The 26 Best Mutants in Magic Ranked

Last updated on April 29, 2024

Sliver Overlord | Illustration by Justine Jones

Chimeras. Sphinxes. Manticores. There are others. The classical world has a special place for monsters that are the conjoinment of other creatures. And MTG has cards for those. But the mutant is the figure of mixed bodies in the age of science, and various Magic expansions over the years have shown us mad scientists, mutagenic fluids, genetic manipulation, and now, with Fallout, radiation.

I would bet plenty more are coming, whether or not we actually see any X-Men in the future! But let’s look at the best of them right now.

What Are Mutants in MTG?

Mutalith Vortex Beast | Illustration by Kekai Kotaki

You may or may not be shocked to know that mutants as a creature type have predated the MTG Fallout set by more than 20 years! The first official mutant was Mistform Mutant in Onslaught, although Goblin Mutant from Ice Age was mutated (errata’d) with the creature type mutant later on. The majority seem to be in Simic colors (), especially because mutation is kind of the world of the Simic Combine on Ravnica, which leads to a lot of cards in that space.

Note that this is totally different from the mutate mechanic introduced in Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths. Using the mutate ability does not make the creature type of the mutated creature into a mutant.

With a whole new crop in the Mutant Menace Commander precon deck for Fallout, it’s time to rank the best 26 of the 87 mutants in MTG! There are a few more interesting ones in the Mutant Menace precon if you’re hungry for muties, but these are the best.

#26. Hancock, Ghoulish Mayor

If zombie +1/+1 counters is ever a thing, watch out for Hancock, Ghoulish Mayor! I mean, there’s a bit. Carrion Feeder, Grimgrin, Corpse-Born, even Champion of the Perished, but this is not quite a thing. Yet.

#25. Jason Bright, Glowing Prophet

And Jason Bright, Glowing Prophet is trying to show us the way to that bright future!

#24. Feral Ghoul

And so is Feral Ghoul! This could actually end the game in a deck where you’re sacrificing a lot of zombies. I’ll have to see that happen first before I go all in, but it seems like a fun new space for zombie decks.

#23. Cloudfin Raptor

Cloudfin Raptor is a nice 1-drop for a birds deck that’ll evolve and get swole.

#22. Vexing Radgull

Another Thrummingbird is already great for the decks that want that! And dishing out rad counters is nice. The trouble is that this only proliferates in a rad counters deck, which downgrades it to another Shriekgeist sort of card in those cases.

#21. Roalesk, Apex Hybrid

Roalesk, Apex Hybrid is a big, hard-to-cast flyer, and it’s one of the few creatures that can proliferate twice for you. But it has to die to do so, so keep reading to find the newer, better, alpha version of the effect.

#20. Mutalith Vortex Beast

Coin flip decks want Mutalith Vortex Beast. That’s all I have to say about that.

#19. Indoraptor, the Perfect Hybrid

Indoraptor, the Perfect Hybrid is a good fight commander that has yet to really take off. As a commander, the colors allow all your deathtouch fun, as well as Phyrexian Obliterator. I don’t know if that’s a deck I want to play, but this is here if you do.

#18. Strong, the Brutish Thespian

In a fight deck, like Neyith of the Dire Hunt isn’t Strong, the Brutish Thespian just good?

#17. Raul, Trouble Shooter

Ghoulcaller's Bell in the command zone, anyone? Raul, Trouble Shooter is a nice synergy piece as long as you’re on the self-mill train, and doesn't require the hoops of a card like Conduit of Worlds to cast things out of the graveyard

#16. Indominus Rex, Alpha

People are building this Indominus Rex, Alpha deck, which looks like a Sultai beatdown deck with loads of creatures and some recursion. Could be fun. Kind of unplayable in the 99, though?

#15. Mirelurk Queen

Drawing a card off mill is not a common thing. And in a deck that mills people on their turns, this draws a lot of cards, as the limitation doesn’t matter as much if it triggers each turn. So, Mesmeric Orb? This is a hard effect to get even with the limitation, so this card has a definite place. Finally, Mirelurk Queen just feels obnoxious next to a suite of Psychic Corrosion kinds of enchantments.

#14. Screeching Scorchbeast

In a dedicated mill deck, I’ll usually have effects that mill for dribs and drabs, which only makes me one zombie. But looks what happens if I’m doing Maddening Cacophony types of things! Screeching Scorchbeast triggers off of self-mill, and there’s a lot of cards that do that for 2-3 mana at instant speed. I’m not saying this is Field of the Dead, but this is a powerful payoff for decks that’ve been looking for just this kind of thing!

#13. Marcus, Mutant Mayor

Every Toski, Bearer of Secrets or Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor saboteur effect is valuable in Commander. Marcus, Mutant Mayor is more expensive and limited to creatures with counters, but it’s Simic, so it should be fine. And don’t underestimate Marcus’ ability to dish out counters. Useful for a lot of synergies.

#12. Tato Farmer

You can keep milling yourself with your rad counters and playing lands. Tato Farmer will get you 4 rad counters a turn after you start the cycle, which is pretty efficient for the decks that want that. But if you’re milling opponents’ cards or you’re playing against another mill deck, well, buckle up and look out for power.

#11. Experiment Kraj

A classic Simic commander that’s been eclipsed by the power creep of ETB triggers over activated abilities, Experiment Kraj is definitely aboil in Agatha's Soul Cauldron.

#10. Agent Frank Horrigan

There’s not that many cards that let you proliferate twice, and Agent Frank Horrigan does this on ETB and on attack, which is pretty wild.

#9. Benthic Biomancer

You have to respect 1-drops. Benthic Biomancer will let you loot a lot in a deck where you’re dishing out counters. That’s not quite Fathom Mage, but it can still do a huge amount for you.

#8. Watchful Radstag

This card is going to make a LOT of elk if you just keep casting creatures on curve, which is kind of what green does. Next turn two. Then four. Then eight. Then it gets really bad! Note that the new Watchful Radstag token copies come in as 2/2s without counters, so even if you start falling off on creature power and toughness, you’ll still get bodies. There are definitely uses for these!

#7. Harold and Bob, First Numens

This is a sweet design. A 3/3 for 3 is pretty meh. But it uses the Old-Growth Troll return-as-an-aura trick for multicolor decks. Harold and Bob, First Numens is easy to cast and then ramps and fixes. I think this card will find a lot of homes.

#6. The Master, Transcendent

The Master, Transcendent has an awesome activated ability, especially for graveyard decks, but in an everybody-mills environment, it can just start grabbing value each turn. Very powerful.

#5. The Wise Mothman

The face commander of the Mutant Menace Fallout precon, The Wise Mothman efficiently dishes out mill and then +1/+1 counters. And if you’re milling at instant speed, whether with Brain Freeze, Syr Konrad, the Grim, or even the dozens of Corpse Churn variants, it makes combat math super tricky for your opponents.

#4. Sliver Overlord

The second most popular Sliver commander behind The First Sliver, Sliver Overlord has that tutoring activated ability that’s so good in the deck!

#3. Biomancer’s Familiar

The adapt text is largely flavor in EDH, but this is one of the few cards that provide this kind of discount for activated abilities. And Biomancer's Familiar is in better colors for that, compared to a card like Zirda, the Dawnwaker.

#2. Alpha Deathclaw

With the printing of Alpha Deathclaw, there are just over 30 cards with the Assassin's Trophy and Vindicate text “destroy target permanent.” Everything else with similar text specifies “nonland.” So that’s valuable. With 13 mana lying around you can destroy two things. And if you’re somehow in blink colors, yikes!

#1. Rampaging Yao Guai

I think people are sleeping on this card! Rampaging Yao Guai comes down for 3 mana as a 2/2 that wipes all artifact (including Treasures!) and enchantment tokens, as well as artifact lands and a little thing called Urza's Saga. If you cast this for 5, it wipes a key mana rock or ramp enchantment. And you scale up from there.

Please note that you destroy any number of targets, which means this is an asymmetrical effect!

Fair warning that this doesn’t synergize with a card like Renata, Called to the Hunt, which could have allowed for awesome blink synergies, as it counts the casting X, not the number of counters as it enters. Still., this is a super powerful and flexible tool!

Best Mutant Payoffs

Mutant Menace Precon Brews

The Mutant Menace precon has two-thirds of these cards, plus a few more. And they provide an interesting brew of counters, self-mill, and interaction. If you follow our upgrade guide, you’ll streamline the deck and have a few mutants left over for other decks. And I think they’ll be wanted.

+1/+1 Counters Decks

Classic mutants from Ravnica that adapt are all connected to the +1/+1 counters theme you’d expect of Simic, but the Fallout world gives us mutants with black pips that get in on that game. So any of those combinations of colors looking for more synergies might find fun and profit in this mutant list.

Mill Decks

Either the self-mill or “boo! hiss! mill out the table decks” will find mutants here that synergize really well, including some newly broken ground for payoffs.

Wrap Up

Harold and Bob, First Numens | Illustration by Andrea Piparo

I like Fallout, so there’s my bias, but I do think +1/+1 counters in black is a good space, which the Fallout precon really leans into. There have been increasing numbers of mono-black oriented cards that use that design space, but seeing them interact in Sultai is very interesting, and I’m all for making spaces that pull people out of the mono-black deck builds, which I find pretty boring to play against, whatever the format.

Most of this list of mutants comes from Universes Beyond, so I can see folks tapping out on these cards for that reason, but I see some exciting design space opening up here that’ll hopefully mutate the Universes Within area of MTG.

Are you into the mutants? Are you ready for mutant typal? Are you building up a brew and mutating the Fallout precon? Let us know in the comments or on Discord. Keep evolving, my friends!