The 37 Best Warlocks in Magic Ranked

Last updated on April 29, 2024

Witch of the Moors | Illustration by Caio Monteiro

Hello, planeswalkers! Or, should I say hello to my witches and warlocks? Wilds of Eldraine has given us more exposure to the warlock creature type. It brought 15 new ones, so it’s a good time to take stock of the power of these magical beings.

Are these warlocks good, though? And what about the rest of them across Magic? Let’s look at some of the best warlocks and the strategies they can fit into, or even lead!

What Are Warlocks in MTG?

The Hourglass Coven | Illustration by Konstantin Porubov

Warlock is a creature type introduced in the Throne of Eldraine set in 2019. After this set’s release, warlock became the main designation for any being that gained magical skills through a deal with demons or other dark beings. Warlock was retroactively given to Dread Warlock in 2010 and is the preferred creature type name for witches and hags because of its gender neutrality.

Warlocks are mostly human but can also splash in the rat, faerie, and spirit creature types. They’re heavily in black, with a few examples of warlocks in every single color and most of the two-color guilds.

Best White Warlock Cards

#2. Hopeful Initiate

Hopeful Initiate is a wonderfully versatile cheap card for many mono-white builds. For a mana value of 1, you gain a solid early-game board presence that can grow and provide you with some artifact or enchantment hate if needed. This card can fit into many aggro builds, especially in the current Standard cycle.

#1. Katilda, Dawnhart Martyr / Katilda’s Rising Dawn

Even more useful in the current Standard cycle is Katilda, Dawnhart Martyr. Enchantment decks are strong at the moment with cards like Kami of Transience, Calix, Guided by Fate, and Hallowed Haunting. Katilda, Dawnhart Martyr, and Katilda's Rising Dawn add huge value to these decks with great keywords and major pumps.

Best Black Warlock Cards

#21. Grim Wanderer

Here’s a nice transaction for you. If a creature dies, you can flash in Grim Wanderer for a cheap 5/3 creature. The cost of 2 mana and flash speed are wonderful, and the only thing you have to manage is to have a creature die when you want to play this card. Not the most difficult thing to pull off.

#20. Spiteful Hexmage

A 1-drop 3/2 creature is a solid card for any aggro deck. The downside of Spiteful Hexmage is that it comes with a Cursed role token. This means you have to attach the token to a creature and turn it into a 1/1. If Spiteful Hexmage is your only creature, you nullify its upside. If you can remove the role aura or use another small token as the recipient, you have some aggressive upside.

#19. The Hourglass Coven

Let’s take a look at an online-only warlock. If you play Alchemy or Historic online, The Hourglass Coven could be a powerful card for you. The spellbook is full of a multitude of different and usable static abilities that especially help warlocks. The mana value is high, but there could be huge payoffs in the right online build.

#18. Twisted Sewer-Witch

Twisted Sewer-Witch has some upside, especially in Limited play. When it ETBs, all your rats become stronger and gain a death trigger. There’s also some potential here in aura or enchantment decks with the number of enchantments/auras you can create in a single turn.

#17. Shaile, Dean of Radiance / Embrose, Dean of Shadow

I’ll include the Shaile, Dean of Radiance two-sided card and not the Valentin, Dean of the Vein two-sided card. This is because the side I care about most is the warlock Embrose, Dean of Shadow. Pumping a creature and building a defense of card drawing is a nice way to rebound from board wipes and combat disadvantages.

#16. Young Necromancer

Young Necromancer is a decent example of the reanimating power warlocks usually have. Exiling two cards from your graveyard is a low bar to satisfy to return any creature from your graveyard to the battlefield. The MV and the stats of this card aren’t great, but that’s not why you roster it.

#15. Kels, Fight Fixer

It’s time to start sacrificing to dark powers for your benefit. Kels, Fight Fixer is a solid card to pair in aristocrat decks. It has a flexible triggered ability cost to give you a draw and a relatively easy way to become indestructible. Kels, Fight Fixer is a solid midrange card for aristocrat builds.

#14. Marshland Bloodcaster

Marshland Bloodcaster is a great example of using your life points as a resource. If you can survive the aggro decks and have ways to gain life, use those life points to cast your bomb cards.

#13. Archpriest of Shadows

Backup is a decent new mechanic that can have some interesting interactions when you pair it with hard-to-block creatures. I love the upside of using Archpriest of Shadows to back up a creature like Mercurial Spelldancer. The reanimation upside here isn’t as big as some warlocks, but it still has value in certain builds.

#12. Tivash, Gloom Summoner

I’m a huge fan of making creature tokens each turn. I think it’s a wonderful way to overwhelm your opponent and bounce back from removal. Tivash, Gloom Summoner is a cool way to undo your lifegain and turn that into a Demon creature token. If you have enough life, this is a wonderful way to make creatures each turn.

#11. Gixian Puppeteer

Gixian Puppeteer is a decent addition to draw decks. We all want to draw more cards and decks that can benefit from draws in additional ways gain huge advantages. With this card, you can siphon life with some reliable draw spells, but more importantly, you can return wonderful cards like Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor or Nadir Kraken when Gixian Puppeteer dies.

#10. Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm

Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm can be an absolute centerpiece to any rat-tribal build. You can get massive pumps for your rat creatures as well as return up to two rats from the graveyard to your hand each turn. With these wide swings and return abilities, Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm is a must-have for rat decks.

#9. Author of Shadows

With Author of Shadows, I love the idea of some graveyard decks fearing that I’m going to take their best creatures. You can either focus on removing opponents’ creatures yourself or hope they help you out with some self-mill/discard. Once there’s a viable and powerful creature in an opponent’s graveyard, go ahead and take it from them!

#8. Chittering Witch

Gather all your friends because Chittering Witch gains more value the more opponents you have. The more Rat tokens you can make in a game give you a ton of removal potential with this card. The absolute value is the multiple occurrences of removal you can use at instant speed. A very good combination of factors to dictate how a game plays out.

#7. Fain, the Broker

Fain, the Broker has the kind of upside choices I like in a card. It’s a wonderful thing in MTG to be flexible and adjustable and timing can make all the difference. This card can give you all sorts of benefits depending on your needs, and at instant speed, it has some great upside.

#6. Piper of the Swarm

Many of these warlocks sure love their rats. Piper of the Swarm can steal one of your opponent’s creatures with the sacrifice of a few simple rats. This card has immense upside in a rat typal deck.

#5. Veinwitch Coven

I love cards that give me a cheap bonus for advantages I'm already trying to take. With Veinwitch Coven, gaining life can also turn into returning creatures from your graveyard to your hand. This is a fantastic effect to use with ETB creatures and death triggers.

#4. Oriq Loremage

Many of the warlocks are wonderful additions to reanimator decks. Oriq Loremage is fantastic at bringing the cards you need from your deck into your graveyard. And, if you can reanimate some instants or sorceries like Invoke Despair, you get the bonus of pumping Oriq Loremage.

#3. Sedgemoor Witch

Sedgemoor Witch is my kind of card. I love the ability to gain a wide board presence while causing terror with your instant and sorceries. This card leads itself so well into aggro, swarm, and aristocrat builds. Of course, have a backup plan for the dreaded board wipes.

#2. Vile Entomber

Vile Entomber is a fantastic card for reanimator decks. It can fit well into a reanimator curve, especially if the following turn you play a card like The Cruelty of Gix. You can get the card you need in your graveyard and also have a deathtouch defense, not bad at all.

#1. Witch of the Moors

Witch of the Moors is a fantastic way to change board presence in the Eternal, Historic, and Oathbreaker formats. If you can gain life, and let’s acknowledge how easy that is in Constructed, you can return a creature from your graveyard to your hand while your opponent sacrifices one of theirs. The 5 MV is worth the upside of switching board advantages.

Best Green Warlock Card

#1. Saryth, the Viper’s Fang

My one pick for a decent green warlock is Saryth, the Viper's Fang. I’m not sure this card strikes fear into your opponent's heart, but it has some versatility and upside. You can protect your creatures and make your attackers deadly. This card was made to pair with Fynn, the Fangbearer.

Best Multicolored Warlock Cards

#13. Lynde, Cheerful Tormentor

Curses can be a wonderfully frustrating strategy for your opponents. With Lynde, Cheerful Tormentor, you can now bring back removed curses to plague your opponent. You may have to suffer the curse for one trigger, but then you can attach it to your opponent.

#12. Agatha of the Vile Cauldron

I think it’s sometimes hard to see how good new cards will become in the meta of many formats. I like the upside of Agatha of the Vile Cauldron and can see a path for it to become quite popular. It’s a support card for activated ability-focused decks and can even be the finishing move you need by giving all your creatures trample.

#11. Totentanz, Swarm Piper

With Totentanz, Swarm Piper, we get even more rat support from Wilds of Eldraine. You can ensure you keep some creature on the board with the dying trigger and even turn your rats into little deadly chump blockers. As with many Rakdos and rat decks, this card fits well with aristocrat or aggressive builds. 

#10. Gyome, Master Chef

I love cards that can protect my creatures and cards that can create tokens I need. Gyome, Master Chef is a card that can do both. It can make the Food tokens you need for a card like Feasting Troll King and also protect it with indestructible. This card is a nice addition to food-themed decks in the Eternal and Oathbreaker formats.

#9. Breena, the Demagogue

If you’ve played multiplayer games, you know there can be a fair amount of politicking. With Breena, the Demagogue, you can “convince” other players to attack each other for their benefit and yours. This effect also works for your attacks as a double bonus.

#8. Alela, Cunning Conqueror

Alela, Cunning Conqueror is another faerie bomb card for the Eternal formats. It’s a wonderful way to create tokens and can even be quite useful in goading your opponent’s valuable creatures. It’ll be interesting to see the heights this card can reach in Commander, but I have a feeling it can be quite valuable.

#7. Rivaz of the Claw

Dragon typal might be the biggest benefactor of ramp cards. There are many options, but Rivaz of the Claw is a superb option. Producing 2 mana is a sizeable advantage, and once on each of your turns, you can cast a dragon from the graveyard. These are the kind of upside interactions that create a staple for a dragon build.

#6. Hylda of the Icy Crown

Hylda of the Icy Crown gives a much-needed boost to cards that tap opponent’s creatures. Tapping your opponent’s creatures can be useful in a pinch, but it isn’t quite the removal you usually need. Now with this card, you can pay 1 mana to make a token, give your creatures counters, or scry. I love the upside of this card and the utter annoyance it will cause.

#5. Priest of Fell Rites

Priest of Fell Rites is a wonderfully cheap way to reanimate your bomb creatures. By turn 3, you have the potential to discard or fetch a bomb creature to your graveyard and return it with Priest of Fell Rites. The low cost and unearth ability gives this card sky-high value in reanimator builds.

#4. Eriette of the Charmed Apple

With fantastic card art, Eriette of the Charmed Apple also brings fantastic opportunities for some interesting interactions. This warlock can siphon some serious life each turn based on the number of auras you control. There’s some additional upside in equipping your opponent’s creatures with auras or even the new Cursed role tokens to stop them from attacking.

#3. Alela, Artful Provocateur

Alela, Artful Provocateur is just as solid a commander as another deck’s accelerator. Generally, when you have this much text on a card you get a lot for what you pay for it. There’s lifelink, deathtouch, a pump for flying creatures (who aren’t easily blocked), and a way to create more flying creatures. What a lovely symphony of changing a game in your favor.

#2. Katilda, Dawnhart Prime

Katilda, Dawnhart Prime is a key piece to many competitive Selesnya swarm decks. You can turn your tokens and cheap human creatures into mana producers to get to your big plays like Rabble Rousing or Earthshaker Giant ahead of schedule.

#1. Prosper, Tome-Bound

Many of the abilities from the Forgotten Realms set give you choices between two different effects. Prosper, Tome-Bound’s abilities actually work together for a greater effect. You can play with more cards from the top of your deck and create Treasure tokens to help cast these cards even faster.

Best Warlock Payoffs

Warlocks fit perfectly into several kinds of builds, like aristocrat, reanimator, and tribal.

The warlocks above can help solidify aristocrat decks, so make sure to surround them with dying trigger cards like Grave Pact and Mayhem Devil. Also, you can take advantage of sacrificing creatures with cards like Deathgreeter.

You can also reanimate some bomb creatures with your warlocks. Make sure to fill your graveyard with cards like Ashen Rider, Sheoldred, Whispering One, or Etali, Primal Conqueror. Once your graveyards are stocked, make sure to play cards like Victimize and Living Death to dominate your opponent.

You can build yourself a warlock deck around Lorcan, Warlock Collector. The warlock creatures also have some sort of other creature type they could tribe with. For rat builds, include cards like Pack Rat. I’d look at cards like Glen Elendra Liege for faerie builds. And if you enjoy enchantment decks make sure to focus on cards like Enchantress's Presence.

Now these aren’t the only good uses of warlocks. Here are a few more cards and strategies to use warlocks to your advantage. I like warlocks in certain control and draw decks alongside cards like Kaito Shizuki. I also think warlocks can be aggressive at times when combined with cards like Coppercoat Vanguard.

Wrap Up

Katilda, Dawnhart Prime | Illustration by Bryan Sola

Well, there you have it folks, a look at the best warlocks and how they can help you to victory. Whenever new sets are released and we get a bunch of creatures in a particular creature type, it’s always good to see how they can work into your builds. Whether you’re going to build a warlock tribal deck or just taking the individual bomb ones that help you, I hope you’ve found the warlock for you.

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Stay safe and may you draw the cards you need!