All 11 Wraiths in Magic Ranked

Last updated on February 18, 2024

Lord of the Nazgûl | Illustration by Anton Solovianchyk

Wraiths are one of those strange creature types in Magic that don’t see a lot of representation. In fact, there were so few wraiths that Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth single-handedly doubled their numbers.

You’d think that there’d be more wraiths in a game with witches (in name) and so many types of ghostly and undead monsters, but they seem to exist in the same space as oxen and such. Like how most large land animals in Magic fall into the general beast type, most ghostly figures fall into the spirit category, whereas more corporeal undead are typically zombies. This leaves more specific creature types like wraith with less representation to preserve more cohesion within larger creature groups.

This list will specifically be comparing these cards in terms of use in an eternal format where these cards are all legal. Let’s take a look at all the wraiths currently printed in Magic, and see which one comes out on top!

What Are Wraiths in MTG?

Witch-king, Bringer of Ruin | Illustration by Denman Rooke

Wraiths are a creature type in Magic that are mostly associated with a mono-black color identity, though there are a few exceptions.

A lot of the older wraith cards have the Swampwalk ability. Though newer ones don’t, many still have some form of evasion, which seems to be the only connecting theme between these cards.

#11. Bog Tatters

An unblockable 4/2 like Bog Tatters can be useful, but there are much more powerful spells to cast for five mana. This is especially true when this card’s unblockable status depends on your opponent controlling a Swamp, which they might not.

Lots of black decks run Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, making Swampwalk slightly better than other landwalk abilities, but it’s still a risk to include this card in a deck over an equally expensive spell.

#10. Street Wraith

Street Wraith basically has all the same problems as Bog Tatters, except with the downside of being even more restrictive to cast. It gets a slight edge for having a cycling ability, so it can have some utility even if it’s not helpful as a creature when you draw it.

#9. Bog Wraith

Bog Wraith is just a simple 3/3 with Swampwalk, but I think four mana is more reasonable to pay for this type of creature than five.

#8. Odylic Wraith

What you lose in power and toughness with Odylic Wraith is more than made up for by its combat damage trigger. Depriving your opponents of additional resources can often be more advantageous than taking that one extra point of life from them.

#7. Ringwraiths

Ringwraiths is a decently strong creature, and its ETB effect can serve as a form of removal for some nice added value. That said, I don’t see this being played outside of Lord of the Rings-themed decks that make heavy use of The Ring tempts you mechanics.

This is also one of the few wraiths without a form of evasion.

#6. Dirtwater Wraith

Dirtwater Wraith isn’t always going to be the best play, but I think it has more uses than some of its competition. You can get some added value out its built-in mana sink, especially if you’re running the classic Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and Cabal Coffers interaction.

This can be a heavy hitter if it’s unblockable, or you can use it to block and pay to help take out a bigger creature.

#5. Nazgûl

Magic’s version of the individual Nazgûl are a lot of fun flavor-wise. They work well together, buffing one another up, while also allowing you to gain more benefits of having a ring-bearer.

While they aren’t technically evasive, deathtouch discourages your opponents from blocking them as often.

#4. Witch-king, Bringer of Ruin

Witch-king, Bringer of Ruin can be very effective against decks that run just a few strong creatures as opposed to establishing wide board states of smaller ones. Against any deck, forcing players to sacrifice their own creatures once a turn is going to take a serious toll on their game.

That said, this card is pricey and likely a lightning rod for removal, so I think a few of the other wraiths are slightly better.

#3. Witch-king of Angmar

Witch-king of Angmar is strong both offensively and defensively. You can swing out with it, knowing your opponents have to sacrifice their own creatures if they attack you back. Or you can keep it up as a blocker and easily make it indestructible.

#2. Canoptek Wraith

Canoptek Wraith isn’t a super flashy card, but it’s a very effective bit of ramp for any color of deck. This is the kind of card that I think would easily be run in most Commander decks that don’t include green if it were more widely available.

#1. Lord of the Nazgûl

Lord of the Nazgûl, funnily enough, has some solid wraith typal support. This would be pretty underwhelming given the small number of wraith cards until you realize this card can fill your board with Wraith tokens on its own.

It’s easy for this card to generate a huge board state as long as you include enough instant and sorceries in your deck. I can easily see this card being the go-to commander for the typal if more wraiths end up being printed in the future.

Best Wraith Payoffs

As of right now the best wraith-specific payoff is Lord of the Nazgûl’s ability to make itself and all other wraiths have a base power and toughness of 9/9. This allows you to deal out a ton of damage without worrying about blockers since most wraiths are evasive.

Pairing the older wraiths that have Swampwalk with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth is a great way to make sure that you can attack unblocked. This also makes wraiths a good option to equip with cards that have good combat damage payoffs or that grant infect.

Wrap Up

Street Wraith | Illustration by Cyril Van Der Haegen

Wraiths are an interesting little creature type that has carved out a pretty specific niche for itself. Though landwalk abilities have largely gone out of style, it’ll be interesting to see if any new wraiths are printed that fit the type's evasion theme. The Lord of the Rings cards, even the less expensive LTR cards, could awaken some interest in the creature type, especially with Lord of the Nazgûl.

What wraith cards are you most likely to put in a deck? Would you like to see this creature type expanded? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below, or over on Draftsim’s Twitter.

Thanks for reading, and see you next time!