The 30 Best Timmy Cards in Magic Ranked

Progenitus | Illustration by Mike Bierek

It’s fair to say that no two Magic players are alike. Wizards of the Coast knows this, and their R&D team uses several archetypes or psychographic profiles to define how players play Magic: the Gathering and what they most enjoy about the game. You’ve got Spikes, who love to win at any cost, especially if their victory was hard-fought; Johnnys, who love the way the rules interact with each other and finding new, weird combos that end games out of nowhere; and Timmys, players who love big, flashy spells and huge, game-changing creatures.

Sometimes Timmy cards are considered simple and that’s just not the truth. There’s a beautiful complexity in their design—balancing the big, flashy abilities with the correct mana value and difficulty to play.

What Are Timmy Cards in Magic?

Zilortha, Strength Incarnate | Illustration by Chase Stone

Timmy cards are any Magic: the Gathering card that Timmys have an affinity for. Flashy Fireballs, big, stompy Kalonian Behemoths, and game-changing angels like Avacyn, Angel of Hope. Timmy cards usually have high mana costs with a huge, paradigm-shifting effect alongside big bodies and more than a few evergreen abilities like flying, trample, or lifelink. They’re often hard to remove from the board, and if they resolve, it can end the game in a heartbeat.

Honorable Mention: Timmy, Power Gamer

We’d be remiss not to mention the Unglued legendary creature Timmy, Power Gamer. As part of the silver-bordered Un-set series, Timmy isn’t legal in most formats, but that shouldn’t stop you from building a jokey Commander deck around it. Rather than being the big flashy Timmy creature, Timmy, Power Gamer enables our other Timmy cards by putting them directly into play like a Quicksilver Amulet.

#30. Worldspine Wurm

What’s better than a 15/15? A 15/15 that turns into three 5/5s as soon as it dies! Not only does Worldspine Wurm compensate you for its loss when it dies, it gets shuffled right back into your library in case you felt like casting another 15/15 this game.

#29. Insurrection

Insurrection has been a classic EDH game-ender since its release in Onslaught (did we have EDH back then? I think we did). Nothing hurts you quite like your own creatures, and after 8 or 9 turns of everyone battlecruiser-ing their way through a Commander game, Insurrection just makes sense. It gets even better if you have access to a sacrifice outlet, letting you ditch all of your opponents’ creatures as soon as you’re done attacking with them.

#28. Chandra’s Ignition

Chandra's Ignition dares to ask the question: “What if Fling was a board wipe, but better?” This 5-mana sorcery throws your creature’s power out into the battlefield, obliterating your opponents’ creatures and slamming that damage right into their face. Once the field is clear, feel free to stomp your Enormous Baloth right across the battlefield for another 7 damage.

#27. Tooth and Nail

Entwining Tooth and Nail costs a crazy 9 mana, but any good Timmy player is willing to pay it. The number of two-creature combos that Tooth and Nail enables is staggering, but sometimes you just want to fetch an Avenger of Zendikar alongside Purphoros, God of the Forge to smash the table into bits.

#26. Darksteel Colossus + Blightsteel Colossus

Darksteel Colossus and Blightsteel Colossus have been the go-to Timmy game-enders for decades at this point. Both are huge, indestructible creatures that players are used to cheating into play with Quicksilver Amulet style effects. These two got so bad that for a period of time my play group called for a “removal check” whenever one hit the field and, if nobody had any removal to speak of, we’d all just scoop and restart the game rather than flail about as the Colossi wailed on our weak little planeswalker bodies.

#25. Avacyn, Angel of Hope

In the wake of Dark Ascension, we were all excited for what this new legendary angel the lore had been hinting at could do. When Avacyn, Angel of Hope dropped, our jaws dropped just as hard. Making everything we control indestructible meant your entire board was safe from removal, wraths included (this was before Merciless Eviction’s time). Avacyn’s 8/8 body, combined with its indestructible anthem, meant sticking it to the board spelled the end for your opponent. Sure, it can still be removed by an Oblivion Ring, but there’s no better way to force out some exile-based removal from your opponent than Avacyn.

#24. Omniscience

Omniscience might feel like it belongs to Johnny Combo, but this is a Timmy card at heart. For a one-time obscene cost of 10 mana, you never have to pay mana for anything ever again. Feel free to drop your Progenitus, your Autochthon Wurm, even your Emrakul, the Aeons Torn all at once with no fear of reprisal.

#23. Desolation Twin

Remember that thing I said about creatures bigger than 10/10? What if you could get two of them for the same price…. Desolation Twin is really two 10/10 Eldrazi hiding in one card. While both 10/10s ARE vanilla beaters, that’s more than enough to start walloping your opponents willy-nilly.

#22. It That Betrays

Anytime we get a creature with more than 10 power or toughness, Timmys take note. Whenever we get one with more than 10 power and toughness and annihilator of all things, Timmys start frothing at the mouth. Throw in the fact that any sacrificed permanents (from the annihilator trigger or otherwise) come back into play under your control, and It That Betrays gives you one of the most threatening non-legendary Eldrazi in the game!

#21. Cultivator Colossus

There’s almost no better way than Cultivator Colossus to get every land from your deck onto the battlefield—which  works great, considering it relies on the number of lands you control for its base power and toughness. You could theoretically see all 40 lands in your Commander deck in play after the Colossus hits the field (with a lot of luck).

#20. Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy

Do you like mana dorks? Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy does, too. Kinnan lets you yoink a creature out of the top five cards of your library, and gets you to the 7 mana you need to activate its ability in half as much time if you source your mana from Llanowar Elves and Simic Signets.

#19. Rakdos, Lord of Riots

The 4-mana Rakdos, Lord of Riots hails from Return to Ravnica. Ultimately, this classic Rakdos enables you to play the rest of your huge creatures for reduced mana costs. All you have to do is ping at least 1 damage on our opponents before you can cast your 6/6 flying trampling demon, which basically guarantees another 6 damage in their face and 6 less mana you need to spend while casting your Lord of the Pit.

#18. Surrak Dragonclaw

The bane of Timmy decks is the control match up. Surrak Dragonclaw takes the blue player’s pesky Counterspells and Essence Scatters and turns them into dead cards. Flash lets you bait out a counterspell on another creature, and it still sports a 6/6 body for 5 mana. Its trample anthem ensures your other big creatures can connect with your opponents, too!

#17. The Ur-Dragon

There’s not much more to say about The Ur-Dragon beyond the cost reduction it provides for your other dragons, a traditionally Timmy creature type. Besides that, it’s also a 10/10 flying body that grows the number of dragons you control significantly as more and more of them attack each turn. Before long, you’ll blot out the sun with the leathery wings and smokey maws of Magic’s best creature type.

#16. Mayael the Anima

Mayael the Anima was one of my first loves in Commander. Its Naya () color identity gives it access to some of the best Timmy cards around like Godsire and Zacama, Primal Calamity. The randomness of its ability does make it hard to plan around, but it also makes slamming that Utvara Hellkite down on turn 4 feel so, so sweet.

#15. Keruga, the Macrosage

Keruga, the Macrosage can only be the companion for a deck built entirely of cards with a mana value of 3 or more. Most Timmy cards are big and hard to cast, making Keruga the best companion for any deck looking to “come online” at 6+ mana.

#14. Zilortha, Strength Incarnate

Who cares about toughness anyways? Not Zilortha, Strength Incarnate! Zilortha makes your creatures calculate lethal damage based on their power rather than their toughness. Ball Lightnings are suddenly 6/6s for the purposes of combat. A real “turn ‘em sideways” commander for the Timmys amongst us who don’t want to think about the possible combat outcomes before they swing.

#13. Crackle with Power

Not every Timmy card has to be a creature! Crackle with Power takes the classic Fireball to its logical conclusion, letting you dump big mana into a spell for an explosive inferno that’s sure to engulf your foes. Pay an extra 2 mana with a Fork effect and double up on that quintupled damage!

#12. Etali, Primal Storm

I think Wizards of the Coast knows Etali, Primal Storm appeals to Timmy players, as there was a time between Rivals of Ixalan and Foundations where you literally couldn’t escape seeing this card in a Commander precon, or pulling one in your draft. Etali is a 6/6 for 6 mana, already a fair cost, but if it sticks to the board and attacks, the value it generates greatly outpaces what you paid. In a multiplayer format like Commander, Etali basically guarantees you four free spells every time it attacks in addition to being a fat body your opponents will have difficulty dealing with.

#11. Akroma, Angel of Wrath

Akroma, Angel of Wrath is my favorite french vanilla creature. Just a pile of keywords on a 6/6 body with an iconic creature type. It really doesn’t get much better than this. Sure, it's still counterable, unlike Akroma, Angel of Fury, and sure, first strike and trample are kind of overkill on a creature that already has evasion from flying, but Timmy players get their kicks out of reading the 12-word essay that is Akroma’s text box.

#10. Iroas, God of Victory

The hardest part about being a Timmy is deciding when you can let it all hang out and attack with your full board into an opponent. Iroas, God of Victory takes all that painful combat math out of the equation, preventing your creatures from taking combat damage and giving them menace to crash right into your opponents’ life totals. As long as your devotion is high enough, Iroas is also a 7/4 creature that benefits from its own effects, making it a huge amount of damage to swing around the board that's very difficult to remove in combat.

#9. Apex Altisaur

Apex Altisaur is a board wipe hiding behind a 10/10 dinosaur. When it hits the field, it fights a creature. Then, every time it takes damage (read: fights any creature with power greater than 0), it fights another creature. This continues until you choose to stop fighting, when you run out of opposing creatures to fight, or the Altisaur dies; whichever tickles your fancy.

#8. Apex Devastator

Not only is Apex Devastator a 10/10 creature for 10 mana, it has four instances of cascade. Cascading four times into other big creatures makes this hydra one of the most valuable mythic rares from Commander Legends. Casting an Apex Devastator could result in you landing any four of the other cards from this list!

#7. Ghalta, Stampede Tyrant

In the same vein as Timmy, Power Gamer, Ghalta, Stampede Tyrant enables the rest of your Timmy-focused deck by dropping your entire hand’s worth of huge creatures all at once.

#6. Ghalta, Primal Hunger

Ghalta, Primal Hunger is the reverse of Ghalta, Stampede Tyrant. Instead of making it easier to play the next big creature, Ghalta, Primal Hunger is itself easier to cast once you already have a field of huge creatures. This Ghalta is sort of a “win more” situation, but I don’t know a Timmy player out there who doesn’t want to win more when they’re already winning.

#5. Zacama, Primal Calamity

Zacama, Primal Calamity is the ultimate dinosaur. While its ability doesn’t benefit an entirely dinosaur typal deck, it does untap the nine lands you dropped to cast it, letting you activate each of its abilities the turn it comes down, or activate one of those abilities three times. Drop a 9/9 with vigilance, reach, and trample, then throw around 9 damage before we even hit the combat step!

#4. Ziatora, the Incinerator

Ziatora, the Incinerator is the ultimate commander for any sacrifice-based deck. Ziatora Flings any creature you control at an opponent’s face while also generating free mana. This one-two punch lets you play your other huge Timmy creatures, sac them, and then get more mana to play another round of big creatures. I like to run cheap creatures that’ll be sacrificed at the end of the turn anyways, like Ball Lightning and Groundbreaker.

#3. Sire of Seven Deaths

Sire of Seven Deaths marks a return to a design formula that’s very near to my heart: the “french vanilla” creature—a creature with only evergreen keyworded abilities. Sire of Seven Deaths has seven abilities with a 7/7 body for just 7 mana. And it even has exactly 14 words in its flavor text. Somebody at WotC likes uniformity!

#2. Progenitus

“Protection from everything” has to be one of the funniest rules texts in the game. Progenitus can only be destroyed by effects that don’t specifically target it, so a Wrath of God should do the trick. Except, it gets shuffled back into its owner's library whenever it would go to the graveyard, making it nearly impossible to permanently remove from the game. This 10/10 just keeps coming back, and keeps on being unblockable the entire time.

#1. Yargle and Multani

Yargle and Multani is the single biggest creature we’ve ever seen in Magic, followed closely by Impervious Greatwurm. Yargle and Multani is a vanilla 18/6, but with that kind of stat line, it doesn’t need any abilities to back it up. Instead, we have 24 points of body on the board for just 6 mana, making this one of the greatest mana-to-power ratios in all of Magic.

Wrap Up

Zacama, Primal Calamity | Illustration by Jaime Jones

Timmys get a bad reputation for being simplistic and unengaging. I disagree! The noble Timmy player knows what they like and does it. They have no need for all that flashy card combo-ing that Johnny does, and they’re just trying to have a good time slamming little cardboard squares on the table, unlike Spike and their win-at-all-costs mindset.

Which of these Timmy cards do you think deserves the top spot? And what are your favorite Timmy spells? Let me know in the comments or on Discord!

Thanks for reading!