All 5 Tamiyo Planeswalkers in Magic Ranked

Tamiyo, the Moon Sage | Illustration by Eric Deschamps

Who is Tamiyo? Who are moonfolk? Why should you sleeve up Tamiyo cards? All good questions, and in keeping with our mood, as Tamiyo is a scholar of historical magics, like us.

There aren’t many Tamiyo cards, but they’re all interesting to play, and some are quite powerful. Read on to see which storyteller is the best.

What Are Tamiyo Planeswalkers in MTG?

Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student | Illustration by Magali Villeneuve

Tamiyo planeswalkers are cards where at least one side is a planeswalker with the Tamiyo subtype. All are at least blue while others are Simic planeswalkers, and most correlate the scholarly identity with card draw. The best include recursion.

Let’s start at the beginning of the story, and work towards the climax.

#5. Tamiyo, the Moon Sage

The clear slacker on the Tamiyo list, Tamiyo, the Moon Sage shows up in some EDH decks, as does every Jeskai-spectrum planeswalker. This Tamiyo also works in tap oriented decks, although I have doubts those decks are decent. But Hylda of the Icy Crown and Sensational Spider-Man are happy to run with the Moon Sage, where she can often drop as a mass card draw spell, which helps alleviate the general liability of planeswalkers in Commander.

#4. Tamiyo, Field Researcher

A niche card that used to show up as an engine in spirits, vehicles, and other decks as a card advantage engine that could protect itself to ultimate in a go wide deck, there are a few stalwarts that still sleeve her up in Legacy Sitflenought decks. Those decks look to get down Phyrexian Dreadnought and either Stifle the trigger or use Doorkeeper Thrull to stop it ever triggering.

In Commander, the first ability on Tamiyo, Field Researcher can be super useful, especially when targeting something with double strike and/or vigilance. That works offensively like a limited Enduring Curiosity, but it can also be used on blockers and opposing creatures. This is where the card is best these days.

#3. Tamiyo, Compleated Sage

Tamiyo, Compleated Sage is all about flexibility, especially with that Phyrexian mana allowing it to come down on turn 4. But this feels like an old-fashioned planeswalker; they were too cautious because they’ve been burned by Phyrexian mana before. Plus, the graveyard recursion element in the second ability is pretty scary looking.

The issue is that there isn’t a good reason to exile a card to make a token when you can recur it another way, like Regrowth. That’s all fine enough in the scenario where you have something broken going on, like a Doubling Season out with Atraxa, Praetors' Voice on the battlefield. But you can win by proliferating ham sandwiches with those cards, so Tamiyo here is just waiting to be struck down by the Wanderer so that she can return more powerful than Darth Vader can possibly imagine.

#2. Tamiyo, Collector of Tales

The Cube staple has been dethroned from the top of the list here, but Tamiyo, Collector of Tales is still an awesome card. Many an opponent has shamefully toggled over this card when their Sheoldred's Edict or Duress didn’t work because of the static ability. Filling the graveyard while playing the lottery for the card you need is nice, and in a 40-card format, it only takes a few spins of the wheel to hit it. And that feeds the Regrowth effect.

This planewalker shines in slower Simic () Commander decks, and, if the tryhard Fae of Wishes deck that perpetually pops up from some mad, desperate genius in Pioneer (okay, it’s me) ever gets good, this is a card you want to recur your bounty from exile.

#1. Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student / Tamiyo, Seasoned Scholar

The best blue 1-drop creature by a wide margin, Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student is among the best of the flip planeswalkers. This card shows up in formats across power levels and is more effective in higher power formats, where it can be flipped quickly, sometimes even on turn 1.

When you flip into Tamiyo, Seasoned Scholar, you get some decent defense against attacks and set up for a next-turn spell recursion, which is awesome.

Tamiyo Payoffs

Effects that like you drawing cards, which are also good cards to recur, are great with any Tamiyo. That’s part of why I didn’t spend any time on the ultimates. I’ve never actually seen one fire, as folks are always too busy using the generally powerful second abilities on these cards.

The Tale of Tamiyo specifically rewards you for playing Tamiyo planeswalkers, and it interacts well with Tamiyo, Collector of Tales. Note that it doesn’t get back your Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student, which is a shame.

Who Is Tamiyo?

Tamiyo is a moonfolk scholar from Kamigawa whose magic is animated by the narratives in her scrolls. Amongst her most important relationships is that with her child Nashi. She herself becomes an animated scroll beyond death in something of an unclear state after her death at the hands of The Wandering Emperor to protect Kamigawa from the Phyrexian invasion which the compleated Tamiyo led.

She didn’t appear in the original Kamigawa block, although the Modern Horizons 3 version of her, Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student. is set in some time period of Kamigawa pre Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. We first meet her on Innistrad, and her first card was in Avacyn Restored. Tamiyo appears in the story for Shadows over Innistrad, Eldritch Moon, Kaladesh, War of the Spark, Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, Phyrexia: All Will Be One, March of the Machine, and she shows up in post-death scroll form in Duskmourn: House of Horror.

Is Tamiyo Still Alive?

Cathartic Parting | Illustration by Miranda Meeks

Tamiyo is dead, but clearly has some get-out-of-death-free plot armor going on. She is a magical memory scroll, and we saw the ways she still existed enough to tell Nashi she loved him and to ask him to let her go in the final Duskmourn story. Her scroll is emptied, she fades away, and Nashi leaves the empty container on the ground as he flees. Yeah, okay. But it seems impossible Valgavoth couldn’t do something there given the likelihood that he’ll return in Magic's story. What does it mean to “die” in his realm, anyway?

What Other Tamiyo Cards Are There?

These cards refer to the character:

• The Tale of Tamiyo
• Tamiyo's Safekeeping
• Tamiyo's Logbook
• Tamiyo's Immobilizer
• Tamiyo's Epiphany
• Tamiyo's Compleation
• Tamiyo Meets the Story Circle

Wrap Up

Tamiyo, Collector of Tales | Illustration by Chase Stone

I’d like to see Tamiyo again. The Duskmourn house is full of 80s style electronics. Plenty of places for a story-searching scroll being to end up when freed from her memory scroll. We have, let’s see, a Cursed Recording, a Ghost Vacuum, Found Footage, Haunted Screen, a Living Phone, and, perhaps most on the nose, Marina Vendrell's Grimoire. That’s a lot of options for her to hide in.

Perhaps wishful thinking, but as a professor, I like the character! And I like the mechanics space on her cards, so maybe we can. Send Nashi to a plane with phones, please. Tamiyo, who ya gonna call?

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