In terms of sheer volume of new cards, 2026 is one of the biggest years Magic has seen yet. With six mainline sets, 17 Commander precons, a full Jumpstart set, and Mystery Booster: Commander Edition, there’s a dizzying amount to keep track of.
Naturally, with an injection of cards of this size, there are plenty of bangers that have had a serious impact on the game. These are our picks for the best new MTG cards of 2026, based on the effect they’ve had across the game’s various formats.
10 | Hawkeye’s Bow
As soon as Hawkeye’s Bow was spoiled, players quickly became aware of a two-card infinite combo with it and Seeker of Skybreak in Pauper. By kitting out Seeker with Bow, players could ping down their opponents easily on turn three, or even on turn two with fast mana like Lotus Petal.
While it certainly seemed powerful, Wizards gave the combo the benefit of the doubt, giving it some time in the format before immediately swinging the ban hammer. This proved to be a short-lived endeavor, mind you, as the deck quickly became a major player in the format, taking down several big events.
After this, Wizards decided to ban Seeker of Skybreak in Pauper to address the combo’s dominance. This ban landed on June 29th, just three days after the set’s full release, which is a lightning-fast turnaround by modern Magic standards. While Hawkeye’s Bow wasn’t the actual card banned here, it did directly cause the ban, which clearly marks it as one of the most significant MTG cards of 2026.
Notably, the banning of Seeker hasn’t totally erased Bow from Pauper. We’ve seen new versions of the combo spring up since, leveraging the much-clunkier Tidewater Minion for the same ends. The card has even shown up in some Legacy Goblin Welder lists, as a payoff for similar combos there. Offering a potent effect for a cheap cost, Hawkeye’s Bow punches far above its rarity as a common.
9 | Wistfulness
While not as busted as their Modern Horizons counterparts, all five of the Lorwyn Eclipsed Evoke Elementals were notable in their own right. Wistfulness is one of the very best cards in this cycle, offering a hugely flexible tool for multiple formats.
Wistfulness shines brightest in Modern, where it has become a staple part of Living End decks. The double blue mode is a huge help in loading your graveyard with big creatures, while also digging for your Cascade cards like Shardless Agent. Evoke also puts Wistfulness right in the ‘yard itself, adding a very respectable 6/5 body to your eventual Living End haul.
Elsewhere in Modern, Wistfulness is a fantastic bridging creature in Neoform decks, and a nice way to include cheap utility spells in Temur Crashing Footfalls lists. It even sees a fair bit of play in Standard, as a flexible addition to Sultai Reanimator, and scattered play in Legacy decks like Domain Beanstalk.
Over in Commander, Wistfulness is similarly well-played, showing up in around 14,500 decks by EDHREC numbers. It casts a pretty wide net, too, appearing in everything from Ashling, the Limitless Elemental Typal, to Muldrotha, the Gravetide Reanimator. Wistfulness also shines in Commander decks that care about mana cost, like Glarb, Calamity’s Augur, making it a very useful card for a lot of Commander players.
8 | Flashback
Sometimes the simplest card designs are the best, as this year’s Flashback so effortlessly proves. Dropping in Secrets of Strixhaven, this one-mana instant has found homes in a wide range of formats, highlighting its sheer power and flexibility.
Flashback does the bulk of its work in Standard, where it has quickly become a staple in the Four-Color Control decks there. Getting a second hit of massive spells like Jeskai Revelation is a big deal, and Flashback can also get you more uses of cheap draw and removal as well. The card also sees regular use in several other successful archetypes, like Jeskai Lessons and Izzet Prowess.
Further back, Flashback has also become a well-known face in both Modern and Pioneer. In the former format, Ruby Storm decks have started including it as a staple one-of to extend or finish off combo chains when needed. In Pioneer, Izzet Phoenix now runs the card regularly as well, as a way to easily cover two-thirds of Arclight Phoenix’s reanimation condition.
As strong as it is in constructed Magic, Flashback may be even better in Commander. Over 62,000 decks run this card currently, which is absurd for a card released just this year. These aren’t just casual brews, either, with cEDH heavy hitters like Vivi Ornitier and Fire Lord Azula finding slots for this flexible multi-tool. Flashback is a fantastic card overall, and one that will only get better over time.
7 | Loki, God Of Mischief
Offering an extremely flexible draw engine for just two mana, God of Mischief is a powerful tool for most MTG formats. With cheap or free abilities like those on Shuko, Loki can reliably draw you a card every turn. It also rewards you for interacting with opponents, removing the traditional downside of one-for-one removal like Fatal Push.
Since its release in Marvel Super Heroes back in June, Loki has been cropping up all over the place. It sees a ton of play in Legacy combo decks in particular, with Goblin Welder and Cephalid Breakfast both slotting it in. It has also found a fair few homes in Modern, appearing in Grinding Emry lists and Izzet Metalcraft decks alike.
Loki is also a very viable card in the 99 for many blue Commander decks, offering a cheap, easy draw engine. Its generic value generation has earned it a spot in lists ranging from Ms. Bumbleflower all the way to Norman Osborn//Green Goblin. While it only shows up in around 9,450 Commander lists for now, I expect Loki to move up to true super-staple status in the format before long.
6 | Deceit
Deceit is most notable for serving as a key card in the Dimir Excruciator decks that have been a consistent part of Standard for the past few months. In those lists, it serves as cheap interaction early thanks to Evoke. Once it’s in the ‘yard, it becomes one of the best Superior Spider-Man targets in the deck, offering a huge potential value swing for just four mana.
It’s not just in Standard that Deceit is taking names, however, as the Elemental has also found itself some solid homes in Modern. In Dimir Reanimator and Living End, it serves a similar role as it does in Standard, interacting early while filling your graveyard for later. It also shows up in Quintorius Combo decks in Pioneer, as an interaction piece that won’t screw up your Discover lines.
While it’s less impressive in Commander, Deceit still very much has homes there. Bouncing any nonland permanent is generally fantastic in the format, especially in higher brackets as a way to clear away obstacles to your combo win. It plays particularly nicely in decks like Ashling, the Limitless and Muldrotha, which can give you extra uses of this potent ability.
5 | Flow State
Where 2025 gave us a new busted draw spell in the form of Stock Up, 2026 did one better with the introduction of Flow State. Arriving with Secrets of Strixhaven, this ridiculous uncommon was immediately identified as a potential multi-format player, and it has more than lived up to that since.
In Standard, for example, Flow State sees a tremendous amount of play in both Izzet Prowess and Izzet Spellementals, where its ‘draw two’ condition is trivial to meet. It also shows up in similar lists in older formats, with Pioneer Izzet Prowess and Modern Azorius Control both running it regularly.
Flow State is also notable for being a new MTG card that’s found success in both Legacy and Vintage, proving its power in Magic’s toughest formats. Legacy Dimir Tempo and Izzet Cutter brews in particular love the card, and it has also become a mainstay of Vintage Tinker and Dimir Lurrus lists. Given how few cards are even tested in these fearsome formats, staple status here is notable indeed.
Constructed aside, Flow State is no slouch in Commander, either. The card has quickly become a staple in Spellslinger decks like Ral, Monsoon Mage and Veyran, Voice of Duality, and many more generic lists besides. Providing top-tier draw and selection for a bargain price, Flow State is one of the best draw spells we’ve seen in recent years.
4 | Sewer-veillance Cam
Despite being an innocuous-looking common, Sewer-veillance Cam has had a massive impact across Magic since its release in TMNT. This is largely down to its usage as a combo enabler, going infinite with cards like Emry, Lurker of the Loch in Modern, and Goblin Welder in Legacy and Vintage. With engines like Loki, God of Mischief in the mix, Sewer-veillance Cam combo has become a powerful, consistent strategy.
Sewer-veillance Cam even managed to catch a ban in MTG Arena’s digital-only Alchemy format. Thanks to a busted interaction with the Alchemy version of Vivi Ornitier, Cam enabled some Storm-esque lines that drastically unbalanced the format. Given that only four cards have been banned in Alchemy so far, this speaks volumes about Cam’s power level.
Even beyond its busted combo applications, Sewer-veillance Cam still has a considerable multi-format presence. It sees a ton of play in Pauper Grixis Affinity as a value piece, for example, and even in Standard Bant Gearhulk lists as a nifty Brightglass Gearhulk target.
3 | The Fantasticar
Perhaps the most notorious card in the entire Marvel Super Heroes product line, The Fantasticar offers a truly absurd effect. If you can cast four noncreature spells in a turn, it creates 16 power’s worth of Flyers, essentially granting an instant win in any 1v1 format.
So far, The Fantasticar has seen the most success in Shops decks in Vintage. With so many free artifacts available, including Black Lotus and the Moxen, and Mishra’s Workshop to cover the initial cost, it’s trivial to get the Fantasticar going on turn one. It also sees a good amount of play in Legacy Doomsday, where Dark Ritual can power it out and artifacts like Mishra’s Bauble can activate it.
While many players have called for a ban on The Fantasticar in these formats, it remains legal there for now. The same cannot be said for Duel Commander, however. Following strong early results, the card caught a ban in Duel Commander in the July 27th update. While the format lacks the tools of Legacy and Vintage, The Fantasticar still proved too fast and too consistent to stick around.
2 | Formidable Speaker
While the World Champion cards we’ve seen so far have been a mixed bag, Formidable Speaker is definitely more Faerie Mastermind than Fervent Champion. Offering a tutor effect on a body, this new Elf is already a staple in Commander, appearing in around 93,900 decks.
The beauty of this card in Commander is its huge versatility, which allows it to see play in decks of all brackets. Down in brackets two and three, it’s a great Elf for decks like Lathril, Blade of the Elves, or a tutor for funky hidden Commander lists. Higher up, it can grab combo pieces in decks like Tayam, Luminous Enigma, and untap The One Ring for huge card advantage.
Formidable Speaker sees plenty of play in constructed, too, where the discard condition attached to it really shines. This lets it set up your ‘yard in Pioneer Abzan Greasefang and Standard Sultai Reanimator, while also grabbing your reanimation tools to boot. Combo decks, like Modern Yawgmoth and Legacy Aluren, have also adopted the card for its flexible tutor aspect.
With three powerful effects, a relevant creature type, and a reasonable mana cost, Formidable Speaker has all the trappings of a long-term MTG staple.
1 | Hexing Squelcher
Hexing Squelcher is an absolute powerhouse for high-level Commander play, shifting the fundamental dynamics of the games it’s cast in. By preventing opponents from interacting with your plays, it allows cEDH lists to pop off without fear of Force of Will or Fierce Guardianship. It’s even uncounterable itself, making removal, which most cEDH lists skimp on, the only real way to get around it.
These abilities have secured Hexing Squelcher a spot in around 193,000 Commander decks so far. Naturally, many of these are high-level cEDH lists, like Rograkh/Silas and Kefka, Court Mage, but the card has appeal in the lower brackets as well. Goblin Typal decks like Krenko, Mob Boss, and even just general red decks like Lorehold, the Historian, have all found uses for it too.
Commander aside, Hexing Squelcher has also made a considerable impact on constructed Magic, showing up a ton in Legacy in particular. In combo decks like Sneak and Show and Beseech Storm, Squelcher often comes in as a protection piece. It also sees a good amount of play as a solid threat in aggressive Mono-Red lists in both Standard and Pioneer, which speaks volumes of its efficiency in a vacuum.
While there’s a lot of competition among the MTG cards of 2026, Hexing Squelcher is the best of the bunch by a fair margin.
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