Looking to play the best Lhurgoyfs ever released in the history of Magic: The Gathering? You’re in for a treat as Modern Horizons 3 has just released a new preconstructed Commander deck with the Lhurgoyf creature type as its theme!
Way back in 1995, Ice Age introduced the first-ever Lhurgoyf and changed the way we view graveyard synergy. Since then, Lhurgoyfs have appeared on rare occasions with powerful new interpretations.
For the purpose of this list, we are evaluating the best Lhurgoyfs based on both their competitive format power and their Commander format playability.
Get ready to delve into the world of Lhurgoyfs as we look at the Top 10 Best Lhurgoyfs in MTG!
#1 Tarmogoyf
Tarmogoyf was released in 2007 and surprised players by mentioning the card type “planeswalker” in its reminder text before planeswalkers existed in the game. Talk about a tease! The total power and toughness potential of Goyf is 8/9 if you include all card types.
Soon after its release, it spiked in price from a few dollars to $200. Over time, Tarmogoyf has lost popularity as Gurmag Angler and other delve cards offered attractive power and toughness for potentially less mana.
Today, Tarmogoyf has lost some popularity and only costs $10 a pop, but it still sees play on some level in eternal formats like Legacy and Modern.
#2 Nethergoyf
Already one of the most expensive rares from MH3 is Nethergoyf. Compared to Tarmogoyf, it is half the mana cost and you can play it twice thanks to escape.
The big downside is that it only counts card types in your graveyard and not opponent’s. Sometimes that downside doesn’t even matter, as your opponent may play around this clause.
Can Nethergoyf regain the popularity that Tarmogoyf has lost in eternal formats? Only time will tell.
#3 Pyrogoyf
If you’re running this in a deck with changelings or other Lhurgoyfs, it may be the best card in the 99 of a Commander deck. Think of it like a 4 mana Terror of the Peaks that also deals damage when it enters the battlefield.
#4 Polygoyf
MTG has figured out a way to make Tarmogoyf playable in Commander. Just give it myriad and trample!
Whenever you attack with a creature with myriad, you get to create an additional copy for each other opponent and attack them with the copy. This ability also works great with token doublers and cards that care about creatures entering the battlefield.
#5 Barrowgoyf
For an additional mana over Tarmogoyf, you get deathtouch and lifelink, and most importantly, card advantage!
Whenever Barrowgoyf connects, you’ll get to mill cards which increases its P/T (power/toughness), as well as put creatures into your hand. This works well with reanimate strategies, even if you aren’t a Lhurgoyf-based deck.
#6 Necrogoyf
Necrogoyf is a little unusual in the Lhurgoyf world as it has a static toughness of 4.
A common trend among goyfs is to have power equal to the number of creature cards in all graveyards. This is one of the better power modifiers among lhurgoyfs. Playing a card like Iname, Death Aspect can pump Necrogoyf to 40+ power for a game-winning attack in Commander.
In Commander, forcing players to discard a card each turn is exactly what black wants to do. Not only does it increase the creature count in graveyards, it synergizes with your graveyard recursion cards like Reanimate and other Lhurgoyfs you may be playing.
#7 Tarmogoyf Nest
“Create a Tarmogoyf token” is a line of text now. So, yeah, that’s something.
It’s a little slow to get this online, but once it gets going, good things can happen. Combine this with cards that untap lands, such as Arbor Elf to generate multiple tokens a turn.
Because it creates tokens, token doubler effects like Parallel Lives work well with it.
#8 Urborg Lhurgoyf
This is almost as close to the Tarmogoyf as one can get. It trades off the benefit of counting opponents’ graveyards in exchange for milling 3-6 cards at an additional mana cost. That’s a pretty fair trade, and decks that want to mill themselves will benefit. I’d rank this higher in Commander than Tarmogoyf; however, lower for competitive 60-card formats.
#9 Terravore
Imagine a world where you cast Armageddon with Terravore out and your opponents don’t walk away from the table in disgust. That’s a world where Terravore is a pretty sick finisher.
It can also work well with Scapeshift type of decks where you’ll have plenty of lands in your graveyard. Be sure to run fetches!
#10 Mortivore
Mortivore has been a staple black creature of Commander decks way back when the format was still called Elder Dragon Highlander!
This Lhurgoyf’s key to success is its ability to regenerate for a single black mana. You can also regenerate as many times as you’d like. For those unfamiliar with the mechanic, regenerate will stop a creature from being destroyed. In the old days, this was an amazing ability that made creatures nearly invincible.
Today, it’s quite a bit worse because of exile effects like Path to Exile and Farewell. It also doesn’t fare too well against Toxic Deluge.
That rounds out our list of the top ten best lhurgoyfs in the history of Magic: The Gathering! If you enjoyed this list, you might also like our article on the best MH3 cards for Commander.
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