All 12 Orzhov Planeswalkers in Magic Ranked

Kaya, Bane of the Dead | Illustration by Magali Villeneuve

Planeswalkers come in all colors and color combinations (with the exception of 4-color combos) so there’s always a strong value engine for your next brew, regardless of color.

Orzhov planeswalkers are pretty universally grindy with an emphasis on tokens, lifegain, and card advantage. Despite there only being two Orzhov planeswalker characters, we have quite a few card options, so let’s dive into it.

What Are Orzhov Planeswalkers in MTG?

Sorin, Solemn Visitor | Illustration by Cynthia Sheppard

Orzhov () planeswalkers have the planeswalker type and a white-black color identity. This list includes creatures that transform into planeswalkers for the sake of completeness.

Orzhov planeswalkers tend to be grindy. The only characters represented are Sorin, who often cares about lifegain and tokens, and Kaya, whose planeswalkers lean on card advantage and exiling permanents for value. Whichever character you go with, expect them to be a house in midrange decks.

#12. Kaya, Bane of the Dead

The uncommon planeswalkers from War of the Spark are generally unremarkable. There are exceptions, like Narset and Saheeli, but Kaya, Bane of the Dead sadly isn’t. It’s a wonderful Limited card as a powerful two-for-one to top your curve, but you wouldn’t catch me playing this in any format that didn’t involve opening booster packs.

#11. Sorin, Vengeful Bloodlord

Rarely do planeswalkers get pegged as Limited rares, but War of the Spark was an odd set. Sorin, Vengeful Bloodlord is exactly the card you expect from a Limited bomb that doesn’t translate to Constructed: Lots of small, impactful abilities that are significant in a grindy format of small edges but look silly when stacked against format-defining cards like Greasefang, Okiba Boss and Badgermole Cub.

#10. Kaya, Geist Hunter

Kaya, Geist Hunter suffers from an extremely unimpressive uptick. The temporary token doubler is extremely interesting design space and much better balanced than Elspeth, Storm Slayer, but the uptick offers nothing. It’s maybe too dependent on external token creation, as well; good token planeswalkers make them and have abilities that support them rather than relying entirely on other cards.

#9. Sorin, Solemn Visitor

Sorin, Solemn Visitor is a less impressive Sorin, Lord of Innistrad; it’s a shame that the anthem gives you no lasting value and the tokens are made by removing loyalty, not adding it. Even the ultimate is less impressive.

#8. Sorin, Grim Nemesis

Sorin, Grim Nemesis is a little slow by modern standards but it’s a fine draw engine if you can justify it. It works particularly well with library manipulation like Scroll Rack and Sensei's Divining Top so you always have that Blightsteel Colossus on top of the library. The biggest knock against it is the mediocre removal: I expect my 6-mana planeswalkers to destroy or exile, especially in these colors.

#7. Kaya, Intangible Slayer

Kaya, Intangible Slayer’s abilities are reminiscent of Kaya, Bane of the Dead, except leveled up for a rare planeswalker. The trouble is your expensive planeswalkers really need to do a lot—think Karn Liberated, which is easy to cheat out, or Ugin, Eye of the Storms, which at minimum kills a threat and draws a card. Much as I loved to play this Kaya with Builder's Talent in Standard, I can’t pretend it’s a particularly powerful card.

#6. Kaya, Orzhov Usurper

Kaya, Orzhov Usurper isn’t the most impactful planeswalker, but it’s balanced interestingly as a planeswalker focused on disruption more than anything, with two abilities that exile opposing cards. Repeatable graveyard hate that demands an answer before winning is pretty sick, though it might be too slow for some formats.

#5. Sorin, Lord of Innistrad

Sorin, Lord of Innistrad is a perfectly fine token engine. Four mana for a planeswalker that makes 1/1s is roughly standard, and these have lifelink! The power-buffing emblem is also pretty remarkable because your opponent can’t do anything about it, so you keep the power even if Sorin eats it.

#4. Kaya, Spirits’ Justice

Kaya, Spirits' Justice has one of the most interesting static abilities of any planeswalker. It works particularly well with cards like Abyssal Harvester and Ardyn, the Usurper that use exile-based reanimation. Why yes, I’d like my random 1/1 to become Archon of Cruelty for a turn!

#3. Kaya the Inexorable

Kaya the Inexorable never fails to elicit a groan when I see it in Cube. The ghostform counter is so much more impactful than it looks at a glance; it gives you complete control over combat. Do you want to attack? Well, it punishes your opponent for blocking. And if they want to attack Kaya, you get an amazing blocker. Returning the creature to your hand really is that impactful, plus you get decent removal and an ultimate that wins if you reach it.

#2. Kaya, Ghost Assassin

Kaya, Ghost Assassin has an extremely novel design as it flickers itself to gain loyalty, which leads to inherent synergy with cards like Ketramose, the New Dawn and Oath of Teferi. The abilities are also pretty sick. There’s nothing format-warping, but the draw/discard ability is great card advantage, especially in Commander, and Orzhov sure loves its lifegain.

#1. Sorin of House Markov / Sorin, Ravenous Neonate

Sorin, Modern Horizons 3 edition, is the only transforming Orzhov planeswalker card, but it’s also the strongest Sorin that qualifies in these colors. A vital part of that valuation is how good Sorin of House Markov is. A 1/4 with lifelink and extort is an incredible defensive play that aggro decks struggle to break through, and it provides plenty of lifegain ticks for payoffs like Elenda's Hierophant and Drogskol Reaver.

Then you get Sorin, Ravenous Neonate, which maintains the extort trigger and offers ample lifegain through Food tokens to trigger your effects. The -1 is also one of the stronger lifegain payoffs. It’s easy to see this as a commander that obliterates one opponent after another with the proper support.

Best Orzhov Planeswalker Payoffs

The main Orzhov payoffs for planeswalkers are Oath of Kaya, a cheap damage engine that works particularly well with planeswalkers that care about lifegain, and Tomik, Wielder of Law, a card that doesn’t protect your planeswalkers but certainly punishes your opponents for attacking them.

Looking further abroad, white has plenty of planeswalker synergies, primarily in the ability to search them up with tutors like Search for Glory and Thalia's Lancers. White also adds proliferate effects that help your planeswalker ultimate faster.

Black destroys planeswalkers more than it aids them, but it has some planeswalker regrowth effects like Aid the Fallen and Archenemy's Charm to recur your planeswalkers after they die. You could get really spicy with Command the Dreadhorde reanimating them.

It’s also worth noting black and white are the colors of sweepers like Sunfall, Toxic Deluge, and Wrath of God, so you can empty the battlefield to keep your planeswalkers safe.

Wrap Up

Kaya, Spirits' Justice | Illustration by Magali Villeneuve

There aren’t many Orzhov planeswalkers, but those we have are quite interesting. Midrange players especially should look to these for grindy cards that offer card advantage and tokens. And if you’re devoted to lifegain, don’t overlook Sorin of House Markov!

What’s your favorite Orzhov planeswalker? How often do you play them? Let me know in the comments below! If you want more Draftsim, don’t forget to check out our YouTube channel, The Daily Upkeep!

Stay safe, and thanks for reading!