Bigger is always better, yes? The biggest Creatures aren’t always the best in Magic: the Gathering. Yes, you’ve got some good cost-to-stat ratios from Gigantosaurus or Nessian Boar, but you also have the terribly lackluster Krosan Cloudscraper despite being a 13/13 Creature with 1 of the highest Power/Toughness stats in the game.
There’ve been plenty of articles that list game’s biggest Creatures based on Power, but many just don’t impact to the game enough. We’ve curated a special list of not just the biggest and beefiest Creatures in Magic, but who are literal powerhouses and are difficult to deal with. Some of them are Indestructible, while others have neat ways of coming onto the Battlefield early.
Unfortunately the biggest Creatures all come with an inevitable high cost, and can be a risk as much as a boon in decks. However, when played smart and in the right way, these behemoths can completely turn the tide in your favour.
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger (10/10)
We begin this list of baddest, biggest Creatures with a 10/10 beast. It’s one of the 3 famed Eldrazis – Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger. This version of Ulamog steps ahead of Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre simply because the Ceaseless Hunger right away Exiles 2 Permanents, and is clearly better than the Gyre that only destroys 1.
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger doesn’t have Annihilator but it is still Indestructible and has a powerful ability of Exiling the top 20 cards of an opponent’s Library. In a 60-card deck, that’s 1/3 of it gone! Two more attacks like that and it’s game over.
Blightsteel Colossus (11/11)
Blightsteel Colossus may cost a hefty 12 Mana, but it has 2 key abilities that firmly entrenches it as 1 of the meanest and biggest Creatures in Magic – Infect and Indestructible. With 11/11 stats, an unblocked Colossus will be dealing a lethal dose of Poison counters to the defending player. Instant player removal.
Because Blightsteel Colossus is an Artifact, there are some cards that can cheat it out into play. Magda, Brazen Outlaw does this frighteningly easy in Commander, by sacrificing 5 Treasures to bring Colossus onto the Battlefield. This card is so good that you might even find it inside some of the most powerful Commander decks.
Perhaps its only weakness, like many other giant Creatures here, is by Exile removal spells, or certain Auras (like Frogify) that remove all its abilities.
Ghalta, Primal Hunger (12/12)
Don’t be fooled by its high casting cost/Mana Value. Ghalta, Primal Hunger can be cast as early as turn 4 or 5 in mono green decks, thanks to its underrated cost reduction ability that is dependent on the total Power of your Creatures.
Mono green decks are very consistent, often starting with Llanowar Elves on turn 1, a 5-Power Creature like Lovestruck Beast on turn 2 and 3, and finally your biggest Creature (Ghalta) on turn 4 for just double green Mana.
Once Ghalta is stomping around, the opponent just won’t have enough Creatures that early in the game to block or kill it. A Creature with Deathtouch will be a life saviour, but even then they’ll easily be taking 10 Trample damage (half of the starting life total in non-Commander games). It is vulnerable to direct removal spells, but when you catch them unawares by casting it early, they only have a couple of turns to find an answer or concede.
Kozilek, the Great Distortion (12/12)
Both Kozileks are among the biggest Creatures in Magic, but Kozilek, the Great Distortion has been the backbone general in many colour Commander decks. Despite costing 10 Mana (2 of which have to be colourless), Kozilek, the Great Distortion comes out scarily quick thanks to the abundance of Mana rocks such as Mana Crypt, Sol, Ring, Mana Vault and Metal Worker.
This Kozilek has the distinct ability of countering spells by discarding cards, thus offering the rare double treat of amazing offence and defence. On attack, it is a 12/12 with Menace, effectively putting a 2-turn clock (even in Commander) for any defending player.
It doesn’t have Indestructible, thankfully, but each time you cast Kozilek means drawing at least a few cards that will ensure you keep growing your Land base and other options open.
Emrakul, the Promised End (13/13)
13 Mana for a 13/13 – it’s definitely one of the game’s biggest Creatures, but for a lot of Mana. Luckily Emrakul, the Promised End can be cast for less depending on the number of card types in your Graveyard. There are only so many card types in Magic, so assuming you manage to have 4 or 5 (Creature, Artifact, Enchantment, Instant, Sorcery) in the Graveyard, you’ll be able to get it out for 8 or 9 Mana.
The payoff is huge once you’ve cast The Promised End, as you take control of an opponent’s entire turn, casting their own spells against them or to meddle with your other opponents in a multiplayer game.
Flying and Trample are great abilities to have, but its protection from Instants might be its most clinical, since many premium removal spells such as Swords to Plowshares and Deadly Rollick are all Instants.
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn (15/15)
When you think of 15 Mana Creatures, there are some that leave a bad taste in the mouth. Draco and Shadow of Mortality are 2 such cards that almost no player would even try to cast. Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, on the other hand, provides so much value that it’s worth the risk of putting it in your deck and attempting to get it onto the Battlefield.
If you somehow manage to cast it for 15 Mana (no cost reductions here), you get a free extra turn, and protection from any coloured spells. Short of a Maze of Ith, opponents will find it virtually impossible to deal with this flying Eldrazi.
The extra turn also means you get to attack before any other player gets to untap, and that’s when the Annihilator 6 can totally wreck someone. The defending player will have to Sacrifice 6 Permanents, with Lands eligible, so at the very least that player will no longer be able to cast spells.
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn is one of the biggest Creatures in Magic that can also end the game from there and then.
Worldspine Wurm (15/15)
Worldspine Wurm is a monster 15/15 that comes with the much needed Trample ability that many others on this list do not have. Paying 11 Mana is reasonable, neither cheap nor exorbitant for the stats, but the best part is it comes with a failsafe should the opponent get rid of it.
When Worldspine Wurm dies, it will create 3 5/5 Wurm tokens that effectively replaces the Worldspine Wurm that you’ve just lost. Three 5/5s is usually not as great as having a single 15/15, but it’s great insurance against a board wipe or target removal. For the 11 Mana that you’ve paid, you are effectively getting a total of 30/30 in Power and Toughness stats.
Worldspine Wurm is one of the biggest Creatures in Magic that also provides relatively good value if you’re able to cast it.
Impervious Greatwurm (16/16)
Even though 10 Mana is a lot to spend on a single Creature, a 16/16 with Indestructible has got to be one of the better deals out there. The 16/16 stats puts it among the top 5 biggest Creatures, but don’t be surprised if you see Impervious Greatwurm hit the board as early as turn 6.
With its Convoke ability, you can tap any number of your own Creatures to help pay for Impervious Greatwurm[c]‘s casting cost. For green-white decks that play lots of tokens (with [c]Scute Swarm for example), it’s not a stretch to have 3 or 4 1/1 additional Creatures by turn 6.
The Impervious Greatwurm‘s Indestructible ability also makes it a pain to deal with. Even if an opponent is tanking the 16/16 each attack with little Creatures, eventually the blockers will run out or you can give it Trample using Auras such as Rancor.
Marit Lage (20/20)
Whoever would have thought that a token card would turn out to be one of the biggest Creatures in Magic? That honour belongs to Marit Lage, a 20/20 Indestructible flyer that stands even above the Power and Toughness levels of Eldrazis.
To get Marit Lage in play, you first have to play Marit Lage’s Slumber, a seemingly innocuous Enchantment that lets you Scry 1 each turn. When you possess 10 snow Permanents, the 20/20 Marit Lage comes into play. For snow decks, it’s really not that difficult to reach 10 Permanents. Snow-covered Basic Lands count, and there’s a long list of cheap snow Creatures that you can cast along the way.
Being a token, Marit Lage is still especially vulnerable to bounce effects such as Unsummon, Fading Hope, or even a Flickerwisp[/c], but getting a 20/20 Flyer as early as turn 5 or 6 could mean a one-hit kill on the next turn.
Serra Avatar (40/40?)
Creatures with variable Power and Toughness settings tend to be really big, or really small. There’s Tarmogoyf that has been the driving force in various Graveyard-centric decks since it is really cheap to cast. But even Tarmogoyf will not be able to match the stats heights of Serra Avatar, which pegs its Power and Toughness to your life total.
For 7 Mana, it can be a terrible Creature if you’re low on life in the late game. A 5/5 for 7 Mana isn’t a good tradeoff. However, in Commander where you start off with 40 life, certain life gain decks can easily go beyond 40 in the long haul. That means your Serra Avatar could be 40/40, 50/50, or more.
It’s a pity it doesn’t have Indestructible, Trample, or even Flying, but in terms of raw power, very few Creatures come close when you’re only spending 7 Mana.
B.F.M – Big Furry Monster (99/99)
Although not legal in all sanctioned events and formats, the B.F.M deserves special mention and the crown for this list because when it was first released in 1998’s Unglued, it set some milestones to later become an unforgettable part of Magic history.
B.F.M was the 1st Creature to meld 2 separate cards into 1, meaning you had to have both sides in your hand before you could cast it. It costs a then-ridiculous 15 black Mana but you would get the biggest Creature ever in Magic with a 99/99 Power and Toughness stat.
It didn’t have Indestructible (the mechanic hadn’t been created yet), but it had a sort of super Menace whereby it can only be blocked by 3 or more Creatures. It was a nerd’s dream if you could cast it, but by no means was it a broken card. Most players really wanted to see the opponent’s reactions while admiring the artwork that had the Phyrexian Dreadnought and Polar Kraken adorned on the B.F.M‘s horns.
End Step and the Biggest Creature Forever: Infinity Elemental (Unlimited Power)
Some of you will be looking forward to putting 1 or 2 of these baddest, biggest Creatures into your next deck, but we couldn’t leave without mentioning the absolute highest power Creature that will ever be printed in Magic. Infinity Elemental literally has infinite Power, albeit with no other abilities and a rather weak 5 Toughness.
Infinity Elemental isn’t that cheap to cast either, and 7 Mana for an infinite power Creature doesn’t do much. Sure, you can give it Haste through Fervor, and Trample via Crash Through, but there are just too many ways to deal with parody card from Unsanctioned.
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