Top 10 Best MTG Battle Cards

Battles debuted in March of the Machine as a new and unique card type. As expected, this came with a lot of hype, and Battles certainly delivered. Despite Battles only appearing in this one set so far, they have already begun to make an impact across multiple formats. It’s nice to see a new card type strike a good balance between providing room for innovation without being too powerful or too weak. Battles are super cool, and to showcase their impact on MTG, here are the top 10 best MTG Battle cards!

#10 Invasion of Segovia

While not the flashiest Battle out there, Invasion of Segovia has some good things going for it. First, you get two one-one Creatures right off the bat, which can help attack the Battle down themselves. If you do manage to defeat the Battle, you get a three-power Creature that gives your non-Creature spells Convoke, which in conjunction with the Kraken tokens is a great ability if your deck is built around it. What makes this Battle truly worth it is if you can utilize the Kraken tokens for something bigger, which is exactly what Indomitable Creativity Indomitable Creativity Destroy X target artifacts and/or creatures. For each permanent destroyed this way, its controller reveals cards from the top of their library until an artifact or creature card is revealed and exiles that card. Those players put the exiled cards onto the battlefield, then shuffle. decks can do.

For Creativity decks built around casting the namesake card for X equals two and searching for Worldspine Wurm Worldspine Wurm Trample
When this creature dies, create three 5/5 green Wurm creature tokens with trample.
When Worldspine Wurm is put into a graveyard from anywhere, shuffle it into its owner's library. and Xenagos, God of Revels Xenagos, God of Revels Indestructible
As long as your devotion to red and green is less than seven, Xenagos isn't a creature.
At the beginning of combat on your turn, another target creature you control gains haste and gets +X/+X until end of turn, where X is that creature's power. , this Battle provides both targets for Creativity for only three mana. Combine this with the potential to defeat the Battle for additional value and you have a decent card. The reason it is down here at number 10 is that the range of decks that would want this effect is very narrow, and unfortunately Fable of the Mirror-Breaker Fable of the Mirror-Breaker (As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter.)
I — Create a 2/2 red Goblin Shaman creature token with "Whenever this token attacks, create a Treasure token."
II — You may discard up to two cards. If you do, draw that many cards.
III — Exile this Saga, then return it to the battlefield transformed under your control. does a better job in the three-drop slot in those decks. Still, the synergy this card offers warrants an inclusion on this list.

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#9 Invasion of Alara

This Battle card has Commander written all over it. It is both tough to cast and difficult to flip, but the reward is there on both ends. Just for casting this you get to “Cascade” into two cards, one of which you cast and the other you can put into your hand. This is already decent value, but the real treat comes from defeating the battle, which gives five big bonuses including drawing cards and destroying a nonland Permanent. Invasion of Alara is pretty restrictive in its casting cost and is hard to make full use of in other formats, but the payoff is big enough to earn it the number nine spot.

#8 Invasion of Amonkhet

Invasion of Amonkhet is certainly a powerful card. It’s a two-for-one on its front side alone as long as your opponent has cards to discard. The main issue is that it doesn’t add to the board, meaning it doesn’t help you defeat the Battle. If you do manage to defeat the Battle, it transforms into a four-power copy of a Creature in a graveyard, which is a massive swing. Getting to this point is tricky, which makes it hard to find a home.

It’s seen a small amount of play in Pioneer Dimir Rogues, which can use its flying Creatures to defeat the battle. A lot of the cards in the Rogues deck like Drown in the Loch Drown in the Loch Choose one —
• Counter target spell with mana value less than or equal to the number of cards in its controller's graveyard.
• Destroy target creature with mana value less than or equal to the number of cards in its controller's graveyard. also benefit from opponents having lots of cards in their graveyard, so the Battle forcing each player to mill three cards is a nice bonus. Unfortunately, the three-mana slot is still rich with options, making it difficult for this card to break through.

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#7 Invasion of Regatha

Unlike the other Battles on this list thus far, Invasion of Regatha does almost all its damage when it enters the battlefield. In this way it functions more like a Sorcery than a Battle. While obviously being able to defeat this battle is a nice option to have, the decks that tend to play this card are most interested in the initial four damage dealt to the opponent. Three mana is a lot, but four damage is a large chunk of the opponent’s life total, making it a consideration for burn decks in lower powered formats.

Invasion of Regatha also has the upside of being able to deal one damage to a Creature, and with the prevelance of Thalia, Guardian of Thraben Thalia, Guardian of Thraben First strike
Noncreature spells cost {1} more to cast. in Standard, Invasion of Regatha has some serious potential. There are plenty of burn spells to choose from in Standard, so alas this card is often put on the bench, but it is still a powerful option nonetheless.

#6 Invasion of Ixalan

Invasion of Ixalan functions similarly to Oath of Nissa Oath of Nissa When Oath of Nissa enters, look at the top three cards of your library. You may reveal a creature, land, or planeswalker card from among them and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.
You may spend mana as though it were mana of any color to cast planeswalker spells. with upside for the decks that play it. The opportunity cost of playing this card is relatively low at only two mana, and digging five cards deep is a lot. For decks that thrive off of having access to a specific Permanent, such as Mono-Green Devotion with Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx {T}: Add {C}.
{2}, {T}: Choose a color. Add an amount of mana of that color equal to your devotion to that color. (Your devotion to a color is the number of mana symbols of that color in the mana costs of permanents you control.) , this card is a great flex-slot consideration. It also only has four defense, so Old-Growth Troll Old-Growth Troll Trample
When Old-Growth Troll dies, if it was a creature, return it to the battlefield. It's an Aura enchantment with enchant Forest you control and "Enchanted Forest has '{T}: Add {G}{G}' and '{1}, {T}, Sacrifice this land: Create a tapped 4/4 green Troll Warrior creature token with trample.'" can take it down in one shot.

In addition, Invasion of Ixalan saw play in the Gruul Midrange Pioneer deck that made top eight of the recent United States Regional Championship, which also has access to efficient four-power Creatures like Bonecrusher Giant. This Battle transforms into a four-power Creature itself too, adding some beef to your side of the board. Not only that, but the Creature gains Indestructible until end of turn whenever you cast a spell, making combat a nightmare for your opponent if you have open mana. This card is excellent, and being down at number six just shows how powerful the next group of Battles are.

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#5 Invasion of New Phyrexia

This card is likely the flashiest of the Battles on this list and has a similar initial effect as White Sun’s Zenith White Sun’s Zenith Create X 2/2 white Cat creature tokens. Shuffle White Sun's Zenith into its owner's library. , scaling based on the amount of mana spent to cast it. While Invasion of New Phyrexia has to be cast at Sorcery speed, it has some big additions that make the card fantastic. First, the Creatures it creates have Vigilance, making it quite easy to attack and not fall too far behind. This is especially useful for attacking down the Battle and not falling too far behind on the crackback. Second, if you do manage to defeat the Battle, it transforms into a powerful Planeswalker.

The best decks for this card are those that can generate lots of mana. In Commander, this is often trivial, making this Battle a great addition to most Azorius Commander decks. This is a bit tougher in other formats, especially in Azorius colors. A recent take on UW control featuring Lotus Field Lotus Field Hexproof
This land enters tapped.
When this land enters, sacrifice two lands.
{T}: Add three mana of any one color. had a very strong showing this weekend. The deck utilizes cards like Strict Proctor Strict Proctor Flying
Whenever a permanent entering causes a triggered ability to trigger, counter that ability unless its controller pays {2}. to bypass Lotus Field’s triggered ability. This gives the deck more mana to work with than a typical Azorius Control deck, which makes it a decent home for Invasion of New Phyrexia as a finisher. The range of decks that can maximize this effect are still narrow, which prevents the card from climbing higher on the list.

#4 Invasion of Zendikar

As a great way for multi-color decks to fix their mana, Invasion of Zendikar slots in nicely into the Five-Color Ramp deck in Standard. Not only does this card allow the ramp deck to find the necessary colors to cast Atraxa, Grand Unifier Atraxa, Grand Unifier Flying, vigilance, deathtouch, lifelink
When Atraxa enters, reveal the top ten cards of your library. For each card type, you may put a card of that type from among the revealed cards into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order. (Artifact, battle, creature, enchantment, instant, land, planeswalker, and sorcery are card types.) , but it also ramps you from four mana to six, setting up for an Atraxa the following turn. Fixing colors also maximizes the power of Leyline Binding Leyline Binding Flash
Domain — This spell costs {1} less to cast for each basic land type among lands you control.
When this enchantment enters, exile target nonland permanent an opponent controls until this enchantment leaves the battlefield. , a vital piece of interaction for the deck.

Invasion of Zendikar works especially well with Topiary Stomper Topiary Stomper Vigilance (Attacking doesn't cause this creature to tap.)
When this creature enters, search your library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.
This creature can't attack or block unless you control seven or more lands. . As a three defense Battle that helps ramp you to seven lands, it is very common to play Invasion of Zendikar and immediately attack it down with Stomper, providing another four-power Creature once transformed. Invasion of Zendikar may not be as cool as Invasion of New Phyrexia, but it’s importance to this well-established Standard deck gives it the nod.

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#3 Invasion of Tarkir

Invasion of Tarkir is an interesting card with homes in Standard and Modern. While it gives the bonus of dealing additional damage by letting you reveal Dragon Creature cards from your hand, the base of dealing two damage to any target and leaving behind a Battle with a potent transformation is plenty good enough to see play in the Standard Mono-Red Aggro deck with zero Dragons. It does its job picking off blockers, and if you manage to defeat the five-defense Battle, you are rewarded with a large Flying Dragon that deals damage whenever it attacks. It pairs quite well with Nahiri’s Warcrafting Nahiri’s Warcrafting Nahiri's Warcrafting deals 5 damage to target creature, planeswalker, or battle. Look at the top X cards of your library, where X is the excess damage dealt this way. You may exile one of those cards. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order. You may play the exiled card this turn. in Standard, as Warcrafting can defeat the Battle by itself.

Similar to Nahiri’s Warcrafting, Tribal Flames Tribal Flames Domain — Tribal Flames deals X damage to any target, where X is the number of basic land types among lands you control. does a great job defeating this Battle in Modern Domain Zoo decks. This deck also has access to five-power two-drops like Territorial Kavu Territorial Kavu Domain — Territorial Kavu's power and toughness are each equal to the number of basic land types among lands you control.
Whenever this creature attacks, choose one —
• Discard a card. If you do, draw a card.
• Exile up to one target card from a graveyard. that can attack down the Battle in one hit. As an added bonus, the deck plays Scion of Draco Scion of Draco Domain — This spell costs {2} less to cast for each basic land type among lands you control.
Flying
Each creature you control has vigilance if it's white, hexproof if it's blue, lifelink if it's black, first strike if it's red, and trample if it's green. as a Dragon that can be revealed with Invasion of Tarkir to deal extra damage. The competition for slots is higher with Modern’s vast card pool, so it usually only shows up in one or two copies, but the synergy with large Creatures and Tribal Flames is enough to warrant its inclusion.

#2 Invasion of Ikoria

Invasion of Ikoria is most known for its synergy with Vampire Hexmage Vampire Hexmage First strike
Sacrifice this creature: Remove all counters from target permanent. . Invasion of Ikoria can Tutor for Vampire Hexmage, which can then be sacrificed to remove all the defense counters from the Battle, which transforms into a massive eight-power Dinosaur that can deal combat damage as though it weren’t blocked. This synergy has shown up in Modern Death’s Shadow lists but really makes its presence felt in Legacy alongside Dark Depths Dark Depths Dark Depths enters with ten ice counters on it.
{3}: Remove an ice counter from Dark Depths.
When Dark Depths has no ice counters on it, sacrifice it. If you do, create Marit Lage, a legendary 20/20 black Avatar creature token with flying and indestructible. . Providing both another way to search for Hexmage as well as another great target for Hexmage’s ability helps make the Depths deck more consistent. While Invasion of Ikoria isn’t utilized in a wide range of decks, its synergy with Vampire Hexmage is so strong that it deserves to be this high on the list.

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#1 Invasion of Gobakhan

Plenty of white aggressive decks in Standard and Pioneer make great use of this card. Invasion of Gobakhan is an elite sideboard option against slower strategies and combo decks, especially those with access to board wipes. At minimum, this Battle does its best Elite Spellbinder Elite Spellbinder Flying
When this creature enters, look at target opponent's hand. You may exile a nonland card from it. For as long as that card remains exiled, its owner may play it. A spell cast this way costs {2} more to cast. impression by exiling a card from the opponent’s hand and making it cost two more to cast. This is a great effect for aggressive decks. Taking a combo piece or piece of interaction while keeping the pressure up can be the difference in the game. This battle gives a lot more than just that though.

At three defense, this Battle is quite easy to transform. Unlike many other Battles, this one transforms into an enchantment with two major abilities. First, it puts plus-one plus-one counters on all your Creatures that attacked, further pushing your advantage. Second, it gives the option to Sacrifice the Enchantment to give your Creatures Hexproof and Indestructible, helping make sure you cross the finish line and don’t get blown out by board wipes. At only two mana, this card is such a game changer for aggressive decks in Standard and Pioneer. It’s clear that Battles have made a huge contribution to MTG across multiple formats, and Invasion of Gobakhan currently sits pretty at the top.

No New Battles for Quite Some Time

While the best MTG Battle Cards may continue to change as new meta options make them more or less viable in various formats, we won’t be getting any new Battle cards themselves until 2025. This was revealed when many MTG players were somewhat confused that Battle cards did not show up in Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth. There were a lot of large-scale Battles in the lore, which would make this card type a good flavor win.

The issue with a new idea like MTG Battle cards is that developers don’t know how they will be received. If the new MTG Battle card type were received poorly, it could have drastically affected Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth sets.

Because of this, MTG developer Mark Rosewater wanted to see how MTG Battle cards would be received before creating any new ones. Now that we all know just how much players love them, it has been announced that, eventually, we will be getting more of these!

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