The 37 Best Power-Matters Cards in Magic Ranked

Last updated on July 13, 2026

Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma | Illustration by Svetlin Velinov

What do we want? More power! Where do we want it? On our creatures!

That’s right everyone, today we’re looking at cards that reward you for having the biggest, punchiest creatures. Power absolutely matters in today’s list about cards where… well, power matters!

What Are Power-Matters Cards in MTG?

Rishkar's Expertise | Illustration by Magali Villeneuve

Power matters starts with cards that care specifically about the power your creatures have, but I’m not interested in general pump spells (even if they give trample), cards that double power or similar like Unnatural Growth, or creatures that only care about their own power. Don’t be selfish with power, because there’s no “I” in team! These are cards that reference the power of other creatures for some sort of benefit or effect.

#37. Dina, Soul Steeper

Dina, Soul Steeper might not be what you think of when you’re thinking of a power matters-card, but it absolutely belongs! If you manage to pump your team and make Dina unblockable, you’re going to be able to swing in for one big hit.

#36. Ghalta and Mavren

Ghalta is definitely a creature who cares about power, and Ghalta and Mavren just makes things even funnier. It has two modes, but we’re looking at the mode that wants you to have another big chonker to attack with next time. These guys are all about bringing friends along for the ride, and bonus points if they also have a lot of power!

#35. Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord

Sometimes you can have all the power in the world and you just can’t get past the opponents’ defenses. That’s where something like Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord comes in. No need to attack, just sac your creatures to Jarad, and bam! Your opponents are gone. Three mana isn’t exactly free, but with big enough dudes this should be able to deal with the inflated life totals of EDH.

#34. Tribute to the World Tree

Tribute to the World Tree is a useful card that’s great if you’re playing big guys, but it also helps out to make your smaller guys bigger. Triple green is fairly steep, but green cards tend to care about power. You should have plenty of forests if you’re wanting to make the most of these power-matters cards!

#33. Entish Restoration

You generally need a good amount of mana to help get out these creatures with big numbers in the power box. That’s where ramp cards like Entish Restoration come in. It even gets better if you have a high-power creature already, making it perfect for a deck with this game plan in mind.

#32. Ghalta, Primal Hunger

Ghalta, Primal Hunger is the perfect card for a deck that cares about big creatures. In the right deck, this is usually a 2-mana 12/12 trampler, an incredible rate for a big beater. Even if you can’t get the full discount, you get a good rate on your big stompy dino. Maybe someone might complain that it doesn’t do anything on its own, but you don’t need it to!

#31. Warstorm Surge

There are a lot of creatures with big power values in Magic, but many of them are just big idiots that can’t do much more than attack. Warstorm Surge can help you there, making all your creatures do something when they enter. Hitting any target is amazing here: Not only do you hit creatures, but you can also hit face to finish off your opponents. It doesn’t take many fatties to make an impact with this down, and I could arguably put it higher on the list.

#30. Disciple of Freyalise

While you ideally want to end the game with your big creatures, sometimes you’re going to fall behind. A card like Disciple of Freyalise is a good option to have in hand if you ever find yourself caught up in a tricky position. Is one of your big idiots just sitting there waiting to be removed? Beat your opponent to it and draw a bunch of cards and gain some life. It won’t win you the game, but it might help you get there.

#29. Dina, Essence Brewer

Dina, Essence Brewer gives you a rare reason to sacrifice large creatures instead of meaningless fodder. The payoff is immense, especially when you stack a couple other death triggers. Look to combine Dina with cost reduction mechanics like Ghalta, Primal Hunger or cheap creatures that get huge like Wight of the Reliquary.

#28. Fling

Flings are single-use effects, but they're cheap and versatile. It’d be difficult for me to keep this out of a deck, even for the comedy of flinging some huge hydra at someone’s face.

#27. Sarkhan's Unsealing

Sarkhan's Unsealing is a classic “do-nothing” enchantment, since it has no impact on the game the turn it comes down. Follow up with large creatures though and your opponents will regret letting it sit in play. Anything with power 4-6 turns into Flametongue Kavu, while 7+ power creatures become asymmetrical Storm's Wraths!

#26. Temur Ascendancy

Temur Ascendancy is known for being a bit of a combo card, but it’s also just a really good utility piece. Both abilities here are important, making your big guys be able to attack right away but also replenishing your hand as you play them. It can lead to incredibly powerful turns, even if you don’t completely combo off, and it’s an appealing inclusion in any deck running Temur colors.

#25. Susur Secundi, Void Altar

Susur Secundi, Void Altar is a slow payoff for having large creatures, since creatures worth sacrificing to its ability help to station the planet faster. The big draw here is the low opportunity cost: You can trade a Swamp entering untapped for a potential late-game powerhouse.

#24. Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner

Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner is similar to other draw-on-ETB enchantments, except it comes with a bit of ramp attached. I say a bit, but it was an incredibly powerful part of the mono-green devotion deck in Pioneer for a number of iterations. Kiora definitely fits in other spaces, though, and you can even use it to untap your creatures in a pinch. I’d much rather untap a Gaea's Cradle, though.

#23. Klauth, Unrivaled Ancient

We all know that big creatures need big mana. Luckily, Klauth, Unrivaled Ancient is a big commander that can make really big mana. It really can’t be overstated just how much mana this dragon makes. If you can’t dump your hand onto the battlefield after a single attack, you’re either doing something very wrong or your opponent is doing something very right.

#22. Shamanic Revelation

Shamanic Revelation is an incredible draw spell in mono-green if you have the deck that fits it. Drawing cards and gaining life is the stuff that dreams are made of. Super powerful card under the right circumstances.

#21. Mosswort Bridge

The hideaway lands may be printed in virtually every precon, but there’s a reason for that. Mosswort Bridge is a good example that just works normally, but it works very well if you care about your creatures’ power. There’s definitely a ceiling, but that doesn’t matter. It’s just simple and good.

#20. Traverse the Outlands

If you’re looking for land drops and big guys, I have the card for you! Traverse the Outlands seemed so broken to me when it was first spoiled. Of course, that’s the Timmy in me coming out. In fairness, if you do manage to pull a dozen lands out of your deck, you’re going to have fun for the rest of the game.

#19. Temur Battle Rage

Sometimes all you need is a really good combat trick. Temur Battle Rage combines the best two keywords to include on a combat trick: double strike and trample. It made a big splash when it was first printed and still persists to this day. We’ve seen some more tricks recently that compete with it, but Battle Rage is still in contention among combat tricks. It really shows how strong this instant was when it was printed over a decade ago.

#18. Beifong’s Bounty Hunters

Beifong's Bounty Hunters keeps your board full of high-power creatures by recycling cards like Ghalta, Primal Hunger into a large land via earthbending. It also enables a handful of infinite sacrifice combos, commonly with cards like Bloodghast and Pawn of Ulamog.

#17. The Skullspore Nexus

I said that we weren’t going to look at power doublers. Luckily, The Skullspore Nexus does more than just that; the power matters when making tokens and when you cast it in the first place, so it’s fantastic in a deck where you want high power. It does so much on a variety of different axes that you’ll be looking for a reason to take it off your list rather than a reason to add it in.

#16. Gyre Sage

Gyre Sage is an incredibly efficient mana dork that taps for oodles of mana with +1/+1 counter support. Evolve is good to get you started, but true mastery of this card requires outside counter distribution and proliferation.

#15. Outcaster Trailblazer

You might be sensing a theme with these cards that cantrip off 4-power creautres. Outcaster Trailblazer is yet another, with the added benefit that it is a 4-power creature itself, and that you can plot it early to push you ahead a mana on a pivotal later turn.

#14. Vaultborn Tyrant

Vaultborn Tyrant makes more experienced players balk at just how far power creep has gone. A nice ETB on a well-statted creature is great, but turning all your other big creatures into more card draw and lifegain plus replacing itself on the battlefield when it dies the first time is a lot. It’s just a really solid card that holds up on its own, and you can tell we’re getting into the really good stuff.

#13. Greater Good

Greater Good is a classic way to draw cards if you have a lot of big creatures. The ability to activate it at instant speed (and for free!) is incredible here, too, allowing you to respond to removal or a board wipe. Discarding cards isn’t going to be much of a downside, or a downside at all if you care about your ‘yard. It might look like just another draw card, but those subtle differences are key.

#12. Zilortha, Strength Incarnate

Zilortha, Strength Incarnate might be the first card that comes to mind when you think of a power-matters card. Indeed, it’s probably the purest example, as the antithesis to past toughness-matters cards like Doran, the Siege Tower. You’ll need to give the ability some thought, but it makes sense logically. It’s a bit more difficult to make work, but get your Lightning Elementals out because this is a fun one!

#11. Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma

A lot of big-power creatures are missing trample, just to try and keep things at least a little balanced. Then we get cards like Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma that change all of that and just give them all trample (and a small pump to boot!). Add in a nice cost reducing ability, and you have a fierce package of a card.

#10. Rishkar’s Expertise

Rishkar's Expertise’s design might not be anything new these days, but it was pretty unique when it was first printed. It took a little while to see extensive play, but now it’s definitely a stalwart of Commander. There’s so much value packed into this card, and it’s difficult to make it fizzle outside of a straight counterspell. This still makes it into many green decks, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to be usurped anytime soon.

#9. Chandra’s Ignition

How many games of Commander have been ended on the spot by a well-timed Chandra's Ignition? A lot of cards like this hit all players, but this example spares the self burn, which makes it infinitely better. It’s not difficult to make a game-changing play with this one, even if you don’t win the game outright. I was a big fan of this early on, but it seemed to take a while to catch on and is still underplayed in my opinion.

#8. Elemental Bond

Elemental Bond sets itself apart from similar cards by allowing you to draw off creatures with power 3, whereas these cards usually care about creatures with power 4 or greater. Sure, it’s only 1 point, but it that's a whole collective of cards this draws off of that similar cards don't. It’s clean, simple, and powerful.

#7. Return of the Wildspeaker

Optionality is great, and Return of the Wildspeaker leans into that. Sure, most of the time you’re going to draw cards. Getting the option of a +3/+3 for (effectively) your whole team is a great trick once in a while, too. This card has a fairly high mana cost, but it’s worth it, believe me.

#6. Selvala, Heart of the Wilds

Selvala, Heart of the Wilds is one of the better ramp options to get your big cards out. It not only provides the mana to ramp into larger threats, but also turns them into cantrip creatures as they enter, though that card draw sometimes works for your opponents, too.

#5. Garruk’s Uprising

Yes, yes, yes, another fattie ETB card draw card. What sets Garruk's Uprising apart? Trample. We’ve seen this a few times across power-matters cards, and combining both into one package does a lot for this card’s playability. Definitely a case of two good things make a great thing!

#4. Eshki, Temur's Roar

Eshki, Temur's Roar is unique, in that it cares about the power of creature spells while they're on the stack, not necessarily on the battlefield. The higher the power, the bigger the benefit. Try combining Eshki with high-power evoke or warp creatures like Spitebellows or Anticausal Vestige.

#3. Terror of the Peaks

We’ve seen a few cards that give a bit of reach to your fatties, but Terror of the Peaks is the king of that. If you want to be boring, you can assemble an infinite combo with it, or you can just use it to make your big guys nug your opponent in the head. I know which one I’d prefer.

#2. Altar of Dementia

We’ve seen a lot of redundant power-matters designs, but there’s some more unique ones near the top. Altar of Dementia is one of them, and that might be because it’s difficult to balance cards that care about power in this way. It’s a great way to end a game if you just can’t get those last points of damage through. Just chuck your beasts at their deck instead! Because everyone loves losing to mill….

#1. The Great Henge

And top of the list we have… another ramp and card draw piece! The Great Henge is clearly an unbelievable card compared to the rest of the dregs on this list. It does an incredible amount of work and takes everything to extremes, apart from its cost which quickly becomes inconsequential. I certainly hope this card is never power crept out of the top spot because I really wouldn’t want to be playing against that card. Let’s just leave this as the powerhouse and be happy, eh?

Best Power-Matters Payoffs and Enablers

What enablers do you need in a power-matters deck? There are two main types of cards I can think of: creatures with a lot of power, and cards that can boost power.

For high-power creatures, you’re mainly looking at green and red creatures (with a few black ones thrown in for good measure).

Green has Gigantosaurus, which has a pretty difficult mana cost if you’re not mono-green but is the man when it comes to getting some stats. Yargle and Multani pushes that even higher for GB+ decks. There’s some cards, like Steel Leaf Champion and Yorvo, Lord of Garenbrig who have pushed power for their costs, too.

Black also has some cheap, high-power creatures, but they usually come with more of a downside. The best example is Rotting Regisaur, a 3-mana 7/6 that makes you discard on upkeep. Sure, it dies to a removal spell, but your opponent is going to beat you about the head with it if you don’t remove it. Desecration Demon and Shakedown Heavy are other examples.

Triggering your power-matters cards with tokens is tough but not impossible, especially with green. Baloth Prime, Titania, Protector of Argoth, and Omnath, Locus of Rage are just a few examples of cards that make tokens large enough to trigger many power-matters cards.

Power doubling can be done with combat tricks like Tifa's Limit Break and Bulk Up. There are also creatures like Devilish Valet and Casey Jones, Asphalt Hooligan that double their own power. And universal power doublers like Unnatural Growth and Zopandrel, Hunger Dominus work across the board.

Wrap Up

Colossal Majesty | Illustration by Randy Vargas

Surely power is the stat that matters most on creatures in Magic. It’s the thing that you hit your opponents about the head with, after all. If your creatures had no power, you’d struggle to win the game! High-powered creatures are getting cheaper and cheaper, too, which makes cards that work with them better and better.

What do you think? Do you have a deck built around high-powered creatures? It’s one of the more difficult aspects of the game to build around, but the tools are there. If someone was wanting to build along these lines, what would you tell them?

I hope you enjoyed this power-matters breakdown. Let me know what you think below or over in our Discord. And check out The Daily Upkeep newsletter to stay up to date on all the latest MTG news. Whatever we end up talking about, I hope to see you there!