Last updated on June 22, 2026
Doctor Octopus, Master Planner | Illustration by Xabi Gaztelua
Universes Beyond sets dip surprisingly often into creature types introduced in Un-sets, Magic sets with silver-border cards that are mechanically distinct because they flout the rules of Magic in favor of wacky designs.
Sets like Fallout and Doctor Who made robots mainstream, and Marvel's Spider-Man brought villains from the realms of chaos and comic books to Magic proper as a foil to the many heroes associated with Spider-Man. With the growing rogue's gallery of villains in MTG expanding, which ones are worth playing?
What Are Villains in MTG?
Shocker, Unshakable | Illustration by Kevin Glint
Villain is a creature type in Magic that signifies a philosophical sense of evil or wrongdoing. Villains can be any color, but they generally aren't white because of the color's general association with order and justiceโnot that those traits can't be made evil, as shown by the Consul on Avishkar.
If you want antagonists within Magic lore rather than the villain creature type, check out our article on Magic's greatest in-universe villains.
Honorable Mentions
Not every villain is widely played; the creature type was introduced in Un-sets that predate Marvel crossovers. These are all silver-border cards, so they arenโt legal in sanctioned formats, but theyโre still worth remembering:
#28. Tombstone, Career Criminal
A Gravedigger with cost reduction is exceptionally strong, but Tombstone, Career Criminalโs villain restriction makes it pretty narrow. It'll continue getting better as more Marvel sets are released.
#27. Alchemax Slayer-Bots
Frost Lynx stuck to an artifact that leaves a stun counter behind is pretty cool. Alchemax Slayer-Bots works well with flicker effects, cards that care about artifacts, and proliferate effects. This could work in a Cube with cards like Thrummingbird and Mechan Assembler.
#26. Prowler, Misguided Mentor
I like that Prowler, Misguided Mentor can't snowball out of control because its counters have to go on other creatures. It's a fine support card for aggressive decks.
#25. Morbius the Living Vampire
Morbius the Living Vampire adds an Anticipate from the graveyard, and you better believe it'll get to the graveyard with 1-toughness. If opponent's can't deal with it, the flying and lifelink outrace all but the fastest aggro decks.
#24. Morlun, Devourer of Spiders
Morlun, Devourer of Spiders is not in the color of hydras, but does a great black imitation of one. The straight up direct damage is powerful to have, as is a large lifelinker. If you can give Morlun three or more +1/+1 counters, you enter elite lifelink creature status.
#23. Namor the Sub-Mariner
Namor the Sub-Mariner is pretty niche since its text works in exactly mono-blue merfolk decks (maybe mono-blue more generally) but that niche gives it lots of power. Itโs an army in a can that scales well with the game since you can cast more spells the longer the game goes, which results in more token generation.
#22. Chameleon, Master of Disguise
Chameleon, Master of Disguise has a great chance of shaving off one mana for your clone effect. The trouble is you're limited to creatures you control, but it's very handy nonetheless, even if it is creepy on the level of Avatar: The Last Airbenderโs Koh, the Face Stealer.
#21. Doctor Doom
Doctor Doom is a formidable threat as it brings three bodies, one of which is generally indestructible. Itโs more of a support piece than a commander, but more than a few artifact/villain commanders will take three bodies for the price of one.
#20. Black Cat, Cunning Thief
Black Cat, Cunning Thief steals the best two cards from about 1/10 of a Commander deck. If you have any means to repeat this trigger, flicker, or bounce Black Cat, you're on the road to the best side of card advantage, while your poor opponent gets severely reduced card selection.
#19. Doctor Doom, Unrivaled
Thassa's Oracle this is not, but Doctor Doom, Unrivaled is extremely interesting as a mono-black commander that turns Demonic Consultation and Tainted Pact into a win. Even outside the command zone, this Doom makes the combo mono-black rather than relying on blue cards like Thoracle, Jace, Wielder of Mysteries, and Laboratory Maniac, so expect it to see some amount of play.
#18. Doc Ock, Evil Inventor
Animating artifacts to smack your opponents around provides clean, simple power. Unlike other versions of this effect like Cyberdrive Awakener, Doc Ock, Evil Inventor lets you keep the 8/8 forever.
#17. Green Goblin, Nemesis
Green Goblin, Nemesis is the latest in a long line of discard support cards. It hits hard and offers plenty of mana generation via Treasure. This isn't broken, but it touches on enough Rakdos () synergies to be an interesting build-around or support piece.
#16. Thanos, the Mad Titan
Iโd be highly surprised if Thanos, the Mad Titan ends up being the only Thanos card in Magic, but itโs a strong start. This is a 5-color commander that provides access to a board wipe. And if you flicker it, board wipes over and over. Itโs a really simple control commander that reads like an updated Child of Alara.
#15. Venom, Deadly Devourer
Commanders that dip into multiple strategies offer lots of deckbuilding choices and are generally pretty interesting. Venom, Deadly Devourer asks you to find a balance between toughness-matters cards, leaves the graveyard synergies, and +1/+1 counter support to tune the perfect midrange brew.
#14. Green Goblin, Revenant
Green Goblin, Revenant has an incredible ceiling. The floor of rummaging is rather mediocre, but you can cast a wheel like Wheel of Fortune to super-charge the attack trigger. What you do with all those cards is up to you.
#13. Doctor Octopus, Master Planner
Doctor Octopus, Master Planner easily has the best villain payoff in its anthem, but I'm more interested in the last ability that keeps you with eight cards in hand. That could be impressive card draw, especially in a deck that discards cards to fuel various synergies.
#12. Mole Man, Moloid Master
Oh boy, another self-fueling riff on Crucible of Worlds! Mole Man, Moloid Master even has landfall to act as a payoff for allowing you to replay fetch lands from the graveyard. One or two more effects like this and Crucible of Worlds will be totally irrelevant. Power creep comes for us allโฆ.
#11. Sandman, Shifting Scoundrel
Sandman, Shifting Scoundrel represents an aggressive and recursive creature with stats equal to your lands. These cards are consistently powerful, the evasion clause is great, and with a few lands that want to be cracked for value, you'll never pay commander tax with this sand elemental.
#10. The Serpent Society
Grave Pact in the command zone is a wild concept, so expect great things from The Serpent Society. Even though it only works with deathtouch creatures, you can trigger it with ease. Itโs even better than a typical edict since it only hits nontoken creatures. Oh, and the ward cost means players canโt target it twice without dying.
#9. Lady Octopus, Inspired Inventor
At just , Lady Octopus, Inspired Inventor racks up ingenuity counters early and fast. It might be enough to push the Game Changer Rhystic Study to the limits of legality, because the free artifacts that drip from this scientist are limited only by how full you can keep your hand.
#8. Ultron, Artificial Malevolence
Artifact decks should take note of Ultron, Artificial Malevolence. It staples Mirrorworks to a creature that makes more artifact creatures. The artifact creature is a side-gradeโgood for cards like Urza, Chief Artificer, bad for crazy turns chaining Basalt Monoliths and other mana rocks. But itโs cheaper than Mirrorworks and viable as a commander. In fact, this is one of the best colorless commanders from the past few years.
#7. Kraven the Hunter
Kraven the Hunter encourages the removal of opposing large creatures. You add on very real boosts to your best black and green removal. Ground yourself in good Commander politics and you'll do well with this warrior commander.
#6. Doctor Doom, King of Latveria
Following the release of Marvel Super Heroes, I expect Doctor Doom, King of Latveria to rise as the premier villain typal commander. The archetype is deeply rooted in discard and conniving, and Doom supports both with no trouble. Turning lands into damage while enabling discard synergies all at a low cost looks great.
#5. Electro, Assaulting Battery
The free just for casting an instant or sorcery is pretty broken with cheap instants or sorceries. Electro, Assaulting Battery lets you bank any extra red mana (I virtually never have any extra ), but the clock is on until Electro can blast an opponent.
#4. Norman Osborn/ Green Goblin
Norman Osborn is so good at conniving that some blue commanders would be happy without the ability to transform into Green Goblin, which is a premium cost reducer for graveyard spells.
#3. Eddie Brock / Venom, Lethal Protector
Eddie Brock is a solid reanimator right off the bat with infamous black 1-drops like Gravecrawler, Cauldron Familiar and Viscera Seer.
Then you go full Jund commander with Venom, Lethal Protector to chew through your cards and cheat them into play with each attack trigger. The green pip reminds you that Venom's triggered ability can sacrifice a creature token (usually with a mana value of 0) and give you an additional land drop.
#2. Jackal, Genius Geneticist
Jackal, Genius Geneticist grows and copies creature spells at the same time. Giant Growth basically gives the +3/+3 and copies your 4-mana creature for one . I science enough to know that free copies are a formula for winning at Magic.
#1. Carnage, Crimson Chaos
Carnage, Crimson Chaos is an aggressively costed villain, especially with the mayhem mechanic; four mana is perfectly respectable for this effect, so it feels like cheating to get it for 2.
This plays amazing in Cube with small but powerful creatures like Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer and Carnage Interpreter to cheat into play, though it's fallen short of being a Standard staple.
Best Villain Payoffs
Most villain payoffs are villains themselves. Venom, Eddie Brock encourages sacrifice synergies, while Tombstone, Career Criminal gives you cost reduction and recursion to overwhelm your opponents. Prowler, Clawed Thief tacks on a nice loot with each villain and turns them into aggressive plays.
Doctor Octopus, Master Planner is the best villain payoff we have thanks to its large anthem.
Generic typal support cards work with villains too, like Kindred Dominance, Raise the Palisade, and Herald's Horn, which all help you get or keep as many of your villains in play as possible.
Villainous Hideout provides mana fixing for villains plus a mana sink that makes them conniveโconsidering how many villains care about discarding cards, this is a no-brainer include.
Avengers: Under Siege rewards you for going wide with villains by producing Treasure, plus a small sweeper that ignores your boards.
Thunderbolts Conspiracy can be a villain protection spell, but itโs also handy if you want to sacrifice your villains or recycle powerful enters abilities.
Wrap Up
Grendel, Spawn of Knull | Illustration by Steve Prescott
Villains as a collective are still in their infancy, and it'll take a few more Marvel sets to really flesh out the archetype. The numbers are expanding by the year, though.
What's your favorite villain card? Does a villain fit under the umbrella for outlaws? Which Marvel supervillains do you want to see adapted into Magic? Let me know in the comments below or on the Draftsim Discord! And check out The Daily Upkeep newsletter to stay up to date on all the latest MTG news.
Stay safe, and thanks for reading!
Follow Draftsim for awesome articles and set updates:
Add Comment