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The official release of Outlaws of Thunder Junction is right around the corner. This set has a lot of really cool themes and mechanics for players to get the hang of. Whether you are building your deck around committing Crimes or focusing on the Outlaw theme, this set has a lot to offer. There are also plenty of payoffs for maximizing these mechanics. For instance, Double Down
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With this in mind, we thought it would be cool to go over the absolute best Outlaws printed throughout MTG’s history. This subset covers Mercenaries, Warlocks, Assassins, Pirates, and Rogues. Between these five Creature types, there are a lot of powerhouses to choose from. As such, narrowing down this list is going to be quite difficult, and there are a lot of strong Creatures that will ultimately fall short. Each of the cards on this list has had significant impact in the world of MTG, so without further ado, here are the best MTG Outlaws of all time!
Honorable Mention: Vein Ripper
Just barely missing out on our top five, we have a card that we still felt deserved some discussion given how new it is. Vein Ripper is an extremely frustrating card to deal with once it hits the board. Thanks to its Ward ability, your opponent has to have a Creature on board to sacrifice otherwise they can’t use targeted removal on Vein Ripper in the first place. Even if they can kill Vein Ripper and have a Creature to sacrifice, they still lose board presence, and you get a decent life swing out of the deal.
Interestingly, while Vein Ripper is an Assassin, making it an Outlaw as well, this isn’t the most important Creature type associated with the card. See, Vein Ripper is also a Vampire. This means that it pairs exceptionally well with Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord
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#5 Broadside Bombardiers
Coming in at number five, we have Broadside Bombardiers. This powerful Pirate is an amazing card in Legacy, Commander, and even pops up in Vintage. As a Hasty threat with Menace, it’s often easy to play Broadside Bombardiers and attack with it right away without fear of it dying in combat. Once you attack with it, you have free reign to throw away any of your expendable Creatures or Artifacts to deal a bunch of damage to the opponent or a problematic Creature they control.
In Legacy, this card is an excellent addition to mono-red prison as well as Goblins shells. Cards like Chrome Mox
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#4 Shardless Agent
Shardless Agent is a strange card. On the surface, the card seems perfectly fair. After all, Cascade lets you get some value, but you can only cast cards with mana value two or less. How scary can that be? The answer is quite frightening when you take into account various zero-mana Suspend cards like Living End
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",'0'); });.Cascade decks built around Shardless Agent dominated Modern and made their presences felt in Legacy for a long time. Violent Outburst ultimately got banned in Modern given its role in Cascading at Instant speed. This doesn’t even take into account the broken Modern deck that would Cascade into Valki, God of Lies.
Before a rules change, players could choose to cast the seven-mana Tibalt Planeswalker backside of Valki instead! This was one of the most broken Modern decks of all time. Given how well Shardless Agent has stood the test of time, we felt it deserved a spot on this list even if it isn’t the most synergistic card in an Outlaws deck.
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#3 Dauthi Voidwalker
Dauthi Voidwalker is an amazing Outlaw with a surprising amount of versatility. First of all, it completely shuts down graveyard-based decks while in play. As such, it sees a ton of play in Legacy sideboards. Secondly, it is a cheap, three-power Creature that is essentially unblockable. If that weren’t enough, once you get to untap with it, you can cash it in at any point to cast an opponent’s card exiled with Dauthi Voidwalker.
In Legacy, if your opponent goes to cast a huge spell and you counter it with Force of Will, you can cast that spell yourself! Similarly, in Modern, if you cast Thoughtseize and nab a large haymaker from the opponent’s hand, that game-breaking threat can be yours. This elite Rogue does a lot of heavy lifting for the decks that play it, and should be a great inclusion for an Outlaws-centric EDH deck.
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#2 Hullbreacher
Coming in at number two, we have Hullbreacher. Hullbreacher is a messed-up card that interacts with your opponent’s ability to draw cards. Casting this card in response to a Brainstorm may be too much for your opponent to overcome. Not only do they not draw their cards, but they also still have to put cards from their hand back on top of their library and you create Treasure tokens as a bonus.
What really sets Hullbreacher over the top, though, is when you pair it with Wheel of Fortune effects. Hullbreacher is banned in Commander largely for this reason. Casting a Wheel with Hullbreacher in play means that your opponents don’t get to draw seven, while you do, and you get an absurd number of Treasures in a multiplayer game. Hullbreacher is super powerful and easily abusable, but it doesn’t quite beat out our next card for the top spot.
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#1 Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
At the top of this list, we have an insanely efficient Pirate that can take over the game if left unchecked. If you play Ragavan turn one, your opponent needs to kill it quickly. Otherwise, you will get a mana advantage and potentially get to cast some extra cards from your opponent’s deck. In Modern, Ragavan is extremely strong in Izzet Murktide and Rakdos Scam decks. It was weakened a little by the presence of Orcish Bowmasters, but still wreaks havoc on anyone unprepared for it.
In Legacy, Ragavan was banned because of its ability to take over the game in conjunction with cards like Force of Will and Daze to help protect it. Following up a turn one Ragavan by Dazing an opposing removal spell and then playing Wasteland turn two would often be enough to win the game by itself. Ragavan truly is one of the best one-drops ever printed, and rightfully earns the role of best Outlaw of all time.
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