The 23 Best Keyword Soup Cards in Magic Ranked

Odric, Lunarch Marshal | Illustrated by Chase Stone

I don’t really make or communicate with memes that much, but I know it’s fairly surface level to invoke Vince McMahon’s mounting excitement when counting the keywords on new creatures as they’re spoiled. “It has flying? And deathtouch?? And ward 3?!” You get the picture.

Concerted Effort was the card that introduced me to the concept of keyword soup, and it’ll always be the card I think of first. But which Magic creatures lend themselves to being used in a keyword soup strategy? Which cards can you use to spread multiple keywords around your side of the board, and which commanders lend themselves to this kind of build?

Let’s break out some pots and see what we can toss into the broth!

What Is Keyword Soup in MTG?

Crystalline Giant | Illustration by Jason Rainville

Keyword soup is a Magic slang term used to identify creatures with multiple combat keyword abilities. They’re a stark contrast to vanilla creatures, which have no abilities at all.

Keyword soup payoffs refer more to abilities like Concerted Effort that share keyword abilities depending on the ones you already have, and there are some commanders like Odric, Lunarch Marshal that have these kinds of abilities as well. These payoffs and commanders don’t necessarily have the same list of keywords in their rules text.

Note the timing on any ability with the Concerted Effort templating: Your creatures gain abilities when its ability resolves, so any creatures you add to the battlefield after the ability triggers don’t share their keywords around.

To illustrate: Let’s say you have Concerted Effort on the board, with a Bird token that has flying and some Human Soldier tokens. Keeping things simple. During your upkeep, Concerted Effort’s ability triggers, and your Human Soldiers gain flying. During your main phase, you cast a creature with first strike. It won’t gain flying until the next upkeep when Concerted Effort’s ability triggers again, and your other creatures won’t gain first strike until the next trigger either.

For this list, I want creatures that have at least three keyword abilities and effects that grant multiple keywords to your creatures, focusing on ones that are listed on cards like Concerted Effort. Cards that take advantage of those keywords are filed under payoffs and commanders. The list is also slanted towards creatures that fit those commanders’ color identities.

Unranked: D00-DL, Caricaturist + Old Fogey

Mandatory sidetrack for some Un-set silliness, this time courtesy of Unfinity’s D00-DL, Caricaturist. What can you draw in 15 seconds?

Old Fogey’s abilities aren’t shareable with cards like Odric, Lunarch Marshal, but come on!? Just look at that list of abilities.

#23. Chromanticore

Chromanticore is one of the cards that I found early in my Magic collecting career, and one that I immediately wanted to build around. Call it a pet card. The mana requirement makes it hard to find homes for this 5-color card (you can’t play it with any of the keyword soup commanders I’ve picked out), but it’s hard to argue against five combat keywords and the option to bestow it as an aura.

#22. Emrakul, the Promised End + Emrakul, the World Anew

You aren’t likely to use either Emrakul, the Promised End or Emrakul, the World Anew in your keyword soup build. You’re probably saving those to play as or with your favorite Eldrazi commander. But those keywords, especially the protection, are interesting and different for these kinds of decks.

#21. Ramunap Hydra

The only hiccup here is that you'll probably ignore the desert-related text if you’re playing Ramunap Hydra in a keywords build.

#20. Aerial Responder + Shrike Force

Aerial Responder costs 3 mana for three keywords. The double white mana pips make it more useful in Odric’s mono-white keywords build than in most of the others, but it’s solid enough. Shrike Force is remarkably similar, just with a different keyword combo and 1 rather than 2 power.

#19. Goldvein Hydra

Goldvein Hydra’s main role in Magic is as an X spell and a hydra with a death trigger that gives you back Treasure tokens. Vigilance, trample, and haste form a good, strong trio of keywords, so I expect to see more keyword builds use this over time.

#18. Crystalline Giant

Depending on my keyword soup commander of choice, I’m not always a fan of creatures that only gain keywords from other abilities. Crystalline Giant gains new keywords each time you move to combat on your turn, and it can give you keywords that you’re missing.

#17. Lone Rider / It That Rides as One

I’m more interested in cards that have multiple keywords on their front side, but Lone Rider / It That Rides as One still fits the bill. Transforming Lone Rider should be trivial, especially if you’re passing around lifelink like a bowl of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.

#16. Swiftblade Vindicator

What I like about Swiftblade Vindicator for a keyword build is that it’s a 2-mana creature with a trio of effective combat keywords. Double strike is really appealing here, though getting trample on a red-white creature is also really nice.

#15. Wilson, Refined Grizzly

Wilson, Refined Grizzly is one of Magic’s best bears, and it’s an uncounterable spell, too. The bear stats and mana value make this a good early creature, but your keyword commanders won’t mind using it in other zones.

#14. Gurmag Swiftwing

In a keyword build, Gurmag Swiftwing is a solid mana curve filler and early turn creature as a 2-mana flier. First strike is really good to have among the abilities it can pass around your army.

#13. Weathered Sentinels

Luckily keyword soup abilities don’t usually pass around defender. Weathered Sentinels is also an example of a decent attack trigger, and attack triggers pair nicely with passing around combat keywords.

#12. Questing Beast

The neat part about Questing Beast is that it won’t let 2-power creatures or anything smaller block it, which reduces how likely an opponent is to chump block it. Indominus Rex, Alpha needs as many haste enablers as it can get.

#11. Elder Gargaroth + Galewind Moose

Elder Gargaroth is perfectly discardable to Indominus Rex, Alpha’s ability, but it’s attack trigger can also pump out tokens to widen your board and provide chump blockers. Galewind Moose costs 1 more mana and doesn’t have the attack trigger, but it’s a viable budget substitute if you just care about the keywords.

#10. Mirri the Cursed

Two Mirri cards qualified, but I’m picking Mirri the Cursed over the mono-green Mirri, Cat Warrior. This black creature grows when it deals combat damage, and saboteur effects like that are super handy when you’re passing trample and other keywords around your side of the battlefield.

#9. Venomthrope

The ability that interests me the most with Venomthrope is the hexproof. It’s usually one of maybe two keywords, not three or more. The deathtouch is also really appreciated. Venomthrope is also making me notice how few Universes Beyond cards so far have three or more keywords.

#8. Oketra the True

I may be cheating a little here because Oketra the True only has two keywords itself, but it has a mana sink activated ability that gives you tokens with a third ability. If you’re going the Odric, Lunarch Marshal route, a creature that gives you multiple keywords and widens your board is a nice inclusion.

#7. Archon of Valor’s Reach

Kathril, Aspect Warper is the only keyword soup deck that Archon of Valor's Reach fits into, but it works as a stax piece that prevents your opponents from casting a card type of your choice. Salty!

#6. The Angel Tier

I’m trying to keep this short, and I don’t want it to just become an “Oops, All Angels” list. With angels’ tendency to have some combination of flying, lifelink, and vigilance, there’s a ton of angel cards that could fit in here. I’ve chosen to highlight a couple, but note that there are many, many more that fit the bill.

#5. Salvation Colossus

Salvation Colossus pulls double duty in a keyword build that’s focused on the creatures you have on the battlefield. It has three relevant keywords to give out, but it triggers on your attack step to give your board a +2/+2 buff and indestructible. It’s a good backup if your Odric, Lunarch Marshal or what have you isn’t out, and the extra power means a lot of extra lifegain if you have lifelink online.

#4. Nighthawk Scavenger

For a keyword commander that either fills your graveyard (Indominus Rex, Alpha) or takes advantage of it (Kathril, Aspect Warper), Nighthawk Scavenger offers you value regardless of which zone it’s in. It’s less of a battlefield threat in a Rayami build, though.

#3. Danitha Capashen, Paragon

If you’re playing in the keyword soup space, Danitha Capashen, Paragon is likely somewhere in your deck. It has three relevant keywords itself, but it also enables a Voltron strategy by giving you cost reduction on auras and equipment.

#2. Sire of Seven Deaths

Foundations‘ Sire of Seven Deaths gives your keyword soup strategy seven (count ‘em, seven!) keywords. It’s also a colorless creature, which means that you can use it in your 99 no matter which commander you’re running.

#1. Zetalpa, Primal Dawn

Bunch of keywords, 8 toughness, 8 MV. Zetalpa, Primal Dawn is one of the most reprinted elder dinosaurs from Rivals of Ixalan, and it’s easy to see why.

Best Keyword Soup Payoffs and Synergies

To start, let’s list all the non-legendary cards that can take advantage of your keyword soup creatures. Bleeding Effect is an Orzhov enchantment () that hands out keywords at the beginning of combat based on what’s in your graveyard, while Concerted Effort does it during each player’s upkeep and cares about the creatures on your side of the field. Selective Adaptation can tutor creatures for you: one to the field, and the rest to your hand.

Some cards are a bit more selfish, granting keywords only to one creature. These also often ask you to exile cards to take advantage of their keywords, while others care about your creatures, and even your opponents’ creatures.

• Altar of the Wretched / Wretched Bonemass
• Animus of Predation
• Cairn Wanderer
• Death-Mask Duplicant
• Eater of Virtue
• Escaped Shapeshifter
• Majestic Myriarch
• Priest of Possibility
• Soulflayer
• Sproutwatch Dryad
• Thunderous Orator
• Urborg Scavengers

Combat tricks that grant multiple abilities like Aerial Maneuver or Offer Immortality, and those that distribute keyword counters can also help to shore up any abilities you’re missing. Here are a few more spells that grant your creatures multiple keywords. Just remember to time them properly based on the keyword soup triggers you’re using.

• Akroma's Will
• Angelfire Ignition
• Gaea's Gift
• Kamahl's Will
• Overprotect

Players who know how to pilot keyword soup strategies can use strive cards that hand out keywords way more efficiently than they would otherwise. This includes cards like Aerial Formation and Cruel Feeding.

Permanent modifications like auras and equipment can also add to your keyword total. Equipment can also provide insurance against creature removal. Here are some modifications that give your enchanted or equipped creature multiple keywords.

• Chariot of Victory
• Haunted Cloak
• Helm of Kaldra
• Kaldra Compleat
• Multiclass Baldric
• On Serra's Wings
• Sword of Vengeance

Akroma's Memorial is another artifact that can give your army a lot of keywords, though its mana value is rather high. If you really want to get silly, why not use Legion Loyalty to give your creatures myriad as well?

Best Keyword Soup Commanders

#7. Keyword Soup as a Sub-Strategy

I wanted to focus this section on commanders that have a list of keywords on them, but you can also build Commander decks that take advantage of keyword soup cards and their support. I couldn’t list every possible card or commander that had a bunch of keywords, but here are a few that have a ton of keywords or can play cards like Bleeding Effect, Akroma, Vision of Ixidor, or Odric, Lunarch Marshal in the 99.

I especially like Danitha, New Benalia's Light because it has a trio of keywords and lets you cast modifications like auras and equipment from your graveyard. Alela, Artful Provocateur gives you Faerie tokens for casting enchantments and artifacts, which means you can pile on keywords with modifications.

#6. Odric, Blood-Cursed

Odric, Blood-Cursed cares about the abilities of creatures you have on the battlefield, but it pays you in Blood tokens as an enters ability. That’s highly specific, and this Boros commander () only wants to join a battlefield that’s already somewhat developed. Pass.

#5. Rayami, First of the Fallen

Rayami, First of the Fallen shuts off everyone’s graveyards, which makes it a must-kill threat to many strategies. The keywords come into play because it exiles creatures with blood counters, which Rayami then uses to gain the abilities itself.

#4. Indominus Rex, Alpha

Jurassic World Collection gave us a Sultai commander () that can be a keyword soup commander, although it’s really different from what white does. Indominus Rex, Alpha wants you to discard creatures as it enters to give it keyword counters that match. Sultai has reanimator options to bring those creatures back onto the battlefield, so you just need ways to fill your hand and bide your time until you cast your commander.

#3. Kathril, Aspect Warper

Kathril, Aspect Warper would suffer in an Abzan () mirror match with Anafenza, the Foremost. Kathril goes the graveyard route for its keywords, so it pairs decently with Bleeding Effect.

#2. Akroma, Vision of Ixidor + Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh

Akroma, Vision of Ixidor has partner and can pair up in many other combinations, but Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh is the most common. Not surprising: The kobold has a trio of keywords, including menace. A 0-mana commander helps to balance Akroma’s mana value of 7, and you’re in good colors for angels, auras, equipment, and some of the other keyword soup cards. The mono-white Odric and Concerted Effort are more important here as backup effects for your commander.

#1. Odric, Lunarch Marshal

Odric, Lunarch Marshal is the creature I think of when keyword soup is on the menu. This white commander shares keywords across your board at the beginning of each combat, which leaves your creature vulnerable between the end of every turn and combat on the next one. It’s by far the most popular keyword commander, possibly because you can easily build an Odric deck on a budget.

Wrap Up

Nighthawk Scavenger | Illustration by Heonhwa Choe

And that’s a wrap on the soup course! Keywords are a key part of combat in Magic, but I wouldn’t recommend a keyword soup strategy to newer players. Understanding the timing of when your Concerted Effort or Bleeding Effect triggers is key, but it’s fun to mess around with cards that go ham with keywords. I honestly expected to find more phoenixes, but they tend to top out at a flying/haste combo.

Which commanders would you run for a keyword soup deck? Which creatures or payoffs did I overlook? Let me know in the comments below or over on the Draftsim Discord.

Until next time, happy brewing!