Magic The Gathering’s multiverse is full of different people, cultures, and religions, so it makes sense there would be a vast array of gods, demigods, and pantheons out there as well. While they had appeared here and there in Magic’s history, it wasn’t until the original Theros block that they finally gained their own creature type.
Since then, gods have boomed in popularity, appearing in Amonkhet, Ravnica, Kaldheim, and even The Forgotten Realms. They’re a great way to build the identity of a setting, and they’re often fantastic cards in their own regard to boot. Here are the best ten cards with the God creature type ever printed.
10 Klothys, God of Destiny
Despite Xenagos being the first red/green god we saw in Theros, he wasn’t the first ever. Klothys was dormant for much of the original Theros block, serving as a jailor to the plane’s titans. When souls started escaping from the underworld and challenging their fates, an enraged Klothys returned in a big way in Theros: Beyond Death.
Klothys, God of Destiny costs one generic, one red, and one green. She’s only an indestructible enchantment until your devotion to red and green is seven, at which point she also becomes a 4/5 creature. At the beginning of your upkeep, you can exile any card from any graveyard: if it’s a land, you get either a red or green mana. If it wasn’t land, you gain two life and deal two damage to each opponent.
Graveyard hate and mana ramp all in one package is excellent, and Klothys being one of Theros’ many indestructible gods makes her even scarier. The God of Destiny was powerful in Standard, and continues to be a big threat in Commander.
9 Karametra, God of Harvests
Another of many Therosian gods on this list, Karametra is the god of farming, food, and motherhood. Though she has been known to enact her fury through drought and famine, she is also a kind and loving god who provides her followers with bountiful crops.
That aspect of Karametra fits nicely with her card. An indestructible 6/7 enchantment creature that costs three generic, one green, and one white, she rewards casting creature spells with letting you tutor for a forest or plains land. Not a basic land, mind, anyforest of plains. Being able to pull out shocklands or dual lands just by playing creatures – something both white and green want to do – is fantastic.
8 Iroas, God of Victory
Still on Theros, Iroas is the god of honourable soldiers and victorious heroes. While he and Mogis are gods of war, they are locked in an endless struggle over their ideas: Iroas stands for courage and wisdom, while Mogis only cares for reckless slaughter and total domination.
Iroas, God of Victory is great for combat-heavy decks. His ability prevents any damage to attacking creatures you control, and gives them menace to help slip through your opponent’s defences more easily. Even without that, a 7/4 indestructible (who gives himself menace) for two generic, one red, and one white can be a terrifying piece on the battlefield.
7 Xenagos, God of Revels
Xenagos was the main antagonist of the original Theros block. A Satyr Planeswalker who manipulated the pantheon so he could ascend to godhood, Xenagos is violent, calculating, and nihilistic. He’s also a fantastic creature for any red/green beatdown decks.
At the beginning of combat on your turn, you can give a different creature +X/+X, where X is that creature’s power. While other cards do similar things, like Nantuko Mentor, Xenagos also gives the creature haste. So, if you’ve dropped an Impervious Greatwurm or Krosan Cloudscraper this turn, you can immediately double its power and attack with it for devastating damage.
6 Esika, God of the Tree
Finally, we depart Theros for the Viking-inspired plane of Kaldheim. Here, the gods are much more human than their Theros counterparts, walking amongst the mortals and lacking indestructibility. Though Kaldheim has ten individual realms, they’re all connected by the World Tree, which Esika, the God of the Tree, cares for.
Esika, God of the Tree’s front face isn’t all that interesting – all it does is turn your legendary creatures into mana dorks. All the action is the back face; on the reverse side is The Prismatic Bridge, a legendary enchantment that costs one of each colour. At the beginning of your upkeep, you can reveal cards from the top of your library until you find a creature or Planeswalker, and put it onto the battlefield.
The Prismatic Bridge makes Esika an incredible WUBRG Commander, both for stompy decks with large creatures and Superfriends who want to spam out the Planeswalkers.
5 Tergrid, God of Fright
Also from Kaldheim is one of the most oppressive mono-black creatures ever printed: Tergrid, God of Fright. Plagued by her own murderous shadow, Tergrid fought against its attempts for years before eventually being able to bend it to her will.
The front face of Tergrid can steal any permanents that are discarded or sacrificed, making her a fantastic hand-destruction and forced-sacrifice Commander. Meanwhile, the back face is Tergrid’s Lantern, an artifact that points a gun at your opponent’s head and forces them to either sacrifice a nonland permanent or lose three life.
She is a perfect stop-hitting-yourself Commander, as your opponents are forced to give you the permanents that will ultimately kill them.
4 Birgi, God of Storytelling
Birgi is another of Kaldheim’s pantheon. Often found in taverns and alehouses, she’s the god of boasting and storytelling, a patron to the many skalds across the plane.
Like all Kaldheim gods, Birgi is a double-faced card, but the back face, Harnfel, Horn of Bounty, is hardly ever used. It’s Birgi herself that’s exciting, thanks to her granting you one red mana whenever you cast a spell. That red doesn’t go away until the end of your turn, meaning it’s free to use in combat for a sneaky combat trick or surprise Shock. She’s also instrumental in Cheerios decks and Storm decks, which can sometimes run out of mana if not played carefully.
Outside of Commander, Birgi has made a name for herself in Standard, Pioneer, and even Modern, as she’s even better than more traditional cost-reduction permanents.
3 Heliod, Sun-Crowned
Heading back to Theros, we have the leader of the pantheon himself, the sun god Heliod. While he is supposed to represent justice, family, pride, and the rule of law, he’s actually a deeply insecure and vain god, willing to do anything to maintain his influence over Theros. This backfired during Theros: Beyond Death, where he was cast into the underworld, forced to hold a gigantic boulder for all eternity.
His card in Beyond Death isn’t something to cast aside, though. Heliod is one of the best tools for a white lifegain deck to have ever been printed, as for just one generic and one white it can give a creature lifelink. Then, whenever you gain any life, it puts a +1/+1 counter on a target creature or enchantment. Add to the mix that it’s indestructible and you’ve got a very oppressive permanent.
Of course, you can’t mention Heliod, Sun-Crowned without mentioning the famous combo of it and Walking Ballista. The two can make an infinite lifegain and damage combo that is virtually impossible to interact with when put together. When those pieces hit the battlefield, the game is as good as over.
2 The Locust God
Compared to Theros and Kaldheim, the gods of Amonkhet were a bit underwhelming. It’s no surprise, then, that all but one of them were killed by the dragon Planeswalker Nicol Bolas and his ancient, forgotten Amonkhet gods: the Scarab God, the Scorpion God, and the best of the bunch, the Locust God.
The Locust God is an Izzet (red/blue) god that costs four generic, one blue, and one red. Whenever you draw a card, you make a 1/1 insect with haste. It also has an activated ability to draw a card and then discard a card, but that isn’t the important bit of the card. It’s also very tough to permanently remove: if it dies, it returns to it’s owner’s hand at the beginning of the next end step, ready to cause havoc again.
1 Thassa, Deep-Dwelling
Finally, we’re back to Theros for the god of the sea, Thassa. She is the god of all things deep, including the oceans and the unlearned secrets of the plane itself, controlling the flow of time as much as she does the swell of the sea.
At the beginning of your end step, Thassa flickers a permanent you control (exiles it, then returns it to the battlefield). Flicker is usually something done by instants and sorceries, so having a consistent source of it every turn is amazing. Even scarier, it’s often used alongside cards that gain control of other player’s permanents, like Claim the Firstborn, to ensure you never have to give it back.
Thassa is an intimidatingly powerful card that was a total beat in Standard when combined with Yorion the Sky Nomad. After rotation it’s continued to be a big threat in formats like Pioneer and Commander.
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