All 48 Sorcerers in Magic Ranked

Last updated on April 27, 2026

Mathise, Surge Channeler | Illustration by Michele Giorgi

Although there have been cards with “sorcerer” in their names since the beloved Sorceress Queen in Arabian Nights, and although Dungeons & Dragons added sorcerers to the classic wizard type as a magic user class in 2000 with 3rd Edition, only now with Lorwyn Eclipsed are sorcerers an official creature type in MTG. I, for one, am stoked!

One of the things I like in my fantasy is an explanation of what magics are, which is likely why I’m a Brandon Sanderson fan. And in the D&D space, a sorcerer has a different source of magic than a wizard. The diversity of cultures and planes in MTG make this kind of thing long overdue, in my mind. Plus, I love to do creature typal deck shenanigans, so here’s more fodder for deck brewing with Sorceress's Schemes.

Let’s take a look at the sorcerer class and give a good critical ranking of power levels!

What Are Sorcerers in MTG?

Ashling, Rimebound | Illustration by Ilse Gort

Sorcerers were a creature type introduced in Lorwyn Eclipsed, though many creatures have recieved errata to include the subtype. The creature type has a flavorful function rather than a mechanical one; it indicates creatures who obtained magical prowess through innate power.

Few sorcerers have mechanically overlapping themes, and those that do typically come from the same set—ECL sorcerers care about elementals, SOS sorcerers care about instants and sorceries, etc. While there are sorcerers of all colors, recent sets indicate that they’ll mostly be red, serving a role similar to warlocks in black and wizards in blue.

#48. Tackle Artist

Tackle Artist is statted for Limited. Four mana for a creature with no immediate impact that only becomes a relevant threat after casting more spells isn’t worthwhile for most Constructed formats.

#47. Pigment Wrangler

Pigment Wrangler just costs too much. One mana for a copy spell is extremely cheap, but not when it’s attached to a 5-mana body that does nothing except let you pay 1 mana to copy your next spell.

#46. Stadium Tidalmage

Stadium Tidalmage has fine stats, but this is really a Limited card. I could see it slotting into a Cube or similarly casual format… if, you know, you have a reason to play it over Mulldrifter.

#45. Sorcerer of the Fang

Twenty-third card in a Draft deck. You’d play Sorcerer of the Fang thinking you could always win with this mana sink if the board stalled. And you know what, it would work a few times!

#44. Flaring Cinder

Flaring Cinder is a nice Draft card. And then it goes in a big box. Forever.

#43. Expressive Firedancer

Rather like Tackle Artist, Expressive Firedancer is just a Limited beatstick. I like it a little better because it’s much cheaper and its double strike has potential with combat tricks.

#42. Zealous Lorecaster

While Zealous Lorecaster has a powerful ability, there are too many variants of this effect that cost less than 6 mana (Archaeomancer, Ardent Elementalist, Mnemonic Wall) for it to be worth running without giant synergies, or something similarly niche.

#41. Flamekin Gildweaver

Flamekin Gildweaver has a home in Lorwyn Eclipsed Limited, but just barely. It also goes in the big box.

#40. Strife Scholar

Strife Scholar feels like a fixed version of Imodane's Recruiter, an infamous card that defined Wilds of Eldraine Limited. Unfortunately, I doubt a fixed version sees meaningful play, though you could maybe do something interesting with a flicker effect.

#39. Molimo, Maro-Sorcerer

Apparently Multani was such a hit that they just started iterating in the hard to cast, low-impact 7-drop rare space. But history has left Molimo, Maro-Sorcerer behind while Multani continues to enjoy sequels in reprints. Molimo does look really weird, so I get it.

#38. Multani, Maro-Sorcerer

An evocative enough card that they keep using the character, but I can’t see ever voluntarily sleeving up Multani, Maro-Sorcerer.

#37. Dakmor Sorceress

I had thought, surely this card is the bottom of the list, until I saw that people are rolling with EDH decks led by Korlash, Heir to Blackblade and Sima Yi, Wei Field Marshal. This game attracts all sorts. And some are really playing ‘90s Magic. Good for you guys!

#36. Serendib Sorcerer

Serendib Sorcerer is Sorceress Queen, but harder to cast. So nope.

#35. Sorceress Queen

Oh, this card and Royal Assassin just put the fear in our hearts in the old Ice Age days! “You just can’t beat black decks,” one of my friends said as we tried to cobble our kitchen table decks together with various elves and Scaled Wurms, which we’d convinced ourselves was all that and a bag of chips, and Force of Nature, which was, of course, off the chain.

Ah, well. We all got better. And I feel like the errata on Sorceress Queen is a bit of a nod to all of us boomers from WotC.

#34. Goblin Glasswright

Goblin Glasswright could be threatening in a deck with mass flicker. I doubt you ever flicker this solo, but it’s a fine card to catch up in Hide on the Ceiling or Brago, King Eternal. Like several prepared cards, it goes infinite with Displacer Kitten.

#33. Krovikan Sorcerer

Krovikan Sorcerer was a much better card than we all thought, before Johnny Magic taught us all how important card advantage was. By the time we learned the lesson that this card was orders of magnitude better than, say, Craw Wurm, card draw had already been power crept high enough to kick this creepy dude out of the game.

#32. Rockslide Sorcerer

It seems like this Guttersnipe effect would be useful, but even in Commander, there are plenty enough cards that do this thing much more efficiently than Rockslide Sorcerer.

#31. Gempalm Sorcerer

Gempalm Sorcerer seems like a thing a wizard deck needs to do to win, like a fast moving Adeliz, the Cinder Wind style deck? The problem is the good cheap wizards usually already fly, one way or another (giving Kaza, Roil Chaser the side-eye here). I’ll remain a believer, and choose to think the gempalm cycle is just too old for people to remember!

#30. Silumgar Sorcerer

See, like is Silumgar Sorcerer really that much better? I don’t think so! At least you can set up some cool synergies with exploit.

#29. Sighted-Caste Sorcerer

Sighted-Caste Sorcerer is a cheap include in exalted decks like Rafiq of the Many, but there are better options.

#28. Vulshok Sorcerer

They kept making Prodigal Sorcerer clones harder to cast for years until it was clear there was no longer a need. Vulshok Sorcerer is a card that was, indeed, printed.

#27. Capricious Sorcerer + Apprentice Sorcerer

Capricious Sorcerer and Apprentice Sorcerer have that weird timing issue from the Portal sets not having rules for instants for clarity and then making like six different ways you can do things at instant speed with different rules, timings, and effects. You know, for clarity. These cards likely belong on the bottom of the list, but at this level of card quality, who’s really quibbling that hard? I just wanted folks to see how popular the next card was. They were willing to break the rules of their entire Portal game just to shoehorn Tim into the game. Twice!

#26. Prodigal Sorcerer

Oh, how we loved this card! Tim, we called Prodigal Sorcerer, part of an old Monty Python reference we’d use to signal insider status to the noobs. This card laid waste to the kid who shelled out the cash for a suite of Birds of Paradise. I even had a buddy who’d look to get two of these and, you guessed it, Sorceress Queen, on the field at the same time. Then it was lights out, brosephus! Whatcha gonna do when poke-a-mania runs wild on you?

It used to annoy people when you’d pause and say, “And Tim pokes you for 1” on their end step. Sometimes they’d respond with the grumble orcs used to use if you clicked on them too much in World of Warcraft. Peak ‘90s for nerds.

So much so, that it feels appropriate that about the only EDH deck I want this card in is Bruce Banner / The Incredible Hulk.

#25. Johann, Apprentice Sorcerer

This card is more playable than it looks, but it’s still not enough for 4 mana. Still, it’s nice to play Johann, Apprentice Sorcerer in a River Song deck, which is pretty fun to play if you haven’t given it a shot.

#24. Greensleeves, Maro-Sorcerer

I had no idea people played this as a landfall commander! But why? There seem to be so many better options, especially lately! Still, I respect the commitment to the old ways from slingers of Greensleeves, Maro-Sorcerer!

#23. Mathise, Surge Channeler

Simon, Wild Magic Sorcerer stripped of IP as Mathise, Surge Channeler seems like a fine card to add to a dice-rolling deck like Farideh, Devil's Chosen that just desperately wants all the dice roll cards. But this seems pretty low impact.

#22. Aberrant Mind Sorcerer

Aberrant Mind Sorcerer is kind of in the same dungeon as Mathise, but it sports a higher cost and higher impact.

#21. Rubble Rouser

Wizards has experimented with red mana dorks for a while now. Rubble Rouser is a bit pricey at 3 mana, but there’s synergy potential. Red cares a little about gravebreak effects and a lot about discarding cards. That gives this card some potential (plus, it’s a dwarf that taps itself for Magda, Brazen Outlaw).

#20. Garrison Excavator

Garrison Excavator fits nicely into Lorehold decks as a token maker. Its greatest weakness is Quintorius, History Chaser just being better in every way, but it probably slips into the 99 of that, or perhaps a Jund gravebreak deck.

#19. Enraged Flamecaster

This is the kind of payoff a Shantotto, Tactician Magician and/or The Emperor of Palamecia deck would need to work. But Enraged Flamecaster burning you to victory feels like ‘90s Magic to me.

#18. Bloodboil Sorcerer

The initiative is really good, but Bloodboil Sorcerer is kind of bottom tier initiative. Not sure it’s worth the 4 mana.

#17. Twinflame Travelers

Twinflame Travelers seems like a bit hit for Lorwyn Eclipsed Limited, but a 2-color Phantom Monster that does nothing on its own is niche at best.

#16. Maelstrom Artisan

Maelstrom Artisan is a tidy, aggressive threat. It looks like a fine sideboard card in red decks that need answers to cards like Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx or Fountainport.

#15. Etherium-Horn Sorcerer

This is the kind of cascade card that gets worse every year as Wizards prints good stuff that costs less than 6 mana. Etherium-Horn Sorcerer lives in that early Commander universe when you were okay to cascade into this, and then spend 9 mana to recast it from your hand. Good times.

#14. Zaffai and the Tempests

Zaffi and the Tempests is a fine spellslinger commander that lets you play the biggest and baddest spells for free. Extra turn spells are killer here since you can theoretically take enough turns to end the game after this resolves, but it’s also just nice to get Aminatou's Augury at a low price so you have the mana to copy it with Fork.

#13. Abstract Paintmage

Abstract Paintmage has a strange but potentially powerful ramp ability. The mana is restrictive and, perhaps more importantly, you can only use it in your main phase, so it can’t help you to cast countermagic or protection. But jumping from 3 mana to 6 is pretty significant. It looks good in exactly Commander, where players probably don’t have the spot removal to clear it.

#12. Sanar, Innovative First-Year

The double impulse draw each turn isn’t nothing, but it isn’t quite enough for a 4-drop with no ETB on its own, as this kind of draw has serious limits. But Sanar, Innovative First-Year is quite cool with cards that like doing things from exile. Thus, Fire Lord Zuko and this card play well together in Standard, as does Quintorius Kand. There are quite a few cards in Commander that play well with this, and it’s going right into my The Thirteenth Doctor plus Yasmin Khan deck!

#11. Champion of the Path

Weird card. My long-time pet idea is to get a tool: Boros Blink! Also, I think having a Champion of the Path out when you evoke a Vibrance can be a huge hit to the face if you want. Lots of potential if Lorwyn Eclipsed gums up the works of a fast Standard.

#10.  Sanar, Unfinished Genius

Sanar, Unfinished Genius has a wonderful ramp ability that offers great versatility. You can use it to ramp in a single turn by “reducing” the cost of a spell (for example, two 2-mana spells on turn 3) or store up the ramp since Treasure sticks around. This might be better than any version of a 2-mana dork that taps for 1 mana for instants and sorceries like Hydro-Channeler. Oh, and it has a tutor attached, so you even have a mana sink for all the Treasure. This is a very pushed uncommon.

#9. Aziza, Mage Tower Captain

Aziza, Mage Tower Captain gives spellslinger an aggressive bent. It works best with instants and sorceries like Release the Dogs and Secure the Wastes that produce bodies to copy subsequent spells. From there, victory is a breeze with Impact Tremors and mass pump spells like Goblin Surprise.

#8. Explosive Prodigy

Flametongue Kavu effects are always reasonable. Explosive Prodigy nabs something for 1 or 2 toughness in the early game and maybe more later. Seems fine for aggro decks. Standard only, most likely.

#7. Ashling, the Limitless

Ashling, the Limitless is the most win-more card I’ve seen in a while. Elementals that already have evoke don’t really want Ashling to help them evoke, and although evoking Avenger of Zendikar or Cavalier of Dawn seems cool, if Ashling is gone it’s back to casting them the hard way, and the good, expensive, older elementals generally have a lot of pips in their costs. Upgrade the precon this card leads, but I can’t see this just working in any other deck or any other format.

#6. Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer

It’s really hard to rank a commander who does nothing on its own but enables an entire deck around itself. Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer makes the morph deck happen. It’s a more fun deck to play than it used to be because cloak and manifest dread added more cards to the pool. But sorry, folks, I always find playing this deck a bit of a snooze.

#5. Ashling, Rekindled / Ashling, Rimebound

This card is less flexible than Soulbright Seeker in terms of cost, color, and timing. But Ashling, Rekindled / Ashling, Rimebound is a mana accelerant. Say you drop it on turn 2 in an Izzet deck and it rummages. Then next turn, it nets a mana, and also fixes a blue mana into something else. Then you cast something for 4 on turn 3. That isn’t bad for Standard. Then it just keeps netting 2 mana for you of any color for bigger spells every first main phase until your opponent spends removal on it. And you can always just spend a mana to rummage again when you need to. Bread and butter. It’ll find a home.

#4. Rootha, Mastering the Moment

Rootha, Mastering the Moment is one of the best commanders from Secrets of Strixhaven, and I love that it’s an aggressive spellslinger payoff. It works best with extra turns and extra combats since the tokens stick around. Don’t forget cards like Enduring Curiosity and Starwinder to get card draw from the hasty, evasive tokens!

#3. Wild-Magic Sorcerer

Brutally efficient in cascade decks or other exile matters decks like Prosper, Tome-Bound, Wild-Magic Sorcerer is easy to underestimate if you don’t play those sorts of decks.

#2. Hexing Squelcher

As I write this, Lorwyn Eclipsed isn’t yet released, and the hype and anti-hype on this card is super real.

On the plus side, it’s clearly going to be a useful card in certain Red Deck Wins piles. Making opponents pay 2 life for removal is often what you want the removal target to do anyway in those decks! And folks are going to love this for Blue Farm and other cEDH strategies that need a red card that allows you to just combo off.

In Modern and other formats, the haters are sounding off on this card. But at least it’s going to be a sideboard staple against control. But I think people are missing on the utility of this card for big spell style Jeskai () control decks. Do you want red in your control decks in more powerful formats? Maybe now you do. It’s almost like being the first to land Teferi, Time Raveler in a control mirror, but it comes down easier and means your free counterspells to protect it on turn 2 just always work.

I think I'm a believer. And I also think we might have the pieces in place for Standard Izzet tempo. So that’s what I’m building on Arena this month.

#1. Soulbright Seeker

This is my hot take, and I like it!

This is a 1-mana red mana dork that turns on if you make 3 red mana and have enough elementals in the deck to get it down. So that’s two 2-drops on turn 3 in Red Deck Wins, which is when you want to finish the game. And by the way, Soulbright Seeker gives the team trample on the way.

The question, then, is whether elementals like Hearth Elemental and Blazing Bomb are worth playing for the elemental check. That seems hard.

But I’m seeing a lot of Taurean Mauler decks on the Arena ladder. These cards and maybe a firebending package? Really, we’re talking mono-red with Vibrance to evoke, which is the real answer. I believe, and I think this has a shot at being a serious sleeper in Lorwyn Eclipsed.

Best Sorcerer Payoffs

Wizards hasn’t printed direct sorcerer payoffs, likely because the creature type is so new and because its role in the game has more to do with flavor than mechanics. But you can use generalist typal payoffs like Shared Animosity and Harmonized Crescendo to make the creatures stronger.

Sorcerers also have a strong affinity for instants and sorceries at the moment, so spellslinger cards like cheap cantrips (Opt, Brainstorm) and payoffs like Storm-Kiln Artist and Rootha, Mastering the Moment are great to pair with sorcerers.

There’s also a strong undercurrent of elemental-matters cards in sorcerer like Ashling, the Limitless and Champion of the Path, which you can further enhance with cards like Horde of Notions and Ashling's Command.

Sorcerer vs. Wizard vs. Warlock

The sorcerer-wizard-warlock types originate from D&D classes and refer to the source of a magic user’s power. Sorcerers have innate power, often related to a magical lineage; perhaps somebody in their family tree was a nonhuman entity. Wizards obtain their power through research and study, and warlocks simply make deals with otherworldly beings as a shortcut to power.

When applied to Magic, these creature types are used for flavor, and each is associated with a specific color. In general (there are always exceptions), wizards are blue, sorcerers are red, and warlocks are black. This speaks to how creatures of these colors obtain their magical powers. White and green also have these flavorful types, with clerics and druids, respectively.

Will Older Cards Be Changed into Sorcerers?

Yes, and Wizards have already announced the changes. Some creature cards have gained the sorcerer type, but they don’t lose other types like wizard.

Wrap Up

Rockslide Sorcerer | Illustration by Daarken

I’m glad sorcerers are real now and that people are taking a look at some of our favorite casual cards from the ‘90s! The more types of magic, the merrier, I say.

I’d like to see MTG push a bit more in this direction and explore how sorcerers work versus warlocks and wizards as we go forward. There are lots of mechanics that can work in this space, and there’s a lot of creative ideas for cards in this space. For example, can a sorcerer learn to be a wizard or make a deal to become a warlock also? I’m ready for “Figure of Magic”.

‘90s players vibing to Tim and the Queen, let me know your thoughts on sorcerers in the comments or on Discord.

Happy deckbuilding to all!