Themes

Advisors

Advisors are the counselors, scholars and officials of Magic's worlds, mostly white and blue creatures. · 169 cards

Allies

Allies range from Zendikar's adventurers to the heroes of Magic's Avatar: The Last Airbender cards. Many Zendikar Allies get a bonus whenever another Ally enters the battlefield under your control. · 211 cards

Angels

Angels are flying creatures, almost all of them white, and many also gain you life or protect your other creatures. · 266 cards

Archers

Archers are mostly green creatures, and about half have reach, which lets them block flying creatures. Many others can deal damage to a creature directly. · 122 cards

Archons

Archons are white flying creatures, and several put rules on the whole table, like limiting each player to one spell a turn. · 21 cards

Artifact Creatures

Creatures that are also artifacts, like constructs and little flying Thopters, so they count as both. Most are colorless, so they fit in any deck. · 1,237 cards

Artificers

Artificers are Magic's inventors: creatures that often make artifact tokens or reward you for having artifacts. · 281 cards

Assassins

Assassins are mostly black creatures that often destroy another creature. Many have deathtouch, so any damage they deal to a creature destroys it. · 157 cards

Avatars

Avatars are a varied group of creatures spread evenly across all five colors. Several classic Avatars cost far less once the game reaches a certain point, such as an opponent controlling many more creatures than you. · 167 cards

Backgrounds Matter

Backgrounds are legendary enchantments that can join your commander in the command zone. Only a commander that says Choose a Background can take one. · 61 cards

Barbarians

Barbarians are almost all red creatures built to attack. Many have haste, so they can attack the turn they arrive, or first strike. · 44 cards

Bards

Bards are the musicians and performers of Magic's worlds, most often red creatures. · 75 cards

Bears

Bears are almost all green, from the classic Grizzly Bears, a two-mana creature with 2 power and 2 toughness, to much bigger ones. Some cards, like Ayula, Queen Among Bears, reward you for playing lots of Bears. · 59 cards

Beholders

Beholders are the floating, many-eyed monsters from Magic's Dungeons & Dragons cards. There are only a handful, mostly black. · 6 cards

Birds

Birds are mostly white and blue creatures, and nearly all of them have flying, which makes them hard to block. · 435 cards

Blood Tokens

Blood tokens are artifacts that let you pay 1 mana, discard a card and sacrifice the token to draw a new card. Most Blood cards are black or red. · 41 cards

Boars

Boars are mostly green and red creatures built for attacking, and some have trample, which pushes leftover damage past a blocker. · 60 cards

Cats

Cats are mostly white and green creatures, from house cats to great lions. · 340 cards

Citizens / Peasants

Citizens and Peasants are the ordinary townsfolk of Magic's worlds, mostly white and green. Many make extra creature tokens, so these decks tend to fill the battlefield. · 163 cards

Clerics

Clerics are mostly white creatures that often gain you life or protect your other creatures. · 657 cards

Clues Matter

Clue tokens are artifacts you can pay 2 mana and sacrifice to draw a card. Making one is called investigate. · 177 cards

Commander / Lieutenants Matter

Cards that get better while your commander is on the battlefield. Lieutenant is the keyword for it: those creatures gain a bonus as long as you control your commander. · 74 cards

Constructs / Golems

Constructs and Golems are artifact creatures, almost all colorless, so they fit into any deck. · 395 cards

Curses Matter

Curses are Auras that attach to a player instead of a creature, usually hurting that player each turn. Some cards reward you for having them. · 49 cards

Daybound / Nightbound

Cards that flip between a day face and a night face. It becomes night after a turn in which the player whose turn it was cast no spells, and day again after a turn in which that player cast two or more. · 47 cards

Defender / Walls

Walls and other creatures with defender, which cannot attack, plus the cards that put them to work anyway. Some let these creatures attack, or deal combat damage equal to their toughness instead of their power. · 309 cards

Demons

Demons are almost all black, and about half of them fly. Some are large but ask you to pay a price, such as sacrificing another creature. · 211 cards

Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs are mostly green, red and white creatures, often big, and some have enrage: they do something whenever they are dealt damage. · 212 cards

Djinn / Efreet

Djinn and Efreet are spirits of air and fire, mostly blue and red, and about half of them fly. · 96 cards

Doctors

The Doctor creature type is mostly the many versions of the Doctor from Magic's Doctor Who cards. Many can team up as a pair of commanders with a card that has Doctor's companion. · 25 cards

Dogs

Dogs are creatures found mostly in white, red and green. · 147 cards

Dragons

Dragons are big flying creatures, most often red. · 426 cards

Druids

Druids are almost all green, and many help you get more mana, often by tapping for it or finding extra lands. · 387 cards

Dryads

Dryads are green forest spirits; some cannot be blocked while the defending player controls a Forest, and some help you get extra mana. · 58 cards

Dungeons / Initiative

Cards that send you into a dungeon, a special card kept outside your deck, one room at a time for a reward in each room. Taking the initiative does this too. · 69 cards

Dwarves

Dwarves are mostly red and white creatures, the miners and smiths of Magic's worlds. · 167 cards

Eldrazi

Eldrazi are huge alien creatures, almost all colorless. Many cost a lot of mana, and many make small Spawn or Scion tokens you can sacrifice for mana to help cast them. · 194 cards

Elementals

Elementals are living fire, water, earth and air, found in every color but most often red. · 642 cards

Elephants

Elephants are creatures found almost only in white and green. · 85 cards

Elk

Elk are creatures found mostly in green, a small theme of forest beasts. · 40 cards

Elves

Elves are mostly green creatures, and many make extra mana, so Elf decks can play lots of creatures very quickly. · 675 cards

Equipment / Hammer Time

Equipment, plus cards that attach it for free. That lets even Equipment with a huge equip cost, like Colossus Hammer, go to work right away. · 662 cards

Faeries

Faeries are mostly blue and black, nearly all fly, and many have flash, so you can cast them during an opponent's turn. · 169 cards

Fish

Fish are creatures found almost only in blue, a small, fun theme. · 55 cards

Food Tokens

Food tokens are artifacts you can pay 2 mana, tap and sacrifice to gain 3 life, and many Food cards also reward you for sacrificing them. · 168 cards

Foxes

Foxes are mostly white creatures, several of them from Magic's Kamigawa sets, a world inspired by Japan. · 54 cards

Frogs

Frogs are creatures found mostly in green and blue. · 81 cards

Fungus / Saprolings

Fungus decks use Fungus creatures and the 1/1 Saproling tokens they make, mostly green and black. Many grow spore counters and turn them into Saprolings, then sacrifice Saprolings for a reward. · 69 cards

Furniture

Cards with furniture in their name, like thrones, chairs, tables and lamps, for a just-for-fun themed deck. · 32 cards

Gates Matter

Gates are a type of land, and these cards reward you for controlling lots of them. · 44 cards

Giants

Giants are large creatures, most often red, and some deal damage directly to creatures or players. · 240 cards

Gnomes

Gnomes are small tinkerers that are often artifacts themselves or make artifact tokens. · 29 cards

Goblins

Goblins are almost all red: small, cheap and plentiful, and many make more Goblins or are sacrificed for a quick effect. · 521 cards

Gods / Devotion

Gods, and cards that count your devotion: the number of mana symbols of one color among the costs of your permanents. The Theros Gods cannot be destroyed, and only become creatures when your devotion to their color is high enough. · 136 cards

Gorgons

Gorgons are mostly black creatures, and many have deathtouch, so any damage they deal to a creature destroys it. · 30 cards

Heroes

Heroes are creatures spread across every color, including the superheroes of Magic's Marvel cards. · 297 cards

Homunculi

Homunculi are small, mostly blue creatures, and some of them draw you cards. · 30 cards

Horrors

Horrors are mostly black creatures with no single job, though many care about the graveyard. · 342 cards

Horses

Horses and Pegasi are mostly white creatures, and the Pegasi fly. · 78 cards

Hydras

Hydras are almost all green; most enter with +1/+1 counters and keep growing, and some let you pick their size by paying X. · 67 cards

Illusion

Illusions are almost all blue creatures, and about four in ten fly. Some are sacrificed the moment a spell or ability targets them. · 105 cards

Incarnations

Incarnations are creatures that embody an idea, like fury or grief, found in every color. Many have evoke, so you can cast them cheaply just for their 'when this enters' effect. · 29 cards

Insects

Insects are mostly green and black creatures, from tiny swarms to giant beetles, and about a quarter of them fly. · 272 cards

Kindred / Tribal Adaptive

Cards that work with any creature type you choose. Kindred spells count too: they carry a creature type even though they are not creatures. · 185 cards

Knights

Knights are armored fighters, mostly white, that often come with combat abilities like first strike or vigilance. · 497 cards

Legends Matter

Cards that care about legendary cards: rewards for casting them, discounts, or bonuses for each one you control. · 333 cards

Library Manipulation

Cards that let you look at, rearrange or play from the top of your deck, so you control what you draw next. · 2,180 cards

Life Pay Engine

Cards that let you pay life instead of mana, or pay life for an extra effect, treating your life total as something to spend. · 309 cards

Lizards

Lizards are creatures found mostly in red, with some in green and black. · 176 cards

Map Tokens

Cards that explore or make Map tokens. Exploring reveals your top card: a land goes to your hand, and anything else gives the exploring creature a +1/+1 counter. · 55 cards

Merfolk

Merfolk are mostly blue creatures, and some make every other Merfolk you control bigger. · 337 cards

Minotaurs

Minotaurs are mostly red creatures, some black, built to attack. · 109 cards

Monks

Monks are mostly white, blue and red, and many have prowess: they get bigger each time you cast a spell that is not a creature. · 143 cards

Moonfolk

Moonfolk are blue flyers from Magic's Kamigawa sets, and many return your own lands to your hand to pay for their abilities. · 29 cards

Myr

Myr are small colorless artifact creatures, and many of them tap for mana. · 43 cards

Necron / Artifact Graveyard

Necrons are black artifact creatures from Magic's Warhammer 40,000 cards that keep coming back from the graveyard. · 23 cards

Nephilim

The Nephilim are a handful of four-color creatures, each one using every color but one. · 5 cards

Nightmares

Nightmares are mostly black and blue creatures, the dark creatures of bad dreams. · 94 cards

Ninjas

Ninjas are mostly blue and black, and many have ninjutsu: you swap an attacking creature nobody blocked for a Ninja from your hand. Many then reward you when they deal combat damage to a player. · 113 cards

Nobles

Nobles are the royalty and lords of Magic's worlds, creatures found in every color. · 222 cards

Ogres / Orcs

Ogres and Orcs are mostly red and black attackers. The Lord of the Rings Orcs use amass, which grows a single Orc Army token with +1/+1 counters. · 247 cards

Party Mechanic

Cards that count your party: one each of a Cleric, Rogue, Warrior and Wizard, for up to four creatures. · 43 cards

Phasing / Teferi Theme

Cards with phasing, which makes a permanent vanish for a while, so removal cannot touch it. It is treated as though it does not exist until its controller's next turn. · 64 cards

Phelddagrif

Phelddagrif, Magic's famous purple hippo, and the few cards that share its name or creature type. Each of its abilities hands an opponent a small gift, which makes it a favorite for Group Hug decks. · 2 cards

Phoenixes

Fire birds returning from the grave. · 38 cards

Phyrexians

Phyrexians are the machine-and-flesh villains of Magic's story, found in every color. Many use poison counters through infect or toxic. · 461 cards

Pirates

Pirates are mostly blue, red and black creatures that often make Treasure tokens or reward you for attacking. · 169 cards

Plants / Treefolk

Plants and Treefolk are almost all green, and are often slow, sturdy creatures that are hard to get past. · 213 cards

Powerstones

Powerstone tokens are artifacts that tap for 1 mana, which you can spend on artifact spells and abilities but not on other spells. · 38 cards

Rad Counters / Fallout

Rad counters come from Magic's Fallout cards. At the start of your first main phase, you put one card from the top of your deck into your graveyard for each rad counter, then lose 1 life and one rad counter for each of those cards that is not a land. · 23 cards

Rats

Rats are almost all black creatures. A few, like Relentless Rats, say a deck can have any number of copies, which breaks Commander's usual singleton rule of one copy per card. · 109 cards

Rebels

Rebels are mostly white creatures, and some older Rebels can search your deck for another Rebel and put it straight onto the battlefield. · 85 cards

Rhinos

Rhinos are mostly green and white creatures, and about a third have trample, which pushes leftover damage past a blocker. · 63 cards

Rogues

Rogues are mostly black and blue thieves and tricksters. Some steal from opponents or put cards from their deck into their graveyard. · 578 cards

Role Tokens

Role tokens are Aura tokens that give a creature a job, like Monster (+1/+1 and trample) or Cursed (it becomes a 1/1). · 38 cards

Samurai

Samurai are mostly white and red, and many have bushido, which makes them bigger when they block or are blocked. Some reward a creature for attacking alone. · 78 cards

Scorpions

Scorpions are mostly black creatures, and about half have deathtouch. · 18 cards

Scouts

Scouts are mostly green and white creatures, and many help you find lands or look at the top of your deck. · 294 cards

Sea Monsters

Krakens, Leviathans, Octopuses and Serpents: the big creatures of the sea, almost all blue. · 160 cards

Shaman

Shamans are mostly red and green spellcasters tied to nature and the elements, with no single job. · 487 cards

Shapeshifters / Changelings

Changelings count as every creature type at once, so they fit any deck built around one type. Many Shapeshifters also copy another creature on the battlefield. · 171 cards

Shrines / Hondens

Shrines are enchantments that each grow stronger for every Shrine you control, like the five Hondens from Kamigawa. · 22 cards

Sirens

Sirens are almost all blue, and nearly all of them fly. · 24 cards

Skeletons

Skeletons are almost all black creatures that refuse to stay dead: many can regenerate or return from the graveyard. · 83 cards

Slivers

Slivers are creatures in every color, and each one gives its ability to all your Slivers, so every new one makes the whole group stronger. · 115 cards

Snakes

Snakes are mostly green creatures, and some have deathtouch, so any damage they deal to a creature destroys it. · 174 cards

Snow-Covered Permanents

Snow permanents, like snow-covered lands, and cards that reward you for them. Some are paid for with mana from snow sources. · 154 cards

Soldiers

Soldiers are mostly white, and many cards make Soldier tokens, so Soldier decks tend to spread out with lots of creatures. · 1,080 cards

Specters

Specters are black flying creatures, and most make a player discard a card when they deal combat damage to that player. · 27 cards

Sphinxes

Sphinxes are almost all blue flyers, and many of them draw you cards or let you look at the top of your deck. · 90 cards

Spiders

Spiders are mostly green, and most have reach, which lets them block flying creatures. Magic's Spider-Man cards count too. · 140 cards

Spirits

Spirits are found in every color, most often white, blue and black; many fly, and many care about the graveyard. · 697 cards

Squirrels

Squirrels are mostly green and black, and they often make Food. Some forage: exile three cards from your graveyard or sacrifice a Food for a reward. · 32 cards

Tap / Untap Loops

Cards that untap your permanents, so a creature or land can be used twice in one turn. Some untap effects create endless loops that win the game. · 713 cards

The Ring Tempts You

Whenever the Ring tempts you, you choose one of your creatures as your Ring-bearer and the Ring gets stronger. It comes from Magic's Lord of the Rings cards, and the Ring gains up to four abilities. · 57 cards

Time Lords

Time Lords are the time-traveling aliens from Magic's Doctor Who cards, including every version of the Doctor. · 29 cards

Trolls

Trolls are mostly green, and many can regenerate, surviving something that would destroy them. · 62 cards

Tutors / Toolbox

Cards that search your deck for another card, each one called a tutor, so you can find the exact answer you need. · 988 cards

Unicorns

Unicorns are almost all white creatures, and some of them gain you life. · 32 cards

Vampires

Vampires are mostly black creatures that often gain you life, drain opponents or grow with +1/+1 counters. · 429 cards

Vehicles

Vehicles are artifacts that become creatures when you crew them by tapping your own creatures with enough total power. · 233 cards

Villains

Villains are mostly black creatures, including the supervillains of Magic's Marvel cards. · 201 cards

Warlocks

Warlocks are mostly black spellcasters, and some make opponents lose life. · 209 cards

Warriors

Warriors are one of the largest creature types, found mostly in red and green and built for attacking. · 1,246 cards

Weirds

Weirds are blue and red creatures, and many reward you for casting instants and sorceries. · 14 cards

Witches

Cards with 'Witch' in their name, whether a spellcasting creature or a spell, place or object named after one. Most are black. · 53 cards

Wizards

Wizards are mostly blue spellcasters, and many reward you for casting instants and sorceries or draw you cards. · 1,189 cards

Wolves / Werewolves

Wolves and Werewolves are mostly green and red. Werewolves are double-faced cards that flip into stronger beasts when night falls. · 181 cards

Wurms

Wurms are huge green creatures, and many have trample, which pushes leftover damage past a blocker. · 114 cards

Zombies

Zombies are mostly black creatures that often come back from the graveyard or make more Zombie tokens. · 605 cards

Zubera

The Zubera are small spirits from Kamigawa, and each does something when it dies, for every Zubera that died that turn. · 7 cards