The 35 Best Orcs in Magic Ranked

Last updated on October 25, 2023

Orcish Bowmasters | Illustration by Tyler Jacobson

Have you ever looked at a goblin and wished your little guy were just a bit bigger? Then do I have the creature type for you! Orcs were used in the early days of Magic to design as bigger goblins, though they’ve matured into a creature type all their own.

The orcs found in Magic aren’t that far from those in Lord of the Rings, as exemplified by the Universes Beyond set. Magic’s orcs are pirates, warriors, and always looking for a fight. So, let’s look at the best of them!

What Are Orcs in MTG?

Storm Fleet Arsonist | Illustration by Jason A. Engle

Orcs in Magic are creatures with the orc subtype, as indicated in the type box. We’ve seen orcs throughout Magic’s history. Cards like Orcish Settlers and Orcish Librarian, or most recent ones like Argivian Cavalier, show the orcs on Dominaria. The creature type is also on Tarkir and Ixalan, where they’re warriors and pirates.

Orcs are aggressive creatures, with abilities and stats to match. The newest orcs come from the Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth crossover set.

#35. Orc Sureshot

Here’s a great card for token decks. Four mana is a lot, but Orc Sureshot can take out all your opponent’s creatures if you can consistently make multiple creatures a turn.

Even if it doesn’t kill anything, giving a large blocker -1/-1 a few times enables plenty of extra attacks.

#34. Merciless Executioner

Creatures with edicts attached to them are useful in decks that can exploit them. Merciless Executioner is good for token decks that always have an irrelevant 1/1 lying around to sacrifice while your opponents lose real threats, or in decks that can repeatedly get this trigger like Meren of Clan Nel Toth.

#33. Mer-Ek Nightblade

Plenty of cards give creatures with +1/+1 counters keywords, but Mer-Ek Nightblade is among the most annoying. Your opponent often needs to multiblock to take out massive creatures bolstered by counters, and deathtouch ensures you’ll kill all of them.

It’s also incredible with cards like Tuskguard Captain that gives those same creatures trample.

#32. Storm Fleet Arsonist

Storm Fleet Arsonist is a little expensive but intriguing. It could be a solid top-end for an aggressive deck, but I’m interested in it as a combo piece. There are many ways to infinitely flicker a creature, so the right deck could use this to decimate an opponent’s board.

#31. Cutthroat Negotiator

One of the few group hug orcs, Cutthroat Negotiator is a neat little card. Anything that makes Treasure when it attacks is worth looking at for an aggressive deck, and the card draw gives your opponents a reason to keep taking a measly four damage.

Assuming this usually makes two or three Treasures in a four-person pod, this is solid in Commander.

#30. Rootha, Mercurial Artist

Rootha, Mercurial Artist is almost an amazing card. A repeatable Dualcaster Mage effect that’s hard to interact with as its activated ability is strong, but five mana for each rotation is a lot. You don’t need to pay it all at once, but this has to come down and stay down for multiple turns to get maximum value, which is a little slow.

#29. Orcish Settlers

Orcish Settlers has one of Magic’s best artworks from Pete Venters, but it’s not terrible. There are plenty of ways to make this ability cheaper with cards like Training Grounds, or you can ramp hard.

This card destroys problematic lands like Gaea's Cradle or Cabal Coffers and even hits basics if you want to be really nasty.

#28. Cirith Ungol Patrol

Cirith Ungol Patrol is intriguing. It’s a bit of an expensive creature, but it’s also a cheap sacrifice outlet. Getting a card and a Food for one mana and a creature is a great deal, especially at instant speed.

That said, you can only do it once a turn cycle, and it can’t sacrifice itself. It may be too slow to do anything impressive.

#27. Dire Fleet Ravager

Orcs like getting aggressive, and Dire Fleet Ravager helps get damage through. It’s also synergistic with cards that want you to lose life like Death's Shadow and Vilis, Broker of Blood to enable some powerful synergies as soon as it hits the battlefield.

#26. Dire Fleet Neckbreaker

Many orcs on Ixalan found themselves in a life of piracy, and Dire Fleet Neckbreaker leads the charge. Lots of pirate cards are aggressive and want you to attack with the raid mechanic, and this pseudo-lord does a great job of pushing damage to finish off your opponents and let small, dorky creatures trade up in combat.

#25. Ruthless Knave

Ruthless Knave is so close to being utterly broken. It would be incredible if one of these activated abilities cost just a little less.

It’s still a fantastic card draw engine in dedicated Treasure decks using tools like Old Gnawbone, Ancient Copper Dragon, or Bootleggers' Stash to generate enough Treasure that losing a few won’t matter.

#24. Plargg, Dean of Chaos

Plargg, Dean of Chaos is a fine card. Graveyard- or madness-based decks can get a lot of mileage from a cheap rummager. The activated ability is a little weak because you’ll always lose at least two mana on the exchange, but it might be useful in a deck with a carefully sculpted curve so you almost always hit what you want.

#23. Cadira, Caller of the Small

Cadira, Caller of the Small is necessary for token decks just because it makes the cutest tokens in the game with its Rabbits.

Jokes aside, this kind of token-doubling ability can win a game. Cadira counts all your tokens, including things like Treasures and Clues. A bit of evasion through something like Whispersilk Cloak makes this a threat.

#22. Blood-Chin Fanatic

A vicious warrior from Tarkir, Blood-Chin Fanatic provides warrior typal decks with a way to close the game. A repeatable Fling ability that gains you life is fantastic in aggressive decks, even if the typing restricts what you can toss.

Of course, you could always use Conspiracy to change the typing of your cards and throw an Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger at an unsuspecting opponent.

#21. Moria Scavenger

A rummager with haste is something graveyard decks are happy to play, especially when it comes with a friend. Moria Scavenger is a surprisingly robust little card; a 1/4 with deathtouch blocks amazingly at any point in the game. This one pitches extra lands, sets up graveyard synergies, and makes plenty of sacrifice fodder.

Moria Scavenger fills multiple roles at an efficient rate.

#20. Sek’Kuar, Deathkeeper

Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper can be a strong aristocrats commander. Making creatures when your creatures die doubles your sacrifice fodder. It works great with cards like Merciless Executioner and other creatures that sacrifice themselves for their ability, like Spore Frog and Blood Pet.

#19. Frenzied Saddlebrute

The biggest drawback to mass haste enablers like Mass Hysteria and Concordant Crossroads is that they can turn against you, but Frenzied Saddlebrute ensures your opponents are only attacking each other.

It's a great card to use with goad cards or effects like Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor and Edric, Spymaster of Trest that encourage your opponents to attack each other instead of you.

#18. Ire Shaman

Megamorph was a whiff of a mechanic, but Ire Shaman is among the better cards with it. This is an aggressive option for decks that don’t mind investing a little mana for an extra card and a decently-sized menace threat, and it’s hard to block on turn 2.

This fine red card should be in more Cubes than it is.

#17. Captain Vargus Wrath

Captain Vargus Wrath gives you another orc to buff your pirates, though this offers a far more substantial boost. Vargus can be a fine commander to cast multiple times thanks to its low cost, but it also serves well in the 99.

You only need to cast your commander twice to get an above-rate boost, and this only gets better in longer, grindier games.

#16. Zurgo Helmsmasher

How long can you ignore the massive orc knocking on your door? Zurgo Helmsmasher is aggression in a card. This is well-statted to become a Voltron commander, and your opponents can’t just chump because it’ll become even better.

You’ll want some protective spells since Zurgo is vulnerable on other players’ turns, but this could lead to a fantastically aggressive Commander deck.

#15. Shagrat, Loot Bearer

Shagrat, Loot Bearer is a great option for equipment decks that want to suit a creature up without paying exorbitant equip costs. Cards like Kaldra Compleat and Argentum Armor love a card like this that cheats on equip costs.

Rakdos () also makes Shagrat an intriguing commander for an equipment deck; you lose out on some equipment support, but it gets access to colored equipment like Mask of Griselbrand.

#14. Zurgo Bellstriker

Zurgo Bellstriker isn’t nearly as flashy as its original variant, but it trades all the frills for sheer efficiency. 1-mana 2/2s are a staple of red aggro decks, and this gets to hit with haste if you draw it off curve. Zurgo is just a fantastic body for aggro decks, only held back by being legendary.

#13. Ruin Raider

Who doesn’t like extra copies of Dark Confidant?

Ruin Raider is the aggressive version of the classic card, drawing cards if you can attack reliably. It works best paired with cards that generate evasive creatures like Bitterblossom or Alela, Artful Provocateur to enable raid as consistently as possible.

#12. Shaman of the Great Hunt

Shaman of the Great Hunt forces your opponents to deal with you in combat now or let your creatures get too big to handle. It's great with evasive creatures like Looter il-Kor and Slither Blade that your opponents can’t block, and it provides plenty of card draw later in the game.

#11. Wild-Magic Sorcerer

I have a soft spot for Wild-Magic Sorcerer as a card my friends and I have put in many decks. It’s a great payoff for exile-based decks like Prosper, Tome Bound and Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald, or even just in decks loaded with cascade cards.

It’s weakened by doing nothing on its own, but this provides incredible value in a deck that can exploit it.

#10. White Plume Adventurer

White Plume Adventurer’s time in the sun may have passed with its banning in Legacy, but I’m sure everybody will remember the Commander mechanic that broke the format.

It's still a reasonable card for Commander since you have all the tools to accelerate this out early, even if defending the initiative is harder in multiple. It’s also a fine Cube card, especially for higher-powered ones.

#9. Coercive Recruiter

Getting an effect repeatedly is a great way to break a card. Coercive Recruiter isn’t broken, but the continuous Threaten effect breaks through a stalled board state marvelously to force the last point of damage in with your pirate deck.

It’s also strong with sacrifice synergies. Taking your opponent's creature, attacking with it, and then sacrificing it to something like Deadly Dispute or Fling is a classic Magic strategy.

#8. Gorbag of Minas Morgul

A great strength of goblin decks is going wide with tokens, and Gorbag of Minas Morgul gives those decks an incredible payoff. Gorbag can be a great finisher alongside a Blood Artist effect, letting your tokens deal extra damage.

It’s also a fantastic piece that makes your goblins into cards or mana, and it doesn’t need to be tokens.

#7. Brutal Hordechief

Hellrider is a great card, so what if it gained you life? Brutal Hordechief lacks haste but makes up for it with a game-ending ability. You can activate that ability and swing out, making all the creatures the defending player controls block an irrelevant 1/1 while the rest of your horde streams past.

It’s also a great trick with creatures that want to take damage like Brash Taunter.

#6. Zurgo and Ojutai

Somehow the best version of Zurgo is the one that’s evasive, hasty, and draws cards.

Zurgo and Ojutai hits really hard and can let you see up to nine extra cards a turn with a few other dragons. It’s also fantastic with dragons that have strong ETB abilities, like Bogardan Hellkite or Dragonlord Atarka. It’s even seen some Standard play as a top-end threat for midrange decks.

#5. Plargg and Nassari

My, how a small orc grew up.

Plargg and Nassari is a Commander card since you want multiple players for its trigger to do work, but it does so much. It promises two free spells each turn, just for being in play! They’re cast from exile, which plenty of cards like Passionate Archaeologist and Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald care about.

What’s a Stolen Strategy doing in your decklists when this card exists?

#4. Burakos, Party Leader

The party mechanic hasn’t gotten a ton of dedicated support, but Burakos, Party Leader is the choice to helm a party-themed Commander deck. Making any Treasure when you attack is powerful, and this makes three or four. Plus, it pushes some extra damage.

With a little bit of evasion, this could represent a Dark Ritual every turn.

#3. Orcish Lumberjack

Orcish Lumberjack is one of the best mana dorks ever, letting you untap on turn two with up to five mana if you have a Forest to sacrifice and a land drop. Sacrificing lands is hardly even a downside with cards like Titania, Protector of Argoth and Wrenn and Six running around.

#2. Port Razer

Additional combats aren’t quite as good as taking extra turns, but aggressive decks can make excellent use of them.

Port Razer drops a ton of damage once it starts attacking. It can even represent infinite combats with Helm of the Host, though it’s a little finickier than the same combo with Combat Celebrant.

#1. Orcish Bowmasters

Topping the list is the orc that’s gotten the most Commander intrigue from Tales of Middle-earth.

Commander decks are chock full of card draw, and Orcish Bowmasters benefits from it as much as your opponents. That’s before you consider the interaction with this and wheels; if you cast a single Wheel of Fortune effect, you get a 22/22 and deal 21 damage to any target. The curve of this on turn 2 into the wheel on turn 3 produces enough damage to kill a player then and there since the Orc Army would have come into play the previous turn.

This card may not be as broken as some players think, but it’s likely to become a black staple overnight.

Best Orc Payoffs

As a creature type orcs don’t have a super-defined mechanical identity, but there are a couple of small mechanics you can exploit with them. First and foremost, pirates! A couple of orcs make your pirates better, but some of them are also pirates, like Port Razer and Ruin Raider. A typal deck centered around pirates is a great start.

Some orcs in Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth care about orcs and goblins, like Gorbag of Minas Morgul. You’re much more likely to get mileage from goblins than orcs, though you can use both.

As a rule, lots of orcs in Magic want to be aggressive. Even the more general ones want you to be getting in and dealing combat damage, so the best way to maximize their impact is to look for a strategy that wants you to attack early and often. Cards with goad or other ways to give your creatures evasion are useful in Commander to help facilitate such strategies.

Wrap Up

Plargg and Nassari | Illustration by Yigit Koroglu

Orcs want one thing in Magic: to get aggressive and beat face. I guess that’s two things. The creatures are all aggressively statted, and many have abilities that reward you for challenging your opponents in open combat.

The Lord of the Rings crossover set has introduced a lot of variety and some new mechanical identities to the card type once regulated to being warriors, pirates, and memes. What are your favorite orcs? Do you think Orcish Bowmasters will break cEDH? Let me know in the comments below, or over in the official Draftsim Discord.

Stay safe, and fight!