Man-o'-War version available in a creature. Any of the three options on Aether Channeler is fine, and you’ll get good benefits by playing this card in a blink deck.

#44. Harmonic Prodigy

A 1/3 prowess isn’t the worst, but what sets Harmonic Prodigy apart is doubling triggers, whether from wizards or shamans. It’s one of the better rewards for playing a shaman typal deck, no doubt.

#43. Knight-Errant of Eos

Boros Convoke is becoming a fierce competitor in Constructed formats like Standard and Explorer, and Knight-Errant of Eos helps this deck thrive. You’re not only cheating a 4/4 into play but also refilling your hand to keep casting threats.

#42. 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.

#41. Destiny Spinner

Destiny Spinner is a good tool to fight counterspell decks, and also a good late-game mana sink. It’s one of the few uncommon cards on our list too. A 2/3 early that launches 6/6 or 7/7 lands late at your opponents’ faces is a flexible tool.

#40. 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. From there you can win via reanimation combos or Thassa's Oracle.

#39. 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.

#38. Grand Abolisher

Grand Abolisher is the ultimate “don’t mess with my turn” card. That and Teferi, Time Raveler, of course. It can be a nice partner to Heliod, Sun-Crowned due to its function and devotion.

#37. Breya's Apprentice

Breya's Apprentice shines in decks filled with artifacts. The card comes with a 1/1 flying Thopter which can be sacrificed for a new card, or you can give it +2/+0 and start bashing. It’s also a sacrifice outlet for artifacts, which combines with a lot of stuff – Mayhem Devil, Oni-Cult Anvil, etc.

#36. Tireless Tracker

Tireless Tracker is your midrange go-to 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.

#35. Mosswood Dreadknight

Mosswood Dreadknight is a resilient threat that sees a lot of Standard play. There are good ways to deal with it such as countering the adventure part or having graveyard exile, but it cnowballs quickly outside of that. Suddenly you’ll be up a lot of cards and your opponents have to deal with the 3/2.

#34. Kess, Dissident Mage

Any Grixis deck interested in casting free instants or sorceries from the graveyard? Here’s Kess, Dissident Mage. You can play the card in midrange/value decks, or build a deck around them. Kess is quite popular as a Grixis commander. 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.

#33. 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 enchantment strategies perfectly.

#32. Chulane, Teller of Tales

Chulane, Teller of Tales does it all. It’s really easy to build a deck around it, playing lots of cheap creatures, which will in turn 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.

#31. Meren of Clan Nel Toth

Meren of Clan Nel Toth is the recursion card you were looking for. 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.

#30. Adeline, Resplendent Cathar

I like the raw power that Adeline, Resplendent Cathar provides. It’s a powerful 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.

#29. 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.

#28. Urza, Lord High Artificer

Following Archmage Emeritus, 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.

#27. Lavinia, Azorius Renegade

Lavinia, Azorius Renegade is the anti-cheating system. The card comes into play early and puts a stop on 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.

#26. 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.

#25. 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. It’s also interesting that even after that power creep, Dark Confidant has not seen a Standard reprint or a strictly better printing.

#24. 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.

#23. Magus of the Wheel

Wheel of Fortune is a pretty good card, so a mere human 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.

#22. Azusa, Lost but Seeking

Wheels is a good archetype, but what about ramp? 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.

#21. Harbin, Vanguard Aviator

There was a time where a 3/2 flier needed to cost 3-4 mana to be fair, but here we are. A 3/2 flier for 2 mana with upside. Harbin, Vanguard Aviator is a very good flier and beater, and it’s even better if you have additional soldiers around.

#20. Delver of Secrets / Insectile Aberration

Speaking of 3/2 flying, here’s Delver of Secrets. This card has dominated so many formats, and although no one will play it in EDH, it’s still legal in Standard and played in formats like Modern and Legacy. Delver of Secrets is a mere 1/1 human, but it’s easy to flip into the 3/2 Insectile Aberration and start attacking on turn 2.

#19. Augur of Autumn

Cards that let us play lands from the top of the library are good, like Courser of Kruphix. Add to that the 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.

#18. Teysa Karlov

Teysa Karlov’s decks are filled with “when this card dies, you do X.” Doubling your triggers is extra-fun, and it’s a good cornerstone to support a deck. Teysa is an incredibly popular commander, and you can play it in the 99 of other similar EDH decks too. Also, as an added bonus, it gives vigilance and lifelink to all your tokens.

#17. Éowyn, Shieldmaiden

Éowyn, Shieldmaiden is a 3-color pushed 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 strong 5/4 body.

#16. 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.

#15. Eternal Witness

Eternal Witness is a green staple in Magic. You can return any card from your graveyard to your hand, and that’s why it sees heavy play in EDH. According to the lists posted on EDHREC, more than 23% of EDH decks play this card. It’s pretty easy to set up a recursive combo too, and just getting your best card again with E. Witness is good enough.

#14. 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.

#13. 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 like Dockside Extortionist have power 2 or less. The Recruiter also fits typal decks, allowing you to get 2-power lords.

#12. Mother of Runes

Mother of Runes, or “Mom”, is the ultimate protection machine. They can protect themselves, your best threat, or your commander from enemy removal. Its ability can be used for protection, evasion and blocking. You can play Giver of Runes in formats like Modern for a similar effect, but it’s not a human.

#11. 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.

#10. 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 from play in fear of what can come after, be it Omniscience, Cacophony Unleashed, Battle at the Helvault, or what have you.

#9. 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. It’s not exactly clear why 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.

#8. 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.

#7. Opposition Agent

Did you see what this card does? You effectively get to stop your opponents from tutoring or fetching cards. 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 the tutor-heavy decks, which is what cEDH decks usually do to win.

#6. Spellseeker

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

#5. 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.

#4. 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 makes this card fit a lot of different decks, including humans, affinity, stax, and Death & Taxes.

#3. Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy

Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy is the commander that wins a game 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.

#2. 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 let’s take the same approach to “steal them.”

#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

There are nice incentives to play humans in your decks. Naturally, most of these apply to Commander and are legendary creatures to build a deck around. Here are some of them:

Champion of the Parish is the quintessential 1-drop in human decks. Each human you play after it will give the Champion a boost, not to mention spells that create more than one human token.

Minas Tirith Garrison is an incentive to go wide and tall. If you can’t attack with your little humans, you can use them to draw cards, effectively giving resources to you and to the Garrison.

Karvanista, Loyal Lupari impacts the battlefield immediately, attacking with haste and spreading +1/+1 counters around. It’s even got a useful adventure in , given humans you control indestructible.

Horn of Gondor is a staple for human and token decks alike. Even if you’re not playing humans, this artifact will generate so many bodies.

Greymond, Avacyn's Stalwart (also known as Rick, Steadfast Leader) gives your humans +2/+2, provided you have at least three other humans on the battlefield, not to mention the other relevant combat abilities it grants.

Sigarda is now the angel protector of humans on Innistrad. Both Sigarda, Heron's Grace and Sigarda, Champion of Light will protect your humans on the battlefield.

Kyler, Sigardian Emissary starts slow and vulnerable, I’ll give you that. But if it’s not answered quickly, your humans will be huge.

Jirina Kudro is a Mardu commander and a human enabler/payoff. You'll make a bunch of tokens while buffing them, and if your opponents remove it, Jirina will come back bringing more allies.

Katilda, Dawnhart Prime can turn all your human tokens into mana dorks, effectively boosting mana production.

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. It’s important to point out that many cards from sets before 2007 were errata'd to have the human type as well, so they’re considered humans even though the type isn’t printed on the card. When in doubt, check the Oracle Text online.

Wrap Up

Urza, Lord High Artificer | Illustration by Grzegorz Rutkowski

And that concludes my top human list. It’s 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 – “if you do a bunch of X and Y, you win” cards. I 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. I’m sure you have interesting points. Maybe we’ll add to the best human commanders list and have room for more cards. Let us know what you think in the Draftsim Discord or on our Twitter/X. Thanks for reading , and stay safe out there. Cheers!