The 51 Best Legendary Artifact Cards in Magic Ranked

Last updated on August 30, 2026

The Mightstone and Weakstone | Illustration by Ryan Pancoast

Legendary artifacts often play a huge role in the lore of Magic. And while they've been used to drive the plot forward for decades, the proliferation of artifacts with the legendary subtype is still a very new thing.

Their allure has grown, transforming them into sought-after additions for both casual and competitive play. We’ll go over the best of them today and rank them based on their playability and power.

Intrigued? Let’s dive in.

What Are Legendary Artifacts in MTG?

The Endstone | Illustration by Ryan Pancoast

Legendary artifacts have the card type “artifact” and the supertype “legendary” in their typeline.

I’ll prioritize artifacts that see the most play across popular MTG formats and will rank them according to their playability, meaning that the most played ones are ranked higher than others that are just niche or in the theorycraft realm.

#51. The Millennium Calendar

There’s always a crazy mind that wants to win in convoluted ways, and The Millennium Calendar is the perfect legendary artifact to put your skills to the test. While it seems impossible to accomplish, cards like Gilder Bairn or Zimone, Paradox Sculptor can help you reach the threshold quicker.

#50. Chimil, the Inner Sun

If there’s one card I’ve been hating a lot lately, it has to be Chimil, the Inner Sun. While discover is a very powerful ability on its own, the main problem is that you can't counter spells. This is especially frustrating because cards that prevent others from being cheated into play, like Boromir, Warden of the Tower, are rendered useless.

#49. Lost Jitte

A bad Umezawa's Jitte is a good Jitte after all, and while Lost Jitte is considerably less powerful, it has still seen decent play in Modern Eldrazi decks, or decks that run Urza's Saga to tutor for it.

#48. The Aetherspark

There are many lore speculations surrounding The Aetherspark, the main one being that it’s Nicol Bolas‘s lost spark. Setting that debate aside, this card is the first-ever equipment planeswalker, which is certainly an interesting selling point for a headliner like this.

#47. Mendicant Core, Guidelight

Speed was an interesting mechanic introduced in Aetherdrift, and Mendicant Core, Guidelight utilizes it by letting you double up on your artifacts once you've reached max speed, which can be a lot easier to accomplish with such a cheap commander.

#46. Iron Man, Titan of Innovation

Iron Man, Titan of Innovation excels at crafting powerful artifacts from scrap, as shown by its ability to turn small artifacts into bigger ones while also ramping you when it attacks. At worst, you’re spending 5 mana to tutor for a Sol Ring—not a bad deal at all.

#45. Mjölnir, Storm Hammer

If there’s one trait I love about equipment, it’s when they have the ability to auto-attach to creatures as soon as they enter the battlefield, like Mjölnir, Storm Hammer. Its second ability is also fantastic, allowing you to punish players who attacked you by tapping their tougher defensive creatures whenever you attack.

#44. Excalibur, Sword of Eden

Excalibur, Sword of Eden is the highest mana value equipment card you can run. In the right deck, usually an artifact-themed one, you can actually cast it for little to no cost. While you can only equip it to a legendary creature, it compensates for the hassle by providing a massive power boost, along with vigilance.

#43. Palantír of Orthanc

Palantír of Orthanc starts off slow, and you may not get full value from it until a few turns into the game. However, depending on your perspective, you can view it as a recursive way to deal damage to your opponents, or at the very least a self-mill tool that synergizes with graveyard strategies.

#42. Codie, Vociferous Codex

Codie, Vociferous Codex is a fun commander that’s often used in decks where you run very few creatures. It also shines in decks with minimal counterspells since you’ll be “cascading” into cheaper spells every time you use Codie's ability. Being an artifact creature is probably a weakness here, since it's exposed to artifact removal and you're likely not leaning into any artifact-specific strategy.

#41. Aetherworks Marvel

Aetherworks Marvel has been a former top player in Standard and MTG Arena's Historic format. These decks featured the signature card with a plan to cheat big Eldrazi like Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger into play for free. This card has also seen some Commander play, and it has more than one infinite combo, often including Clock of Omens, which isn't legendary for some reason. Treasure tokens work perfectly for free energy generation

#40. Loki’s Scepter

Loki's Scepter is perhaps the most power-crept Threaten ever. The effect typically costs 3 mana at sorcery speed anyway, so stapling a mana rock to it is pure upside. You can use the Scepter to steal a creature, then use its mana for Thud.

#39. The Seriema

The Seriema provides a handy tutor for legendary creatures and protection for tapped ones once you make it into a creature. I’m most excited to pair this with Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd and anything else that flickers the spacecraft so I can access a galaxy’s worth of silver bullets.

#38. Alhammarret's Archive

Alhammarret's Archive is a very specific artifact that has a significant niche in an Oloro, Ageless Ascetic Commander deck, and alongside other lifegain commanders in general.

#37. Bident of Thassa

Dealing damage and drawing cards are some of the most potent effects in aggressive blue decks, and Bident of Thassa is the perfect one for the job. Not only is it searchable with cards like Tezzeret the Seeker, but it also has a solid second ability that forces combats when your opponents may not want it, often leading to boards where you can attack freely.

#36. Mindslaver

For a while, Mindslaver was one of the best win conditions in multiple formats, all the way back to when it was played in Standard, and more commonly in Commander games. It’s not the prettiest card to face, as taking an opponent's turn is often lights out for them, and in some cases, more than one opponent may be punished because of it.

#35. The Immortal Sun

For 6 mana, you get to shut down every planeswalker on the field, draw an additional card on each of your turns, cheapen every one of your spells, and pump all the creatures you control. If that isn’t good enough to make it onto this list, I honestly don't know what would be.

#34. Hazoret's Monument

From time to time, the weird Birgi, God of Storytelling + Grinning Ignus + Hazoret's Monument combo rises in popularity and then vanishes into the shadows of Pioneer. Of the Amonkhet Monument cycle, this is my favorite because of its infinite potential.

#33. Ultron, Artificial Malevolence

Mirrorworks on a legendary stick might be one of the coolest designs from Marvel Super Heroes. Ultron, Artificial Malevolence does a wonderful job balancing the effect, too; since it makes token creatures, summoning sickness prevents cards like Basalt Monolith and Thran Dynamo from being too busted while still being strong. While you can use it as part of the 99, it’s also a formidable colorless commander.

#32. Whip of Erebos

Lifelink is a huge keyword to give to your creatures, and a static effect that gives it globally to all of them is no small feat. If that weren’t enough, it also has the ability to return creatures from the graveyard to play for a turn with haste, for the small amount of just 4 mana. In its prime, it was a key part of mono-black devotion decks in Standard, and nowadays it's happy to be part of reanimator strategies in Commander.

#31. Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer

Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer is a token-centric commander that’s very hard to beat when it manages to set up. The plan is to make a copy of a permanent with the likes of Mythos of Illuna and other token-makers and start making copies of it with Brudiclad's ability.

#30. Reaper King

Five-color commanders can be pretty narrow, and artifact ones are even harder to find. Reaper King has a very cute combo with The World Tree + Maskwood Nexus, as you can theoretically put every creature from your deck onto the field and destroy as many permanents.

The Reaper King is also the best Halloween commander, just saying!

#29. Krang, Utrom Warlord

Artifact creature lords don’t get much more impactful than Krang, Utrom Warlord, even with the high price. Or perhaps it’s because of it? Regardless, this causes huge problems for your opponents as your artifact creatures become stronger in combat and neigh unkillable. Even small boards become immensely problematic with this around. Try pairing it with Mycosynth Golem for the greatest impact.

#28. The Darkness Crystal

The Darkness Crystal is too slow for non-Commander formats, but it shines in EDH. The pace of casual games is relaxed enough to give us time to leverage a 4-mana cost reducer that only begins to pay dividends after we hit 6 mana. The combination of graveyard hate and threats makes it the best of the legendary Crystals from Final Fantasy, and one that most black decks can justify playing.

#27. Forsaken Monument

When it comes to playing artifact-centric decks, Forsaken Monument is one of the best cards to have in your deck. It makes any colorless creature you play significantly cheaper and also gains you life in the process.

#26. The Mightstone and Weakstone

It seems a bit expensive, but having access to colorless removal is rare in MTG overall. It also provides raw card advantage and can act as a mana rock for artifact spells, which in a dedicated deck might seem good. In terms of playability, it's seen in toolbox sideboards like Mono-Green Devotion.

#25. The Endstone

The Endstone seems absolutely cracked in Commander. This will be the lynch pin of many a combo deck that require ample card advantage, all for the minor downside of slashing your life total in your end step… assuming it’s a downside. It won’t be long until resetting your life total to 20 becomes a boon rather than a detriment. Between lifegain payoffs like Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose and life loss payoffs like Vilis, Broker of Blood, I’d be astonished if the end step trigger ever felt like a true punishment.

#24. The Stone Brain

Extraction effects are usually only seen in black, but at 4 mana total, The Stone Brain provides a similar effect when played against combo decks that rely on narrow cards to win.

#23. Arabella, Abandoned Doll

At first, Arabella, Abandoned Doll may seem like a fragile commander, but don’t be fooled: If it sticks around too long, it becomes a real threat. Arabella Players tend to run cheap creatures and efficient removal to keep the board clear. Before you know it, you could be overwhelmed before even getting a chance to declare blockers.

#22. Skrelv, Defector Mite

Skrelv, Defector Mite may not seem like much, but it's a cheap threat that can start pressuring your opponents early in the game. In the long run, it can help protect your other creatures from spot removal and make them pseudo-unblockable with its activated ability.

#21. The Celestus

I’m not a big fan of 3-drop mana rocks. However, The Celestus is the exception, as it not only fixes for every color but also helps you stabilize complicated gamestates that otherwise would be impossible to win without the incidental lifegain and looting it provides.

#20. The Great Henge

One of the best creaturefall cards and one of the best artifacts of all time has to be The Great Henge. It can occasionally be hard to cast, especially when your creatures are small. But once you resolve it, it's almost guaranteed to take over the game if unanswered, as you’ll fill the board in no time, stabilize your life total, and make your upcoming creatures bigger by default. It saw a lot of play during its Standard era, and it's the standard bearer of creature decks playing green in Commander.

#19. Embercleave

If there’s a legendary artifact to believe in, it has to be Embercleave. There are scenarios when this card just completely destroys defenses, and it was an absolute menace when it was Standard-legal. Believe in the ‘cleave!

#18. Orcrist, Goblin-cleaver

Orcrist, Goblin-cleaver provides immense support to virtually every typal deck. The only ones that don’t want it are archetypes like angels and dragons that commit a few large threats to the board instead of many small ones. But virtually any type that goes wide can exploit this equipment’s top-tier Treasure production.

#17. God-Pharaoh's Statue

God-Pharaoh's Statue is another artifact that mostly sees play in mono-green decks in Pioneer. It may be a bit too pricey to cast, but when you do, your opponents will mostly be locked out of the game as paying 2 more mana to cast their spells is a big deal.

#16. Esika's Chariot

Since its introduction, Esika's Chariot has seen a lot of play in Constructed formats like Standard and Pioneer. One of the best decks for it is Abzan Greasefang, where it works perfectly as an alternative to reanimating Parhelion II when paired with Greasefang, Okiba Boss.

#15. The Mind Stone + The Soul Stone

The Infinity Stones have been adapted as indestructible 2-mana rocks with strong mana sinks, and The Mind Stone and The Soul Stone are the two currently printed (with more presumably on the horizon). Though there’s a power discrepancy between the harness abilities, these are generally extremely strong in any deck that can run them as untapped rocks with great potential.

#14. Agatha's Soul Cauldron

Agatha's Soul Cauldron is a powerful graveyard-hate card that was released in Wilds of Eldraine. Not only does it help keep self-mill strategies in check, but it also provides +1/+1 counters as you exile creatures with it. It also grants those exiled creatures' activated abilities to all creatures with a +1/+1 counter on them—which might not seem impressive at first, but just wait until someone exiles a Loot, the Pathfinder with it.

#13. The Ozolith

This is the perfect card for counter-moving strategies thanks to its excellent leaves-the-battlefield trigger. It's about as big of a staple as you can get for +1/+1 counter decks, ensuring your “eggs in one basket” gameplan doesn't fold to a single removal spell.

#12. The Reality Chip

Eternal formats love The Reality Chip, as it can be used in multiple combo lines, often paired with Emry, Lurker of the Loch artifact decks. “Equipment Jellyfish” is also an inspiring typeline, though I'll reward no extra points for it.

#11. The Chain Veil

The Chain Veil has had Mirari levels of influence over Magic's story, and has been a main driver in Liliana's development as a character. It's quite scary as a card, too, allowing you to double-activate planeswalkers each turn, which is strong when used fairly and game-winning when combined with the right planeswalkers.

#10. Parhelion II

When you think about Greasefang, Okiba Boss, Parhelion II instantly comes to mind since the whole niche of this Pioneer deck is to put the latter into the graveyard so you can attack for 13 in one swing as early as turn 3, which is usually lights out for many decks of the format.

#9. Helm of the Host

This card is a pair with Godo, Bandit Warlord since Godo can search for it. Once you attach Helm of the Host, you get infinite combat phases and creature tokens. That's just a taste of the many combos you can pull off with this creature-copying equipment.

#8. Kaldra Compleat

Decks like Stoneblade often like to run a single copy of Kaldra Compleat as you can cheat it into play for just 2 mana with the Stoneforge Mystic ability. You're hoping to never cast this for the full 7, but it's honestly still pretty deadly if the game comes down to that.

#7. Mox Amber

Mox Amber is the “budget” version of Mox Opal when the latter isn’t an option. It’s mainly seen in Historic decks along with Emry, Lurker of the Loch, and often paired with Rona, Herald of Invasion and Retraction Helix for various infinites.

#6. Bolas's Citadel

Bolas's Citadel is a fundamentally unfair card, turning your most expendable resource into your most valuable. It's a risk that rewards you immensely if you can rattle off a few spells from the top, and once you reach a certain point, you can finish things off by sacrificing your board and dealing extra damage with the likes of Mayhem Devil.

#5. Paradox Engine

Paradox Engine was banned from Commander for being powerful, but also being excessively time-consuming. It often produces non-deterministic combo lines that probably end in a game over, but require the player to juggle tapping and untapping permanents while also tracking mana in their mana pool. You can still get this experience with Captain Sisay decks in Brawl, though.

#4. Golos, Tireless Pilgrim

Also banned from Commander, Golos, Tireless Pilgrim was, in its prime, one of the most significant treats ever printed. Not only because of its ability to tutor key lands like The World Tree that can instantly fix your mana but also because if you pair it with spells like Emergent Ultimatum or Time Warp effects, it creates a very hostile environment and board state as you’ll be casting free spells left and right every turn.

#3. Mox Opal

Printed in Scars of Mirrodin, Mox Opal is one of the best cards with metalcraft in the game. Despite being legendary, it allows artifact-centric decks to run fewer lands than they should, and some strategies might even use it as part of their infinite combos. It's about as threatening as a multi-format mox can get without being one of the originals.

#2. Umezawa's Jitte

Umezawa's Jitte has been considered one of the best artifacts and probably the best equipment for a long time. Once you get it going, combat becomes miserable for your opponents. It’s a potent option for aggressive Commander strategies, and it particularly shines in Legacy Stoneblade decks.

#1. The One Ring

The One Ring is the best legendary artifact ever printed: It’s a powerhouse in every deck of every format it's been a part of, and even the nerfed version of it in Historic is quite a challenge to overcome. Surprising no one, it was eventually banned in Modern and is part of the Game Changers list to consider when building with the Commander Brackets in mind.

Best Legendary Artifact Payoffs

Acclaimed Contender cantrips when it enters, and it hits enough additional card types to probably draw something useful. Lara Croft, Tomb Raider has a good attack trigger to recur your legendary artifacts, or steal them from your opponents.

Mount Doom turns a legendary artifact into a board wipe that keeps two of your best threats around while destroying everything else.

You can play any number of Templar Knights in your deck and cash a few of them in for a legendary artifact; it’s the lesser-know white equivalent of Shadowborn Apostle behind Hare Apparent.

You can also lean towards general legends-matter payoffs like Kethis, the Hidden Hand. It makes all these artifacts cheaper, which is a massive deal to colorless ones like The Celestus or The One Ring. Plus, its ability lets you cast them from your graveyard. Shanid, Sleepers' Scourge is another general legends-matter commander. Bard Class offers cute synergy here too, making your green and red legendary artifacts a bit cheaper.

Of course, the regular artifact payoffs will also do the trick, as in the case of Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain or Mendicant Core, Guidelight.

Wrap Up

Mox Opal | Illustration by Volkan Baga

There are tons of legendary artifacts in MTG history, and while some are expensive to cast, others like the Moxes help you to enable those faster starts that propel you into devastating turns.

Did you like the ranking? Were there any other artifacts you would have loved to see? Please let me know in the comments or over on Draftsim’s Discord! And check out The Daily Upkeep newsletter to stay up to date on all the latest MTG news.

As always, take care, and ‘til we meet again!