All 38 Exalted Cards in Magic Ranked

Last updated on January 23, 2026

Rafiq of the Many | Illustration by Michael Komarck

The release of Shards of Alara in 2008 brought five 3-color factions (or “shards”), each with their own core mechanics and identities. The shard known to this day as Bant () (sorry Brokers lovers) was identified by the exalted mechanic, which rewards you for attacking with only one creature at a time.

Exalted branched into black in Magic 2013 and even got its first red card in Modern Horizons. What else is there to know about this mechanic?

Let's jump in and find out!

What Is Exalted in MTG?

Noble Hierarch (Conflux) | Illustration by Mark Zug

Exalted triggers when you attack with a single creature, and grants the attacking creature +1/+1 until end of turn.

The mechanic hasn’t been used often and mostly features on cards designed for Limited, but there are some heavy hitters for Commander. There a single instance of an exalted keyword counter from Emissary of Soulfire.

Two qualities set the best exalted cards apart from the rest: how good the card is on its own, and how good it is when it’s not attacking. The top-tier exalted cards work well in a vacuum and provide bonuses when they themselves aren’t the attacking creature.

Dishonorable Mention: Urza's Dark Cannonball

Sticker cards don't deserve more than a passive mention, but for completion's sake here's Urza's Dark Cannonball, which can add a double-exalted trigger to a permanent you control.

#38. Outrider of Jhess

Outrider of Jhess is a low bar for blue exalted cards. It’s both a poor solo attacker and an over-costed way to pass exalted to another creature, so it completely misses the mark.

#37. Akrasan Squire

Akrasan Squire is cheap to cast so you can get it into play fast to help with stacking exalted triggers. It benefits from being played early and picking up subsequent exalted bonuses from other creatures, but games of Commander just aren’t about aggressive 1-drops.

#36. Aven Squire

Aven Squire’s best use is to teach new players how Magic cards are designed. Akrasan Squire costs 1 mana, and flying usually costs 1 mana. Add them together and you get this bread-and-butter Draft common.

Is it good in EDH? Absolutely not.

#35. Rhox Bodyguard

Rhox Bodyguard overcharges you for what you get. The incidental lifegain shouldn’t sway your decision much if you’re already out on a 5-mana 2/3 with exalted.

#34. Sighted-Caste Sorcerer

It’s debatable whether Sighted-Caste Sorcerer is better or worse than Akrasan Squire. On one hand, it has a built-in protection ability with shroud. On the other hand, it’s more expensive and unlikely to draw a removal spell from an opponent anyway.

#33. Waveskimmer Aven

You need to consider how exalted is going to improve that creature when it attacks once you start paying 5 or more mana for these creatures. Waveskimmer Aven isn’t helped much because the difference between a 2/4 flier on defense and a 3/5 flier on offense is marginal.

#32. Dawnray Archer

On-board combat tricks like this are easy to play around and rarely get used. Dawnray Archer can’t attack and use its tap ability, so it caps out as a mediocre support creature. It's not even in the right colors for Ohabi Caleria.

#31. Guardians of Akrasa

Is anything truly as beautiful as a combat-focused attack trigger on a creature with defender? The design is a bit tongue-in-cheek, but it can hold down the fort while still contributing to combat with exalted.

The only way Guardians of Akrasa gets any consideration in EDH is as a niche option for defender decks built around Arcades, the Strategist or Doran, the Siege Tower.

#30. Servant of Nefarox

Limited strikes again with Servant of Nefarox. There just isn’t a home for a card like this in EDH. Awesome artwork only gets you so far.

#29. Goblin Champion

Goblin Champion had its place in Modern Horizons Limited decks, but you’re not missing out on much unless you’re building a goblin Commander deck out of Draft chaff and bulk commons.

#28. Rhox Charger

Exalted makes the most sense on creatures with other offensive abilities, trample included. The bad news for Rhox Charger is that you can just put a 4/4 with trample into your decks, so there are usually better options unless you’re specifically looking to stack a bunch of exalted triggers.

#27. Sigiled Behemoth

The exalted attack bonus is the same no matter what creature it’s on, so you prefer it on lower cost cards to get them into play more reliably. The ability just doesn’t scale well with clunky expensive creatures like Sigiled Behemoth.

When it attacks alone you end up with a mere 6/5. It’s much too pricy to play as an enabler for other attackers.

#26. Duskmantle Prowler

The design of Duskmantle Prowler makes sense in theory because haste and exalted play well together. It’s a step in the right direction, but still well below the threshold to see EDH play.

#25. Court Archers

The concept of Court Archers is cute, but not all that good. It grants your exalted trigger to an attacking creature while sitting back on defense. Games of EDH are rarely decided by small reachers blocking small fliers, so you can do better.

#24. Frontline Sage

Frontline Sage may not be an EDH staple, but it isn’t that bad. It might as well do something while it sits back if its sole purpose is to provide exalted triggers to other creatures. You could do worse than a cheap loot ability.

Some sage advice: Keep this one on the backlines.

#23. Sigiled Paladin

First strike and exalted play hand-in-hand, so Sigiled Paladin probably holds its own on the battlefield. It’s neither very enticing nor embarrassing if you just want to try it out.

#22. Ethercaste Knight

Ethercaste Knight gets a boost by being an artifact, which only matters for certain Limited synergies. It’s an inconsequential card at Commander tables.

#21. Duty-Bound Dead

Another card that’s more clever than good, Duty-Bound Dead contributes to attacks early while it offers a little extra defensive value. You can’t afford to sink that much mana into regenerating a 0/2 blocker, but it is helpful in a pinch.

#20. Angelic Benediction

Slapping exalted onto a noncreature permanent makes it likely that the effect sticks around longer. Angelic Benediction gives the usual buff to your attacker while also tapping down a blocker. It’s a fine way to get an annoying deathtouch or indestructible creature out of the way.

#19. Emissary of Soulfire

As cool as an “exalted” counter is, Emissary of Soulfire is only a consideration in energy decks, and even there it's not the best energy payoff you could be playing. Its competition thus far has been light, so it's higher up on the list than it really should be.

#18. Knight of Glory

Protection is a very convenient ability to have. Knight of Glory doesn’t really make the cut unless you have a particularly strong vendetta against some mono-black player at your game store.

#17. Giltspire Avenger

Cool concept, but it’s a little underwhelming in practice. Giltspire Avenger contributes the usual +1/+1 to combat but also dissuades your opponents from cracking back.

I’ve never seen this card in play, but it’s doing something more unique than some other defensive options.

#16. First Sliver’s Chosen

If there’s one universal truth, it’s that sliver players love their slivers. First Sliver's Chosen mimics a stronger card, albeit for a very specific archetype with a bevy of other powerful options.

#15. Merchant of Truth

Now this is a cool use of the exalted mechanic! Giving the ability to Clue tokens gives those artifact tokens more use beyond just sacrificing them to draw cards, and Merchant of the Truth has respectable stats and relevant creature types without all the other text. Just investigating when creatures die is already something to be interested in.

#14. Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis

Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis represents a big jump in power level from the black commons and uncommons on this list. Nefarox has a relevant attack trigger beyond just granting the exalted bonus if you’re in the market for a big budget demon.

#13. Rammas Echor, Ancient Shield

White card draw, you say? Even if you don't care about the defender-specific design here, a legendary artifact that passively draws cards and spits out blockers might be worth a look in some decks. It obviously excels in Arcades, the Strategist decks, but the fact that the walls you create have exalted means this could have a home in aggro decks too.

#12. Ardent Plea

Ardent Plea is an extremely interesting card. It gives you an exalted trigger on an enchantment that also spots you a random cheap spell thanks to cascade. You could build your deck in such a way that you always flip into powerful spells, but that strategy cares more about cascade than exalted.

#11. Order of Sacred Dusk

Order of Sacred Dusk is a sweet 7-mana 5/5 with tons of keywords that also gives your other vampires exalted! On top of that, it has convoke, which means you can cast this for much cheaper than 7 mana. Overall, this card packs tons of value into a single creature.

#10. Battlegrace Angel

Battlegrace Angel does its best Baneslayer Angel impression while sometimes passing lifelink on to a different creature. It hits hard, makes it hard to race, and sometimes buffs a different creature entirely.

#9. Sovereigns of Lost Alara

Sovereigns of Lost Alara fits into a more specific type of deck than most exalted creatures. You can use it to fetch your most impactful aura and turn your single attacker into a game-winning threat if you’re stacking auras onto your creatures.

Eldrazi Conscription and Colossification come to mind as reasonable cards to find.

#8. Cathedral of War

Cathedral of War is the only instance of exalted on a land, which is a neat design space. If your game plan is to win with a giant attack from a single creature, consider this as an inoffensive way to make that happen.

#7. Qasali Pridemage

If you’re actively seeking exalted creatures or are looking for ways to sneak in more interaction, Qasali Pridemage is a nice tech option. Juicing your combat step and serving as an out to problematic permanents is great. The cat type makes Pridemage a solid option for Arahbo, Roar of the World or Rin and Seri, Inseparable.

#6. Xenk, Paladin Unbroken

Xenk, Paladin Unbroken is another aura payoff, this time granting exalted to those auras. This essentially adds a +1/+1 buff to each aura you control, though only on offense, and only if you attack alone. That plus double strike all adds up to a Voltron commander that wants you to load up on cheap auras and swing for lethal commander damage early and often.

#5. Finest Hour

Finest Hour isn’t quite as powerful as a traditional extra combat spell, but it works wonders in decks that swing with solitary threats. Exalted triggers each combat so you can free-roll your first attack and pick up +1/+1, then untap and attack again for an extra +1/+1.

#4. Sublime Archangel

Sublime Archangel is capable of dishing out huge amounts of damage. With no other creatures on board it attacks as a 4-mana 5/4 flier and hits harder for every other body you have on board.

Every exalted ability triggers separately so Sublime Archangel lets you double up on the bonuses of any exalted creature you’ve already played.

#3. Ignoble Hierarch

Exalted often pairs well with a good utility card, and Ignoble Hierarch is no exception. It works like any other mana dork and adds a point of damage to combat.

The baseline 1-mana accelerants are already quite good without exalted, so it’s first ability is a strong afterthought.

#2. Noble Hierarch

Noble Hierarch gets a slight nudge over Ignoble Hierarch because of the colors it supports. White has the most exalted cards and along with blue, desires the early ramp badly.

#1. Rafiq of the Many

Rafiq of the Many was one of the premium Voltron commanders for a long time. The combination of double strike and exalted means that Rafiq hits for 8 damage on its own, not counting any exalted triggers or combat buffs it might pick up.

Rafiq can grant its attack triggers to other creatures to sometimes pick off an opponent with a single attack, just like Battlegrace Angel.

Best Exalted Payoffs

“Voltron” is a slang way of talking about strategies that focus on building up one giant threat to take down your opponents. All your eggs are in the same basket, so the strategy can backfire if an opponent deals with your singular threat. Voltron decks often feature glass cannons, so you want to kill opponents as quickly as possible. Here are some ways to make it work.

Exalted triggers can help stack on those extra points of damage needed to close out the game.

Commanders like Isshin, Two Heavens as One, Grunn, the Lonely King and Wulfgar of Icewind Dale love the extra damage offered by exalted. Windcrag Siege fits in famously, and with Firebender Ascension it's only the trigger from the attacking creature, but it counts.

If you’re interested in attacking and making your creatures stronger, you’re probably interested in extra combat steps. They work especially well with exalted since each trigger carries over into the next combat phase.

Finest Hour was a great example, but there are plenty of extra combat spells in the card pool to choose from.

The exalted pump lasts to the end of the turn, so you proactively increased one creature's power and that means more success with Thickest in the Thicket, Drumhunter, and Ziatora, the Incinerator.

Among a handful of cards that card about attacking alone, a few fit really well if you care about exalted triggers. I call upon examples of Idolized, Team Avatar, The Last Ronin, Thoughtweft Imbuer, Derelict Attic, and Bilbo's Ring.

Infect is a divisive ability among Commander players. Some hate it, some love it (perhaps too much). Stacking 10 poison counters on a player causes them to lose the game, and infect creatures are the best way to get those counters going.

Cards like Phyrexian Crusader and Blighted Agent can take players out quickly if you can pump them up. Each instance of exalted is essentially another poison counter waiting to stack up on a player. Infect is a viable strategy in Commander, but it usually needs the help of other combat-related abilities like exalted to become a consistent wincon.

How Does Exalted Work?

Each instance of exalted on the permanents you control triggers when you declare an attack with a single creature. Each trigger goes on the stack and resolve individually. This all happens during the “declare attackers” phase of combat and before blockers are chosen.

The attacking creature doesn’t have to have exalted itself for the triggers to happen.

Is Exalted a Triggered Ability?

Exalted is a triggered ability and can be interacted with by anything that interacts with triggered abilities like an opponent’s Stifle or Glen Elendra's Answer.

Does Exalted Stack?

Yes, multiple instances of exalted stack. Each trigger whether from a land, artifact, creature or another permanent is placed on the stack individually.

Can a Creature Have Multiple Instances of Exalted?

Creatures can absolutely have multiple instances of exalted, and they each trigger separately when a creature attacks alone.

This is usually only relevant with Sublime Archangel, but it’s still good to know.

How Do You Give a Creature Exalted?

Sublime Archangel and First Sliver's Chosen were the first cards in Magic that granted the exalted keyword to other permanents.

Rammas Echor, Ancient Shield and Order of Sacred Dusk grant exalted to creatures of a certain type, and Emissary of Soulfire is currently the only card that can dish out exalted counters.

Did Exert Replace Exalted?

Exert did not replace exalted. Even though exalted hasn’t appeared in a lot of sets, it's still used sparingly in supplementary sets. Exert from Amonkhet and Hour of Devastation received similar treatment.

Exert and exalted both have combat implications when you attack with a creature, but they’re functionally different and could both be used in future Magic sets.

What If a Creature with Exalted Enters the Battlefield Attacking?

If a creature enters the battlefield attacking, that creature does not get the exalted triggers from other creatures or have its own exalted abilities trigger.

For exalted to trigger at all, a creature has to “attack alone,” not just be attacking. You have to declare a creature as an attacker during the declare attackers step. Anything that enters after that point like the trigger on Adeline, Resplendent Cathar misses its chance to trigger.

Exalted vs. Warrior and Samurai Attacks Alone

Neon Dynasty introduced a theme of samurai and warrior creatures attacking alone to get extra effects in combat.

Cards like Imperial Subduer show how they were inspired by the exalted ability. Even though their trigger conditions are the same, exalted is a keyword ability that can go on any permanent. The “samurai” abilities are simply different attack triggers on those individual cards.

These two types of cards play well together though, so try mixing and matching exalted cards with warriors and samurai for an extra boost to your combat phase.

How Does Exalted Work in Two-Headed Giant?

A creature is only considered “attacking alone” if it’s the only creature that declares an attack during that phase. When playing Two-Headed Giant, if you attack with a single creature and your teammate also declares an attack with a single creature, neither of those creatures “attacked alone,” so no exalted abilities trigger.

Your exalted abilities won’t work on your teammate’s creatures either since those creatures are under that player’s control. Exalted only triggers when a creature that you control attacks alone.

Wrap Up

Ignoble Hierarch (Modern Horizons 2) | Illustration by Mark Zug

Exalted has only been featured in a handful of Magic sets, but it’s bound to show up again in the future. It’s a clean, easy-to-understand combat ability with some interesting design space left to explore. We'll make sure to keep this article updated with the full list of cards, so you can find it here, if it exists!

What’s your opinion on exalted? Which cards do you find it pairs best with? Let me know in the comments or over on Draftsim’s Twitter.

Stay safe and take care!