A huge part of MTG has always been having better Creatures in play than your opponent. Because of this, and because of the general power creep of the game, Creatures these days have an awful lot going on.
We’re not saying it’s a bad thing, and we actually really enjoy laughing maniacally because our friends forgot about one of the words on one of our cards. In fact, we like it so much; we thought we’d make a list of the cards with some of the most keywords on.
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Creatures that have way too many keywords
Now, each of these brings with it a huge array of abilities on its own, and you can always upgrade these with Enchantments, Planeswalker abilities, or just equipment as you choose.
We’re going to give a shoutout to
Vampire Nighthawk
Vampire Nighthawk
Flying
Deathtouch (Any amount of damage this deals to a creature is enough to destroy it.)
Lifelink (Damage dealt by this creature also causes you to gain that much life.)
here, who is a classic little keyword machine with flying, lifelink, and deathtouch, all on a three-mana card. We see you; we respect you, now let’s get stuck into the actual list.
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Elder Gargaroth
Good old
Elder Gargaroth
Elder Gargaroth
Reach, vigilance, trample
Whenever this creature attacks or blocks, choose one —
• Create a 3/3 green Beast creature token.
• You gain 3 life.
• Draw a card.
is a five mana 6/6 with vigilance, reach, and trample. To be honest, that would be enough of a reason to put it on the list, but then it also has three separate abilities if it attacks or blocks. Every time it does either of those things, you can create a 3/3 token, gain three life, or draw a card. So, it only has three abilities, but good lord, that’s a lot of extra text.
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Questing Beast
Of course, then we come to
Questing Beast
Questing Beast
Vigilance, deathtouch, haste
Questing Beast can't be blocked by creatures with power 2 or less.
Combat damage that would be dealt by creatures you control can't be prevented.
Whenever Questing Beast deals combat damage to an opponent, it deals that much damage to target planeswalker that player controls.
, which is a 4/4 for four mana with vigilance, deathtouch, and haste. It also has pseudo-unblockable as long as the Creatures trying to do so have two power or less. Also, you can’t prevent the damage it does. Also also, if it deals damage to an opponent, you can have it also deal that damage to a Planeswalker they control. Also also also, it’s Legendary, which we always forget.
Archangel Avacyn // Avacyn the Purifier
Archangel Avacyn
Archangel Avacyn
Flash
Flying, vigilance
When Archangel Avacyn enters, creatures you control gain indestructible until end of turn.
When a non-Angel creature you control dies, transform Archangel Avacyn at the beginning of the next upkeep.
does transform, so you can sort of count that, but we’re not talking about the other side today. This version of Avacyn is a five mana 4/4 with flash, flying, vigilance, and when it enters the battlefield it gives everything indestructible. If you’ve never cast this before, we thoroughly recommend giving it a shot, because it’s always hilarious.
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Brisela, Voice of Nightmares
Brisela doesn’t cost any mana, sort of, but is the combination of two Creatures called Bruna and Gisela, totalling eleven mana, so we can say that they cost that much as a result.
Brisela, Voice of Nightmares
Brisela, Voice of Nightmares
Flying, first strike, vigilance, lifelink
Your opponents can't cast spells with mana value 3 or less.
a 9/10 with flying, first strike, vigilance, and lifelink, who also makes it so that your opponents can’t cast spells with a mana value of three or less. They’re just so much fun to have on your side of the field.
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Akroma, Angel of Fury
Akroma appears three times on this list because she’s absurd, but this version has the fewest keywords of the bunch.
Akroma, Angel of Fury
Akroma, Angel of Fury
This spell can't be countered.
Flying, trample, protection from white and from blue
{R}: Akroma gets +1/+0 until end of turn.
Morph {3}{R}{R}{R} (You may cast this card face down as a 2/2 creature for {3}. Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.)
is an eight mana 6/6 that can’t be countered with morph, flying, trample, protection from White, and protection from Blue. You can also dump mana into her to boost her power. She’s also absolutely incredible as a win-con in Red and Taxes in Modern.
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Atraxa, Praetors’ Voice
Oh Atraxa, is there anything you can’t do? No, not really.
Atraxa, Praetors’ Voice
Atraxa, Praetors’ Voice
Flying, vigilance, deathtouch, lifelink
At the beginning of your end step, proliferate. (Choose any number of permanents and/or players, then give each another counter of each kind already there.)
is a four mana 4/4 with flying, vigilance, deathtouch, and lifelink. She also allows you to proliferate at the beginning of your end step, which makes her an excellent Commander for Planeswalker decks, infect decks, +1/+1 counter decks, or even weird group hug variants.
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Samut, Voice of Dissent
Samut, Voice of Dissent
Samut, Voice of Dissent
Flash
Double strike, vigilance, haste
Other creatures you control have haste.
{W}, {T}: Untap another target creature.
is a five mana 3/4 with flash, double strike, vigilance, and haste that also gives other Creatures you control haste, and you can use them to tap another Creature. They’re quite a bit of fun as a Commander, but they’re also just an impressive display of power.
Spirit of the Night
Now we’re getting into big numbers.
Spirit of the Night
Spirit of the Night
Flying, trample, haste, protection from black
Spirit of the Night has first strike as long as it's attacking.
is a nine mana 6/5 with flying, trample, protection from Black, ye olde haste, and first strike when it’s attacking. It’s a huge amount of mana for all of those abilities, but things were different back when it was printed, so be nice to the old thing.
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Chromanticore
Chromanticore
Chromanticore
Bestow {2}{W}{U}{B}{R}{G} (If you cast this card for its bestow cost, it's an Aura spell with enchant creature. It becomes a creature again if it's not attached.)
Flying, first strike, vigilance, trample, lifelink
Enchanted creature gets +4/+4 and has flying, first strike, vigilance, trample, and lifelink.
is a fun five color five mana 4/4 with flying, first strike, vigilance, trample, and lifelink. It also has bestow, which we’re sort of counting for this. That means you can plop it on a Creature to give that Creature all of those abilities and +4/+4, which is pretty spicy on the right cards.
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Sphinx of the Steel Wind
Sphinx of the Steel Wind
Sphinx of the Steel Wind
Flying, first strike, vigilance, lifelink, protection from red and from green
is basically an Esper Artifact answer to Akroma and all of her absurdity. For eight mana, you get a 6/6 with flying, first strike, vigilance, lifelink, protection from Red, and protection from Green. That’s a large swathe of abilities that basically guarantees you’re going to laugh in the face of anything that attempts to take it down.
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Akroma, Angel of Wrath
Akroma the second is
Akroma, Angel of Wrath
Akroma, Angel of Wrath
Flying, first strike, vigilance, trample, haste, protection from black and from red
. Wrathy is an eight mana 6/6 with Flying, first strike, vigilance, trample, haste, protection from Black, and protection from Red. That’s just so many abilities. In fact, it’s seven whole abilities. Damn!
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Soulflayer
Soulflayer
Soulflayer
Delve (Each card you exile from your graveyard while casting this spell pays for {1}.)
If a creature card with flying was exiled with this creature's delve ability, this creature has flying. The same is true for first strike, double strike, deathtouch, haste, hexproof, indestructible, lifelink, reach, trample, and vigilance.
is the first of our ones with not many keywords as such, but then loads of keywords if you do it right. For six mana, Soulflayer is a 4/4 with delve. However, if you use a Creature with flying to pay for the device cost, then it gains flying. That’s the case with first strike, double strike, deathtouch, haste, hexproof, indestructible, lifelink, reach, trample, and vigilance. It’s a lot of work, but it’s hard to argue with.
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Odric, Lunarch Marshal
Odric, Lunarch Marshal
Odric, Lunarch Marshal
At the beginning of each combat, creatures you control gain first strike until end of turn if a creature you control has first strike. The same is true for flying, deathtouch, double strike, haste, hexproof, indestructible, lifelink, menace, reach, skulk, trample, and vigilance.
is a four mana 3/3 with no keywords on it as standard, but can have first strike, flying, deathtouch, double strike, haste, hexproof, indestructible, lifelink, menace, reach, skulk, trample, and vigilance if you have other Creatures with those abilities. So, you know, that’s a lot of potential keywords, to say the least.
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Cairn Wanderer
Cairn Wanderer
Cairn Wanderer
Changeling (This card is every creature type.)
As long as a creature card with flying is in a graveyard, this creature has flying. The same is true for fear, first strike, double strike, deathtouch, haste, landwalk, lifelink, protection, reach, trample, shroud, and vigilance.
is a bit like
Soulflayer
Soulflayer
Delve (Each card you exile from your graveyard while casting this spell pays for {1}.)
If a creature card with flying was exiled with this creature's delve ability, this creature has flying. The same is true for first strike, double strike, deathtouch, haste, hexproof, indestructible, lifelink, reach, trample, and vigilance.
, but you don’t have to exile the Creatures; they just need to be in your graveyard. It’s a five mana 4/4, but as long as you have a Creature with flying in the graveyard, it also has flying. The same is true for fear, first strike, double strike, deathtouch, haste, landwalk, lifelink, protection, reach, trample, shroud, and vigilance. This is probably easier to manage than Soulflayer, but it costs more mana due to not having delve. It’s also kind of weird-looking, if we’re being honest.
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Akroma, Vision of Ixidor
Here we go, the top of the list of cards with too many keywords, and of course, it’s Akroma. Well, sort of.
Akroma, Vision of Ixidor
Akroma, Vision of Ixidor
Flying, first strike, vigilance, trample
At the beginning of each combat, until end of turn, each other creature you control gets +1/+1 if it has flying, +1/+1 if it has first strike, and so on for double strike, deathtouch, haste, hexproof, indestructible, lifelink, menace, protection, reach, trample, vigilance, and partner.
Partner
, only has five keywords on them themselves, with those being flying, first strike, vigilance, trample, and partner. However, they also read, “At the beginning of each combat, until end of turn, each other creature you control gets +1/+1 if it has flying, +1/+1 if it has first strike, and so on for double strike, deathtouch, haste, hexproof, indestructible, lifelink, menace, protection, reach, trample, vigilance, and partner.” So we’re counting all of those in this little roundup, which puts them at the top of this list. Well, we think so anyway.
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