While they didn’t make their debut until 14 years into Magic’s lifespan, planeswalkers quickly established themselves as one of the game’s most iconic card types. The characters they portrayed were the literal faces of the game for years, and many planeswalker cards were envelope-pushing power outliers to boot. With 19 years of the type to work with, these are our picks for the very best planeswalkers that MTG has ever seen.
6 | Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler
Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler is a banger based on that passive ability alone, which is an effect only seen on four total cards in the game’s history. Speeding up your activated abilities can be game-breaking, and it pairs exceptionally well with Tyvar’s other two abilities. It’s rare that a planeswalker doesn’t have at least one dud ability, never mind a three-mana one, but Tyvar really doesn’t.
Thanks to this potent skillset, Tyvar has earned itself staple status in Devoted Druid Combo decks in Modern. The Haste lets you activate Devoted Druid’s ability sooner for a quicker win, and speeds up other key cards in the deck like Fiend Artisan. Tyvar’s minus ability also lets you reanimate both of your key combo pieces, nabbing Druid itself as well as Vizier of Remedies.
Tyvar is no slouch in Commander, either, seeing play in an impressive 69,400 decks in the format. It’s often used as a straightforward value card, giving a nice boost to fair strategies like Lathril, Blade of the Elves. The card has chops up in cEDH too, however, with Sisay, Weatherlight Captain in particular loving it as a way to recur key pieces and speed up combos.
5 | Tezzeret, Cruel Captain
Though it’s a relatively recent addition to Magic’s planeswalker lineup, Tezzeret, Cruel Captain has wasted no time in making its presence known. Offering a better version of Urza’s Saga’s tutor effect as a minus three is powerful enough, but the ability to untap artifacts and passively rack up loyalty really push this one over the edge.
Tezzeret’s most impressive achievement by far is finding a solid home in Vintage: a format where vanishingly few new cards ever see play. It fits perfectly into Workshop decks there, coming down easily via fast mana like Ancient Tomb, and searching up everything from Black Lotus to Pithing Needle. It also sees use in Tinker and Paradoxical Outcome decks, too, enabling infinite turn combos with Time Vault while also circumventing the downsides of rocks like Mana Vault.
While not quite as prevalent as it is in Vintage, Tezzeret, Cruel Captain sees a fair bit of Legacy play as well. Artifact-focused decks like Mystic Forge Combo, MUD, and Tron all make great use of the card as a colorless tutor option. It also makes great use of that zero ability to untap The One Ring or otherwise restrictive fast mana like Grim Monolith, making it a great inclusion across all three decks.
Rounding out its impressive resume, Tezzeret, Cruel Captain also sees a ton of play in Commander. Between fair artifact decks like Ragost, Deft Gastronaut and serious cEDH lists like Magda, Brazen Outlaw, the card has no shortage of homes. Taken as a whole, Tezzeret isn’t just one of the best planeswalkers in recent years, but one of the best planeswalkers in MTG full stop.
4 | Narset, Parter Of Veils
Despite being a mere uncommon, Narset, Parter of Veils is one of the most notoriously unfun planeswalkers in all of Magic. While the card advantage ability here is solid, Narset’s value is almost entirely tied up in that passive, which heavily restricts opposing card draw.
This passive ability proved so good, in fact, that it actually got Narset restricted in Vintage back in November 2019. All the fast mana in the format made it trivial to power out a Narset turn one, leading to incredibly one-sided games. While this restriction did clip the card’s wings as intended, it does still see play in Vintage decks like Paradoxical Outcome and Oath of Druids to this day.
More recently, Narset’s notoriety increased when it was added to the Commander Game Changers list, as part of a wider effort to address cards that punish card draw. Despite this restriction, Over 152,000 decks, including all-stars like Atraxa, Praetors’ Voice and Grand Arbiter Augustin IV, have found a spot for this groan-inducing Stax piece.
Factor in healthy constructed play in Azorius Control decks across both Modern and Pioneer, and Narset is still prevalent today despite its restrictions and reputation. While it’s not a card anyone loves to see played against them, it’s hard to deny that Narset is one of the best planeswalkers in MTG.
3 | Karn, The Great Creator
Even more so than its infamous seven-mana incarnation, Karn, the Great Creator has made a major mark on Magic. The passive alone makes it one of the best Stax pieces we’ve ever seen, while its minus is essentially Wishing for any artifact that you could possibly need.
The wrath of Karn was felt most keenly in Vintage, where the card immediately pushed Workshops decks to new heights on release. Locking down all fast mana artifacts was a serious blow to the format’s identity, and it provided full-on board locks with Mycosynth Lattice as well. Because of this, and the card’s ability to easily tutor up combos, Wizards restricted the card in Vintage in August 2019, though it still sees play in Workshops decks today regardless.
Karn also proved to be too good for Pioneer, catching a ban there a few years later in December 2023. In this case, Karn was making Mono-Green Nykthos decks too consistent, easily providing it with solutions to any given problem. It was also warping the format in general, making artifacts less viable and enabling combo lines that greatly reduced deck diversity.
These days, Karn mainly lives on in Tron decks in Modern and Legacy, where it’s a consistent include. While it was responsible for the banning of Mycosynth Lattice in Modern thanks to shutting down your opponent’s lands, Karn itself has dodged the hammer there so far.
Interestingly enough, it also sees a reasonable amount of play in Commander, showing up in over 76,300 decks despite its Wish ability not functioning at all in the format. With so much history, and so much ongoing impact, Karn is clearly one of the most prolific planeswalkers Magic has ever seen.
2 | Teferi, Time Raveler
Affectionately known as “3feri” to many in the community, Teferi’s War of the Spark incarnation was one of the most impactful planeswalkers ever released. Not only was it one of the best Grand Abolisher-style effects we’ve ever seen, but it also let you break timing rules yourself and bounce permanents to boot.
Teferi is perhaps most notable for being banned in the Standard of its day, in the August 2020 update. Wizards cited the card’s repetitive play patterns, and the fact that it restricted interaction in the format, as its main sins here. A few months later the same fate befell Teferi in Pioneer, as it was banned for pushing Niv to Light decks into an overly-dominant position in the format.
While Teferi’s notoriety has died down a lot since these bans, its constructed play rate certainly hasn’t. To this day it sees an enormous amount of play in Modern, as an include in Esper Reanimator, Esper Blink, and Azorius Control. Though not as widespread in Legacy, Teferi still sees play there, with Azorius Blink and Jeskai Control decks making fantastic use of its ability suite.
Teferi also deserves special mention for its impact in Commander, where its two timing-related abilities are even better with three opponents. Over 132,000 decks, a lot of which are serious players like Y’shtola, Night’s Blessed, run Teferi in the format. Its last ability even enables some cEDH combos with cheap mana rocks and Displacer Kitten.
1 | Oko, Thief Of Crowns
It’s hard to know where to start when talking about a card as notorious as Oko, Thief of Crowns. This is one of the most-banned cards in MTG history, surpassing even legendary design mistakes like Nadu, Winged Wisdom and Lurrus of the Dream-Den in terms of formats it’s barred from.
Shortly after its initial release in 2019, Oko caught a ban in Standard for pushing Simic Food decks to an absurd 70% Pro Tour winrate. This was swiftly followed by a ban in Pioneer, then bans in Modern and Legacy in subsequent years. The card didn’t get a pass in digital Magic, either, with bans in both Historic and Brawl also landing during this time.
Across all of these bans, some common threads were clear. Oko was simply too efficient at dealing with a wide range of threats with its plus one ability, which reduced deck diversity in every format it was played in. This, in turn, led to Oko itself having a worryingly high play rate, even being the most-played card in competitive Modern at one point.
Perhaps the best testament to Oko’s power is the fact that even now, after all of those bans, it’s still seeing play in multiple formats. Vintage Oath of Druids decks run it in reasonable numbers, and over 75,300 Commander decks run it as semi-permanent Commander removal, as well. Oko isn’t just the best planeswalker in MTG, but a generational design mistake that, hopefully, we’ll never see the like of again.
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