Over the course of Magic’s turbulent 33-year history, enchantment has stood firm as one of the game’s core card types. Despite being some of the trickiest cards to interact with, Wizards hasn’t held back on their power level, with some of the game’s most infamous cards falling within the enchantment camp. Today we’re breaking down the very best of the enchantments that MTG has to offer, based on multi-format performance.
6 | Smothering Tithe
Like its mana-taxing peers Rhystic Study and Mystic Remora, Smothering Tithe is an absolute icon of the Commander format. Realistically, opponents just won’t have two mana to spend preventing its effect, so Tithe will provide you with a continuous stream of Treasures in the majority of games.
This ridiculous mana generation has earned Smothering Tithe a spot in over 903,000 Commander decks, from Ms. Bumbleflower to Kaalia of the Vast. Despite looking a bit clunky for the format, it’s also a super-staple in cEDH, with decks like Marneus Calgar leveraging its Treasure generation to obscene effect.
Smothering Tithe even enables a few combo lines in the format, when paired with forced draw effects like Faerie Mastermind or the new Gleaming Splendor. With one of these cards, and a token multiplier like Anointed Procession, you can force all of your opponents to deck out.
Considering its raw power and combo potential, it’s not surprising that Smothering Tithe was among the first cards admitted to the Commander Game Changers list in 2025. Unless we see some serious power creep in the next few years, I don’t see its dominant status changing any time soon, either.
5 | Survival Of The Fittest
Tutor effects in Magic have always been fairly powerful, and Survival of the Fittest is one of the best that Wizards has ever printed. Not only can this enchantment grab any creature you need, repeatedly, but it can fill your graveyard with other creatures in the bargain.
This neat synergy powered the Survival archetype in Legacy, letting players use a toolbox of creatures and reanimate powerhouses like Iona, Shield of Emeria. With the printing of Vengevine in 2010, this deck became a serious problem in the format, and Wizards banned Survival there as a result. The card was also, understandably, pre-banned in Historic, when it came to the platform as part of the Arena Powered Cube.
While these bans limit Survival of the Fittest’s opportunities these days, it does still play a big role in Premodern. In this format, it’s a key enabler for Full English Breakfast combo decks, letting you stack your graveyard for Volrath’s Shapeshifter. It also sees play as a more generic value piece in decks like Madness and Elves, providing a level of consistency and power you don’t generally get in Premodern.
Survival of the Fittest is no slouch in Commander, either, seeing play in around 66,400 decks by the current count. It’s particularly prevalent in cEDH, with Commanders like Thrasios/Tymna using it as a consistency booster.
As a repeatable tutor, Survival of the Fittest was one of the very first cards on the Commander Game Changers list. Given that Wizards has only grown less fond of tutors over time, I don’t expect it’ll ever have that status revoked in the future, either.
4 | Rhystic Study
If you had to pick one card to highlight just how much better some effects can be in Commander compared to constructed, Rhystic Study would be that card. While it’s inoffensive, bordering on bad, in constructed, this card is an absolute powerhouse in four-player Magic. With three times as many opponents in the mix, you get three times as many opportunities to draw extra cards.
Because of its generically useful nature, Rhystic Study sees play in a huge range of different Commander decks. Whether it’s Spellslinger decks like Vivi Ornitier, or more controlling brews like Grand Arbiter Augustin IV, Rhystic Study can appear in every blue Commander deck. In fact, appearing in over 1.07 million decks, it’s the third most-played blue card in the entire format, losing out to only An Offer You Can’t Refuse and Counterspell.
Rhystic Study is even more important up in cEDH, where the frequency of interaction makes it the best draw engine in the format bar none. Even beyond that, the card has become a bit of a central focus for the cEDH metagame as a whole, with many decks building their whole plan around resolving and copying this enchantment.
Wizards made Rhystic Study a Commander Game Changer as soon as the system came into effect, and based on its performance since that was definitely the right call. In all of Commander, no card but Sol Ring looms as large as this terrifying blue enchantment.
3 | Earthcraft
Earthcraft is a relatively early MTG enchantment that dares to ask the question: “What if all your creatures were mana dorks?” Assuming you have enough basics in your deck, the card does exactly that, far surpassing more modern options like Cryptolith Rite since the creatures can tap without Haste.
This nuance of the card lets it unlock a ton of combo lines, going infinite with Squirrel Nest, or more recently with Marvel’s The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl. Wizards cottoned on to this efficient power early on, and banned Earthcraft in Legacy way back in March 2003. The card was also banned in Premodern at the format’s inception the same year, nipping any potential shenanigans there in the bud.
Today, Earthcraft is mostly seen in Commander, where it appears in around 37,800 decks. cEDH decks, like Tayam, Luminous Enigma, in particular, are fond of the card for its combo-enabling prowess. While 37,800 doesn’t sound impressive, it’s worth noting that Earthcraft is now nearly $300 due to its Reserved List status. With this in mind, that’s a pretty solid rate, reflecting the raw power of this iconic enchantment.
2 | Necropotence
Necropotence is a truly legendary design mistake, and one of the most disgusting cards Wizards has ever printed. By letting players trade life directly for cards, the card lets you totally refill at a moment’s notice. The removal of normal turn draw and exiling your discarded cards don’t come close to balancing this power out.
After being a dominant presence in the game’s emerging competitive formats, Necropotence caught a ban in Legacy way back in September of 2000. This move was intended to address the card’s unparalleled efficiency, and Necropotence has remained banned there ever since. The same update also restricted the card in Vintage, which has also stuck, though it still sees play in decks like Doomsday.
Necropotence has had similar luck in digital Magic formats, getting pre-banned in Historic before it even had a chance to wreak havoc there. The card also proved too good for the no-holds-barred Timeless format, playing a key role in a range of different combo decks. Eventually, Wizards addressed this by restricting Necropotence in Timeless in February 2026, adding yet another notch to its already-scarred belt.
Despite having its wings clipped in pretty much every format, Necropotence still thrives today in Commander. With the format’s higher starting life total, Necropotence is an even better draw engine than usual, fueling cEDH decks like Glarb, Calamity’s Augur. In recognition of its power, Wizards added Necropotence to the Game Changers list in April 2025, but this ridiculous draw engine still sees play in over 248,000 decks regardless.
1 | Urza’s Saga
There’s a serious argument that Urza’s Saga is the best card, never mind the best enchantment, in MTG history. Since it goes in a land slot, it’s a free add to most decks, and it provides an extremely valuable tutor and token factory in return.
Urza’s Saga is so powerful, in fact, that it actually ended up restricted in Vintage, the toughest MTG format of all. The card was simply too ubiquitous in the format, as the abundance of cheap artifacts there made running a playset free for most lists. Even when restricted to one, the card still sees a ton of Vintage play, showing up in Workshop, Tinker, and Lurrus decks alike.
Over in Modern and Legacy, Urza’s Saga is even better, seeing an absurd amount of play in all manner of strategies. The card is particularly prevalent in Modern, where it powers decks like Affinity and Bloodchief Combo, while putting a solid shift in for Amulet Titan is well. It’s a similar story in Legacy, where Lands and Tron decks make fantastic use of it as an easily searchable engine.
Urza’s Saga is even great in Commander, with over 681,000 decks running the card according to EDHREC data. These range from casual brews like Tom Bombadil, all the way up to serious cEDH lists like Rograkh/Thrasios. Offering an insanely powerful card that just stays the right side of broken, Urza’s Saga is the best enchantment, and one of the best designs, in MTG.
Stick with us here at mtgrocks.com: the best site for Magic: The Gathering coverage. Be sure to check out our deckbuilder for your next big brew, and our brand new MTG Rocks Podcast!