The 36 Best Assassins in Magic Ranked

Last updated on August 31, 2025

Massacre Girl | Illustration by Chris Rallis

Fantasy games give you opportunities to roleplay all kinds of characters. Whether you’re waist deep in a D&D campaign or booting up your Nth save file of your favorite RPG, it’s fun to escape into someone else. Who shall you be today? A warrior? An archer? A druid? A noble?

There’s one class of slippery characters that excels at going unnoticed until their goals are met: the deadly clan of assassins. Killing is their strength, both in lore and in-game.

It shouldn’t surprise you that humans are the most common assassins, but which other creatures dabble in that trade? We’ve assembled an Rogues’ Assassins’ Gallery for you to meet. But don’t worry; they’re all heavily sedated, and we took away all their weapons!

What Are Assassins in MTG?

Mari, the Killing Quill | Illustration by Rob Rey

Assassin is a creature class in Magic. Classes usually work to describe a creature’s role within a specific species. For example, “human assassin,” “merfolk wizard,” or “goblin rogue” are all species/class combinations. There’s no functional game difference between species and classes, and both are treated as creature types.

Royal Assassin from Alpha was the first assassin with the type. The vast majority of assassins are mono-black creatures, but they dabble in other colors. As you’d expect, assassins often have abilities related to dealing damage to your opponents or killing their creatures. Deathtouch is common, but watch out for more elaborate options.

Assassins were batched along with mercenaries, pirates, rogues, and warlocks into outlaws as of Outlaws of Thunder Junction, creating a typal grouping reminiscent of the party creatures.

There are roughly 100 assassins in the game as of the Assassin’s Creed Universes Beyond product. There are also eight cards and one Planechase plane that create Assassin tokens:

• Vraska the Unseen
• Vraska, Swarm's Eminence
• Queen Marchesa
• Headsplitter
• Origin of the Hidden Ones
• Aya of Alexandria
• Ratonhnhaké:ton
• Rooftop Bypass
• Paliano

One card, Mari, the Killing Quill, links assassins to rogues and mercenaries, but Outlaws of Thunder Junction coupled assassins, mercenaries, rogues, pirates, and warlocks under the outlaw banner.

There’s also Brotherhood Regalia and Coerced to Kill and other effects that add assassin to their equipped/enchanted creature’s types. Ezio, Brash Novice can become an assassin with enough counters, while Haytham Kenway has protection from assassins. Vihaan, Goldwaker is an outlaw commander that can turn treasure into assassins.

#36. The Equipment and Historic Payoffs

Many of Assassin’s Creed assassin cards support an equipment-based playstyle, including Bureau Headmaster, Arbaaz Mir, Eivor, Battle-Ready, and more. It’s different than what you’d expect from a creature type that tends to live in black colors, so let’s bundle them all here as their own archetype.

Ratonhnhaké꞉ton seems like a fun card to build around, but I don’t see you using it in support much outside of Ezio decks or some very niche Esper () equipment builds. I’ll count Elena, Turk Recruit from Final Fantasy Commander here, too.

#35. Vincent Valentine / Galian Beast

While Vincent Valentine isn’t the only pesky assassin that keeps coming back for more, it needs you to jump through more hoops to get there, and its legendary supertype makes it tougher to run in multiples. Still a good assassin to have on your side.

#34. Nekrataal

Nekrataal is so old that its original type line was “Summon Nekrataal” and it “buried” rather than “destroyed” a creature on ETB. Enters the battlefield abilities are still powerful and highly sought, so it’s not surprising that Nekrataal has come back around in reprints. First strike should also help it eke out some combat wins that it wouldn’t survive otherwise.

#33. Silumgar Assassin

Silumgar Assassin is a removal spell for your morph and megamorph decks. It also can’t be blocked by anything with more power than it. Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer is the perfect commander if you’re looking to put out your face down creatures cheaply.

#32. Dark Impostor

Dark Impostor exiles creatures and steals their activated abilities. It can be in your assassin-themed deck, but it sees its fair share of play in Edgar Markov decks too.

#31. Fleshtaker

Imagine waking up in a twilit cornfield, bound and gagged, with this fella staring down at you, cleaver in hand. Bloodchilling. Or thrilling. We don’t judge here.

Fleshtaker works both as a sacrifice outlet and a sacrifice payoff, which is tidy butcher work.

#30. Termination Facilitator

Firing people is never fun, nor easy, but Termination Facilitator is here for all your end-of-employment needs. Oh. Not that kind of termination.

Termination Facilitator doesn’t care what kind of damage you’ve dealt to destroy a permanent, just that you’ve placed a bounty. Suddenly, your pingers and low-damage spells are that much more effective. The fact that you can give bounty counters to planeswalkers is just gravy.

#29. Edward Kenway

Edward Kenway can work as a combination assassin/vehicle commander. Some assassins tap for activated abilities, which means you don’t have to use them to crew vehicles to get some Treasure on your end step. You’ll want to run vehicles, though, so you can take advantage of the second ability and steal cards from your opponents. I’d run Don Andres, the Renegade in here to take advantage of playing other people’s cards.

#28. Ezio Auditore da Firenze

Don’t get me wrong, Ezio Auditore da Firenze is a fun assassin to play out of the command zone, especially since it gives you an extra path to victory. Its placement here is mainly because it’s a “command zone or bust” card.

#27. Etrata, Deadly Fugitive + Roshan, Hidden Magister

Some assassins play into the face-down creature space, which ties nicely into the whole anonymous and evasive thing. Etrata, Deadly Fugitive gives you access to more face-down creatures by cloaking cards from the top of your opponents’ decks and lets you turn them face-up more easily. Roshan, Hidden Magister turns all your creatures into assassins so you can benefit from typal payoffs, and it’s a menace enabler for your face-down creatures, too.

#26. Thorn of the Black Rose

Thorn of the Black Rose shows how assassins can be loyal to their patrons or their causes, fitting nicely into any story with political machinations. This assassin is focused on regicide, so that’s nice. The monarch status gets you extra cards, and the deathtouch makes opponents balance keeping the crown or keeping their creatures.

#25. Mary Read and Anne Bonny

This card is in great colors for what it does. Mary Read and Anne Bonny can help you to churn through your deck for answers. Pirate and vehicle decks that dip into blue and red can definitely use that, plus the Treasure token you get for discarding the right cards.

#24. Arno Dorian

You won’t play Arno Dorian much in the command zone since there’s no point in using its disguise ability if you do, but you’ll want it in any typal assassin deck that runs these colors for the +2/+0 power buff.

#23. Virtus the Veiled

It may be designed to partner with Gorm the Great, but Virtus the Veiled is a little ridiculous even on its own. Any time you can cut through your opponents’ life at this rate, you should. Your assassin typal can use Virtus, but I like the idea of putting it in a Kamiz, Obscura Oculus deck. Just slap some equipment or a white aura on it if you want to make it unblockable.

#22. Etrata, the Silencer

Don’t you just love alternate win conditions? Etrata, the Silencer is an unblockable vampire, and its combat damage trigger generates that alt wincon. It’ll absolutely be removal bait. I doubt your opponents will be wiping their own board every turn so that they don’t accumulate hit counters.

#21. Ezio, Blade of Vengeance

Turning combat damage into cards is a great ability to have when you’re running an evasive creature type, which is why Ezio, Blade of Vengeance should help you to draw more than your fair share over the course of a game. A 5/5 with deathtouch is no joke, either.

#20. Vraska, the Silencer

Vraska, the Silencer is built from a similar mold as Shelob, Child of Ungoliant, allowing you to steal some of your opponents’ creatures when they die. They become noncreature treasures, but they maintain their other abilities. Deathtouch and forced combat decks can benefit from turning your opponents’ threats into artifacts on your side of the board.

#19. Assassin Initiate

Though basic, Assassin Initiate has a suite of useful abilities that make it a powerful 1-drop.

#18. Ramses, Assassin Lord + Achilles Davenport

Ramses, Assassin Lord sure lives up to its name. It buffs your other assassins, but you also get an alternative win condition. If an opponent loses during the same turn one of your assassins attacked them, you win. That’s giving the imp in me all kinds of nefarious notions. Achilles Davenport is close enough in design, although it doesn’t give you the alternative wincon.

#17. Olivia, Opulent Outlaw

The face commander of OTC’s Most Wanted EDH precon, Olivia, Opulent Outlaw gives you Treasure whenever your outlaws deal combat damage to a player. Being an assassin itself, you can focus on them as part of your outlaw crew, especially given how many are evasive or have their own saboteur effects.

#16. Desmond Miles

Desmond Miles can be a punishing attacker late in the game when you have assassins in your graveyard, while its surveil ability helps you to get even more relevant creatures in there. Pair it with a type changer like Conspiracy or Roshan, Hidden Magister and you’re cackling all the way to the bank and back.

#15. Callidus Assassin

I love this. Callidus Assassin replaces whatever it copies, which is like stealing opponents’ creatures. Plus, it’s prime shapeshifter lore.

#14. Ruthless Lawbringer

Ruthless Lawbringer gives you some useful removal on its ETB. I appreciate that it’s a choice, so that if you bring it down when nobody has anything you want to destroy, you won’t be forced to destroy something you own.

#13. Murderous Redcap

Persist is a great way to get more than one ETB activation out of Murderous Redcap, but Alesha, Who Smiles at Death can also grab it as part of its attack trigger. So you cast it, and it ETBs and does damage. Then it dies, persists, and comes back to do damage. It dies again, and now you grab it, tap it, and attack with it using Alesha’s attack trigger. Rinse and repeat.

That’s just one of the ways you can take advantage of this goblin, who is one of the best bite effects in the game; you can skip the graveyard entirely if you cancel that -1/-1 counter in a +1/+1 counter strategy. And I’ll let goblin players sound off in the comments on how they use this lil guy.

#12. Ravenloft Adventurer

Ah, Battle for Baldur’s Gate and those initiative plays. Dungeon crawlers, this might be your favorite assassin. The hit counters also help if you’re running Etrata, the Silencer and are looking to fuel that alt wincon. You can also use Ravenloft Adventurer’s attack trigger to put pressure on their life total. It’s a hair expensive in terms of mana, so you might trim it for a leaner curve.

#11. Iridescent Vinelasher

Thanks to its offspring ability, Iridescent Vinelashergives you two bodies for 3 mana, and both have a landfall ability that pings an opponent for 1 damage. You can take advantage of that as long as you plan to play multiple lands per turn, whether you mill yourself or sacrifice your lands for value.

#10. Mari, the Killing Quill

There are other assassins that add hit counters, but Mari, the Killing Quill can remove them to get you Treasure. It’s nearly essential in any assassin build that plays black. So, you know, all of them.

#9. Vein Ripper

“Big” and “assassin” didn’t usually go together, but here we are. Vein Ripper is a big vampire assassin that fuels your lifeloss/lifegain package in a vampire build, or it can be a death payoff in your assassin deck. Your opponent will need to sacrifice a creature and pay 2 life to the Ripper’s trigger to get past ward, a pretty steep price, I’d say.

#8. Royal Assassin

“Royal,” as in King Among Killers. Royal Assassin only costs 3 to get out, and it only needs to tap to destroy a target creature. That creature must be tapped, but there are lots of reasons that a creature could be tapped. They could have attacked, convoked another spell, or activated an ability. Or maybe you’ve cast a tapping Twiddle on it. You rascal, you.

#7. Big Game Hunter

Big Game Hunter essentially becomes a 1-drop in an Anje Falkenrath deck, while Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker can turn this into reusable removal. Madness, say I!

#6. The Lord of Pain

This assassin is so punishing. The Lord of Pain locks out any strategy that relies on lifegain, whether your opponent wants to turn it into a resource or aim for that Test of Endurance win condition. Its triggered ability is a relentless source of burn damage, but you can choose to be a masochist and direct it to yourself if you have payoffs for taking damage.

#5. Massacre Girl

Massacre Girl can be absolutely devastating to any battlefield with a lot of 1-toughness creatures. I’m looking at you, token strategies. This card’s here for you. Hide your birds, hide your rats, hide your Eldrazi Scions ‘cause they’re killing everybody out here.

#4. Massacre Girl, Known Killer

Granting all your creatures wither, especially if you’re running a lot of assassins, is just disgusting. There’s a reason Massacre Girl, Known Killer is among the most popular commanders from Murders at Karlov Manor. The card draw is icing on the cake, and this Massacre Girl is 1-mana cheaper than the original with the same 4/4 body.

#3. Unstoppable Slasher

Unstoppable Slasher is exactly that. It chews into opponents for half of their life total rounded up; an unblockable Slasher can be your win condition. Even without the added help, this assassin is a threat that your opponents must answer if they want to stay in the game.

#2. Razorkin Needlehead

Razorkin Needlehead is absolutely busted. It can take any player out of the game if you combine it with Peer into the Abyss, or you can enchant it with Phyresis and play something like Echo of Eons or Windfall for a similar effect. Any deck that wants to force its opponents to draw cards in red can abuse this. The only reason it doesn’t get the top slot is because a certain monarch might lock me in a dungeon if I don’t give the crown to….

#1. Queen Marchesa

All hail! I absolutely love the flavor and construction of this Mardu commander. Queen Marchesa snatches The Monarch for you upon entering and doesn’t take kindly to being crownless. Either you’re getting cards or you’re getting Assassin tokens. Hasty, deathtouchy Assassin tokens. Would you follow this queen’s banners into battle?

Assassin's Creed brought along some more assassins that lean into Mardu colors, which means that Marchesa can now play with more of a typal slant than ever before.

Best Assassin Payoffs

Thanks to Assassin’s Creed, we have a bunch of assassin lords to slot into our decks like Achilles Davenport, Arno Dorian and Ezio, Blade of Vengeance, along with assassin commanders like Ezio Auditore da Firenze, Edward Kenway, and Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad. ACR also gave us Brotherhood Headquarters as a color fixer for assassin decks.

Some non-ACR assassin payoffs and lords include Ramses, Assassin Lord as an alternate win condition and Interceptor, Shadow's Hound as a self-reanimating menace enabler.

Assassins are included among outlaws, so outlaw payoffs like Olivia, Opulent Outlaw and Vihaan, Goldwaker also work as assassin payoffs. Mari, the Killing Quill offers some pre-OTJ typal batching with mercenaries and rogues to give you eventual card draw and Treasure tokens.

Some other outlaw payoffs include At Knifepoint to grant your assassins first strike, Back in Town as mass reanimation, and Double Down as a board-widener. Take note that Double Down loses its impact if you run a deck full of legendary assassins.

Contract Completed

Ramses, Assassin Lord | Illustration by Manuel Castañon

That wraps up our adventure with assassins! As a creature class, they definitely add to the flavor of any plane we visit. Just like rogues, artificers, and soldiers, they’ve got a role in society, albeit a dark one. Yep, totally a black mana gang.

Which assassins are your favorite? Do you run assasins as a typal build, or do you sprinkle them into other strategies? How do you think the Assassin’s Creed assassins fare compared to those from other sets? Leave a killer comment below, and don’t forget to join the official Draftsim Discord.

Clean your blades and keep ‘em sharp!