The 34 Best Dogs in Magic Ranked

Last updated on January 31, 2026

Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd | Illustration by Rudy Siswanto

Magic has a lot of cute creatures from all around the animal kingdom, from Jolly Gerbils to Poison Dart Frog. But for the average animal lover in today’s world, one of the most beloved furry friends is the dog.

I grew up with some wonderful dogs, and I’d bet that some of the people at Wizards of the Coast did, too, because there’s a ton of great (not to mention adorable) dog cards in Magic. So, looking to channel your love for man’s best friend in your favorite trading card game? Let’s get started with the best dogs in MTG.

What Are Dogs in MTG?

Selfless Savior | Illustration by Ralph Horsely

Dog cards in MTG are creatures with the dog creature subtype. Dogs appear all across Magic's color pie, but most often in the Naya colors. They’re often depicted as loyal companions in combat, or as resolute protectors. This is represented in gameplay in many ways, whether by being partner commanders, protecting other creatures, or simply having vigilance.

Dogs aren’t the most mechanically consistent, but they remain a popular creature type for Commander players to build around. With Wizards of the Coast continuing to print new ones, there’s never been a better time to start a dog typal deck.

Here, we’ll be looking at the best dogs in Magic. It’ll be focused on Commander, but I’ll talk about other formats when it’s relevant.

#34. Chakram Retriever

Chakram Retriever partners with Chakram Slinger. When you cast one, you can search your deck for the other and put it into your hand. Chakram Retriever itself can definitely set up some fun synergies and combos by untapping creatures, but there’s far better ways to do that without paying 5 mana.

#33. Akoum Hellhound

This red elemental dog can get really big if lands are a part of your strategy. Just one fetch land and it’s a 4/5 for the turn. This isn't particularly impressive in Commander, though. It’d take a lot of work to get this to make a real impact, but there’s definitely combos that result in infinite landfall triggers. You could likely make Akoum Hellhound worth playing as a 1-drop in a Ziatora, the Incinerator Commander deck.

#32. Bolt Hound

A lot of the dogs on this list could fit into an aggressive, creature-heavy dog typal deck. Bolt Hound comes out of the gate swinging, and buffs the team a bit while it’s at it. It’s definitely weaker than the average 3-drop creature in Commander, though.

#31. Faithful Watchdog

Faithful Watchdog doesn’t really do much on its own. What it does do, though, is synergize very well with +1/+1 counters-matter effects like Hardened Scales. Even then it’s somewhat underwhelming, but decks like that need creatures to stack counters on.

#30. Dreadhound

It’s definitely expensive for what you get, but the effect that Dreadhound offers is solid. If you squint, it’s like an extra copy of Syr Konrad, the Grim.

#29. Rescue Retriever

Soldier typal was supported in The Brothers' War, and Rescue Retriever is designed for that. It’s a little expensive, but it’s pretty solid at protecting your board in that specific strategy.

#28. Ainok Bond-Kin

Ainok Bond-Kin is a really solid card in a deck where you load your team with +1/+1 counters. I’d rather be playing a different outlast creature like Abzan Falconer, but I wouldn’t be ashamed to run both.

#27. Snarling Gorehound

There’s a lot of decks in Magic that really want to fill up their graveyard. Snarling Gorehound helps facilitate that by making all your little creatures come with surveil triggers. This goes well with Stitcher's Supplier, Deathrite Shaman, or any number of small creatures that care about your graveyard plan.

#26. Corpse Cur

Corpse Cur is yet another expensive dog that supports one specific strategy. In an infect deck, this is sure to help you reuse your creatures.

#25. District Mascot

District Mascot is a gorgeous pup who encompasses multiple intriguing strategies. This dog fits well into +1/+1 counter decks, especially with proliferate. You can also grow this dog quickly or use its counters as artifact hate.

#24. Komainu Battle Armor

Komainu Battle Armor is an interesting, ahem, “artifact creature equipment dog”. Goading an entire board can be pretty strong in Commander, but if they’ve got a board worth goading en masse, then they might just be able to block it, even with menace. I’d hope to find one good opportunity to use this dog before reconfiguring it onto something with another element of evasion.

#23. Scrapwork Mutt

This artifact dog with unearth is surprisingly efficient. Scrapwork Mutt lets you filter through cards twice, be sacrificed twice, trade in combat twice, you get the idea twice. A great Limited common and a solid artifact for Commander makes Scrapwork Mutt worth unearthing from the Draft chaff bin.

#22. Goldhound

Refunding its own mana is enough of a reason to play Goldhound in an artifact deck. In a deck like Tesak, Judith's Hellhound it’s a fantastic evasive dog for that attack trigger.

#21. Summon: G.F. Cerberus

Summon: G.F. Cerberus takes the mythological dog to new spellslinger heights. This saga sets up some mean spell combos in the midgame. At chapter II you can copy a spell, and at chapter III you can copy something twice. Three heads and a ton of spell-casting value, what’s not to love?

#20. Kunoros, Hound of Athreos

On top of being a beast in combat, Kunoros, Hound of Athreos is a pretty specific hate piece. This shuts down any sort of reanimation strategies, Arclight Phoenix, spells with flashback, escape or encore, and the list goes on. If your Commander nights are terrorized by graveyard decks, this might be the legendary dog for you.

#19. Karvanista, Loyal Lupari

Designed to support human typal strategies, Karvanista, Loyal Lupari can protect your whole team early and buff them big-time later. If you’ve got Kyler, Sigardian Emissary sleeved up, check this Doctor Who dog out.

#18. Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful

There’s a lot of legendary permanents in Magic these days. You can pair Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful with just about anything as long as lots of legends are involved. Maybe go Naya with Tana, the Bloodsower and play Bard Class. This dog commander’s still solid outside of the command zone, too!

#17. Spirited Companion

This was an all-star in Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Limited. Enchantments were important in white, and this being a creature that replaces itself with a card made Spirited Companion a highly rated common. It lives on in all sorts of Commander decks today, like enchantment decks and the obvious dog typal.

#16. Generous Pup

I mean, come on, who wouldn’t want a Generous Pup! This dog fits quite well into the mono-white or Selesnya () counter decks. This pup is even better than a card like Botanical Brawler, because it gives a +1/+1 counter to all of your creatures if a +1/+1 counter is placed on it. At 2-mana and with vigilance, Generous Pup is a stellar card to add to Historic +1/+1 counter decks.

#15. Pako, Arcane Retriever

Pako, Arcane Retriever is a package deal with Haldan, Avid Arcanist. When combined, these two cards are a solid card advantage engine. For obvious reasons, these two usually find themselves in the command zone; otherwise, they find each other in the library. You’ll want to make sure Haldan, Avid Arcanist is safe, since that’s what actually allows you to play the exiled cards.

#14. Loyal Warhound

Loyal Warhound has such an apt name. A 2-drop that can help you keep up on mana, then attacks and trades well? Sign me up. Not to mention the prospect of blinking it, which can bring you back up to speed with a table ramping faster than you.

#13. Tanuki Transplanter

You’ll want to attach Tanuki Transplanter to something pretty big. I wouldn’t be happy with this unless it were making four or more mana every turn, since the initial 4-mana 2/4 isn’t the best thing to have on the battlefield. Just make sure it’s worth the big initial mana investment.

#12. Selfless Savior

Most decks in Magic have a powerful creature or two you’d like to keep alive. Whether it’s your commander, a valuable piece of your engine, or just a blocker you need to keep around for another trade, Selfless Savior can keep them around to fight another day. This adorable friend has made so many sacrifices for my creatures throughout the years, and for that it deserves a good spot on this list.

#11. Arbor Adherent

Usually, you want mana support and ramp early in a game to shoot ahead of yours and your opponent's curve. Mana support in the midgame needs to be stellar to be worth it, and Arbor Adherent fits the bill. This dog provides mana fixing and ramp that can take off in the midgame. If you control a creature with just 3 toughness like Arboreal Grazer, you’ll accelerate your mana base quite quickly. Arbor Adherent can provided mana to play your bomb cards like Craterhoof Behemoth, Walking Ballista, or Smuggler's Surprise way ahead of schedule.

#10. Pack Leader

Pack Leader is a dog lord, which means it pretty much only exists to support a typal deck. That’s totally okay though, because it plays that role perfectly. When your attacking dogs take no damage, you can start running over the table a lot earlier.

#9. Ainok Strike Leader

Ainok Strike Leader is a loyal dog companion to any creature token-matters commander. This card creates attacking goblin tokens and gives the ultimate sacrifice to protect those tokens if needed. Pair Ainok Strike Leader with Mardu commanders () like Zurgo Stormrender, or Naya commanders () like Jinnie Fay, Jetmir's Second and build a token army!

#8. K-9, Mark I

Who’s a good little 1-drop? K-9, Mark I is! This robot dog protects your legendary creatures in more ways than one. The Negative ability is mostly just a welcome bonus, but that second activated ability making target creature unblockable can reliably help your important legendary creatures get their attack and saboteur triggers off. It makes a good pairing with The War Doctor!

#7. Dogmeat, Ever Loyal

The iconic Fallout dog companion Dogmeat, Ever Loyal is a strong card advantage engine. You’ll likely want it in the command zone so that you can take advantage of its abilities as early as possible.

#6. Tesak, Judith’s Hellhound

One of the most purely aggressive dogs on the list, Tesak, Judith's Hellhound can be a ferocious addition to a dog typal deck. This effectively allows all your dogs to enter with a +1/+1 counter and haste. It’s unfortunate that the mana doesn’t stick around after combat, but you can sink it into activated abilities or instants.

#5. Rex, Cyber-Hound

This Fallout robot dog might be the strangest energy commander. Find more ways to generate energy counters and mill the table to find the best activated abilities to copy. It reminds me of Agatha's Soul Cauldron, a card known for its sheer magnitude of wacky combos. Try Knacksaw Clique plus Omen Hawker and win the game on the spot.

#4. Kroxa and Kunoros

Kroxa and Kunoros is a powerhouse. You’ll want to spend the early turns milling yourself to make best use of Kroxa and Kunoros. If you do, though, this is a great creature for any reanimator deck. Even if you mill this over, just make this your reanimation target and use it to bring something else back. It’s hard to beat in combat and continues reanimating with more attacks.

#3. Enduring Courage

Enduring Courage is a difficult enchantment creature to get rid of permanently, and giving all your creatures haste is nothing to scoff at. The extra attacks with haste plus the power boost means that it’s going to give you a lot of extra opportunities for damage. I expect this to go over well in all sorts of aggressive decks.

#2. Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd

Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd is an adorable corgi that blinks nonland permanents when it attacks. You’ll want to have a deck with lots of strong enter the battlefield triggers, which isn’t a difficult task. It can blink an opponent’s permanents, too, which can get rid of tokens entirely or reset the number of loyalty counters on a planeswalker. It’s awesome that Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd is a 2-drop with such a powerful and versatile effect.

#1. Rin and Seri, Inseparable

The most popular Commander for dog typal by far is Rin and Seri, Inseparable, which merges our dog strategy with cat typal to make a deck full of adorable and ferocious attackers. You won’t be disappointed if you’re doing exactly what the card clearly wants you to do, which is to cast a lot of cats and dogs.

Best Dog Payoffs

If your decklist looks like a doggie daycare after the list, I don’t blame you. There are plenty of cards that can reward you for having a deck full of courageous canines, so let’s get into the payoffs.

+1/+1 Counter Synergies

Some dogs like Generous Pup and Mowu, Loyal Companion have +1/+1 counter themes, which are well supported in Magic.

Hardened Scales can accelerate your counter generation. Innkeeper's Talent starts small but gets out of hand when you put mana into it. Animal Sanctuary is a land that supports dogs (and some other creature types) with +1/+1 counters.

Dogs Matter

There have also been some cards that specifically care about dogs. Obviously, Rin and Seri, Inseparable wants you to cast lots of them. There’s also Sophia, Dogged Detective who can make tons of artifact tokens if your dogs deal damage, and buff up the whole pack afterwards.

There’s also Jinnie Fay, Jetmir's Second that causes your tokens to enter as 2/2 cats with haste or 3/1 dogs with vigilance. This can make your tokens from Rin and Seri, Inseparable a bit more effective in combat, and turn any noncreature tokens you’d generate into more creatures. This “dogs matter” Commander strategy wants you to develop a wide board of creatures, then you can finish the game off with an effect like Jetmir, Nexus of Revels or Craterhoof Behemoth.

Changelings

As is usually mentioned in these creature type lists, changelings are some of the easiest typal payoffs to include. Roaming Throne isn't a changeling, but it fits the conversation. There’s always Realmwalker for card advantage, Taurean Mauler for+1/+1 counter synergies, and Mutable Explorer is basically two changelings in one.

Are Hounds Considered Dogs in MTG?

Yes, hounds are considered dogs in MTG. This wasn’t true until Core Set 2021 released. This was the first Magic set where dog typal was supported, and the “hound” type just felt too redundant to be something different. It was completely usurped by the “dog” creature type for the sake of consistency, and to give the hot-off-the-presses Rin and Seri, Inseparable more options.

Hound no longer exists as a creature type in Magic, and any card with hound written in its typeline has received errata to be a dog instead.

Wrap Up

Rin and Seri, Inseparable | Illustration by Leesha Hannigan

Alright, you’ve met our furry friends and they’ve shown you their best tricks. Now all that’s left is for you to take them for a walk at your next Commander night! Put together a full pack of canine companions and fetch yourself a victory!

What’s your pick for the best dog in Magic? How about the cutest? I’d say it’s Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd. Let us know what you think in the comments below or on the official Draftsim Discord. Thanks for reading! Until we meet again, stay safe and don’t bark up the wrong tree!

Thanks for being my dogged readers for this piece!