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Artifacts have been around in Magic: The Gathering since the very start of the game. This card type is the face of some of the most powerful cards in the entire history of the game.
If you want the best artifacts, you might also be interested in knowing the best budget commander decks for Magic: The Gathering. Be sure to also check out the best MTG cards for Commander.
There have been plenty of amazing artifacts released over the years. Each of them has its own utility, with powerful effects to make all of them worth running. Multiple artifacts were so strong they had to be banned out of formats in order to keep them balanced. There are many artifacts released in every set, but these are the 11 best artifacts in the game.
11. Artifact Lands
While artifact lands seem harmless at first, don’t let this deceive you as they are one of the best land cycles ever printed. They act like basic lands, simply tapping to add mana with no extra effect.
What makes artifact lands so good is that they count towards affinity and metalcraft thresholds, effects that care about the number of artifacts on the battlefield. There are no downsides to artifact lands other than their susceptibility to artifact removal. The artifact lands were responsible for one of the largest Standard ban lists of all time and were even pre-banned in the Modern format during its creation. The artifact lands see widespread play in Pauper and are the cornerstone of some of the format’s strongest decks.
10. Grafdigger’s Cage
Grafdigger’s Cage is a staple of the sideboard and sees play in almost every format it is legal in. For just one mana, Grafdigger’s Cage shuts down any deck that is trying to cheat creatures out from the library or graveyard. It locks all cards down in the zone they are in.
This card alone can shut down entire strategies and if your opponent does not have removal for it then it can win the game on its own. Not every deck can use Grafdigger’s Cage since it may affect the deck negatively, but if you’re not cheating creatures out of other zones, then it is fantastic. Since it doesn’t affect every deck, Grafdigger’s Cage is best kept in the sideboard to bring in against decks that Grafdigger’s Cage counters.
9. Aetherflux Reservoir
Aetherflux Reservoir is a staple of storm decks. If you are casting a ton of spells, Aetherflux Reservoir gains you a ton of life that you can use to take someone out of the game. It is easy to cast to let it start making an impact on the gamestate right away.
It shines the most in Commander where storm decks can dedicate the space to a four mana spell that it can cast easily. While it is less common in constructed formats, it still sees play in the sideboard as an artifact Karn, The Great Creator can bring out for free. It’s a win condition of the Rona Combo deck in Pioneer as the deck can loop spells for an infinite storm count.
Aetherflux Reservoir costs a bit of mana to cast, but it can turn the game around once you are ready to start storming by casting spells. This makes up for the life you lost while you were getting your win condition ready. Although you lose 50 life when you activate its effect to burn for 50 damage, since you are gaining so much life from the first effect this won’t matter. This will not come up too often, as Aetherflux Reservoir is a combo finisher rather than a support card. You won’t be activating Aehterflux Reservoir on a whim, but only when it will close out the entire game.
8. Pithing Needle
Cards that can completely shut down problem permanents are fantastic, and that is why Pithing Needle is a staple card across multiple formats. While it isn’t a mainstay in the main deck, Pithing Needle finds a home in the sideboard. Since not every deck uses cards with activated abilities you don’t want to play it in the main deck as it will be a dead card in those matchups.
Pithing Needle shuts down all activated abilities of a card so long as it isn’t a mana ability. There are many potential problem cards that need to be activated, so having a safety net against them is what makes Pithing Needle so good. If your opponent doesn’t have an answer to it their deck can’t function properly. Since it only costs one mana, you can cast it before your opponent even has a chance to use the ability of the card you would name.
Difference between triggered and activated abilities
An activated ability is one that has to be activated by somebody, generally by paying a cost and they are not mandatory. A triggered ability is an ability that will activate if something on the battlefield happens or activates off when another effect does.
7. The Great Henge
The Great Henge is a card that does a lot and you can cast it at a deep discount. Although it casts nine mana at its base, in decks that run creatures with large power it is trivial to cast. There are plenty of three mana spells with downsides that have six power, allowing for The Great Henge to be used right away.
Once it hits the battlefield, it becomes much harder for your opponent to close out games, as you can keep gaining life and drawing cards every turn. While it doesn’t trigger off of nontoken creatures, since you are drawing so much you will have a hand full of creatures to cast.
The Great Henge is great in Stompy decks which are decks built around casting a plethora of creatures to swing in for large amounts of damage. While a downside of these kinds of decks is they can run out of creatures quickly, The Great Henge ensures you will always have something to cast to make the most out of it. It gives all creatures a +1/+1 counter as well when they enter the battlefield to get even more damage out of your creatures.
6. Amulet Of Vigor
Amulet Of Vigor has created entire archetypes built around it. It ensures that all your permanents enter untapped. This is especially strong when combined with “bounce lands,” lands that can tap for two mana but require you to return a land back to your hand.
A mordern staple
Amulet Of Vigor is the artifact that enables Amulet Titan decks, one of the best decks in the Modern format. It allows you to quickly ramp with bounce lands to win the game after casting Primeval Titan for Valakut, The Molten Pinnacle by burning with all your Mountains.
Amulet Of Vigor’s cheap casting cost lets you immediately begin making plays with it as early as turn one. There are no shortages of combos with it either, and it turns a lot of normally below-average lands into amazing ones.
5. Sensei’s Divining Top
Despite how simple Sensei’s Divining Top looks, the card is so good it had to be banned from Modern and Legacy. Being able to control the top card of your deck is powerful, especially in decks that care about what is on top.
Sensei’s Divining Top is a staple in the Vintage format where it is completely unrestricted, seeing play in multiple decks that want to cheat cards out of their library. A big benefit to Sensei’s Divining Top is controlling your top deck and altering it to draw the card you want with its second effect. In formats with fetchlands, it’s even better as shuffling your deck becomes much stronger to ensure you’re only drawing into cards you want.
4. Aether Vial
Aether Vial is an artifact that shines brightest in decks that run low-cost creatures. It is a way to cheat extra creatures into play by simply putting them onto the battlefield. You don’t want to put too many counters on Aether Vial as you don’t have a high mana curve in the decks that run it.
The artifact sees play in both Legacy and Modern decks, namely in Merfolk and Death And Taxes decks. It is a great way to flood the battlefield with strong creatures, especially since you can start taking advantage of it on the first turn thanks to its mana value of one.
Aether Vial is a card you never mind drawing an extra copy of, as that means you can get more creatures onto the battlefield for free. It is important to note that Aether Vial does not cast the spell, it goes directly onto the battlefield. This means that the creature you use Aether Vial for will not be able to be countered or interacted with until it is physically on the battlefield.
3. Skullclamp
During its design, Skullclamp giving a creature -1 toughness was thought of as a downside. However, once it was released, it turned out to be the best thing about the card. Skullclamp is so strong it was banned out of its Standard era and remains banned in Modern and Legacy.
Skullclamp turns any disposable creature into two cards in your hand. In a deck like Goblins that creates a ton of low-toughness creature tokens, Skullclamp allows you to draw your whole deck. It is especially strong in Commander as creating an infinite amount of mana and creatures is easy to accomplish and combined with Skullclamp you can draw out your entire deck.
2. Mishra’s Bauble
Despite its simplicity, Mishra’s Bauble sees widespread play in every format it is legal in. It makes any deck essentially four cards smaller as it is a card you can cast for free that lets you draw a card. This would already be good, but as an added bonus, you get to look at the top card of your opponent’s library to gain information on your opponent’s hand so you can play around whatever card you saw. If you are playing with hidden decklists, this can sometimes reveal the archetype your opponent is on so you can plan your gameplan accordingly.
There are ways to cycle Mishra’s Bauble from the graveyard, allowing you to continuously use its effect to draw a ton of cards out from your library. There is almost no downside to using Mishra’s Bauble, which is why most decks play it even if there is no synergy with the rest of the strategy.
1. Chalice Of The Void
Chalice Of The Void is not just one of the best artifacts, it is one of the best ways to counter spells in all of Magic. It is an artifact that enters the battlefield with counters that will automatically counter any spells with a mana value matching the number of counters on it. Chalice Of The Void is legal in all formats it’s allowed in, but wound up being too much for Vintage to handle that it had to be restricted in the format.
Generally, Chalice Of The Void will enter the battlefield with one or two counters on it. These are the two mana values that are used the most often, so that shuts down any spells that have those mana values. You can control how many counters Chalice Of The Void has when you cast it, so you can ensure that it won’t be countering your own spells as it does affect both players, not just your opponents. It can shut down creatures, removal, counterspells, and more. All of this is why Chalice Of The Void is the best artifact in Magic.
That is the list. Artifacts are all over every format in the game of varying power levels. They are so powerful that there are some decks that only run artifacts in both the main deck and the sideboard. While artifacts can be coloured, many of the best ones are colourless. Artifacts are easy to cast and can benefit from having as many artifacts on the battlefield as possible. The best artifacts can hit the battlefield early so that their power can be immediately used in the game to swing things in your favor early-on.
MTG Best Artifacts – FAQ
What is the best artifact for a Magic: The Gathering deck?
The best artifact depends on how you play but we believe it is Chalice of the Void.
Can you play an artifact-only deck in Magic: The Gathering?
Yes. There are many players who choose to play artifact-only decks because some artifacts are very powerful.
