The 27 Best Vedalken in Magic Ranked

Hotshot Investigators | Illustration by Jodie Muir

I like to play blue cards. I once got a Magic tee for Christmas from someone who knew I liked the game but nothing else about it, a shirt that highlighted the blue mana pip. They asked if that was the right color. My friend piped up: “Oh that’s the right color, all right,” and couldn’t stop laughing.

What’s better than blue cards? Blue cards with blue people on them, of course! It’s vedalken time, and this is your introduction to what I consider the most underutilized creature type in the game. Why is that? Why should we care? Read on, my most likely un-blue companion!

What Are Vedalken in MTG?

Dispersal Technician | Illustration by Scott Murphy

Vedalken is a creature type in Magic. In now lost Magic design lore, vedalken showed up on the plane of Mirrodin when merfolk were being phased out because they’re a bit too limited to watery environments. Vedalken are blue-skinned humanoids who are often wizards and/or artificers. Many of their cards tend toward official functionaries, especially on Avishkar and Ravnica.

#27. Seasoned Buttoneer

This is a must-have in Dee Kay, Finder of the Lost or any other attraction deck, sure. Thanks to Unfinity, Seasoned Buttoneer is now a phrase that I apply enthusiastically to my idea of various jobs. If I am, say, typing long articles for Draftsim, and if I’ve been doing this for a while now, is this card not my identity? I’ve had that exact expression on my face, for example when ranking the least good vedalken.

I need to think on these things….

#26. Schema Thief

Four mana to cast. Mm’kay. Gotta attack and hit on turn 4-ish in Commander as a 3/3 body. Sure, okay. Then I can do the copied token thing if my opponent happens to have an artifact that matters.

Nope. I’m out! Listen to a Magic boomer, please. These are the things we used to tell ourselves about weird cards in the ‘90s. If it all works out perfectly, whammo!

Except it’ll never go perfectly with crappy cards Schema Thief high on the curve. Put it this way: If you can freely swing away with a card like this the turn after it comes down, you have no problems in that game anyway.

Still, it makes the list because one perfect synergy will emerge someday. You heard it here first!

#25. Realmwright

Realmwright would have slapped in an alternate history of the ‘90s when WotC built real payoffs for landfall or landhome decks. In one way, that seems like a dark timeline, but in another, it would have been fun to be able to play competitive creature decks in the late 90s.

#24. Ethersworn Adjudicator

It looks like it’ll be good, and if you’re playing Staff of Domination and Clock of Omens nonsense, you’re probably already sleeving up the other pieces that Ethersworn Adjudicator combos with. But this is kind of bulk. A red mythic icon and an untap ability, and you’re ready for the thunder. But working with this card is like watching Brian’s Song or brewing with Craw Giant in the ‘90s. You’re gonna be sad by the end.

#23. Vedalken Heretic

Ophidian really took a bite out of the card advantage imagination, didn’t it? These sorts of cards were the king for a while, but Curiosity gave a flexibility we loved, which leaves no room for cards like Vedalken Heretic outside of Limited.

#22. Empyreal Voyager

A classic good card back in energy Standard, Empyreal Voyager is a victim of time and the overall shift of energy toward the Jeskai colors () post Modern Horizons 3.

#21. Lumengrid Augur

Terrible stuff, but Lumengrid Augur combos awesomely with three other cards (so, you know, super easy to assemble): Orcish Bowmasters, Intruder Alarm, and something like Ashnod's Altar. That’s a #LifeGoals combo if I’ve ever seen one.

#20. Deputy of Detention

A lovely card in its Standard blink deck (I swear there was one! I played it all over the Arena ladder in Platinum!), Deputy of Detention can wipe a fleet of tokens. It shows up in EDH blink, but that field is crowded. It finds a home in Aang, at the Crossroads blink/airbending decks lately.

#19. Synod Artificer

A combo king from the time of expensive, slow, three-card combos, Synod Artificer suffers from the passing of the age when you could pack this with, say, Freed from the Real and Gilded Lotus to get the W. This is still fun to play, and I run it in Shorikai, Genesis Engine even though I probably shouldn’t. Be you!

#18. Gyre Engineer + Vedalken Engineer

How good is a card you’d only play in a budget version of Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy? I don’t have a good sense of how to rank that, as I have no idea what the budget Commander meta is! So I’ll just slot Gyre Engineer and Vedalken Engineer right here in the mana dork clearance section.

#17. Vedalken Squirrel-Whacker

First, A+ name. No notes.

Second, you gotta play Vedalken Squirrel-Whacker in a dice-rolling deck, right?

Third, if you’re doing one of those decks, underwhelming cards like Underdark Rift get, if not good, at least whelming.

#16. Mizzium Meddler

No one plays this card! You’re gonna say: “Steve, that’s because it sucks.” Fair. But hear me out! In a wizards deck, flash is good! Yes, I know there are literally over 50 other wizards with flash, but this ability to redirect something is kinda cool.

It can save your commander. For 3 mana, that’s too much as a central purpose. It can swipe a combat trick. Yeah, okay, if that's your play in a slow wizards deck, you’ve already lost. Okay, okay, but this card also swipes abilities, which is definitely worth it for the shock factor, if nothing else. A winning strategy? Nope. An epic one? Yes.

#15. Morska, Undersea Sleuth

A popular commander on the back of its precon, this card is… fine? There are a few ways to build Morska, but I’m not looking to go grab a copy of Morska, Undersea Sleuth. I’ll welcome your pro-Morska takes in the comments if there’s some light I’m not seeing.

#14. Vedalken Humiliator

This has a minor role in some budget and artifact sorts of decks. Vedalken Humiliator really shines as way to tick off whoever might be left in the LGS on a Commander Night that didn’t finish when you revealed Toxrill, the Corrosive as your commander.

#13. Serum Visionary

A nimble little play on Serum Visions. This card’s decent showing was in Modern Horizons 3 Draft, at least until someone dropped a Writhing Chrysalis. Serum Visionary seems best in a Pauper Commander environment.

#12. Nin, the Pain Artist

A twitchy, combative Izzet () deck in Commander, Nin, the Pain Artist asks for the kind of horror movie combo tricks that are a fun puzzle to build a deck around. At the same time, you hopefully won’t lure Pinhead and the other cenobites from the shadows in the wake of flying chains.

You’re looking for cards like Brash Taunter, Stuffy Doll, Body of Knowledge, and Psychosis Crawler. To flip what older siblings tell you while they hold you down and demonstrate your weakness, keep on hitting yourself in the face!

I do like this edgy version of vedalken, though. I think we need to see more lore and such built for this untapped resource in the Magic universe.

#11. Grand Architect

Supplanted by the looting powerhouse, Unctus, Grand Architect is still a decent card for EDH artifacts decks. It’s classically a combo enabler, doing wicked things with untappy cards like Pili-Pala, but I haven’t seen that actually work in a Commander game this decade.

#10. Emporium Thopterist

A key piece of all sorts of Alchemy-powered Thopter-palooza decks in Historic and Timeless, Emporium Thopterist is ridiculous for an uncommon, even in Alchemy. Paired with a real card like Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student and another “card”, Landlore Navigator, you have artifact token propulsion madness. Fun, and not too many wildcards to burn in the pursuit.

#9. Padeem, Consul of Innovation

This used to be a good EDH deck, back in the day. And don’t get me wrong, all things being equal, a Padeem, Consul of Innovation on the battlefield is awfully convenient in an artifact deck. But at 4 mana, its time has passed. It’s in like every single artifact matters precon, so the price is right if you want to try it out.

#8. Whirler Virtuoso

A busted former Standard standout that is now de rigueur in any EDH deck in the energy space that can play it, from Satya, Aetherflux Genius to Liberty Prime, Recharged, Whirler Virtuoso is going to ask you something. Do you want to go infinite with almost any energy infused ham sandwich in the deck? This card shoots the moon with any number of other cards, classically Gonti's Aether Heart and Decoction Module. That’s energy for you. Gotta find a way for it not to be infinite, which is exactly the opposite of how energy works in, ya know, physics.

#7. Master of Etherium

Look, this is a good card. But I think it’s kinda overplayed as a 3-drop in the tightening lists of artifacts decks in Commander. Master of Etherium is also sort of a design trap that makes you want to give it trample or some other color’s ability. It has shown up in more dodgy brews than maybe any of the other vedalken cards.

That said, in an artifact token universe, this gets real big, real fast.

#6. Jace’s Archivist

So this is a hoot with Mind Over Matter, of course. Jace's Archivist has a true home in decks like Nekusar, the Mindrazer for some of that old fashioned Grixis () control. You can punish card draw, like you’d do in a wheels deck, and there’s always mill endgames here.

#5. Unctus, Grand Metatect

So many of us spent a lot of wildcards on Unctus, Grand Metatect, looking for the answer. It looks busted, but you’ll have to settle for a really good role-player in EDH, sometimes cEDH brews that aren’t quite there yet.

It’s fine as an over-costed artifact lord, but the mass looting is the ticket.

#4. Ingenious Infiltrator

A powerful ninja deck payoff that almost must be sleeved up in those decks, either in Commander or Legacy, Ingenious Infiltrator is pretty awesome.

#3. Chief Engineer

An awesome part of most artifact strategies in Commander, Chief Engineer slots in nicely to deck with very different use cases, from the go-wide spellslinging of Ovika, Enigma Goliath, to the more traditional artifact goodness of Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain, to the different flavors of new hotness in Noctis, Prince of Lucis and Krang, Master Mind.

It’s also a classic combo piece with Intruder Alarm kinds of strategies, so go wild with this powerful and synergistic card.

#2. Vedalken Archmage

Maybe the Chief is better. It’s cheaper, sure. But Vedalken Archmage is more raw power when you get it onto the battlefield. Pick your high-powered artifact deck, but the fave lately for this card seems to be Lady Octopus, Inspired Inventor.

#1. Etherium Sculptor

Take the Tempest medallions and make them apply to everything in your deck, and you’ve got Etherium Sculptor! Not exactly, because this is easy to kill, but you’re running this in any high-powered artifact deck in Commander, from Shorikai, Genesis Engine to Urza, Lord High Artificer to new stuff like Mendicant Core, Guidelight.

Best Vedalken Payoffs

Generally, you want card draw and artifacts. All the blue stuff we love except counterspells. Many vedalken support those kinds of decks, and many of those kinds of effects make the best vedalken better.

But there are no typal synergies. Again, underutilized design space!

Are There Vedalken Commanders?

Yes, there are! There are six legendary vedalken, but one, Truss, Chief Engineer is an Unfinity card that isn’t legal in Commander because, well, math. Classic silver-bordered nonsense.

The others potential vedalken commanders are, in rough order of power:

• Morska, Undersea Sleuth
• Nin, the Pain Artist
• Padeem, Consul of Innovation
• Troyan, Gutsy Explorer
• Unctus, Grand Metatect

Troyan is an interesting card for lore reasons more than play, because it was only borderline playable in Wilds of Eldraine Draft. But the idea of a vedalken explorer trekking out across the planes is such a different take than a character like Dovin Baan.

Wrap Up

Whirler Virtuoso | Illustration by Lake Hurwitz

Vedalken need more love! I haven’t played a lot of Dungeons & Dragons set in the MTG universe, but the first time I did, I built a vedalken character. There’s more to learn about them, and they’re likely ripe for a rebrand after Dovin.

What is now on brand for them is that they love artifacts and card draw. Don’t we all? I’ll bet the percentage of vedalken cards in your EDH decks is greater than you’d have expected. So I think I’m just going to claim you, reader, as the newest member of the vedalken fan club, okay?

Which vedalken do you run and where? What do you want to see from vedalken in future Magic sets? Let me know in the comments below or over on the Draftsim Discord.

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Happy deckbuilding!