The 19 Best Rebels in Magic Ranked

Neyali, Suns' Vanguard | Illustration by Bryan Sola

Creature types come in many flavors. Some have long histories throughout Magic, as with elves and the like, but some are flashes in the pan that appear for a specific MTG block before returning here and there.

Rebels are one such card type, with a distinct mechanical identity that popped up more than 25 years ago before getting a brief resurgence with Phyrexia: All Will Be One. But what’s the difference, and what did those classic cards do? Let’s find out.

What Are Rebels in MTG?

Jor Kadeen, First Goldwarden | Illustration by Jeremy Wilson

Rebels are a creature type that debuted with Mercadian Masques in 1999. Most rebels were printed then with a focus on creatures with activated abilities that tutored for other rebels.

The creature type saw a brief resurgence in the Time Spiral block, and we got a handful of rebels associated with the Mirran resistance during 2023’s return to New Phyrexia.

#19. Trenching Steed

Trenching Steed has an insignificant body but a spicy activated ability to accumulate sacrifice triggers for cards like Titania, Protector of Argoth or Mayhem Devil. It could be a good backup for Zuran Orb, especially with cards like Chord of Calling that tutor creatures directly onto the battlefield.

#18. Bound in Silence

Bound in Silence is only worth playing in a dedicated rebel deck. It has a pretty cool interaction with rebels like Blightspeaker.

When an aura enters the battlefield without being cast, it must be attached to a legal creature and does so without targeting; this lets you pacify cards with hexproof or shroud!

#17. Dunerider Outlaw

Dunerider Outlaw is a powerful threat in Cubes that care about black devotion or ones where green needs some neutering.

#16. Saltfield Recluse

Saltfield Recluse works best in Pauper Cube; on-board tricks are always powerful, and this one wrecks combat for your opponents. It’s especially potent alongside first strike and other aggressive white effects.

#15. Lin Savvi, Defiant Hero

If you want a rebel commander, Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero is among your best options. Other rebels with the tutor ability have hard limits while Lin Sivvi finds anything, and it’s often cheaper than the others. That utility is beautiful.

#14. Aven Riftwatcher

Aven Riftwatcher sees Pauper play due to its synergy with Kor Skyfisher and other bounce spells that turn it into an aggressive source of incidental lifegain.

#13. Rathi Trapper

Rathi Trapper’s significance comes from its color-shifted ability: Creature tapping is almost exclusively the realm of white cards. This can be a cool tool for Cubes looking to do something a little different.

#12. Defiant Vanguard

Defiant Vanguard has a strange removal ability. It deters your opponents from attacking you, and it pairs nicely with forced attack effects like Bident of Thassa. It can also work as a combat trick if you can throw it out with flash or something.

#11. Lawbringer

Lawbringer handles all those nasty red cards, and it does its best work alongside Recommission and similar effects to use it over and over again.

#10. Lightbringer

Lightbringer is basically Lawbringer, but exiling black creatures is slightly better since they’re likely to get reanimated.

#9. Ballista Squad

Though costly, Ballista Squad offers a constant stream of interaction to deter aggression. In Commander, it can spark political deals since the creatures don’t have to be interacting with your board.

#8. Children of Korlis

Children of Korlis sees play with cards like Griselbrand and Ad Nauseam to construct strong combo shells.

#7. Big Game Hunter

Big Game Hunter provides a nice, clean two-for-one. It’s best in discard decks that can extract additional value from cards like Inti, Seneschal of the Sun and Wheel of Fortune.

#6. Rhuk, Hexgold Nabber

Rhuk, Hexgold Nabber is a strange little creature that cheats on equip costs. The first exploit that comes to mind involves using Goblin Smuggler or Hazoret, Godseeker to make Rhuk unblockable, then transferring all the equipment to it.

#5. Ace, Fearless Rebel

Ace, Fearless Rebel provides a powerful source of removal, plus some sacrifice synergies. You never want this in mono-green, but it does great work when you pair it with colors like black or blue that care about artifacts more broadly.

#4. Skyshroud Poacher

Skyshroud Poacher has an incredibly powerful tutor ability, effectively bringing the rebel template to a different archetype. Searching up critical elf cards like Elvish Archdruid and Elvish Warmaster gives your elfball deck all the tools it needs to win the game.

#3. Jor Kadeen, First Goldwarden

Jor Kadeen, First Goldwarden provides a potent equipment payoff. I like that it rewards you for equipping other creatures, which encourages spreading your threats around so you don’t lose to a single Swords to Plowshares.

#2. Flesh Duplicate

Flesh Duplicate offers an interesting take on Phantasmal Image. It works particularly well with proliferate effects to keep the Duplicate around longer than three turns, but those turns are often enough when copying high-impact threats like Hullbreaker Horror or Archon of Cruelty.

#1. Neyali, Suns’ Vanguard

Neyali, Suns' Vanguard needs lots of token production, but is playing cards like Adeline, Resplendent Cathar and Otharri, Suns' Glory really a cost?

The combination of double strike and impulse draws makes Neyali both a powerful finisher and a strong mid-game play to ensure you have the resources to finish things off.

Best Rebel Payoffs

Rebels are designed so that the best payoff for rebels is rebels! Cards like Blightspeaker, Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero, and Ramosian Sergeant are excellent for their utility and ability to pluck relevant rebels from your deck.

Since most rebels are white, cards that reward you for playing white cards like Honor of the Pure and Pearl Medallion are useful.

And there are the usually typal support cards like Everything Comes to Dust and Banner of Kinship that support any creature type you care to build around.

Are There Any Rebel Commanders?

Yes! While a handful of the rebels count as commanders, there are two front-runners for the best rebel commander if you want to build around the creature type specifically.

The first is Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero, a classic that perfectly captures rebels and their mechanic’s core identity. It largely suffers from being a bad card that finds other weak cards.

The other key player would be Otharri, Suns' Glory, as a card that spits out rebels like nobody’s business and provides plenty of power to support Shared Animosity and other payoffs.

Wrap Up

Ace, Fearless Rebel | Illustration by Colin Boyer

Rebels might not be the most common creature type, but they have a strong mechanical identity and interesting story implications. The right deck can leverage them pretty well!

What’s your favorite rebel? Do you enjoy the tutor chain they work up? Let me know in the comments below or on the Draftsim Discord!

Stay safe, and thanks for reading!