Last updated on June 28, 2024
Soulherder | Illustration by Seb McKinnon
I ain’t afraid of no ghosts. At least when I’m playing them!
Spirits can be a powerful force on the other side of the battlefield, whether that’s the mono-blue or Azorius tempo decks in various Constructed formats or some of the synergistic decks in Commander.
But more and more spirits are being printed across all colors, so there are plenty of them with unique and powerful abilities, even if you don’t want to join the ghostly procession and want something for your EDH 99.
Have a look at one of my very favorite creature types in MTG!
What Are Spirits in MTG?
Spirit Mantle | Illustration by Izzy
Spirits are a creature type that first appeared in Legends, but after the Grand Creature Type Update, Dancing Scimitar from Arabian Nights retroactively became the first spirit.
For a number of years powerful spirits have been printed in Azorius colors, but they appear in multiple colors and color combinations. With over 600 spirits printed, it’s among the most common creature types in the game.
This makes it difficult to rank them, since they’re doing really different things in different formats, although I’ll be aiming this list toward Commander.
#55. Shirei, Shizo’s Caretaker
A fun budget commander. Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker is a nice payoff for sac decks.
#54. Agrus Kos, Eternal Soldier
This Jumpstart 2022 card seems like a cool riff on Zada, Hedron Grinder. Are there targeted abilities that you’d want besides Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker? I don’t hate using Agrus Kos, Eternal Soldier and building around things like Fallaji Vanguard, Duke Ulder Ravengard, Blessed Hippogriff, etc.
#53. Horobi, Death’s Wail
This is a really fun commander to brew around, and Horobi, Death's Wail loves hanging out in a Killian, Ink Duelist deck when you get tired of mono black.
#52. Dreamborn Muse
Cards that mill the whole EDH table are reasonably rare, so the fragile Dreamborn Muse and its constant mill every upkeep has its place.
#51. Bygone Bishop
It sounds like the name of a Garbage Pail Kid from the ‘80s, but Bygone Bishop does work in lots of builds, including investigate typal, affinity, go-wide decks, and even party.
#50. O-Kagachi, Vengeful Kami
O-Kagachi, Vengeful Kami is your 5-color commander for spirits, and sometimes it’s a 5-color dragons commander, although the competition is pretty steep there.
#49. Katilda, Dawnhart Martyr / Katilda’s Rising Dawn
Katilda, Dawnhart Martyr is powerful in spirit typal, and it’s a great bit of card advantage for aura decks.
#48. The Ancient One
There’s a lot to like about a 2-drop commander, and The Ancient One gives you synergies right from the start. Obviously attractive as a Fight Rigging or fight spell target, we have yet to see this matter in Standard, but the flexible mill angle is worth exploring.
#47. Voice of the Blessed
Because Ajani's Pridemate needed a buff? If you hate seeing lifegain decks, you definitely hate seeing Voice of the Blessed hit the playmat.
#46. Drogskol Captain
The hexproof spirits lord is good! Drogskol Captain is good in any spirits deck that can run it.
#45. Karlov of the Ghost Council
Karlov of the Ghost Council is your lifegaining Orzhov commander for when your play group soft bans Liesa, Shroud of Dusk.
#44. Ethereal Valkyrie
This card looks goofy, but Ethereal Valkyrie is almost an engine itself within a blink Commander deck.
#43. Abuelo, Ancestral Echo
This underplayed gem provides a lot of value for blink decks. Sure, that’s a crowded field for those 99 slots, but I’d rather have Abuelo, Ancestral Echo than a blink spell in most cases.
#42. Spell Queller
This popular control and spirits typal card just has a lot of uses in 60-card builds. It’s less good in EDH, but I do like saving my board wipe in response to a Teferi's Protection with Spell Queller. That’s niche, I guess, but it’s wicked cool.
#41. Empyrean Eagle
An MVP of birds decks: Empyrean Eagle.
#40. Ryusei, the Falling Star
Ryusei, the Falling Star is a huge dragon with a partial board wipe as a death trigger. Cool.
#39. Karador, Ghost Chieftain
Karador, Ghost Chieftain is the default Abzan commander for spirits, and it’s powerful, but it doesn’t quite keep pace.
#38. Yargle and Multani
The meme-lord Yargle returns to helm a meme deck or just to be thrown at enemies with something like a Thud. Yargle and Multani is always going to be less good than we hope it’ll be, but sometimes hope is all we want.
#37. Selfless Spirit
Selfless Spirit is for when you want an Unbreakable Formation effect on a body. And go-wide decks want that.
#36. Guardian of Faith
Guardian of Faith is Selfless Spirit, but way better.
So. Many. Combos. Think about Deadeye Navigator soulbonded with, say Dockside Extortionist? Peregrine Drake? Village Bell-Ringer? Plenty more to choose from.
#34. Bloodghast
Bloodghast is great card to fuel an aristocrats deck as well as various Sultai decks focusing on self-mill with cards like Prized Amalgam.
#33. Malevolent Hermit / Benevolent Geist
It’s only a spirit on its backside, after it dies countering a spell, but that side is money for a control war! Ask your doctor if Malevolent Hermit / Benevolent Geist is right for you.
#32. Grey Host Reinforcements
Grey Host Reinforcements is Angel of Finality, but maybe better and with a better (#shotsfired) creature type?
#31. Kura, the Boundless Sky
Another big dragon with a sweet death trigger, Kura, the Boundless Sky can yoink all three Tron lands from your library if you want. Or something else, sure, but it gets three land cards, no restrictions.
#30. Vengeful Ancestor
Vengeful Ancestor: A card this annoying to play against has got to be goad, I mean, good.
#29. Ranar the Ever-Watchful
This is my favorite blink commander, and it’s #1 in my heart. I know that on raw power, other cards are better than Ranar the Ever-Watchful, but I have a lot of fun with the janky foretell synergies.
#28. Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
Kira, Great Glass-Spinner really makes opponents’ spot removal seek out targets on other players’ playmats.
#27. Lunarch Veteran / Luminous Phantom
Whatever happened to Lunarch Veteran, the lost lead singer of the Soul Sisters band, the most popular act in the lifegain genre? Their big comeback as Luminous Phantom was a surprising burst of fresh air in a stale genre.
#26. Final-Word Phantom
There are just so few cards that give you this ability to cast your sorceries or creatures or enchantments with flash, and Final-Word Phantom is just asking for a spot in EDH.
#25. Atsushi, the Blazing Sky
Hits fast and hard, like a good red creature should, but Atsushi, the Blazing Sky also makes Treasures or draws cards. It’s also a dragon. So that’s a lot of good stuff. You’ll find this card across several formats it’s legal in.
#24. Kami of the Crescent Moon
You need Kami of the Crescent Moon for your Alandra, Sky Dreamer deck. Add a Narset, Parter of Veils while you’re at it, you big jerk!
#23. Eidolon of the Great Revel
Eidolon of the Great Revel is a Modern burn staple that has a place in red burn decks in EDH. Those decks are hard to make work given how much lifegain there is, but as decks get lower to the ground, this will get better.
#22. Millicent, Restless Revenant
Millicent, Restless Revenant is your Azorius go-wide spirits commander. It’s a good fliers deck that can go really fast.
#21. King of the Oathbreakers
Being able to turn chaff cards like Heaven's Gate or Cauldron Haze into Teferi's Protection at home is astonishingly annoying to play against if you haven’t had the pleasure. Facing King of the Oathbreakers and its phasing shenanigans feels like you are the orcs in Return of the King. You just sit there and lose as they grow their board.
#20. Chupacabra Echo
People haven’t taken to Chupacabra Echo the way they did to Ravenous Chupacabra. Sure, we no longer have the Alesha, Who Smiles at Death combo with the cryptid ghost, but blinking this horror to kill indestructible creatures is very efficient. I expect to see this climb the ranks of playability in Commander.
#19. Primordial Sage
You’d rather have Beast Whisperer, but Primordial Sage is good, too, especially in a green ramp deck.
#18. Junji, the Midnight Sky
An amazing death trigger! Hard to want to kill Junji, the Midnight Sky when they’ll just reanimate the best thing in any graveyard.
#17. Moonshaker Cavalry
All you need to know about the efficiency of go-wide creature decks in Standard now, especially after Warleader's Call, is that this spirit knight is unplayable in the format. If we slowed things down, would Moonshaker Cavalry ever be the white Craterhoof Behemoth as foretold?
#16. Drumbellower
Drumbellower‘s effect of untapping all your creatures during your foes' untap steps is useful in most decks and broken in quite a few, like Belisarius Cawl, The Archimandrite, and Shorikai, Genesis Engine.
#15. Eidolon of Blossoms
Eidolon of Blossoms is happy to be invited to the enchantress party, and the select enchantment creatures club. It’s an honor just to be nominated, and there’s so much competition.
#14. Hinata, Dawn-Crowned
The bonkers leader of its own unique deck, Hinata, Dawn-Crowned is very, very powerful.
#13. Vega, the Watcher
It’s almost shocking to see a recent card with a triggered ability not limited to once per turn. Because of that, Vega, the Watcher draws a lot of cards. The joke was to use this with foretell in Kaldheim, and it’s since been used as a blink deck staple, even as a commander. But as exile-based card draw ramps up in red and in packages like the Doctor Who decks, Vega just keeps getting better.
#12. Spectral Sailor
I always want Spectral Sailor in just about every blue deck I play in any format. My vote for the second best blue creature ever printed below rare, right behind Delver of Secrets. Whether it’s anchoring Curious Obsession tempo decks, spirits decks, or just providing a flashy, flexible mana sink, it’s always a decent topdeck.
#11. Strict Proctor
Annoying control card or enabler of your Lotus Field nonsense? Strict Proctor is both!
#10. Kami of Whispered Hopes
This Hardened Scales on a stick makes occasional waves in competitive brews and is just waiting for the right meta to start popping off. Kami of Whispered Hopes easily goes infinite with cards like Staff of Domination, making it especially scary to see on the EDH battlefield.
#9. Brago, King Eternal
Brago, King Eternal, that old blinky warhorse, is holding onto the crown of most-played blink commander by the skin of its, well, I don’t know. I don’t think it has any skin, actually. It matters less as a card in the 99, as getting it online in time for its combat damage trigger to be relevant isn’t trivial later in the game.
#8. Karmic Guide
Karmic Guide classically goes infinite with Reveillark and a sac outlet. Blink, reanimator; there’s a lot of strategies that want this effect.
#7. Kodama of the West Tree
Kodama of the West Tree: RAMP!
#6. Soulherder
Iconic almost immediately for its wicked art and its reliable enabling of blink, Soulherder is a Cube staple for a reason.
#5. Skyclave Apparition
Awesome removal. Skyclave Apparition is so much better than cards like Fairgrounds Warden. It’s permanent exile even if it’s removed. Flickering this kor spirit is murderous.
#4. Laelia, the Blade Reforged
Welcome to Modern Horizons 3, Cube bomb! A strong card across formats, Laelia, the Blade Reforged hits hastily fast, grows with +1/+1 counters, and draws cards. I’m dead curious to see how this plays in the Modern meta.
#3. Crypt Ghast
Crypt Ghast: for when you need a Bubbling Muck but also need to be able to reanimate it to go off again.
#2. Simian Spirit Guide + Elvish Spirit Guide
Good for the same reason cards like Lotus Petal are good, Simian Spirit Guide and Elvish Spirit Guide can help you power out broken starts. Their utility fades quickly, as they’re underwhelming as creatures, but fast mana that breaks the rules is pretty much always a problem.
#1. Seedborn Muse
If Seedborn Muse looks broken, you’re correct. This is totally bonkers in Commander. Combo, control. Pick a reason you want a better Wilderness Reclamation.
Best Spirits Payoffs
Kamigawa Block Brews
The original Kamigawa block really increased the number of spirits. Many of them were costly and difficult to cast, but seemed worth it if you could get them down, like Iname as One or any of the Myojins. There are various synergies on the best cards from this block, but some of those synergies, like the soulshift mechanic, are just a bit too inefficient.
Still, the faithful play the mono-black versions of these decks, as well as O-Kagachi, Vengeful Kami soup.
Fliers Decks
It doesn’t have to be a dedicated Millicent, Restless Revenant deck. Any Azorius fliers deck is likely to be running some of these cards.
And fliers decks often want spirit-adjacent cards like Storm of Souls, Haunted Library, and Angel of Flight Alabaster.
Blink Decks
A staple Commander deck since they printed Brago, King Eternal in Conspiracy, Azorius blink decks make heavy use of spirits.
There are enough good spirits cards for this deck that you could run all spirits if you wanted to leave off, you know, Preston, the Vanisher and other flicker allies.
Spirit Typal Legends
We've got a handful of spirit-focused legends that are very much alive and kicking, so they don't actually have the spirit type (yet). These include cards like Kykar, Wind's Fury and Hofri Ghostforge.
Wrap Up
Kodama of the West Tree | Illustration by Daarken
Spirits decks can be powerful. And they’re flavorful. Their best abilities, blink, flying, and recursion are totally on theme.
You can’t play a full 4-player Innistrad creature feature matchup of vampires vs. werewolves vs. zombies vs. spirits if you don’t have a spirits deck, and hopefully I’ve piqued your interest. Perhaps it will, you know, haunt you later?
Did we miss any of your favorite spirits? Let us know in the comments or on Discord.
Happy haunting, friends!
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