Not many Magic: the Gathering players will have heard of Spellslingers, the new spinoff game that takes inspiration from Hearthstone. And those who have might not agree with how it departs from some key mechanics in the original game (e.g. tapping ), but Spellslingers is faster, less complex, and likely easier for newcomers to pick up.

At the core of the game are the 16 Spellslingers (known as Planeswalkers in original Magic) who will lead your deck and also align your game strategy. Each Spellslinger has different traits that will aid you, while imposing deck building restrictions so that their advantages (and disadvantages) are exclusive.

Unfortunately, from playing experience, some Spellslingers seem to have an edge over others, with the core reasons being high card power level and incredibly strong inate abilities for some of them. We’re ranking our personal top 8 most powerful Spellslingers in terms of power, so that you can save your precious keys (used for unlocking Spellslingers) for the ones that you want to play with.

Sept UPDATE: The new D&D Icons update was released, including card balancing changes and a new Spellslinger Drizzt! Below are our updated rankings.

Out of Top 8 : Gideon

Previous rank: 8th

Gideon is all about leading the charge himself, as you can summon him as an invulnerable Creature when you have 3 attackers. Since Gideon is in white, he has no shortage of low-costing Creatures to cast. There’s Ardent Supporter, Untested Rookie and others that only cost 1 Mana. By turn 3 or 4, you could have Gideon swinging in for 4 damage.

What makes Gideon a powerful Spellslinger is that there is currently no way to stop him except sacrificing your Creatures to block and prevent taking damage. Since Gideon cannot trigger Trap cards, and he is no longer a Creature on the opponent’s turn, there is just no way to counter him.

Gideon’s primary weakness is also from his army’s strength. White is a colour that is also filled with many low-costing, aggressive Creatures and that feeds into the Gideon strategy very well. But if you’re able to thin out his horde and make some even trades in combat, then Gideon may never show up. However, if you don’t have the right cards or enough cheap Creatures to counter his, then it’ll be a quick game over.

Good Against: control or combo Spellslingers

Bad Against: Creature-focused or burn decks

No. 8 : Liliana

Previous Rank: 3rd

As one of the most well known Planeswalkers in Magic, Liliana is also 1 of the most powerful Spellslingers in this game. Her unique ability gains 1 life and a +1/+1 buff when any Creature comes back to the Battlefield from the Graveyard.

To top it off, Liliana uses a horde of Zombies with Relentless. When one such Creature dies, they come back to the field with that +1/+1 buff, albeit with a drawback of not being able to block. At its core, Liliana is an intensely aggro deck that can deliver a punch as heavy as slower ones. Creatures like Liliana’s Goliath and Recycled Grotesque provide so much value and their drawbacks and still be taken advantage of.

Unfortunately, the recent September update also reduced the efficiency of Liliana’s Goliath, 1 of her signature Creatures. And if there’s a glaring weakness to Liliana, the Relentless Creatures that came back from the Graveyard will not be able to block, hence she has a lot of offensive power but is weak in the late game defence.

Good Against: Both aggro or midrange decks

Bad Against: Combo or control decks with lots of removal spells

No. 7 : Chandra

Previous Rank: 4th

Nobody expects the default hero that players begin with to be a powerful Spellslinger, but there are a couple of factors that work in Chandra’s favour. 1st of all, she deals 4 damage directly to the opponent before the game starts, plus there are multiple spells available that can deal damage directly as well, just in case her small Creatures hit a road block.

Secondly, Spellslingers is built on a best-of-1 system, which red (and aggro) decks thrive in. Chandra doesn’t have to worry about substitute or Sideboard cards that can normally hamper an aggro strategy.

Just like any red deck in Magic, Chandra’s worry is that she runs out of steam pretty quickly if all you have in your deck are Creatures that cost 1-3 Mana. In addition, her burn spells may be great at dealing direct damage, but are unable to handle the mammoth beasts that often accompany Vivien and Ajani.

Good Against: Slower decks that rely on control and triggers

Bad Against: Decks with bigger Creatures

No. 6 : Ral

Previous Rank: 1st

The former number 1 most powerful Spellslinger in our experience is Ral, but key cards were watered down in the latest Sept 2022 update. The blue-red mage is all about casting spells, many for cheap or free, and then finishing off with a crazy 10-damage hit. Ral decks have a high percentage of spells, using Spark of Genius, Anticipate, and the Artifact Isochron Scepter to get even more spells.

They may not have many Creatures, but the ones they do have all synergise with spell casting. Ghitu Embermage can work as a blocker while dealing 1 damage directly to the opponent whenever you cast a spell. Then there’s Magnum Opus, a Creature that grows bigger either in Power or Toughness for each spell cast. There’s a lot of synergy with Ral and that makes him our most powerful Spellslinger in rank.

In the latest update, cards such as Chaos Lightning were rebalanced, and now costs 5 instead of 3 Mana. That makes it significantly harder for Ral to go off on his spell combos.

If there’s one way to beat Ral, it’s to go as fast as possible with quick attacks before he can unleash Chaos Lightning (the 10-damage) spell, or flood the board with multiple high Toughness Creatures and hope most of the damage gets directed to them. Wins against Ral were few and far between, but now you hardly see him being played.

Good Against: Any deck as Ral relies on internal synergy and direct damage

Bad Against: Highly-tuned aggro deck.

No. 5 : Vivien

Previous Rank: 7th

Vivien, like Ajani whom you’ll also get to know, is all about big, stompy Creatures. That fits into the green theme nicely, and Vivien has a unique ability to give a random upgrade to the next Creature you cast. This can only be activated once on your turn for 1 Mana, but you could be getting very useful abilities such as +3/0, Haste, Flying and many more.

Not only does Vivien have that in-built ability, she also has Vivien’s Arkbow, an Artifact that can draft an upgrade for one of your Creatures. It’s a great way to give Flying or Sneak to your beefy Creatures when they aren’t able to get through the opponent’s blockers. The downside of these upgrades is that they are always random and you can’t always get what you want.

Good Against: Aggro Spellslingers that use smaller Creatures

Bad Against: Combo decks or Flying Creatures

No. 4 : Ajani

Previous Rank: 6th

Ajani works very similarly to Vivien, and slightly edges her in power level because his ability of granting a free +1/+1 buff does not have an activation cost. To trigger Ajani’s ability, simply target 1 of your Creatures with a Spell, Trap or Debut ability and your next Creature card drawn gets +1/+1 permanently.

Because Ajani is in 2 colours (green and white), you have the flexibility of including fast Creatures and Traps from white, to gigantic monsters from green. Grudge Match and Briarhorn are cards that Ajani likes to build around. With the capability to control aggro decks while going head to head with even big Creatures, Ajani is 1 of the most powerful Spellslingers to use.

He also starts with 28 health which higher than average and can thus play the longer game to his advantage, since he’ll be casting monstrous Creatures when more Mana is available.

Ajani’s main problem comes against trickier Spellslingers like Ral or Teferi, who both like to return cards to hand or turn them into 0/6 Turtles. In situations like this, it’s imperative to outrace them or set up blockers with Reach to counter any Flying Creatures.

Good Against: Aggro and Creature heavy decks

Bad Against: Spellslingers that rely on combos, spells and traps to win

No. 3: Drizzt

Previous Rank: N/A (new Spellslinger)

The brand new Spellslinger comes in right into no. 3 because of his unique ability of using multiple Legendary Creatures from all colours, and furthermore activating his Guenhwyvar that grows bigger on each attack.

Drizzt’s signature cards all work well in tandem with Drizzt, with his Herald being able to turn any Creature (including himself if need be) into a Legendary, while Hero’s Call will let you draft another Legendary Creature and reducing its cost by 2. The cost reduction is unsurprisingly powerful because if you pick a card that costs 7, now that costs 5 and can be cast much earlier.

There’s also a new 1-Mana Legendary Creature called Matron Malice that makes a great turn 1 play, and the 4-Mana Karazikar that has Flying and gets more value per attack. Putting a number of other cheap Legendaries also makes Drizzt a menacing attacking force while still holding plenty of tough green Creatures as well as fight tricks.

Just a week into his release, Drizzt is quickly establishing himself as 1 of the more powerful Spellslingers out there. At least till the next update!

Good Against:

Bad Against: Decks that have lots of removal spells to kill off your Legendary Creatures

No. 2 : Ashiok

Previous Rank: 5th

Ashiok is all about deck manipulation, and inserting Nightmares into your deck. When you draw a card with a Nightmare attached, you lose life while Ashiok gains the same amount. For her, it’s a battle of attrition while having a great many more cards and options than the opponent. The latest update gave her access to the Warlock Skill Class card, which helps her put even more Nightmares and extra life drain.

Her signature spells such as Extract Fear do exactly that for just 1 Mana, while Shadowmage Saboteur doubles all the attached Nightmares whenever it attacks. Ashiok’s game strategy of holding the fort as she slowly drains your life (or Library of cards) is consistently effective, regardless of what the opponent’s strategy is.

If Ashiok has 1 weakness, is not having enough defenders to deal with an on-curve aggro attack from Chandra or Angrath. However, with access to both blue and black colours, there should be plenty of cheap Creatures that one can use to stay in the game. The longer you survive, the better your chances of winning.

Good Against: Pretty much anything if you can stay alive

Bad Against: Aggro decks that hit the ground running since Ashiok has a low starting health of 22.

No. 1 : Vraska

Previous Rank: 2nd

Vraska combines what is best about Liliana with her own special ability of triggering Finale effects twice on her turn. Finale creates an effect when that Creature dies, and if once isn’t bad enough, 2 times is just back breaking.

Not only can Vraska use the black Creatures with Relentless, she also has access to green/black cards that have Finale effects. Vraska’s Grub is already an excellent 2/2 for 1 Mana, but it gives 2 fragile (1-time use) Mana to you when it dies on your turn. Vraska’s Throne is a 1-Mana Artifact that can help to sacrifice your Creatures and draft another 1 back into your hand.

The deck moves fast and generates a lot of value, but it has no way to win except by regular combat with Creatures. Hence there is still a need to have some of the green finishers like Tarmogyf or Megasaurus to fight for the win.

Good Against: Most decks if Vraska is able to balance between having Creatures and sacrificing them.

Bad Against: Aggro decks that force you to block on opponent’s turn.