The 41 Best Horrors in Magic Ranked

Last updated on January 9, 2026

Defiler of Flesh | Illustration by Mathias Kollros

What does horror mean to you? For some, it’s that feeling of petrifying dread when you hear something in the middle of the night. For others, it’s the idea of the unknown, the unfathomable. Others still find horror in a particular scene from Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure. You know the one.

In Magic, horrors are embodiments of fear that take form as grotesque, terror-inducing creatures. There’s a thin line between horrors and nightmares, and though they’re aesthetically interchangeable in most settings, they’re still distinct enough to warrant two separate, fully fleshed out creature types.

Let’s take a look at some of MTG’s most disturbing creatures and see which ones are the most horrible of all.

What Are Horror Creatures in MTG?

Mondrak, Glory Dominus | Illustration by Jason A. Engle

Horror is a creature type in MTG, heavily associated with black and blue creatures. It’s almost always used as a secondary creature type in conjunction with a more popular one (vampire horror, for example), though there are a few stand-alone horrors. 

Horrors don’t have too much of a unified identity across Magic, though many of them deal with mill and cards in exile, a theme that’s been strengthened by Commander precons like Mind Flayarrrs and sets like Duskmourn: House of Horror.

I’ll be weighting this list towards Commander, where most of the best horrors have the creature type arbitrarily and are just powerful cards without any typal synergies.

#41. Eternal Scourge

I wouldn’t be mentioning Eternal Scourge if Food Chain didn’t exist, but Food Chain is certainly a card someone made for some reason, so I feel obligated to bring up the colorless creature that can loop with the enchantment to make infinite mana.

#40. Time Reaper

Am I the only one who likes this card? I haven’t seen Time Reaper played at all, and I can’t even really recommend it, but it’s still pretty rad! Maybe it’s just too narrow, but you can do some interesting things with this demon and temporary blink effects like Flickerwisp or O-Ring removal like Grasp of Fate. It also seriously messes with suspend, which was kind of the point.

#39. Grazilaxx, Illithid Scholar

The best home I can think of for Grazilaxx, Illithid Scholar is a ninja deck, where you often want the option of bouncing your own creatures, and you’re running a few value ETB creatures anyway. It’s not a foolproof strategy, so I wouldn’t consider Grazilaxx in the command zone, but it seems like a reasonable support piece.

#38. Arvinox, the Mind Flail

Eight mana’s definitely too much for Arvinox, the Mind Flail, but this card speaks to me, and not in that weird way the Mind Flayer spoke to Will Byers in that awful second season of Stranger Things. I do love the upside-down version of this card from the Secret Lair crossover though, and the card can gather quite a bit of card advantage at tables that are amenable to 8-drops.

#37. Consuming Aberration

I’m not a huge Consuming Aberration fan, but it fits into Umbris, Fear Manifest and Phenax, God of Deception decks way too perfectly. It’s not easy to sneak this through in combat, but it is easy to make it gigantic. 

#36. Drivnod, Carnage Dominus

Drivnod, Carnage Dominus is the least exciting Dominus to me, mainly because it’s just a carbon copy of Teysa Karlov. Redundancy’s fine though, and Teysa can’t become indestructible like Drivnod can. I do like the monster’s half-portrayal on the Special Guests version of Dismember, though.

#35. Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus

Either your entire deck is built with Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus in mind, or you’re not playing the card. It doesn’t do any proliferating on its own, so it’s purely a payoff card for a proliferate-themed deck. Picking up indestructible counters gives it some nice protection, a theme that’s consistent across all the Dominus creatures.

#34. Woe Strider

Woe Strider will never be the best card in your deck, but it’ll always serve its purpose well in aristocrats builds. This horror and its token buddy are goated as far as sac outlets go.

#33. Thrummingbird

Thrummingbird is the Phyrexian bird horror that could, giving counter-based decks a consistent source of proliferation since Scars of Mirrodin.

#32. Ravenous Chupacabra

If you’re gunning for an ETB creature that gets something dead, Ravenous Chupacabra is your, er, chupacabra, I guess. Some prefer Shriekmaw, but this ain’t a list of elementals, now is it?

#31. Defiler of Flesh

The defilers from Dominaria United are all interesting as sources of cost reduction for their respective colors. Defiler of Flesh converts a single black pip on each permanent you cast into Phyrexian mana, which sounds great, but the cast trigger is pretty tame compared to something like Defiler of Vigor or Defiler of Dreams.

#30. The Master of Keys

Anyone make this thing work yet? We’re still fairly fresh off the back of Duskmourn and its Commander precons, so I haven’t had the (dis?)pleasure of facing off against The Master of Keys. Underworld Breach in the command zone terrifies me though, even if it’s narrowed to a single card type. Drop a decklist in the comments if you’ve been experimenting with the Master!

#29. Pink Horror

Me, when I accidentally wash my whites and reds together.

I’m not really trying to pay 2 extra mana for Guttersnipe, but what if we doubled the stats, let it Shock anything when you cast an instant or sorcery, then made it die into two turbo-charged Firebrand Archers? Interested now?

#28. Sméagol, Helpful Guide

Apparently all the Sméagols are horrors, but they’re all kind of middling. The only reason I mention Sméagol, Helpful Guide is because it’s actually an interesting reward for self-sacrifice and Ring tempting, and it also enables some infinite combo lines with certain landfall creatures.

#27. Spellskite

I feel like Spellskite is heavily underrated in Commander. I mean, I’m not jamming it in any of my decks, but this card can really mess up some strategies. Any deck running auras is just done, and it can really screw around with removal and pump spells. Maybe the onboard-trick nature of the redirect turns people off, but I like to think it’s the horror typing scaring everyone away.

#26. Aboleth Spawn

I’ve been a long-time fan of Faerie Artisans as a means of piggybacking off of opponents’ value creatures. Aboleth Spawn does the same thing for less mana, and flash means your opponents play into it more often. Ward’s not necessary here, but I’ll take it, and if my opponents refuse to cast their ETB creature while it sits in play, I’d call that a win too.

#25. Everything with “Gitrog” in its Name

So sick of these dumb frogs. I mean, they’re all kind of excellent, right? It just feels like one of the game designers at Wizards owns a The Gitrog Monster deck and purposefully prints cards with that in mind. The Gitrog, Ravenous Ride has also been insanely strong the few times I’ve run into it.

#24. Zopandrel, Hunger Dominus

Zopandrel, Hunger Dominus is a perfectly fine card, one that can dish out tons of extra damage in a green stompy deck. I’m just not blown away by it, given that Unnatural Growth exists and does the same exact thing. There are definite advantages to having this effect attached to a potentially indestructible creature, though.

#23. Kraum, Ludevic’s Opus

Kraum, Ludevic's Opus is a popular cEDH partner, which doesn’t interest me enough to prattle on about it, but it certainly deserves mention for that crowd of players.

#22. Psychosis Crawler

I’ve kind of gone through a bit of a Psychosis Crawler renaissance. Maybe it’s because no one’s cast a single-target removal spell in my games in the last few years (exaggeration), but this thing just always seems to sit in play and nug everyone for 10-15 damage each game, and that’s not even in wheel decks where this is a primary wincon.

#21. Phyrexian Vindicator

Why obliterate when you can vindicate? I guess Obliterate and Vindicate are actual cards, but that comparison’s not what I’m after here. Phyrexian Vindicator has the “spite” ability that redirects damage and enough white pips to turn on any relevant devotion card. My favorite place to play this is Brawl, where it dumpsters Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer decks on its own.

#20. Phyrexian Obliterator

The OG devotion card before devotion was a thing, Phyrexian Obliterator has been inspiring people since it was printed. It’s really fun to try and break this wide open with fight spells and red sweepers, but my favorite place to play this is Brawl, where it dumpsters Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer decks on its own.

#19. Obosh, the Preypiercer

Obosh, the Preypiercer is one of the “fair” companions, if such a thing exists. Damage doublers are everywhere, so you don’t really unlock anything extraordinary when you companion it, and it’s a very killable card in the 99. Still, an extra card is an extra card, hence the disdain for companions.

#18. Mindslicer

Mindslicer’s one rude dude. Save this for the already contentious miser decks like Tergrid, God of Fright and spare your friendships.

#17. Mutated Cultist

I fanboyed about Mutated Cultist when it came out, but I’m not sure it’s lived up to my own personal hype. It’s hard to line this up in a way that meets expectations, but when you do line up everything right it’s kind of busted. Am I just bad at card evaluation? No, surely it’s every other Magic player who’s wrong.

#16. Demolisher Spawn

Demolisher Spawn is comparable to End-Raze Forerunners if delirium’s online, which isn’t very hard at the point in the game where you’re casting a 7-drop. +4/+4 is massive, but you’ll note the lack of trample on other creatures. Some people will say that kills the card, but I’m not shrugging off a hasty creature that can add an extra 20-40 damage to your swing out of nowhere.

#15. Zellix, Sanity Flayer

I’ve only ever seen Zellix, Sanity Flayer in the context of trying to mill everyone out with Altar of Dementia, but there’s room for creativity here with different types of backgrounds. Haunted One is the background that came packaged with Zellix in the Mind Flayarrrs precon, so there’s some precedent for horror typal here.

#14. The Lieges

The Lieges are a full cycle of creatures from Shadowmoor and Eventide that pump two individual colors of creatures and have some other random abilities. I previously didn’t know that the Eventide Lieges are all horrors, while the Shadowmoor versions aren’t. These are all good enough in their respective 2-color decks without any particular synergies, though I rarely see them in play, even after the full cycle was reprinted in Double Masters 2022.

#13. Overlord of the Mistmoors

I thought about including all the Duskmourn Overlords like I did with the Dominus creatures from All Will Be One, but honestly, I don’t find many of them all that compelling in Commander. I like Overlord of the Mistmoors most because it’s in the primary blink color, it's a solid token generator in white, and the impending creatures are incredible if you can flicker them. But the others are just mediocre cards to cast for their impending costs, and they aren’t game-breaking if you cast them straight-up, either.

#12. Brainstealer Dragon

Go right ahead Brainstealer Dragon, ain’t nothing up in that noggin anyway. This card’s always a menace when it hits the board, stealing up to three extra cards per turn and hurting opponents as their spells get stolen out from underneath them. Even better, the second ability triggers off reanimation effects that target other players’ graveyards.

#11. Umbris, Fear Manifest

Umbris, Fear Manifest is sort of like a legendary Consuming Aberration, though you’ll want other ways to exile graveyards to make it tick. It’s best friends with Leyline of the Void and other persistent graveyard hate pieces, and it even lets nightmares join in on the fun.

#10. Solphim, Mayhem Dominus

Damage doublers aren’t that hard to come by (we already saw Obosh), so Solphim, Mayhem Dominus isn’t doing anything too unique. If you want to play a highly consistent burn deck with access to a damage amplifier every game, Solphim’s a strong, if telegraphed option.

#9. Sauron, the Dark Lord

What I enjoy most about Sauron, the Dark Lord is the different directions you can take this commander. Aristocrats is a great way to make use of the Orc Army tokens you’ll keep amassing, or you can lean into the Ring-tempting text. It also sports a very punishing ward effect, which it kind of needs to justify running a card this expensive.

#8. Captain N’ghathrod

Captain N'ghathrod reinforces the mill nature of horrors, and Davy Jones here runs a tight ship. Sweeping menace for your creatures is already pretty good, but stealing cards that you milled is even more diabolical.

#7. Mondrak, Glory Dominus

Anointed Procession on a big enamel pseudo-god, sign me up. This is a token deck staple, though an expensive one with few replacements. Mondrak, Glory Dominus can even make the cut in some aristocrats decks as a sac outlet that also doubles up your fodder production.

#6. Toxrill, the Corrosive

Big dumb stupid slug. An active Toxrill, the Corrosive makes it very hard to maintain any reasonable board state, similar to an Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite that scales over time. It’s essentially -4/-4 to all opposing creatures across an entire turn cycle, and each creature that dies is replaced with a 1/1, which can then be converted into cards. Crimson Vow really loved its 7-mana bombs, didn’t it?

#5. Hullbreaker Horror

Crimson Vow really loved its 7-mana bombs, didn’t it? Hullbreaker Horror is the reason Tidespout Tyrant had to retire, and the reason I’m not friends with Jeremy anymore. You know what you did, Jeremy.

It’s just really hard to get out from underneath this kraken horror, both in terms of gameplay and artistic direction.

#4. K’rrik, Son of Yawgmoth

Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, it seems. K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth is dangerous, turning all black pips on your spells into Phyrexian mana and growing as you cast them. Lifelink recoups some of the life lost to cast said spells, which in turn makes Yawg’s kiddo an even bigger lifelinker. It’s all cyclical in nature and adds up to a commander worthy of cEDH tables.

#3. Yarok, the Desecrated

Yarok, the Desecrated was printed in Core Set 2020, right around the time when Magic cards started noticeably getting more powerful. Yarok definitely felt like a step up from many commanders than came before it, even other value-oriented Sultai commanders () like Muldrotha, the Gravetide. Now everything’s insanely powerful so Yarok’s not as popular, but if you’re looking for an ability doubler in the command zone, Yarok’s always a fine choice to lean on.

#2. Atraxa, Praetors’ Voice

Only one Atraxa on the docket today, since apparently 4-color commander Atraxa, Grand Unifier isn’t quite as horrifying as its earlier version. At this point there’s nothing I can say about Atraxa that hasn’t been said many times before, but I guess “horror” is something most Atraxa players don’t lean into. Maybe a new direction for your “casual” Atraxa deck?

#1. Ancient Cellarspawn

I’m probably being hyperbolic putting Ancient Cellarspawn at number 1, but I’m floored by this card, and none of that has anything to do with the cost reduction ability. It’s trivially easy to cast spells for free or buy into cost reduction mechanics like delve and emerge, and Cellarspawn just throws out damage while doing so. It’s not quite a 3-mana Kaervek the Merciless since it only hits players, but it’s also not a 7-mana creature. And if you are playing demons, horrors, and nightmares, good luck opponents!

Best Horror Payoffs

Very few horror payoffs have been printed in Standard sets, with the exception being Thing in the Ice / Awoken Horror. This is more of a spellslinger card than a true horror payoff, but you’re probably running it as a potential one-sided board wipe in horror-themed decks.

I gushed about Ancient Cellarspawn in the rankings, and I’m likely too high on the card, but it’s definitely a shoo-in for horror decks.

Captain N'ghathrod and Umbris, Fear Manifest are your go-to horror commanders, with Umbris playing towards commander damage and the Captain playing a mill/attrition game.

Uchuulon is just, uh, really freaking weird? But also a creature that scales alongside your other horrors (plus oozes and crabs?).

Endless Evil is a much cheaper variant of Followed Footsteps and even has the ability to be cast multiple times per game. Psionic Ritual lets you free-cast an instant or sorcery spell from your graveyard, and replicates by tapping horrors. This does a good Mizzix's Mastery impression for 2 less mana with enough horrors in play.

Wrap Up

Captain N'ghathrod | Illustration by Andrey Kuzinskiy

And with that, the nightmare ends and the horrors retreat to the shadows from whence they came. But don’t let your guard down, they could always be lurking beneath your bed. Maybe in your closet, in your head. Who knows?

Horrors are a fairly scattered creature type that’re used more for worldbuilding and card flavoring than they are to create a centralized theme or identity, but the horror typing has produced some memorable creatures. With Valgavoth pulling strings across the multiverse, there’s a chance we see even more horror influence in future Magic sets.

Until then, we’ll work with what we’ve got, and you can tell me if I left any notable horrors off the list. Honestly, might be best to keep them locked away. Either way, let me know in the comments below, or on the Draftsim Discord/Twitter!

As always, thanks for making Draftsim your #1 stop for all things Magic!