Though Equipment often gets a bad rap as a card type due to the often cumbersome nature of using it, it holds some undeniable bangers. Over the years, some key Equipment cards have proven themselves as format-warping powerhouses, defining constructed archetypes and pushing Commander decks to new heights. We’ve broken down the very best of these: the most powerful MTG Equipment cards of all time.
6 | The Reaver Cleaver
Despite its hefty Equip cost, The Reaver Cleaver is one of the scariest Equipments you can see at the Commander table. By converting damage into Treasures, even a mediocre swing can give you an extra turn’s worth of resources in the mid-game. This is particularly effective in Voltron decks like Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER, where your massive Commander can wield it and generate double-digit Treasures.
While this is the strongest archetype for it, The Reaver Cleaver sees plenty of play in total, appearing in over 237,000 Commander decks. It’s a great piece in Treasure decks like Vihaan, Goldwaker, for instance, as well as more general Token decks like Baylen, the Haymaker. Creating so much sacrifice fodder also makes it an easy addition to decks like Korvold, Fae-Cursed King, as a reliable generator.
In addition to its “fair” applications, The Reaver Cleaver also serves as an enabler for a range of infinite combos. With a big enough creature, it can net you infinite combat phases with Aggravated Assault, for example, or unlock infinite turns with Time Sieve. While it’s yet to make a breakthrough in constructed, The Reaver Cleaver is more than prolific enough in Commander to earn a spot here.
5 | Skateboard
Since arriving in TMNT, Skateboard has quickly established itself as a serious multi-format player. The card sees the bulk of its use in Modern, where it’s a staple one-of in Affinity and Emry Combo decks. With Urza’s Saga to tutor it up, Skateboard can grant Haste to Karnstruct tokens, speed up your Emry win, and even tap down your Trinisphere to make it one-sided.
Skateboard is arguably even more impressive in Legacy, where it enables all manner of tricks in several top brews. In Lands decks, for example, it can give the Marit Lage token you get from Dark Depths Haste for a surprise instant win. It also adds a nice burst of speed to Goblin Welder Combo decks in the format, granting the titular Goblin Haste and serving as sacrifice fodder when needed.
Throw in a smattering of Standard play as a tutor target for Brightglass Gearhulk in Selesnya Gearhulk decks, and Skateboard is undeniably a constructed all-star. While it’s definitely less popular in Commander, it does appear in Haste-hungry lists like Gwenom, Remorseless and Arcum Dagsson as a solid enabler. Overall, while its aesthetic value may be questionable, mechanically Skateboard is one of the best Equipment cards Magic has ever seen.
4 | Lightning Greaves/Swiftfoot Boots
As far as Commander super-staples go, they don’t come much more ubiquitous than Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots. Boots is the third most-played colorless card in all of Commander, in fact, appearing in 2.62 million decks, and Greaves is right behind it with 2.41 million.
This isn’t hugely surprising, given that this pair does an awful lot for a relatively minor mana investment. Granting Hexproof/Shroud is huge, letting you keep kill-on-sight Commanders like The Ur-Dragon and Vivi Ornitier safe from removal. They’re particularly effective in Voltron decks like Captain America, First Avenger, since protection is so crucial to their game plans.
The Haste aspect is massive here, too, letting Commanders with handy abilities like Glarb, Calamity’s Augur get going right away. Since Boots and Greaves are both cheap to equip, you can shift them across your creatures in ability-heavy decks to essentially use them as Haste granters. With so much utility in so many decks, Boots and Greaves always have been, and likely always will be, pillars of the Commander format.
3 | Colossus Hammer
Not many MTG cards get the honor of lending their name to an entire archetype, but Colossus Hammer is one of them. Hammer Time, a deck built around circumventing the titular Hammer’s massive equip cost for early kills, remains a player in Modern and Pioneer to this day. By using cards like Sigarda’s Aid and Puresteel Paladin to slap Hammer on Ornithopter, this deck can reliably close out games by turn three.
While Hammer Time isn’t as dominant as it once was, Colossus Hammer still has a ton to offer in Commander. It’s comically easy to equip it for free in the format, especially in decks like Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER, and the stat boost it offers is genuinely terrifying for Voltron strategies. All it takes is something like Embercleave to add Double Strike, and you’re looking at easy Commander damage kills with this one.
2 | Shadowspear
Shadowspear is the Magic equivalent of a Swiss Army knife: whatever situation you find yourself in, chances are it’ll be able to help you out of it. It’s perhaps most prevalent in Commander, where over 344,000 decks slot it in for various reasons.
Turning off Hexproof and Indestructible is a big deal in the format, letting you sneak around opposing Swiftfoot Boots to remove key creatures, or set up for a big board wipe. The stats and keywords here are great too, with Lifelink in particular helping Voltron decks stay in the game, and offering extra synergy with Commanders like Ragost, Deft Gastronaut and Daredevil, Fearless Fighter.
Shadowspear also sees considerable play in both Modern and Legacy, where it’s a staple in Affinity decks due to being fetchable by Urza’s Saga. Adding Trample and Lifelink to Karnstruct tokens is a fantastic way to win races in both formats, and in Legacy it turns off The One Ring’s Indestructible so you can get it off the board.
1 | Skullclamp
Skullclamp is perhaps the most infamous example of Wizards messing up the balance on a new card type in all of Magic. Originally printed in Darksteel, only the second set in the game to feature Equipment, Skullclamp busted the Standard format of the time wide open with its raw draw power. As a result, it caught a ban in the format in June 2004, but that was just the beginning of its wicked reign.
Later that year, Skullclamp was banned in Legacy as soon as the format was formed, highlighting just how powerful it was in Wizards’ eyes at the time. It was also part of the initial ban list in Modern, when that format was established in August 2011. Both of these bans have stuck to this day, which should give you an idea of the card’s sheer power.
While these bans have been successful in keeping Skullclamp out of constructed Magic, it remains an absolute powerhouse in Commander. Over 1.1 million decks run this card, with token-heavy strategies like Edgar Markov and Krenko, Mob Boss doing so most regularly. The rate for draw here is so good, however, and it’s so easy to tutor thanks to cards like Tezzeret, Cruel Captain, that Skullclamp sees play far beyond that.
There’s a serious argument that Skullclamp is one of the most broken cards, never mind Equipment, that Wizards has ever printed. That it still feels just as busted in today’s game as it did 22 years ago proves beyond a doubt that it deserves the title of best Equipment in MTG.
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