[Top 15] MtG best Planeswalkers

Updated:

09 Oct 2020

15. Narset, Parter of Veils

Narset is a good little blue planeswalker. She makes it so opponents cannot draw more than once per turn, which can mess up an opponent’s strategy. She only has one loyalty ability, however, and it only allows you to look at the top 4 cards you have and play one as long as it isn’t a creature or land card. Good if you have a lot of spells in your deck, but pretty situational. She also has no loyalty abilities that give her loyalty back. Nevertheless, that passive ability is a big deal and is why she even ranks on this list.

What’s so good about Narset, Parter of Veils?

Locks it down so opponents can only draw 1 card per turn, which can ruin a whole strategy.
Allows you to pull cards you need from the top of your deck, and put cards you don’t need at the bottom.
Cheap to cast/buy

Card Value: $1.29

14. Ugin the Ineffable

Ugin the Ineffable is a good card, but only makes this list because of its passive ability, which allows colorless spells to cost 2 less to cast. The -3 ability is also useful, as it simply sends colored cards to the graveyard. At 6 colorless mana to cast, though, this card is pretty expensive, and you might not be able to get it out as soon as you would like. It’s doubtful that you’ll get this card out too early in the game, but when you do, it is a beast. A good choice for a deck with many colorless spells, and punishes people who use colors.

What’s good about Ugin the Ineffable?

Allows you to punish people who use colors in their deck
Cheapens the cost of all of your colorless spells
Is a token factory.

Card Value: $3.17

13. Garruk Wildspeaker

Green is my favorite color to play, and this is one of my favorite planeswalkers. Garruk costs 4 mana to cast, which isn’t too bad. The +1 lets you untap your lands, which can allow you to bring out even more cards, faster. The -1 ability summons 3/3 beasts, which can be useful for a little damage or as meat shields. The -4 ability is the one that you should be excited about. +3/+3 AND trample? Yes, please! I am tempted to rank this even higher on the list. Useful in all stages of the game.

What’s so great about Garruk Wildspeaker?

Untapped 2 lands for its +1 loyalty ability. This helps you get your other cards out faster
Puts creatures into play, which you can then give trample, easily overrunning your opponent.
Pretty cheap if you’re already running a green deck.

Card Value: $5.84

12. Tefari, Master of Time

Tefari finds his way into this list a few times. In his Master of Time form, he is a blue powerhouse. His passive ability allows you to activate his loyalty abilities any time you could cast an instant (even on someone else’s turn!). The +1 lets you mill through your deck, looking for the cards you want, and discarding the ones you don’t need. The -3 takes a creature completely out of the game for a turn, which is situationally useful if you’re facing a strong creature who you cannot defeat in other ways. The real prize here is the -10 Loyalty ability, which lets you take 2 extra turns after the current one. That is huge and can lead to a game-ending combo. Teferi isn’t exactly the best in the early game, as he only comes into play with 3 loyalty, but once you have enough loyalty to start abusing the -3 and -10 abilities, he can end a match for you in an instant.

What’s so good about Teferi, Master of Time

Fairly cheap (not to buy) to cast if you’re already running blue
Lets you go through your cards and get rid of the ones you don’t want/need, which can be useful.
Lets you take 2 extra turns. That is huge. That will kill someone.

Card Value: ~$32.00

11. Tezzeret the Seeker

Tezzeret is a very good blue planeswalker. His +1 ability allows you to untap two artifacts, possibly letting you use them again. Where he shines, though, is the other two abilities. The -X lets you search for an artifact and put it on the battlefield, and the -5 ability turns all of your artifacts into 5/5 creatures for a turn. This card shines in the mid-game when you can have lots of artifacts in play.

What’s so good about Tezzeret the Seeker?

Perfect for artifact-heavy decks
Only 1 color needed to summon
His -5 ability can change the tide of a match in an instant.

Card Value: $17.50

10. Nicol Bolas the Ravager/Arizen

Nicol Bolas is the first transform card on this list, and it’s a doozy. This card comes out as a 4/4 with flying and immediately makes everyone discard a card. And then, you can pay the mana cost to transform him into a planeswalker, who comes straight out of the gate with 7 loyalty. His +2 lets you draw 2 cards, which is nice, but where Nicol Bolas shines is in his for-a-cost abilities. The -3 deals 10 damage to a creature or planeswalker. That’s a lot on its own. And then the -4 lets you take a creature from a graveyard and put it on the battlefield under your control. Any graveyard. The -12 exiles all but the bottom card of your opponent’s library, which can mess someone up. This card shines in the late game when you are more likely to be able to afford its hefty costs.

What’s so great about Nicol Bolas, The Ravager/The Arisen?

He’s a strong creature even before he transforms. Dragons are nothing to laugh at.
His +2 lets you get more cards in your hand faster, which you’ll need for the hefty multi-color mana cost.
Good at killing things and then taking them over.

Card Value: $23.52

9. Teferi, Time Raveler

As I stated earlier, Teferi finds his way onto this list a few times. This time, in his Time Raveler form, he turns your sorcery-focused deck into a killing machine. He comes out the gate with a passive effect that prevents opponents from casting as much - only any time they could cast a sorcery. This will prevent opponents’ spells from ruining your day. Meanwhile, his +1 ability lets you cast your sorcery spells as if they all have flash. So any time. The -3 returns cards to the owner’s hand, AND lets you draw a card. This is such a good card for early, mid, and even late game.

What’s so good about Teferi, Time Raveler?

Good utility in all phases of the game
Prevents an opponent from casting spells whenever they want
Turns your deck into a sorcery factory

Card Value: $8.22

8. Karn Liberated

This is such a good card. He comes out of the gate with 6 loyalty. His +4 lets you make your opponent exile cards from their hand, which is nice. The -3 lets you exile a permanent, which is also nice. However, the -14 ultimate ability is where this card shines. It lets you restart the game, with all the cards Karn exiled under your control. This is huge. For this reason, the late game is where Karn shines, with you setting up to screw your opponent for the majority of the early and mid-game.

What’s so good about Karn Liberated?

Exiles a ton of your opponent’s cards
Gains loyalty fast
Resets the entire game and gives you a major advantage over an opponent! That’s crazy!

Card Value: $36.28

7. Teferi, Hero of Dominaria

Once again, the time mage Teferi finds his way onto this list. In his “Hero of Dominaria” form, Teferi is truly a powerhouse. He starts with 4 loyalty, and his +1 allows you to draw a card AND untap lands. This will help you get your best cards out sooner. The -3 ability lets you throw non-land cards back into the opponent’s library, 3 from the top, which can help if you find yourself getting overrun by a particularly powerful card. The -8 is where this card shines, in the mid-to-late game. Whenever you draw a card, you get to exile a card your opponent controls. Those are two benefits for the price of one!

Why is “Teferi, Hero of Dominaria” so good?

Multiple abilities with multiple beneficial effects
Allows you to cycle powerful cards back into an opponent’s library, buying you some valuable time
A perfect synergy between the +1 and the -8 abilities

Card Value: $20.18

6. Ugin the Spirit Dragon

Ugin is terrifying. Seriously. He comes out of the gate with 7 loyalty, which is high. His +2 loyalty ability simply deals damage to a target creature or player, which is extremely useful for something that is GIVING you loyalty points to spend. The second ability is nasty, letting you exile your opponent’s cards if they are foolish enough to use a multi-color deck against him. The -10 ability gives you 7 life, lets you draw 7 cards, and then lets you put 7 cards on the battlefield. This can end a match quickly. Ugin excels in all stages of the game! He is expensive to cast, but also colorless, which helps.

What’s so good about Ugin the Spirit Dragon?

Excels in all stages of the game. Is effective as soon as he is on the battlefield
If he can’t destroy a card outright, he can at least exile it
The -10 loyalty ability is just insane!

Card Value: $25.45

5. Jace the Mind Sculptor

Jace is a classic badass in Magic the Gathering, one of the most recognized faces of all the planeswalkers. This card, especially, is seriously powerful. The +2 loyalty ability lets you peek at a player’s top two cards, and put them on the bottom of their library if you don’t want to deal with them yet. The 0 loyalty ability (free) lets you draw 3 cards and put 2 cards back on top of your library. The -1 ability returns a card to the owner’s hand. The seriously scary ability is the -12 loyalty ability, which takes ALL of the cards from an opponent’s library and exiles them, and makes their hand their new library. This can stop a strategy in its tracks. Jace excels in all stages of the game, with his lesser abilities holding an opponent off until you can drop that ultimate on them.

What’s so good about Jace, the Mind Sculptor?

Cheap to cast! Only 4 mana, and only 1 color!
Lets you pick which cards are on the top of your library
The ultimate ability can completely ruin an opponent’s strategy

Card Value: $88.63

4. Dack Fayden

Dack Fayden, on his face, seems to be one of the weaker planeswalkers. However, when you take into account how cheap he is to cast, and the utility of his abilities, you see that he is one of the best mid-game planeswalkers in Magic. The +1 ability makes an opponent draw two cards and discard two, which is ok. The -2 loyalty ability lets you just take artifacts from your opponent. The -6 ability is the real kicker, though, giving you an emblem that lets you take control of any permanent that you target with a spell. This can easily make your opponent’s best cards into your own best cards!

What’s so good about Dack Fayden?

Cheap to cast!
Cheap to use. His ultimate is only 6 loyalty!
Lets you just take over everything.

Card Value: $22.30

3. Wrenn and Six

This card is banned in some forms of play for a reason. Costing just 2 mana (one green and one red), this planeswalker will wreck an opponent. Their +1 ability lets you return a land card to your hand from the graveyard. The -1 ability just lets you deal 1 damage, which is nice, but nothing to write home about. However, the -7 loyalty ability lets you cast instants and sorceries from your graveyard, as long as you discard a land. Which you can return from your hand, and do again. This card is seriously good.

What’s so good about Wrenn and Six?

Cheap to cast
A perfect synergy between the +1 and the -7 loyalty abilities.
Allows you to reuse instants and sorceries that find their way into the graveyard.

Card Value: $49.87

2. Oko, Thief of Crowns

Another card that has been banned due to it’s overpowered nature, Oko is one of the best planeswalkers in the game! Oko can completely wreck an opponent with his loyalty abilities. The +2 loyalty ability creates a food token, which gives you back some life. Life gain is always useful. The +1 ability turns a creature into a plain ol’ elk. This can turn your opponent’s strongest creatures into pretty terrible waste-of-space cards. The -5 ability lets you exchange control of one of your artifacts or creatures with one of their creatures with 3 power or less. Green decks often have a lot of low-power creatures, which you can exchange for better creatures that an opponent controls. This is a disgustingly good strategy and is why this card ranks so high, despite being banned.

What’s so good about Oko, Thief of Crowns?

“You’re an elk. And you. And you.”
Lets you exchange your crappy creatures for their better creatures, and elk the rest.
Lets you regain life easily.

Card Value: $15.40

Liliana, Dreadhorde General

This is such a disgustingly powerful planeswalker card. Its passive ability allows you to draw whenever your creature dies. This shortens the time it takes to get the cards you need, and it’s passive. The +1 creates a 2/2 black zombie, which can either be amped up with other black cards or sacrificed for the -4 ability, which forces each player to sacrifice 2 creatures. You have all those zombies as easy sacrificial lambs, but it is unlikely that an opponent has such worthless creatures on the board. The -9 loyalty ability makes each opponent sacrifice most of their permanents if they have multiple of the same type. This can hamstring an opponent fairly early in the game. Liliana destroys opponents at every stage of the game and is why she is my #1 General.