The Most Epic Fantasy and Sci-Fi Website

25 Best MTG Tutors in Modern That Every Magic: The Gathering Player Should Know About


Credit: WOTC

We've compiled some of the best tutors in Modern to consider for your MTG deck! The format is surprisingly sparse in mana efficient tutors, especially compared to Legacy, Vintage, and the Commander/EDH format.

While the options for tutors are limited, mana expensive, or narrow in scope, they are certainly worth considering for your Modern deck. Some of them fulfill very niche purposes, such as tutoring out only lands, creatures, or artifacts.

Diabolic Tutor is the baseline card; which is not included in this list and costs 4 mana at sorcery speed to find the card you need. That's pretty slow. Nevertheless, if you need a tutor card in your Modern deck, here are some of the options to consider!

In no particular order, here are 25 tutor cards to know about for Modern:

  1. Gifts Ungiven

    Played in Gifts Storm, Gifts Ungiven can search up cards like Noxious Revival and Past in Flames which will guarantee the winning card you need to tutor. It's a tutor with a few extra steps.

  2. Grim Tutor

    Grim Tutor finally gave Modern players a 3 mana catch-all tutor card. A fine upgrade to Diabolic Tutor, which many consider unplayable at 4 mana (although id does find a lot of love among casual players).

  3. Glittering Wish

    There are not many 2 mana tutors in Modern, so Glittering Wish is really good. The only downside is it only searches for multicolored cards and they have to be in your sideboard.

  4. Eladamri's Call

    Eladamri's Call is a 2 mana instant speed tutor! Wow! Great for creature-based combo decks, which just happen to be green or white already!

  5. Idyllic Tutor

    Idyllic Tutor is perfect for finding an enchantment combo card. That being said, being 3 mana and limited to only enchantments makes it useful for only a few strategies.

  6. Transmute Cards

    Transmute cards include Tolaria West, Brainspoiler, Clutch of the Undercity, Dimir House Guard, Drift of Phantasms, Perplex, and more. Although limited to tutoring a specific mana cost card, they have the added bonus of being spells too.

  7. Fabricate

    There's plenty of broken artifacts to combo in Modern! Fabricate helps you find them.

  8. Infernal Tutor

    Infernal Tutor lets you find any card and only cost 2 mana, which is a rarity for the Modern format. You'll need Hellbent active to find a card that isn't already in your hand. Infernal Tutor works great for combos that require or improve by having two of the same card.

  9. Merchent Scroll

    Another fantastic tutor at 2 mana, but with the enormous downside of only finding a blue instant card.

  10. Spoils of the Vault

    Spoils of the Vault is quite intriguing. It is a 1 mana instant card that grabs you any one card from your deck. That's hard to beat in any format. If you're feeling lucky you can win the game with your combo, but at the same time, you could lose the game from life loss if you haven't added a card to counteract that effect.

  11. Stoneforge Mystic

    Stoneforge Mystic was previously banned from Modern, but now it is legal again! Go ahead, grab any equipment you want, you deserve it!

  12. Mastermind’s Acquisition

    Strictly better than Diabolic Tutor, Mastermind's Acquisition gives you the added option of finding a card from your sideboard. It's still 4 mana to play at sorcery speed, which is a heavy drawback.

  13. Chord of Calling

    Chord of Calling is one of the best creature tutors in Modern since it puts the card right onto the battlefield! You can also reduce the mana cost with Convoke. Right now the card is played in BG decks, Devoted Devastation, Uro Omnath, Elves, Souldherder, and more.

  14. Ad Nauseam

    Ad Nauseam is instant speed which is a huge benefit. It isn't a tutor per-say, but since you can draw your entire deck with it, it can act as a tutor. Just be sure to run Phyrexian Unlife or Angel's Grace to protect your life total.

  15. Ranger of Eos

    Ranger of Eos is phenomenal card value. It gives you 3 cards for 1 and lets you search up the one mana creatures you need.

  16. Neoform

    Neoform is for the creature combo decks. Since it puts the creature onto the battlefield it is really powerful at two mana. The downside is very narrow conditions for which creature you can bring into play.

  17. Traverse the Ulvenwald

    Traverse the Ulvenwald is only one mana and can grab any creature or land from your library. Delirium isn't too difficult to achieve, and even if you haven't grabbing a basic land for one mana is fair.

  18. Whir of Invention

    Whir of Invention is one of the best artifact tutors you can run. Not only does it tutor any artifact it will put it into play. There's plenty of cheap CMC artifacts that will help pay the Improvise cost. Whir of Invention is used in all of the best artifact based on combo decks.

  19. Mystical Teachings

    Got to love the artwork by Ron Spears on this one! Mystical Teachings is instant speed which is very useful. Flashback is a nice touch as well

  20. Ranger-Captain of Eos

    What is better, Ranger of Eos or Ranger-Captain of Eos? While I can't say for certain, Ranger-Captain of Eos already sees play in Modern Human decks. It's two for one value that can prevent your opponent from casting non-creature spells. That's great for beating combo and control decks.

  21. Scapeshift

    Scapeshift tutors for all the land you need. There's plenty of land combos that can utilize it to win the game.

  22. Steelshaper's Gift

    Steelshaper's Gift is a one mana tutor that grabs any Equipment card from your deck. Stoneforge Mystic is often best because it is a creature as well for only 1 more mana, but it is hard to beat a 1 mana tutor in any format as long as the card type is worth playing.

  23. Eldritch Evolution

    There's plenty of creature tutors, so Eldritch Evolution tends not to see play. The best part about it is that it puts the creature directly onto the battlefield instead of your hand.

  24. Reshape

    Whir of Invention is better at one more blue mana; however, Reshape can server as an additional way to tutor an Artifact onto the battlefield.

  25. Polymorph

    Polymorph is an odd choice since it hits a random card rather than a specific card. It is worth noting though; because, if you only run 1 creature in your deck, it will 100% of the time find that card and put it into the battlefield. Combo this with a few copies of Blightsteel Colossus and then create creatures with instants or sorceries to guarantee success. That's everything! If you enjoyed this list, you may also like 110 Board Wipes For Your Magic: The Gathering Commander & EDH Deck!

For more articles like this, take a look at our Magic: the Gathering and Lists page.