The 46 Best Snakes in Magic Ranked

Last updated on January 9, 2026

Shigeki, Jukai Visionary | Illustration by Anna Podedworna

Snakes always get their place in the sun in MTG sets, as they always need a little treacherous green creature with deathtouch to hold the fort or slowly poison unwary opponents. And there are Magic planes like Kamigawa where snakes are relevant, which leads to interesting snake designs and typal interactions.

With the conversion of naga to snakes after Modern Horizons 3, now is a good time to talk about these creatures. We're ranking the best snakes in Magic, so let’s get slithering!

What Are Snakes in MTG?

Hooded Blightfang | Illustration by Uriah Voth

Snake is a creature type that has been in MTG since the very beginning, with cards like Nafs Asp and Sabertooth Cobra. Nagas in MTG used to have their own creature subtype, but they’ve received errata and are now also considered snakes.

Snakes are usually small, sneaky, and poisonous, with common mechanics like deathtouch, flash, infect and poison counters shared among them. Snakes also frequently have a saboteur ability, seeing as they’re most effective when they deal combat damage to a player – when they can bite the player and inject their venom, so to speak.

Most snakes are in the Sultai () color identity, centered on green. There are occasional dips into red and white, as well as artifact snakes.

#46. Ambush Viper

Ambush Viper is from a time when green removal spells didn’t exist and flashing in this little 2-drop could kill something much bigger. In a dedicated snake deck, you can still ambush people here and there.

#45. Coiling Oracle

Coiling Oracle is a little improvement on your Elvish Visionary-type card, allowing you to put lands directly into play and provide a little ramp. It’s also a good blink target for the same reason.

#44. Lorescale Coatl

Lorescale Coatl is a classic card-draw payoff, and it gets a lot better with cards like Brainstorm, Brainsurge, or the thirst cards like Thirst for Knowledge. Plus, it naturally gets bigger with the card you always draw each turn.

#43. Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro

Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro isn’t the strongest card on rate, but if you cast it on a board that already has a few shamans, you can get a really good turn with plenty of ramp. The +0/+1 bonus to other snakes isn’t the worst. And there are about a dozen cards that can benefit from both bonuses.

#42. Slither Blade

It’s little and low impact, yes, but Slither Blade is also unblockable and it’s a rogue. Considering that ninja decks, rogues decks, and some Simic () snake decks want to deal damage as often as possible, this card is an interesting synergy piece.

#41. Yuan-Ti Malison

Yuan-Ti Malison combines two good abilities, first of which is becoming unblockable if it's attacking alone. Then if it hits, you get to venture into the dungeon. It’s good early in the game but it gets worse when you have other attackers that could get in. Exalted is a thing, though, so this guy gets better if you want to hit at least once every turn to trigger other bonuses.

#40. Scalding Viper

Wilds of Eldraine‘s Scalding Viper combines a few weaker effects into a more efficient package: You can bounce something and later get the creature, so it goes well in an adventure-matters deck. But the most important aspect is to ping your opponents whenever they cast a spell with mana value 3 or less. Some commanders like Ghyrson Starn, Kelermorph care about dealing exactly 1 damage, and there are storm decks in competitive formats that can be punished with this elemental snake.

#39. Mystic Snake

Mystic Snake gives us a classic “counter a spell plus get a 2/2.” The card’s seen plenty of Constructed play, and once it’s on the battlefield, you can counter spells on demand by blinking it. Green cards can easily recur creatures from the graveyard, and this card scales well into the late game.

#38. Rampaging Aetherhood

Rampaging Aetherhood super charges your energy production and has the option to double it's power like a Hydra's Growth on a big trampler.

#37. Weaver of Harmony

Weaver of Harmony is awesome in enchantress decks, as copying triggered or activated abilities can pay off immensely. Suddenly you can draw one more card, or your Oblivion Ring can exile a new target. This druid snake goes very well with powerful sagas, especially those that become enchantment creatures and can benefit from the +1/+1 bonus.

#36. Tower Winder

Tower Winder is excellent if you have it during your first few turns, as you can get a defensive creature and fix your mana by getting your Command Tower, one of the best lands to have in EDH. Its value grows significantly if you need a mana fixer in your 4- or 5-color deck. Drawing this snake later is just fine, and you can trade with something else.

#35. Fangkeeper's Familiar

Fangkeeper's Familiar looks like a strictly better Mystic Snake to me. The options of life and surveil 3 are good chunks. I don't mind that it can only counter creature spells, if that noncreature spell is an enchantment you still have an out.

#34. Omarthis, Ghostfire Initiate

Omarthis, Ghostfire Initiate gets better if you’re playing colorless creatures. By itself, the card can be a small creature, like a 3/3 that’ll die into three manifested 2/2s. The real deal is to play Omarthis with modular artifacts (Arcbound Ravager and the like), or the newest Eldrazi from MH3 that care about +1/+1 counters, since many of these have devoid.

#33. Winding Constrictor

Fun fact: This card was once called Winning Constrictor. Winding Constrictor is a good support to +1/+1 counter strategies, and in the colors that take the most advantage of it besides white. MH3 brought plenty of support for the archetype with adapt creatures, so this Golgari card got even better.

#32. Rottenmouth Viper

Bloomburrow‘s Rottenmouth Viper only cares about whether you want to sacrifice stuff, be it tokens, sacrifice fodder, or creatures that have death triggers. This way, you can get a 6/6 for say, 2 or 3 mana, that can punish all your opponents every turn. The more blight counters this black creature has, the harder your opponents' decisions become.

#31. Skullwinder

Skullwinder is a snake riff on Eternal Witness, on top of it being a 1/3 with deathtouch. The downside is that you have to offer the same ability to one of your opponents, so you’re definitely not playing this green snake in 1v1. It gets better if one of your opponents has an empty graveyard, or if they’re not getting a huge bomb.

#30. Ohran Viper

Ohran Viper is a natural evolution of the card Ophidian, who believe it or not, was something of a control engine back then. Still, Ohran Viper is a good 1/3 “deathtouch” creature that your opponents won’t want to mess with often in combat, allowing you to draw some cards.

#29. Sidisi, Undead Vizier

A 4/6 deathtouch creature is huge, and Sidisi, Undead Vizier comes with its own Demonic Tutor effect attached. You can sacrifice it or another lesser creature to benefit from the exploit effect, and there are some loops that include bringing it back again for more value and combos. 

#28. Vizier of the Menagerie

Vizier of the Menagerie offers card advantage and mana fixing by letting you cast creature spells from the top of your library. You’ll play this snake cleric in Commander decks that have a good creature spell density like Animar, Soul of Elements, Ruric Thar, the Unbowed, or Nikya of the Old Ways. These decks already want to play many creatures, and the Vizier powers those decks nicely.

#27. Champion of Wits

Champion of Wits offers card advantage and selection, being able to draw and discard many cards, especially when you eternalize it and draw four, discard two. Its best fit is in decks that care about milling or that have a way to benefit from the eternalize token.

#26. Prowling Serpopard

Prowling Serpopard makes your creature spells uncounterable, besides being a 4/3 for 3 mana. It’s also a snake and a cat, so it sees play in relevant typal decks.

#25. Hooded Hydra

Hooded Hydra is a giant creature that dies into Snake tokens, so it’s a perfect fit for snake typal decks. You can even morph it for and have a 5/5 that dies into five tokens.

#24. Thieving Amalgam

Getting a huge creature and a 2/2 every turn is less than what you expect when paying 7 mana these days, so Thieving Amalgam isn’t wonderful. You can get a lot of value if you manifest the right cards, or if you play it in a theft deck. When you start turning creatures from your opponents against them, it’s all upside to you and you can sacrifice them later to drain their life totals.

#23. Broodbirth Viper

With Broodbirth Viper, you can have myriad creatures attacking your foes and threatening to draw that many cards. This is the type of card that really shines with typal support, and you’ll be extra careful not to lose the original body. The downside is that attacking with a 3/3 without any form of built-in evasion is begging to lose the card to a block, but if you draw some cards in the process, it’s still fine.

#22. Ikra Shidiqi, the Usurper

Ikra Shidiqi, the Usurper is a strong threat, allowing you to gain 7 life if it isn’t blocked. It gets better via the partner mechanic, so you can partner with cards like Tymna the Weaver, a card that allows you to pay life, or a partner like Prava of the Steel Legion that boosts toughness from tokens. Whichever partner you choose, here’s a solid foundation for a toughness-matters deck or lifegain deck.

#21. Gravebreaker Lamia

Gravebreaker Lamia offers you an entomb effect tied to a creature, and afterwards spells you cast from your graveyard cost less. It's a strong creature in decks filled with flashback spells, or with commanders like Muldrotha, the Gravetide, where you actively want to cast a spell every turn from your grave.

#20. Kaseto, Orochi Archmage

Kaseto, Orochi Archmage is a good card to add to a snakes deck, especially for snakes that want to connect and draw cards. Overall, it’s great support for a snake strategy, buffing your smaller ones or giving them unblockable. Kaseto could be a good snake commander, but it’s very clunky, being small and fragile for its cost and needing you to invest mana constantly.

#19. Persistent Constrictor

Persistent Constrictor just loves the -1/-1 counter play in Lorwyn Eclipsed and sneaks in some spectacle enabling or any effect that cards about opponent's losing a bit of life each turn.

#18. Naga Fleshcrafter

The power to copy any creature in play is strong. Then the option to renew Naga Fleshcrafter and create a board full of your best creature like a Hullbreaker Horror is downright terrifying.

#17. Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty

Whenever Artisan Brawl is an event on MTG Arena, I bring my Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty Brawl deck to the virtual table. Getting to cascade a bunch of times is very powerful, and Imoti only requires you to ramp, cast it, and then follow with a bunch of 6- and 7-drops. If they kill this Simic commander, you just cast it again, benefitting from the cascade.

#16. Seshiro the Anointed

It’s not every day that we see a typal lord give a +2/+2 bonus, but here’s Seshiro the Anointed doing exactly that. It’s fragile and expensive, but you can have a strong turn when Seshiro enters, and it’s an interesting reason to build a snake Commander deck.

#15. Shigeki, Jukai Visionary

Shigeki, Jukai Visionary is a good recursive card, and its channel ability is uncounterable by normal counterspells. It’s a good tool to have in graveyard decks, and it's not the worst card to cast either. It’s a good way to ramp in slower games if you cast it and return it to your hand via the activated ability.

#14. Ramunap Excavator

Ramunap Excavator is Crucible of Worlds on legs, letting you replay lands from your graveyard, either locking them with Strip Mine and Glacial Chasm, or getting the most out of your “play two lands a turn” effects like Oracle of Mul Daya.

#13. Ohran Frostfang

Ohran Frostfang is super strong, as it combines deathtouch for attacking creatures with the “deal damage, draw a card” bonus. Your opponents have to decide between losing creatures and giving you cards, and it’s hard to block or kill a 2/6 profitably. This is one of the best snake engines or “saboteur matters” engines out there.

#12. Lonis, Cryptozoologist

One of Magic's the best investigate cards, Lonis, Cryptozoologist is a nice clue commander, as it comes down early and each subsequent creature you cast gives you a Clue token. Later, you can sacrifice clues to pseudo-Bribery a player. Just getting cards out of your creatures is good, and you can also blink them for more value.

#11. Sidisi, Brood Tyrant

Sidisi, Brood Tyrant is a zombie factory if you have a good mill engine. Think about this: The card wants you to play the long game, and it gives you the tools to stall by making zombies, affecting the board. Over the course of the game, your threshold cards get online, your recursion gets stronger as you have more tools, and you can reanimate a large threat, or just constantly hit them with cards like Syr Konrad, the Grim – while also making zombies to chump-block or sacrifice.

#10. Chishiro, the Shattered Blade

Chishiro, the Shattered Blade gives you a strong incentive to play auras and equipment, and to have modified creatures. You can play this snake samurai as a Voltron commander, or play many cards that are already modified, like creatures with +1/+1 counters, living weapon cards, or cards that make role tokens. This way you’ll create many 2/2’s, and you can go wide and tall at the same time.

#9. Xyris, the Writhing Storm

Xyris, the Writhing Storm is a very popular Temur commander () with over 9,000 lists posted online. You can get awesome benefits by playing wheel effects, or spells that force everyone to draw cards. You can even force players to draw cards by dealing damage with Xyris, and when you’re getting that many Snake tokens in a given game, you might as well throw in a snake-typal effect.

#8. Caustic Bronco

Caustic Bronco is making some waves in Standard black aggressive decks. If your opponent doesn’t have removal, you’ll be getting the Dark Confidant effect. Once you saddle this snake horse mount from Outlaws of Thunder Junction, the life loss even transfers to your opponents.

#7. Stonecoil Serpent

Stonecoil Serpent is very efficient. You can put it into any deck, it’s the size you want, and it puts a brick wall in front of multicolored commanders. It has potential in many Constructed formats as a flexible artifact creature, and it gets better if you can ramp and produce large amounts of mana.

#6. Ice-Fang Coatl

Ice-Fang Coatl is your Simic Baleful Strix. It’s very easy to play some snow basic lands and turn on this flying snake, and it gets better if your deck is snow-themed, or if it’s a blink-dedicated deck. The Coatl also has flash to better surprise your foes and kill them.

#5. Sakura-Tribe Elder

Here’s a staple snake from many Constructed formats. You can get a basic land on demand with this snake shaman; you can even chump-block and get a land later. It’s a snake, but that’s not very relevant in typal decks since you’ll want Sakura-Tribe Elder to ramp most of the time.

#4. Hexdrinker

Hexdrinker is a 1-drop that does it all. It starts fine as a 2/1 for , but later in the game you can dump your mana to make it a strong 6/6 threat with protection from everything, like Progenitus.

#3. Fanatic of Rhonas

One of the best additions to green ramp decks from MH3, Fanatic of Rhonas boosts these strategies heavily. It’s an ordinary mana dork until you have a 4-power creature in play, and that’s when it starts generating 4 mana a turn. It’s easy to do that with cards like Outcaster Trailblazer and Polukranos Reborn around.

#2. Enduring Tenacity

I admit it, I play Sanguine Bond combos and I love them. Enduring Tenacity is instrumental in tons of wins because opponents may have removal for one creature but spending enchantment removal on that same card is just too much or too slow. Plus it hits the mana curve right before Exquisite Blood, that's why I give it a chef's kiss.

#1. Lotus Cobra

Here’s one of our favorite landfall payoffs and a Constructed staple. Lotus Cobra fixes mana and generates a bunch of mana if you have fetch lands or ramp spells like Cultivate. You can get a lot of value from this 2-drop, and it gets better in multiples.

Best Snake Payoffs

First, let’s talk about deathtouch. Many snakes have deathtouch, so these are cards that reward you for having deathtouch creatures around, and most share green, which should be your main color while playing snakes. Mwonvuli Beast Tracker helps make sure you find the best deathtouch creature for your situation.

• Vraska, Swarm's Eminence
• Hooded Blightfang
• Fynn, the Fangbearer
• Aveline de Grandpré
• Mwonvuli Beast Tracker

Bite spells are great with deathtouch creatures:

• Infectious Bite
• Contest of Claws
• Hunter's Talent

Fallout‘s Butch DeLoria, Tunnel Snake gets a lot better if you’re playing many snakes.

Thanks to the efforts of Kamigawa sets, playing many snakes and snake lords can really payoff. If you need more snakes, there are a few snake token generators you can use, such as:

• Ophiomancer
• Orochi Hatchery
• Sosuke's Summons
• Cobra Trap
• Patagia Viper
• Aphelia, Viper Whisperer

Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons also creates lots of snakes and works nicely with the blight introduced in Lorwyn Eclipsed.

Animal Sanctuary is a simple way to pump up snakes. Seems unfair that no snakes got added to the list of Animal May-Ham on Spider-Ham, Peter Porker, Blex, Vexing Pest is the next closet such lord and inclusive of snakes. Patron of the Orochi meanwhile is an early form of emerge and alternative flash for a very powerful ability, made possible because you have a snake.

Finally, if you’re using the poison counter aspect of your snakes, you can take advantage of this in a few ways:

• Contaminant Grafter
• Wurmquake
• Necrogen Rotpriest
• The Seedcore

Do Nagas Count as Snakes in MTG?

They do. In Modern Horizons 3, nagas were errata'd to snakes, so all previous nagas in MTG like Sidisi, Undead Vizier now have the snake creature type. There’s no naga subtype anymore, seeing as nagas are very much snake-like, and WotC decided that there’s no point in differentiating the creature types.

Wrap Up

Xyris, the Writhing Storm | Illustration by Filip Burburan

And that’s about it for snakes, guys! Some of these snakes are very relevant in Constructed formats, while most see some fringe play in Commander or have been important in a past Standard format. It’s nice that snakes are constantly supported by WotC, as well as themes like poison and deathtouch-matters.

What do you make of my list? Missing a few good ones? Let me know in the comments, or let’s talk about it over on the Draftsim Discord.

Sssstay safe, and watch out for snakes.