The 47 Best Artifact Creatures in Magic Ranked

Last updated on May 22, 2025

The Reality Chip | Illustration by Campbell White

Artifact creatures have been a topic of discussion since the beginning of Magic. The fact that they benefit from being both creature and artifact types and are flexible enough to go in every deck brought lots of balancing problems to some Constructed formats.

These creatures gained colors when it made sense from the Shards of Alara block onward, and colored artifacts are a mainstay nowadays. Today it’s time to dive headfirst into everything about artifact creatures.

Ready? Let’s get started!

What Are Artifact Creatures in MTG?

Stonecoil Serpent | Illustration by Mark Poole

Artifact creatures in MTG are cards that are both artifacts and creatures. MTG is a game that revolves around attacking and blocking, so artifacts that aren’t creatures are very hard to justify in your decks – you can play some but not many unless you’re going deep on some weird artifact control strategy like in Lantern Control decks. They also help Limited play by being a creature that almost every deck can play since most of them are colorless cards. However, they can ruin some Draft environments by being colorless rare or mythic bombs that go into every deck – Wurmcoil Engine comes to mind.

Lands and artifacts that can become artifact creatures aren’t included here. I’ve also opted not to include artifacts with the living weapon mechanic or the for Mirrodin! mechanic.

#47. Ornithopter

Little, harmless Ornithopter opens this list solely for the fact that it’s an artifact that costs 0 to cast. You’ll have an early blocker and an evasive creature that can wear an aura or a good piece of equipment, not to mention the possible benefits with mechanics like metalcraft or affinity.

#46. Steel Seraph

Steel Seraph is a good mix of a 3-drop or 6-drop angel. It’s a good fit for white weenie decks, flier decks, and angel decks, both in 60- and 100-card formats. Besides the flexibility, you can give relevant abilities to your creatures, both offensively (flying) or defensively (lifelink and vigilance).

#45. Duplicant

Duplicant is a mix of a Fiend Hunter/O-ring-type creature with a clone. It’s a removal spell for decks that lack them, especially 100% colorless decks. It’s got good synergies with EDH decks and cards that care about 2 power or less, or artifact reanimation (Feldon of the Third Path, Alesha, Who Smiles at Death).

#44. Angel of the Ruins

One of the best artifact removal effects in white, Angel of the Ruins can be a strong two-for-one in EDH, allowing you to exile mana rocks or pesky enchantments. It’s good in angel decks, blink decks, and ramp decks, as well as in reanimator decks thanks to cycling.

#43. Hangarback Walker

Hangarback Walker is another example of a value creature that gets worse as MTG becomes a more “powerful” game. Still, it’s a flexible construct that provides value when it dies, and you can even pump it if you’re not doing anything else. Of course, you’ll probably want to put this card in Selesnya +1/+1 counter / proliferate decks to grow the Hangarback faster.

#42. Wurmcoil Engine

Wurmcoil Engine is difficult to ignore once it hits the battlefield. A massive 6/6 wurm with deathtouch and lifelink is hard to race in the air or on the ground, and even if you kill it with a removal spell or a double block, it returns as two bodies – which can be way worse. Power creep is real though, so Wurmcoil sees way less play, relegated to ramp decks or in sideboards against red/burn decks.    

#41. Myr Battlesphere

Myr Battlesphere continues to be one of the premium big targets to cheat or Tinker into play. It has the ability to go wide and tall. And it's even better if you have some token synergies.

#40. Sundering Titan

Sundering Titan is banned in Commander as it’s easy to lock players out of the game by nuking their lands. It was an important part of Tron decks, where people could cast it on turns 4-5 and slow down their opponents significantly while also putting a 7/10 in play.

#39. Komaimu Battle Armor

Komainu Battle Armor has the Marisi, Breaker of the Coil effect. Goading every creature a target player controls is so cool. The problem is, if they have that many creature cards to goad, it’s harder to get in an attack. It’s easier to reconfigure this card into an evasive or unblockable creature to get the job done.

#38. Two-Color Gearhulks

• Riptide Gearhulk
• Oildeep Gearhulk
• Pyrewood Gearhulk
• Brightglass Gearhulk
• Coalstoke Gearhulk

These are all nice additions in decks that can cast them, but they’re somewhat worse than the original gearhulks just because of the colored restrictions. Riptide Gearhulk sees the most play in Constructed 1v1 and Commander, based on the fact that it’s a form of blinkable removal, and it even fits as a control finisher.

#37. Mono-Colored Gearhulks

• Combustible Gearhulk
• Verdurous Gearhulk
• Noxious Gearhulk
• Torrential Gearhulk
• Cataclysmic Gearhulk

The original gearhulks nailed it as far as Titan-like ETB creatures go. My favorite is Torrential Gearhulk, which is a strong win condition for control decks, allowing you to ambush your opponent’s creature with a 5/6 flash creature and cast a strong instant from your graveyard like Cryptic Command or Magma Opus.

#36. Painter's Servant

Painter's Servant is a combo piece with Grindstone, and by assembling this combination you’ll mill all the cards from an opponent’s library. Painter's Servant is easily tutorable, and this combo deck is a nice option for formats like Legacy. The color-changing ability can also be relevant for some EDH decks.

#35. Platinum Angel

Platinum Angel was one of the first creatures that outright stated that you can’t lose a game and your opponents can’t win. It sees some play in Commander decks that want to have risky cards like Phage the Untouchable or Demonic Pact. That said, in a metagame where people are focusing more on doing their own thing and less on removal, it can be a nice life insurance.

#34. Phyrexian Fleshgorger

Phyrexian Fleshgorger is a nice value proposition as a 3/3 or a 7/5 with menace and lifelink at two different points of the curve. What sets this card apart is that your opponents must pay life to target it, and if you can back up the aggression, suddenly your rival won’t be too keen on spending that much life to remove the Fleshgorger.

#33. Cloudsteel Kirin

Cloudsteel Kirin already has a good start as a 3/2 flier for 3 mana. The dream is to make it into a DIY Platinum Angel, one that can keep reattaching to other creatures down the line, but starting off as a decent evasive beater is nice.

#32. Lion Sash

Lion Sash is very similar to a white Scavenging Ooze. It’s significantly more flexible, allowing you to have a large threat or an equipment. It’s a versatile creature that’s also targeted graveyard hate.

#31. Hollow One

Hollow One is very impressive in 1v1 formats like Modern or Pioneer where you can play a 4/4 creature for free in certain decks. It doesn’t do much in EDH, however.

#30. Ramos, Dragon Engine

Ramos, Dragon Engine was one of the first “play as many gold cards as possible” commanders available. It’s also a dragon, which means you have many dragon synergies available. As a 5-color commander that benefits from colored and gold spells being cast, it’s got a lot of synergies with mutate spells cast onto it.

#29. Crystal Barricade

Crystal Barricade is a nice defense against red aggro/burn decks. It’s both a good blocker and it prevents you from taking burn spells to the face. This card alone can save you a bunch of direct damage, even if your opponent spends a card or two to remove it.

#28. Solemn Simulacrum

Solemn Simulacrum isn’t the staple it used to be, but it’s still a pretty good card in slower decks. You get free ramp, and you can block and cantrip for a card, not to mention the added value you’ll get by blinking it.

#27. Stonecoil Serpent

Stonecoil Serpent is useful early and late. Having reach, vigilance, and protection against multicolor means that the card can be a brick wall to many threats in many different formats. Can’t pass through this serpent that easily.

#26. Necron Deathmark

Necron Deathmark is a good evolution over cards like Ravenous Chupacabra, allowing you to play it at instant speed while also milling cards. It will frequently be a three-for-one if you get a good block. The Deathmark is a good tool to have in value decks.

#25. Mendicant Core, Guidelight

Mendicant Core, Guidelight is an interesting aggressive artifact creature that’s bolstered by other artifacts you control. After building your max speed, you can start copying your artifact spells, giving you more value while growing your creature. With a little support, you can regularly attack with an 7/3 or greater while cluttering the board with artifacts.

#24. Steel Hellkite

Steel Hellkite is the combination of a big dragon and a small, selective wrath effect. It sees some play in Vintage thanks to Mishra's Workshop, and it wipes tokens off the board like no one else when it manages to deal combat damage to a player.

#23. Skrelv, Defector Mite

Skrelv, Defector Mite is a little 1/1 Phyrexian mite with a very good ability. Being able to protect other creatures gives this card the Giver of Runes/Mother of Runes feel. It sees play in Standard toxic decks, and decks that want to use Skrelv as the protector of bigger creatures like Sheoldred, the Apocalypse.

#22. The Reality Chip

One of the best legendary artifacts in the game, once The Reality Chip is reconfigured to another creature, you can play cards from the top of your library, getting a good amount of card advantage every turn. It sees heavy play in blue Commander decks, helping you make your land drop every turn, churning through your deck and giving you information. Bonus points if you can benefit from casting spells from other zones.

#21. Ethersworn Canonist

Ethersworn Canonist sees plenty of play in diverse formats as a hate bear, with this human cleric protecting its owner from fast combos. You can also fill your deck with artifacts and become immune to its downside.

#20. Metalworker

Metalworker is a crazy card and one of the best constructs in Magic. It’s very fragile as a 1/2 for 3 mana, but if you can untap with it, you can generate 2-8 mana in an instant. Cube decks like to play it to cheat big cards into play. You can then use the mana to cast anything from an Ugin, the Spirit Dragon to a big green creature.

#19. Codie, Vociferous Codex

Codie, Vociferous Codex is a key cEDH commander, allowing you to use its main ability to cast a 1-mana spell and cascade into Profane Tutor. From there, you should be able to combo very fast and win.

#18. Phyrexian Metamorph

Phyrexian Metamorph is a very cheap clone at 3 mana and 2 life, being able to copy not only creatures but also artifacts. This shapeshifter sees a huge amount of play in Commander, allowing you to copy a powerful artifact like Bolas's Citadel, an equipment, or even a commander with a good ETB effect. 

#17. Giggling Skitterspike

Giggling Skitterspike is a card you can use to hold the fort against your opponents. After you activate monstrosity, the ability to deal 6 damage directly to all your opponents is no joke. You can also target it with your own auras and build a Voltron version that damages your opponents without the need to attack, not to mention heroic or combo payoffs.

#16. Thought Monitor

Thought Monitor is an interesting Mulldrifter from Modern Horizons 2. It’s got affinity, and if you can reduce its cost by 3 you’re already getting an excellent deal. You’ll be able to cast it by spending 1 or 2 mana several times, and this goes very well with artifact recursion or blink effects.

#15. Karn, Legacy Reforged

Karn, Legacy Reforged is a very interesting card to play in heavy artifact/colorless decks. The card is an enabler and payoff for colorless ramp, becoming a huge beater while generating the mana for expensive spells.

#14. Silent Arbiter

Silent Arbiter is a very real card for decks that want to take things slow with a pillow fort strategy, and it's one of the best tools against go-wide decks. Now you can only be attacked by one thing, and you even have a 1/5 to block. It sees play in decks that can take advantage of this situation – decks commanded by planeswalkers, super friends, stax decks, or some kind of exalted decks. 

#13. Iron Man, Titan of Innovation

At its core, Iron Man, Titan of Innovation is a “dragon” that creates Treasure tokens, very similar to Goldspan Dragon. The thing is, whenever it attacks, Iron Man triggers this unique artifact Birthing Pod on top of the already excellent card rate. You can turn the newly created Treasure into a 1-mana artifact, or go even further in the chain. As a commander, it’s very viable even in the competitive EDH realm.  

#12. Arcbound Ravager

Once the terror of many formats including Standard and Modern, Arcbound Ravager sees significantly less play than it used to. It’s still a free sacrifice outlet for artifacts and a card that can benefit from +1/+1 counters synergies in decks like Modern Hardened Scales. If the Mirrodin artifact lands ever become legal in Modern again, the card might see a resurgence.

#11. Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer

Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer is a go-wide Izzet commander that rewards you for making big tokens. These can be a clone of a large creature, artifact tokens created by the various Saheeli cards, or other possibilities. Then, this artificer makes your tokens – Treasures, Clues, Food, Thopters, whatever you like – into copies of said big creature.

#10. Breya, Etherium Shaper

Breya, Etherium Shaper has always hovered in the top 100 commanders on EDHREC. Very powerful and versatile, it's one of the best artifact commanders, allowing you to play four colors and build around artifacts. The card provides good value by entering the battlefield with two thopters, and by sacrificing artifacts you’ll get damage, removal, or lifegain. Surrounding it with good artifacts or cards that favor sacrificing permanents is the way to go. 

#9. Baleful Strix

Baleful Strix is very easy to include in a UBx deck, granting you your card back and an evasive nuisance, and you can trade this bird of death with almost any creature. It’s a big upgrade over solid, playable cantrip creatures like Elvish Visionary and Dusk Legion Zealot.

#8. Roaming Throne

Roaming Throne is one of the most interesting creatures to be printed in recent MTG sets. It’s a typal lord for triggers, but you can also choose it to copy a triggered ability from a specific commander – name gods for The Scarab God, or Phyrexians for Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, for example.

#7. Academy Manufactor

Academy Manufactor’s main feature is to turn a single Treasure, Food, or Clue token into one of each. It’s a must-have artifact in decks that care about any of those three token types, and there’s been a bunch of these over the years. Seeing as many EDH strategies these days revolve around creating these tokens, it’s extra value to have around.

#6. Blightsteel Colossus

Blightsteel Colossus can win you a game in one single attack. It’s also indestructible, meaning that exile effects are the primary way to deal with it. This golem is also one of the main Tinker targets in formats like Vintage, seeing as cheating one of these into play is frequently a win for you.

#5. Golos, Tireless Pilgrim

Golos, Tireless Pilgrim is a card that dominates the late game like few others. Once you get access to 7 mana, you just get three cards from your library that you can cast for free. You even get a little value when casting this scout. That's why Golos is banned in Commander. It was also very dominant in its Standard format, being the best thing you could do in midrange/control decks.

#4. Scion of Draco

Scion of Draco was already a good card and saw some play in domain decks, then it had a massive resurgence in 2024 thanks to Leyline of the Guildpact. This provided an extra way of casting the Scion for 2 mana. Scion of Draco also fits multicolor decks pretty well, being able to give plenty of combat-related bonuses to gold creatures, and surprise, surprise, Leyline of the Guildpact also helps with these bonuses, extending them to all creatures including the Scion itself.

#3. Walking Ballista

Walking Ballista is a very flexible card, fitting aggressive, combo, and ramp decks alike. You can either snipe small creatures with the Ballista’s counters or burn your opponent. It’s good at every part of the game, and if you have cards like Heliod, Sun-Crowned on the battlefield, it’s an automatic win. You can even play the Ballista in combo decks that require 0-mana creatures to ETB and immediately die. 

#2. Shardless Agent

Cascading into free and powerful spells like Living End and Ancestral Vision is one of the things Shardless Agent does best. This 2/2 value rogue almost always cascades into a good 0- to 2-mana spell, and it’s been a pillar of powerful Modern and Legacy decks for a while now.

#1. Esper Sentinel

Esper Sentinel does almost everything you’d expect from a white card. It taxes opponents and lets you draw a card every now and then, while being a 1-drop human on top of everything. They get better in multiples, too. Just boosting the power of one Esper Sentinel from 1 to 2 is already a game changer.

Best Artifact Creature Payoffs

There are plenty of artifact payoffs or colorless spells payoffs in MTG, so here I’m focusing mainly on the creature side of the payoffs. Of course, cards that boost artifact spells in general also apply to the creatures.

Aggressive Payoffs

Cyberdrive Awakener gives your artifact creatures flying, which is one of the best keywords for attacking. Cyberman Patrol hurts them by giving your creatures afflict 3, so even if they’re blocked, your opponents are losing life. Combine afflict with Alibou, Ancient Witness, and you have a hasty army that dishes out lots of damage just by attacking. Losheel, Clockwork Scholar lands on the damage prevention spectrum, and sometimes you’ll draw a card.

Controlling Payoffs

These cards reward you in the long game. Organic Extinction is a one-sided board wipe, while Marionette Master can be a long-term win condition.

Cost Reduction

Foundry Inspector and Etherium Sculptor turn your artifact creatures into cheaper spells, or even free ones.

Strength in Numbers

There’s some incentive to play “typal” artifact creature decks or just have a bunch of tokens. Chief of the Foundry is your basic +1/+1 lord. Urza, Prince of Kroog and Steel Overseer buff your creatures, while Imotekh the Stormlord and Urza, Chief Artificer give them menace. Cybermen Squadron further contributes to your numbers by giving your artifact creatures myriad.

Is an Artifact Creature Two Card Types?

Yes, it is. Artifact creatures are both artifacts and creatures, so every effect that boosts or hampers either of these two types applies at the same level.

Is an Artifact Creature a Creature Type?

No, it’s not. Artifact and creature are both card types, whereas creature types are subtypes. For example, Combat Thresher is an artifact and a creature at the same time, and its only creature type is construct. Esper Sentinel’s creature types are human and soldier, not artifact and creature.

Are Artifact Creatures Indestructible?

Not inherently. Some but not all artifact creatures are indestructible if they have that keyword in their text box. For example, darksteel in MTG is flavored as an indestructible material, so many cards that have “Darksteel” in their name, like Darksteel Colossus and its corrupted version, Blightsteel Colossus, are indestructible. Regular artifact creatures can be destroyed by creature removal and artifact removal, besides regular damage and other forms of creature removal.

Do Artifact Creatures Count as Colorless?

Artifact creatures count as colorless if their mana cost contains no colored symbols.  Arcbound Ravager is a colorless artifact creature, while Cyberdrive Awakener is a blue artifact creature, and Esper Sentinel is a white artifact creature.

Are Artifact Creatures Considered Historic?

Sure. All artifacts are considered historic permanents, alongside sagas and legendary cards. Naturally, both nonlegendary and legendary artifact creatures fit this bill.

Wrap Up

Platinum Angel | Illustration by Brom

Well, that's it for today. I hope you enjoyed our time together.

Artifacts being colorless always meant inclusion in almost any deck and a flagship from WotC’s balancing teams. After all, lots of cards from this list are a part of Magic’s design and competitive history, having earned their place in the Hall of Fame (of Pro Tour appearances in broken decks).

What’s your favorite artifact creature? Are there any that I missed in this list? Let me know in the comments down below or over on Draftsim’s official Discord.

That’s all from me for today. Stay safe, stay healthy, and I’ll see you in the next one!