Summary
Magic: The Gatheringis home to a wide variety of intriguing creature types, with Otters being one of the rarer types that has ever graced the game’s history. First debuting in the Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths set in 2020, Otters were then a featured creature type in 2024’s Bloomburrow set.
While there are only 21 Otter creatures across MTG’s history, some of the best Otters ever have some potentially game-breaking abilities as well as synergistic play patterns that go beautifully in a “spells-matter” deck. Check out the 10 best Otter creatures ever.
10Rapid Augmenter
A Token-Boosting Otter With Haste
This Izzet (blue/red) Otter hails from Bloomburrow’s Commander set and pairs beautifully with spells that create 1/1 Otters, such as Otterball Antics, or permanents that can repeatedly create creatures with one power.
Combining the haste keyword with some intriguing build-around notions regarding low-powered creatures or creature token creation means that this is one intriguing Otter, and it would certainly be a good fit in any Otter-themed Commander deck.
9Thundertrap Trainer
Impulse On A Stick For Noncreature Spells
Theoffspring keyword abilitydebuted in Bloomburrow and allows you to create a 1/1 copy of the creature with the offspring ability. That means you’ll be able to duplicate this 1/2 Otter’s ETB ability – which is pretty much just a noncreature, nonland Impulse (look at the top four of your library, put one in hand and rest on the bottom of your library).
While six mana for only a total of 2/3 power and toughness seems pretty steep, being able to sift through the top eight cards of your deck on top of getting two bodies on the battlefield is actually a pretty solid rate.
8Stormcatch Mentor
A Better Goblin Electromancer?
Goblin Electromancer has long been a staple of Izzet “spells-matter” decks, as its cost reduction ability for instants and sorceries is crucial for decks looking to get ample value out of casting their spells.
At the cost of one power and toughness, this Otter creature takes the Electromancer’s “vanilla” status and attaches both haste and prowess to it – making this both a solid pay-off and an excellent enabler for instant and sorcery strategies, which is a fairly impressive combination for just two mana.
7Lutri, the Spellchaser
Banned In Commander Due To Easy Companion Criteria
The companion mechanic, which debuted in Ikoria, was quickly errata’d due to its immense inherent power. One of the first Otter creatures ever certainly took advantage of that keyword, and its companion condition is actually the condition for the Commander format in general (no two nonland cards in your deck share a name).
Because it is literally impossible to not meet the criteria for Lutri’s companion status in Commander, Lutri was uniquely banned in Commander the moment it was revealed. While the power level doesn’t seem overly high, duplicating a spell can be game-swinging, and being able to always have that ability was deemed too strong for Commander.
6Valley Floodcaller
Flash-Giving, Mass-Pumping Otter “Lord”
Cards like Teferi, Time Raveler are absolutely busted. While this Otter “lord” isn’t quite that oppressive, this card’s static ability of being able to toss off noncreature spells on your foe’s turn can certainly be massively advantageous in the right deck.
In a dedicated Otter deck, this card’s second ability is likely even stronger, and because this card itself also has flash, you can set up some nasty ambushes if you time things correctly.
5Alania, Divergent Storm
Copying Spells In Exchange For More Cards For Your Foe
Clearly, Otter deck archetypes (should they be called “ottertypes?”) are focused on playing noncreature spells generally and instant and sorcery spells specifically. A sub-theme for Otters, however, is the ability to copy spells, which this Otter “lord” does beautifully.
Alania does cost quite a bit at five mana, but the ability to copy your first instant, sorcery or – crucially – Otter spell each turn can snowball quickly. This also makes for an intriguing commander option for you Otterheads out there.
4Elusive Otter
An Adventurous Otter In Simic (Green/Blue) Colors
One of two Otters found in the Wilds of Eldraine set, this card also has a sorcery Adventure card attached to it that allows you add X +1/+1 counters to any number of target creatures you control – which pairs nicely with creatures with prowess.
Speaking of prowess, the creature side of Elusive Otter has that keyword ability, and it also can’t be blocked by creatures with power less than its power, making for an elegant and highly synergistic card, especially when paired with more Otters.
3Kitsa, Otterball Elite
Bloomburrow Mythic With Synergistic Abilities
This mythic rare from Bloomburrow only costs two mana, and you get ample value for that investment. It’s a 1/3 with vigilance and prowess as well as two activated abilities: a tap to “loot,” (draw, then discard) and yet another “copy target instant or sorcery spell you control.”
The second ability can only occur if Kitsa’s power is 3 or greater, but in a fast Otter deck, that shouldn’t be too difficult – making this an exceptional engine for any decks that care about firing off tons of impactful instants and sorceries.
2Stormsplitter
Flavorful, Fun And Powerful Red Mythic Otter
Another mythic from Bloomburrow, this card is an extremely flavorful and fascinating Otter with haste and a 1/4 body for four mana. Doesn’t sound too inspiring, right? Well, this card also has a nifty bit of text that says: “create a token copy of this card when you cast an instant or sorcery spell.”
An incredibly strong ability, this card also serves as a creature version of the ever-popular (and massively strong) storm mechanic, which copies spells based on how many spells you’ve cast before it during the turn. As expected, any Otter deck would love to have this bad boy kicking around.
1Bria, Riptide Rogue
Best Otter Ever Makes All Your Other Creatures Stronger
Seeing as Bloomburrow featured Otters as a major theme, it’s not surprising that this list is dominated by cards from that set – including the top Otter card ever hailing from that flavorful and fun set.
Bria, Riptide Rogue was one of the first cards previewed from Bloomburrow, and it looked extremely strong upon first showing. That first impression certainly held up (especially in Commander), as this four-drop gives all other creatures you control prowess (which trigger separately, by the way, so multiple instances trigger more than once) and also makes target creature unblockable when you cast a noncreature spell. Supreme power on an extremely synergistic creature, this is the best Otter of all time.
