All 30 Moonfolk in Magic Ranked

Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student | Illustration by Magali Villeneuve

Original Kamigawa block is loved and hated. A low-powered format with many parasitic mechanics and cards, it was also a very thematically resonant block whose enduring popularity spawned the immensely successful Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty return.

One of the most interesting elements of Kamigawa sets are the moonfolk, based in Japanese mythology, and with one of the most mechanically distinctive activated abilities in MTG: returning lands to hand. It’s a fascinating design space that suffers from the generally low powered nature of those original Kamigawa cards, but it creates some intriguing deckbuilding possibilities.

Let’s take a big-picture look at all the moonfolk and give some special attention to the best of the best.

What Are Moonfolk in MTG?

Meloku the Clouded Mirror | Illustration by Scott M. Fischer

Moonfolk is a creature type. Moonfolk, or Soratami, are a race of sky people on the plane of Kamigawa. They live in cloud palaces and study magic. MTG players unfamiliar with Kamigawa are likely still familiar with Tamiyo, the Soratami planeswalker.

#30. Oboro Envoy

So this is how we start. Unplayable. Even if bouncing lands became good, this isn’t the effect you want on Oboro Envoy.

Let’s see if it becomes worth it. Spoiler alert. It does!

#29. Floodbringer

Funny name. Reducing mana for everyone, you included! Floodbringer is really, really bad.

#28. Moonbow Illusionist

Moonbow Illusionist is just the card you need for those sweet islandwalk payoffs!

What’s that? There are none? Sorry about that ‘90s Magic. Time to move on.

#27. Invasion of Kamigawa / Rooftop Saboteurs

Man, they really were timid with battle design, weren’t they? Invasion of Kamigawa // Rooftop Saboteurs is basically unplayable.

#26. Moonfolk Puzzlemaker

Moonfolk Puzzlemaker was rarely even good enough for its Draft environment. Pass.

#25. Soratami Mirror-Guard

Terrible! But there’s a possible set of printings that would make Soratami Mirror-Guard vaguely playable. Maybe. But why would those cards ever get made?

#24. Soratami Mindsweeper

Same thing here. But Soratami Mindsweeper will run out of lands to bounce before your opponent’s deck runs out of cards.

#23. Soratami Seer

Nine mana to self bounce two lands and discard them to draw cards in a micro wheel. Horrible! But Soratami Seer is so weird that I wouldn’t be surprised if a card came along that really made it pop. If you could cheat this into play and then activate it for free, would you want to do the thing? I’ll bet yes.

#22. Soratami Mirror-Mage

There are some arcane combos here with Retreat to Coralhelm sorts of things, but you just can't justify Soratami Mirror-Mage as a 4-drop that bounces three of your lands.

#21. Soratami Cloudskater

Not worth it. Late game Commander, Soratami Cloudskater can crack lands like clues, but games don’t go that late anymore, at least not ones where you aren’t using every land by then end to get the commander out one more time!

#20. Uyo, Silent Prophet

Copying a spell is powerful. But there are way easier ways to do this than to spend eight mana to get it down and activate Uyo, Silent Prophet.

#19. Soratami Rainshaper

Soratami Rainshaper was always a meme of an idea, far worse than Soratami Savant, which is still pretty bad.

#18. Soratami Savant

This was always a gotcha card in my Simic () landfall decks back before 2020, at least until those decks got so propulsive that the idea of slowing down to counter a spell became laughable. Soratami Savant is, in the words of Obi-Wan, “an elegant weapon for a more civilized age.”

#17. Saiba Trespassers

Awkward-seeming Saiba Trespassers always surprised me in Draft, where it was way more playable than you’d have thought. Still not saying much.

#16. Guardians of Oboro

Never say never. The casting cost is right on this. All Guardians of Oboro needs is a card that makes four defender tokens with some kind of counter on them at instant speed for 2 mana, and I smell Pioneer jank.

#15. Replication Specialist

It always seems like Replication Specialist is gonna be sweet, but by the time this card starts to work, it’s often too late. It does good service in, of all things, a Dee Kay, Finder of the Lost attractions deck, though!

#14. Genku, Future Shaper

Genku, Future Shaper is nonsense. How do all of these abilities fit together? It does play fine with Kykar, Zephyr Awakener, but that feels too much like a recipe for a bad night, complaining that the rest of the EDH table keeps targeting your stuff and never lets you do anything.

#13. Saiba Cryptomancer

I love this card. It tends to see play only in Pauper these days, but Saiba Cryptomancer is cheap, versatile, and useful. Is it worth a slot in the 99 these days of overstuffed Commander? Maybe not usually. Too bad.

#12. Katsumasa, the Animator

This was one of the first cards I yanked from my Kotori, Pilot Prodigy precon, and even though people find ways to use it in decks like Mu Yanling, Wind Rider, Katsumasa, the Animator feels like too little for the cost and the slowness.

Plus, its name, as a combo of two carbs, is something I can’t quite take seriously.

#11. Inventive Iteration / Living Breakthrough

Look, I think this card is absolute gas in a blink deck, and it absolutely annoys my playgroup. I get that it’s a 4-drop or whatever, but when you flip it and cast a cantrip and a 2-mana spell, well, that’s a good time. The text says “until your next turn.” Think. About. It.

Then you blink it and bounce something, and the fun continues. In Commander, Inventive Iteration / Living Breakthrough acts like a hard to interact with planeswalker, at least at more casual tables.

#10. Kotori, Pilot Prodigy

Kicked out of its own deck by erstwhile cEDH stomper Shorikai, Genesis Engine, Kotori, Pilot Prodigy is still a decent card for a pure vehicles deck, where Shorikai is fine to just Unwinding Clock its way through your library.

The trouble is that vehicles are still kind of bad at their very best. But if you have a genius vehicles brew, surely no one everyone sees coming (Mobilizer Mech gives us a wave), well, Kotori is a better choice if you bought that precon, as everyone will be gunning for the Genesis Engine.

#9. Network Disruptor

A serviceable card in its Standard days, Network Disruptor continues to serve ninjutsu commanders faithfully far and wide.

#8. Research Thief

Five mana, even with flash, is rough. Still, Research Thief is a decent addition to Leonardo da Vinci decks, as well as Mendicant Core, Guidelight.

#7. Futurist Spellthief

Futurist Spellthief is a take-it-before-the-wheel card in any Arena Cube it’s in. Good times.

#6. Wonderscape Sage

Wonderscape Sage doesn’t have a ton to do right now, but the power of this as a tap ability in blue, the color of untapping, without costing mana to activate the moonfolk land bounce ability, is solid. It’s just that we can now bounce back double-faced spell lands or adventure lands like Midgar, City of Mako, or rescue creature lands, or yank back stuff like Shelldock Isle. Not to mention Halimar Depths or Radiant Fountain, the best ETBs on lands we have. All it takes is a really decent land ETB, and there’ll be someone on a podcast in a few years howling about how a stupid Commander card broke Legacy. Retreat to Coralhelm is patient.

#5. Meloku the Clouded Mirror

Speaking of Coralhelm, Walking Atlas just called to say he loves you. Meloku the Clouded Mirror goes infinite with those, and it’s cheeky with the best blue ETB land, one that you may have been screaming at me for forgetting when discussing Wonderscape Sage: Mystic Sanctuary! Indeed. Meloku is a bit better with the Sanctuary than the Sage, as plowing out the 1/1s actually kind of helps win in those conditions (I see you, Alrund's Epiphany!).

#4. Oboro Breezecaller

The recent rise of this card as an infinite mana piece in cEDH decks is a testament to the inherent power of cards in this space. Read all about how to break Talon Gates of Madara and Oboro Breezecaller. Dream fondly of other old moonfolk climbing the ranks with the right new land printing!

#3. Tameshi, Reality Architect

A super flexible card, Tameshi, Reality Architect is a brewer’s delight. It shows up in a ton of different decks, but it has found a durable home as a combo partner in Commander with cards like Patron of the Moon and Lotus Bloom, but more commonly in Modern in mono-blue Goblin Charbelcher decks. It’s sort of the reason to be blue Belcher, in some ways, because it allows you to pull back a needed spell land while also grabbing a destroyed Charblecher from the graveyard.

#2. Erayo, Soratami Ascendant

Being banned in Commander makes you a powerful card. Erayo, Soratami Ascendant is cheap to get down and pretty easy to flip when you’re playing blue. Then the countering of first spells is backbreaking, especially if that happens on turn 2. Removal is particularly tough to use in those circumstances. Compare all of that to the work it takes to get to the ultimate on Jace, Unraveler of Secrets!

This card does show up, often as a one- or two-of, in some Modern Izzet decks, usually of the affinity and/or storm variety, but no one would call it a typical play.

The power level overall is based a bit on the unique situation of a card like this in the command zone, so we won’t elevate this to the top spot.

#1. Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student / Tamiyo, Seasoned Scholar

My top pick is the most versatile, a Modern Horizons 3 flip planeswalker that’s seen across formats: Modern, Legacy, Historic, Timeless, and of course, Commander. Flipping Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student / Tamiyo, Seasoned Scholar on turn 2 is frustratingly common in formats in which Brainstorm is legal. In others, Tamiyo can still get out of hand pretty quickly, able to do the second ability the turn after it flips, when the first ability neuters an attack against the walker. Want Clue tokens to turn on the metalcraft on Mox Opal or do some affinity work? Want something for an early ninjutsu or sneak? How about a commander on turn 1 for some Simic () wheels control? Tamiyo is the answer to a lot of deckbuilding questions in blue!

Best Moonfolk Payoffs

There aren’t that many moonfolk, so there aren’t that many payoffs. Unless, like kavu in Edge of Eternities, they end up as a race we can find across the planes, that won’t likely change soon.

Still, their signature ability to return lands to hand is unique and potentially powerful, so there are a few things to explore here.

Lands with good ETBs like Bojuka Bog, double-faced lands you might want back in hand like Sink into Stupor // Soporific Springs, or lands that create combos like Talon Gates of Madara are what we think of here. Sure, moonfolk support landfall decks, but in a very slow way that’s often at cross purposes with the ramp those decks often seek.

Patron of the Moon is an interesting card that can come down quick in a dedicated moonfolk deck and spew lands. There are lots of ways to use this card to go infinite with other moonfolk.

Are There Any Moonfolk Commanders?

There are a few, and I’ve listed them here in order of quality as a commander. Remember, Erayo, Soratami Ascendant is banned.

1. Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student / Tamiyo, Seasoned Scholar
2. Tameshi, Reality Architect
3. Meloku the Clouded Mirror
4. Kotori, Pilot Prodigy
5. Katsumasa, the Animator
6. Genku, Future Shaper
7. Uyo, Silent Prophet

The first three are good enough to sometimes matter for cEDH. They’re impactful and easy to get down, and they focus on specific gameplans.

What Is Moonfolk Offering?

The offering mechanic from the original Kamigawa block allows a card of one of the signature creature types to be played in a way that works like emerge. You can sacrifice a moonfolk to cast a creature with moonfolk offering at instant speed if you also pay the difference in mana costs (not mana values). For example, you can sacrifice a Moon-Circuit Hacker and pay ( – = ) to cast Patron of the Moon. It’s a card that combos nicely by putting lands back that your other moonfolk have bounced back to hand.

Wrap Up

Moonfolk Puzzlemaker | Illustration by Miguel Mercado

I have always loved weird and janky abilities on cards, and I’ve long tried to find homes for moonfolk in my Commander decks. They haven’t always been what I’d hoped, but more recent moonfolk designs show a lot of promise. I hope that other creatures across the planes pick up this unnamed ability so we can see this powerful design space of returning lands to hand explored.

It’s easy to tip into too powerful with infinite combos here, but I like to see MTG designers work on the edges of the nature of the game as mechanics, like when Eldrazi arrived that could interact with cards in exile. As a longtime player, that’s the kind of thing that really gets me thinking.

Are you a moonfolk fan? Have you found other interactions or EDH possibilities in these cards I haven’t seen? Please let me know in the comments or on the Draftsim Discord.

As humanity prepares to return to the Moon in person, I think it’s a good time to think about more moonfolk in decks all over. But then, I have been known to play Commander decks much more fun than they are good.

Happy brewing!