The 9 Best Planeswalker Search and Tutor Cards in Magic

Last updated on February 28, 2026

Arena Rector | Illustration by Ryan Pancoast

Planeswalkers were the face of Magic for quite some time. From Jace, the Mind Sculptor to Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded, these iconic heroes and villains vary in power level and historical impact. What’s better than finding your planeswalker with one of your draws? Tutoring for your planeswalker, of course!

How can you do that, and which MTG cards give you the best bang for your mana? No need to scour the planes, I’ve got your answers right here!

What Are Planeswalker Tutors in MTG?

Urza's Sylex | Illustration by Joseph Meehan

A “planeswalker search card,” or planeswalker tutor, finds a planeswalker from your library and either puts it into your hand or onto the battlefield. I’m differentiating the cards on this list from generic search effects like Demonic Tutor or Gamble.

I have the privilege of revisiting this list about two years after originally writing it, and two things stood out to me. First, the original list was absolutely saturated with objectively weak planeswalker intro deck rares. Cards like Jace's Ruse, Chandra's Firemaw, and Dovin's Dismissal are so bad in just about every Magic format that I've axed most of them from the list. The only ones that remain have at least one niche cornercase where I think they might be alright. But given how weak these cards are, and also how poor the specific planeswalkers they tutor for tend to be, I thought it'd be better to trim them altogether.

My second realization was that Wizards of the Coast just doesn't print very many planeswalker tutors. I have basically zero new additions to add to this list since the last update with The Brothers' War. Given the desparked state of planeswalkers following March of the Machine: The Aftermath, as well as Wizards' decision to cut down to just one planeswalker per set, I don't see much reason we'd expect more planeswalker tutors in the future.

Final note, I'm looking at full tutors, not cards that select from the top X cards of your library, like Deploy the Gatewatch or Carth the Lion. Those are at least tutor-adjacent, but I didn't want any effects that could straight up “miss,” no matter how unlikely.

Honorable Mention: The Legend of Arena

I like giving these “Heroes of the Realm” cards a shout-out whenever I can, but just be aware that The Legend of Arena technically isn't real, or obtainable through any conventional means anyway. Still, a saga that can be your commander and tutors up a planeswalker on the final chapter, all tied together by wizard synergies? How cool!

#9. Sun-Blessed Mount

The only reason I like Sun-Blessed Mount is because playing it on turn 5 perfectly sets up Huatli, Dinosaur Knight on turn 6. I played this combo of cards in Brawl when Ixalan was released, but there are enough dinosaurs in Magic that I don’t see it having a place in Commander.

That said, Gishath, Sun's Avatar and Ghalta, Stampede Tyrant are two dino commanders that can dump this into play for free, replacing it with a sub-par planeswalker that does synergize with your deck, which sounds way better than tapping out on turn 5 to cast the Mount.

#8. Visage of Bolas

Visage of Bolas is the perfect card for the Nicol Bolas die-hards out there. It’s an over-costed mana rock and Nicol Bolas, the Deceiver is fairly bad, but I've encountered more than enough players who have Nicol Bolas theme decks, so this a must-have for them.

#7. Liliana’s Influence

Liliana's Influence is perhaps the best intro deck rare, shrinking all your opponents’ creatures at once. This and Liliana, Death Wielder have a place in decks focused on -1/-1 counters… although sadly that's probably one of the weakest Liliana planeswalkers.

I’ve seen the pair pop up in Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons and Volrath, the Shapestealer decks, and I bet there's a place with the newer Maha, Its Feathers Night and Massacre Girl, Known Killer.

#6. Samut, the Tested

Samut, the Tested can throw around double strike or Forked Bolts, but the planeswalker tutor effect is tied to a -7 ultimate. Samut’s not great at protecting itself, so it’s unlikely you’ll ever get to the double tutor effect.

#5. Ignite the Beacon

Why settle for searching up just one planeswalker when Ignite the Beacon lets you search up two? It’s pricey, but it can help find the right walkers for the situation in decks with a toolbox of different planeswalkers.

#4. Urza’s Sylex

Urza's Sylex is part planeswalker tutor, part Nevinyrral's Disk. It helps to clear the board, punishes the ramp players who are way ahead on lands, and leaves you up a planeswalker in your hand.

#3. Djeru, With Eyes Open

Djeru, With Eyes Open combines the effect of Call the Gatewatch with a passive ability that makes it harder to kill your planeswalkers. Keep your eyes open for this one if you’re building a superfriends deck.

#2. Call the Gatewatch

Call the Gatewatch was the first generic planeswalker search effect printed, and it set a baseline for what to expect from tutors like this. It’s not the most efficient tutor in the world, but it does exactly what you need it to do. It falls right in line with other type-specific tutors like Fabricate and Idyllic Tutor.

#1. Arena Rector

Arena Rector is a planeswalker-focused callback to Academy Rector. It lets you plop a planeswalker of your choice directly into play, you just have to wait for it to die first. This is a strong rattlesnake that should fend off attacks on its own, and a sacrifice outlet can speed things up if you're impatient.

Best Planeswalker Tutor Payoffs

Superfriends is the nickname given to decks with a heavy planeswalker theme. It makes sense that your Commander deck full of cool and interesting planeswalkers would want a few ways to tutor for them.

For the B-rate intro deck planeswalkers, you can always consider playing their companion spell if one of them makes the cut. You wouldn't play Angrath's Fury in a normal Rakdos deck, but if you're already playing Angrath, Minotaur Pirate for some reason, the tutor starts to look more appealing.

Those intro deck planeswalkers might also have some appeal for Vorthos players. I’ve played enough Commander to know that some people just really like certain characters, and sometimes that’s enough for them to build an entire deck as an homage to that character.

I’ve seen Jace decks featuring both Jace, Arcane Strategist and Jace, Ingenious Mind-Mage. I’ve played against entire Nicol Bolas themed decks running every Bolas planeswalker in existence. I personally have a Chandra deck that’s running multiple “bad” planeswalker deck exclusives. They’re not enough to make me want cards like Chandra's Outburst in my deck, but I wouldn’t knock someone else for trying them.

Your Search Is Over

Ignite the Beacon | Illustration by Slawomir Maniak

Having trimmed about 90% of this list on a second pass, it's clear to me that planeswalker tutors were never all that common in Magic, and probably won't be moving forward. So you might need to stick to universal tutors for the time being.

Hopefully you found something useful on the list that you might not have known about. Do you use any planeswalker tutors, especially the intro deck rares? Let me know in the comments below or over in the official Draftsim Discord.

Thank you for making Draftsim your #1 stop for all things Magic!