The Magic: The Gathering (MTG) universe is filled with intriguing new tokens with the arrival of Shadows over Innistrad, and luckily for all you cat lovers out there, you’ve got a set’s worth of fuzzy pals to play with! And, while all of the Shadows over Innistrad cat-tokens are very great, which one is the best?
One of the most popular games in the world is Magic: The Gathering. It’s also one of the priciest options. Magic: The Gathering (MTG) is a collectible card game in which players strive to destroy their opponent by utilizing magical spells, artifacts, and amazing creatures.
While it is not the first collectible card game, it is the most popular. Magic has developed from a few hundred cards for the Alpha set to over 15,000 distinct cards as of 2018. It has a history spanning more than 25 years.
We’re sure you’ve heard the question, “Do you like cats or dogs?” If you like cats and play Magic: the Gathering, you’ll be glad to hear that you may include them in your next deck. A tribal deck is one with a theme that centers around the usage of cards of a certain creature type.
Cats are a fantastic and unusual tribe for which to build a bridge. If you’re thinking about creating a cat deck, we can assist you. Continue reading to see a list of the top MTG cat cards available right now.
The first question to be addressed is, “What exactly are cats?” Not in the traditional sense; you should already be familiar with cats. You’re trying to define cats in the Magic: the Gathering world when you pose this question.
Cats in MTG refer to all feline creatures. They can be adorable fuzzy critters seen at home or in the wild. However, we need also to add the anthropomorphic felines known as cat warriors, Leonians, nishobas, or rakshas, who are as clever as humans.
If you wish to learn more about these felines, see the MTG wiki’s cats page. Cats, like a playing tribe, maybe entertaining. They reinforce each other well with +1/+1 counters in general, but they cover a wide range of game styles.
Black Cat
While Black Cat’s stats are just 1/1 (one power and one toughness), he has both cat and zombie ancestors, which stacks nicely with two large families. Furthermore, when Cat dies, he compels an opponent to discard a random card, a valuable hand dampener that prevents your opponent from choosing what to discard.
White Sun’s Zenith
In a Cat-themed deck, White Sun’s Zenith is one of the greatest late-game insurance cards. It lets you spend all of your mana to flood your board with 2/2 tokens that may be boosted or used to help your other creatures benefit from having a large board. One advantage is that once you’ve used it, it’ll be shuffled back into your library, allowing you to continue spamming it when you receive it back.
Nethroi, Apex of Death
Although Nethroi, Apex of Death, does not appear to be a cat at first appearance, he is categorized as a feline nightmare creature, therefore we put him on our list. As a bonus, this card is also available in a Godzilla-themed alternative art version based on Biolante.
Netrhoy is a very capable commander. If it didn’t have the death touch and the life link, two crucial phrases that make it a powerful opponent on the battlefield, this creature would be a decent solo monster.
You can modify him for four ordinary mana, one white or green mana, and two black mana. You may bring any number of creature cards from your graveyard to the battlefield if you do so. The only requirement is that their overall capacity does not exceed 10, which is not an issue. With this limitation, a lot of strong cards can be recovered from the graveyard.
Sacred Cat
Sacred Cat is another poor 1/1, but he only costs one white mana, so it’s hard to complain. He also has lifelink, which gives you a corresponding amount of health whenever he deals damage (to an opponent or their creature), and the rare embalm trait, which allows you to exile him from your graveyard for one mana to create a token with the same stats and abilities, plus the zombie subtype as a bonus.
Regal Caracal
The five-mana spell The difference between life and death can be determined by Regal Caracal. You may buff up your Cats on the battlefield with lifelink if you draw her at the right time, letting you regain health while inflicting damage. The card also summons two tokens, allowing you to expand your board.
Rin and Seri, Inseparable
Who doesn’t want a cat and a dog to be best friends? The lovebirds, Rin and Seri, are exactly that: a cat and a dog willing to defend one another in combat. Another key commander to consider is this one. The Rin and Seri card are for you if you love cats as much as you love dogs.
This cat/dog commander encourages you to utilize both sorts of cards in your deck. When you perform cat and dog spells, this card lets you generate cat and dog tokens. Pay one red, one green, and one white mana each to deal as much damage to a target as the dogs under your control when you assemble a huge army of cats/dogs. After then, for each cat you check on, you get life points. It’s no surprise that this film has become a fan favorite.
Oreskos Explorer
Explorer is best used in multiplayer games and when you’re the last person to take a turn. Despite his unpredictability, he excels in his field, providing a land search that matches even the famed “Land Tax.” He searches a number of plains from your deck proportional to the number of opponents who control more lands than you when he enters the field! Explorer also has a good 2/2 stat line for his low price, and he has scout as a secondary subtype, further solidifying his power.
Brimaz, King of Oreskos
Brimaz, King of Oreskos, is a legendary Cat creature with three mana that may create tokens in two ways: attacking or protecting. Brimaz is your go-to card if you’re building a deck with the goal of making your board as big as possible. He can help you snowball from a pretty equal game state.
Arahbo, Roar of the World
Arahbo, Roar of the World, is yet another cat that definitely wants to be a leader. Feline Ferocity, a 2017 Commander-ready deck, is the source of this card. In most cases, commanders are unable to employ their talents within the command range.
Eminence, Arahbo’s ability, is largely based on command, therefore the important term here is broad. This allows Arahbo to grant +3/+3 to another cat you control until the end of your turn, which is useful for an attack or block boost. After then, you may use mana to double the cat’s power, increase its stamina, and give it a raid.
Adorable Kitten
Kitten, as one of the Unstable expansion’s crazy host creatures, can mix with augment cards to create deformed monsters. Even by himself, he’s a low-cost unit with a weak 1/1, but he lets you roll a six-sided die and gain life equal to the result when you join the field. This has average health of 3-4, a large recovery, and a cheap discard blocker.
Pride Sovereign
Pride Sovereign is a three-mana monster that gains a lot of value by having a large board full of Cat tokens. It gains +1/+1 for each other Cat on the board, letting you quickly build up a large Pride Sovereign and overwhelm your opponent. You may also spend some resources to construct two tokens that will give Pride Sovereign a +2/+2 bonus while also allowing you to grow your board.
Marisi, Breaker of the Coil
Marisi, Breaker of the Coil, is overrated for a number of reasons. It’s his first gift, and it’s quite controlled. It prevents your opponents from casting spells during battle, preventing them from preventing damage, destroying a creature, or improving their own in a last-ditch effort to fight you.
Second, if a creature you control breaks past its protections and inflicts combat damage on that player, all of your opponent’s creatures get zombified. This monster must attack the next turn if it can, and it cannot attack the instigator, according to the keyword instigate.
In practice, this means that your opponent must risk losing some of his creatures and perhaps enraging your other opponent by assaulting him. It’s as if you’re determining the competition for yourself.
Scythe Tiger
Green’s Scythe Tiger provides tremendous abilities at a minimal cost—but at a cost. Unless you sacrifice land, you must sacrifice him when he joins the field. Thankfully, you may sacrifice a tapped land to get access to its resources for that turn, and Tiger comes in as a formidable 3/2 for his single cost. He also possesses shroud, which prevents all players (including yourself) from targeting him with effects.
Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist
If you want to create a combat-oriented deck with a lot of creatures, Meteoric Duelist is the commander for you. According to Mirri, these critters may not even be cats, who do nothing that favors cats especially.
However, it typically benefits your animals. It compels opponents to block one creature each time it attacks. Because most creatures can only block one other attacking creature, you are almost certain to succeed and inflict battle damage on your opponent if you attack with more than one creature.
Mirri also provides you with a defensive advantage. Your opponents can only attack you with one monster as long as it is connected. Because you’re likely to use it as much as possible, it’s usually occupied, preventing opponents from pursuing you with armies of creatures.
Felidar Sovereign
Felidar Sovereign isn’t the most strong cat card in the deck, but it’s still noteworthy enough to mention. Each of his skills distinguishes him as a valuable addition to your deck. With simply Vigilance and Lifeguard, Felidar Sovereign, for example, is a good card to use against your opponents.
After your attack, he will not give up and will assist you in reclaiming your life. That’s not a problem. However, the second ability is far more crucial. Felidar Sovereign also claims that you win the game if you have 40 or more lives at the start of your turn. You start with 40 lives in Commander, so if you can outwit Felidar Sovereign straight away, you’ll win.
Sunspear Shikari
Shikari is another two-cost unit with decent 2/2 stats and a useful soldier subtype. But it’s when she’s given artifact equipment that she gains lifelink and first strike (in addition to the equipment’s advantages), allowing her to heal you and deliver damage first in combat, perhaps averting a counterattack if she kills her opponent.
Lurrus of the Dream-Den
Lurrus of the Dream caused Wizards of the Coast to change companion rules nearly soon after its release. This was due to the fact that this card was both too strong and too simple to add to a deck and play fast.
Lurrus, in a nutshell, transforms your cemetery into a second library. You might cast a spell from your graveyard each round as if it were a regular card in your hand if the permanent spells in your library cost two or less converted mana.
You’re incorrect if you believe restricting all permanent spells to two mana or less is impossible. There are a lot of strong spells that only cost two converted mana or less, so you have a lot of alternatives.
Leeonin Den-Guard
Leonin Den-Guard is identical to Shikari in that she arrives as a two-cost cat soldier with her stats rearranged to 1/3. She also gains +1/+1 and vigilance while equipped, allowing her to swing as a 2/4 without having to tap, ensuring she’s accessible to block on enemy rounds.
Wasitora, Nekoru Queen
On this list, you’ve seen a lot of strange cat combos. Vasitora, Queen of Nekoru, is the first character to mix a cat with a dragon. We recommend reading a portion of her biography if you want to learn more about her.
It’s a versatile and trustworthy card. It first flies and tramples, making it a deadly opponent in combat. If your opponents are unable to stop him, he will compel them to sacrifice one of their creatures, reducing its strength in exchange for you. If they don’t have anything to sacrifice, a 3/3 Dragon token with flies is created. Vasitora can help you swiftly create a small army of cat dragons if you have a 3/3 creature.
Qasali Slingers
Qasali is more costly than other felines at five mana, but keep in mind that green’s mana ramp may rapidly access powerful cards, and Qasali only requires one green, blending nicely with rainbow decks.
Its stats are unimpressive at 3/5, but it has reach, allowing it to block flyers (a crucial benefit for the ground-based green faction), and you can destroy one opposing artifact/enchantment anytime Qasali or another cat enters the field. As a result, it acts as a constant, though late-game utility removal, clearing the way for your army to invade.
Alms Collector
There’s a solid explanation for the increased price tag attached to this kitty. The whites in MTG have a fatal flaw: he frequently lacks card draw and can’t rapidly create mana. At least one of these issues is solved by Alms Collector.
When your opponent draws two or more cards, it allows you to draw a card. Drawing cards is almost never a negative thing, and the alms collector is a welcome card for a white in desperate need of card drawing abilities. Would you want to learn more about the different colors’ strengths?
Watchers of the Dead
Watchers of the Dead is an artifact-creature hybrid that comes with excellent 2/2 stats and accepts any mana colors, making it a good fit for multicolor strategies. He also has a wonderful instant effect that lets you banish him to exile all but two cards from your opponents’ graveyards.
Because the effect does not need tapping, Watchers can use it right away, even if they aren’t in a hurry, making it an effective counterblow to an opponent’s removal.
Pride Sovereign
Pride Sovereign (a Lion King reference?) enters the fight with just 2/2, but for each additional cat you control, he receives an extra +1/+1, so be sure to swarm those tokens. Thankfully, Sovereign can accomplish that for you by spending one white mana and tapping to exert. This means he won’t be untapped during your next untap step, but you’ll get two 1/1 cat tokens with lifelink in exchange, which are useful units that enhance Sovereign’s power!
Sovereign is a fun card that I’ve used to great success in commander, and he’s under three bucks. However, keep in mind that his color identity includes both green and white (including his text symbol), so don’t try to fit him into monocolor EDH setups.
