Phyrexia, the hellish flesh-and-metal nightmare Plane, has been one of the most consistent sources of conflict throughout the history ofMagic: The Gathering. Beginning with the Yawgmoth arc, a huge, multi-block spanning story that defined much of the game’s early days, the Phyrexians fell into slumber following his defeat, seemingly vanquished from the multiverse.
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Reports of their death were, of course, greatly exaggerated, and the Phyrexians returned years later to ravage the artifact Plane of Mirrodin, this time under the command of the Praetors: five terrifying creatures, each representing one of Magic’s five colours. These fiends form the new face of Phyrexia, and have received two dedicated cards each so far. We’ve burned the midnight (Phyrexian) oil to rank them all, for your consideration.
11Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
The original Jin-Gitaxias is, unfortunately, the weakest of the Praetor cards by quite a large margin. Like all of the Praetors, he has two passive abilities: a positive one for you, and a negative one for your opponent. Jin’s latter effect, reducing your opponent’s maximum hand size down to zero, is actually quite strong, essentially forcing your opponent to discard their hand at the end of each turn.
His other ability, however, is more of a liability. Drawing seven cards sounds amazing at first, but when you consider that Jin forces you to do so every turn, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to play a meaningful number of them before you mill yourself out. Factor in his huge mana cost of ten, putting him out of reach for decks not packing mana ramp, and this card is, at its Core, fairly weak.
10Urabrask, Heretic Praetor
Giving you an additional temporary draw each turn, while replacing your opponent’s main draw with a temporary draw, New Capenna’s take on Urabrask looks solid on the surface. The problem is that his abilities take a while to have much impact on the game, particularly compared to the other Praetor cards.
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His base stat line, a 4/4 haste creature for five mana, is also fairly underwhelming by modern Magic standards, combining with his abilities to create a card that sees very little play outside of Commander.
9Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
The first incarnation of Elesh Norn is the simplest of all the Praetors: she gives +2/+2 to all of your other creatures, and -2/-2 to all of your opponents’. This perfectly-balanced pair of abilities makes her a formidable threat, particularly in multiplayer formats like Commander.
Her first ability, naturally, works best with a huge board of tokens, making Norn an ideal go-wideCommander in an aggressive white deck. Her second ability acts as a pseudo-board wipe, taking out your opponent’s smaller creatures and kneecapping their stronger ones. All of this is great, but Norn is still dependent enough on a particular board state to appear this low on the list.
8Urabrask The Hidden
Cards that grant universal haste to all your creatures are always worth keeping a watchful eye on, and Urabrask the Hidden is no exception. Seeing someone untap with him in play is a tense affair since a massive hasty assault could be coming at any time.
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This is doubly true given his second ability, which causes opposing creatures to enter play tapped, thus preventing them from blocking for a turn. It’s a potent combination of abilities, but Urabrask loses a few points for being weak in terms of stats on his own.
7Vorinclex, Voice Of Hunger
An absolutely terrifying creature to see across the table in a Commander game, both visually and mechanically, Vorinclex doubles your mana production while freezing your opponents’ lands for a turn after use. This creates a huge resource imbalance that, if not checked immediately, will let you run away with the game, trampling over your opponents as you do so.
Thankfully Vorinclex’s high mana cost of eight, as well as the requirement that you untap with him to really feel the benefits of his abilities, prevent him from being overpowered. This does make him a prime target for reanimation spells, however, for those with no interest in playing fair.
6Sheoldred, Whispering One
The original Chaos Witch Queelag (though only by a few months, in fairness), nothing says ‘fear’ quite like looking into Sheoldred’s horrific torso-maw and knowing it will be devouring one of your creatures every turn until you resolve the issue. Even more worrying than this, however, is her reanimation ability, which can bring back all manner of hulking horrors given a few turns to work.
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She’s not omnipotent, of course: her first ability doesn’t do much against token decks, while her second is easily countered with graveyard hate, but she’s a very solid choice regardless, even if she does cost seven mana.
5Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant
Clever, cold, and calculating, Jin-Gitaxias’ manipulative personality comes through much more clearly in his second iteration. Doubling your own artifacts, instants, and sorceries while countering your opponents’, he creates an immediate lock on the game that can be very hard to break.
This is mostly due to his second ability, which demands that your opponent have an extra spell to throw away to remove Jin, guaranteeing at least a two-for-one if they don’t counter him. It also works on your turn, which makes it harder for opponents to meddle in your other nefarious affairs.
4Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider
One of the few Praetors that’s impressive on stats and keywords alone, this version of Vorinclex is a 6/6 hasty trampler for six mana - nothing to sneeze at, particularly in one-on-one formats. This makes him much easier to recommend, at a base level, than many of his Phyrexian peers.
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That doesn’t mean that he has no Commander significance, however. His ability to double all the counters you place on permanents, including +1/+1 counters, loyalty counters, poison counters, and -1/-1 counters, opens up a tonne of deckbuilding avenues, while his ability to halve your opponents’ counter production can stop some decks in their tracks.
3Elesh Norn, Mother Of Machines
Combining a Panharmonicon, a Torpor Orb (two very popular cards) and a 4/7 vigilance body, all for just five mana, Elesh Norn could more aptly be described as the Mother of Value. Both of her abilities have widespread applications in one-on-one and multiplayer formats, and her signature high toughness makes her difficult to be removed before she causes some shenanigans.
Whether it’senabling an OTK combousing a series of enter-the-battlefield triggers, or shutting down your opponents who are trying to do the same (or even just play a fair game of Magic), Elesh Norn is always a force to be reckoned with.
2Sheoldred, The Apocalypse
The infamous scourge of Standard, Sheoldred’s new subtitle is incredibly apt; immediately following her release, she ushered in a dark age of Mono-Black dominance in the format, owing largely to her sheer power level.
While appearing minor at first, her two abilities suddenly become terrifying when you consider how often players draw cards in Magic today. The fact that they’re attached to an above-rate 4/5 body for four mana is icing on the cake, as is the fact that she plays just as well in multiplayer formats as she does in Standard.
