The 10 Best Humble Effects in Magic

Humility by Phil Foglio

Humble effects are one of the oddest removal and control cards in the game. To say nothing of the confusing way that Humble effects interact in layers and other power and toughness modifications, many players avoid using Humility-style effects. Whether they're too confusing, or players just don't know about them, we should all be running a few more Humbles in our Commander decks. 

Pride is the downfall of all creatures and men. Only by humbling ourselves before the awesome might of the planeswalkers can we hope to survive. What are the best ways to stay humble? Let's take a look at the best humble effects in Magic!

What Are Humble Effects? How Do They Work?

Humble effects get their name from Humble. Part of the broader "rules setting" archetype of white spells, the effect has since expanded in various incarnations into all five colors. "Humbling" a creature refers to either removing its abilities, creature types, or card types and/or resetting its base power and toughness to a lower number. Sometimes, a humble effect will last until the end of the turn, while other effects are more permanent. 

Humility was the first "true" humble effect, followed by the namesake Humble a year later. 

Humbling a creature in Magic is a continuous effect, meaning it is a constant modification to an object's characteristics. When multiple continuous effects happen simultaneously, we use the layers system to apply them PEMDAS-style. Layers are applied in the following order:

1. Copy effects, like Clone.
2. Control-changing effects, like Mind Control.
3. Text-changing effects, like Sleight of Mind and the overload mechanic
4. Type-changing effects, like Blood Moon and Conspiracy
5. Color-changing effects, like Snakeform or Painter's Servant
6. Effects that add or remove abilities, like Humility
7. Layer seven has four sublayers: 
   1. Characteristic-defining abilities, like on Tarmogoyf. (This is basically any ability with a * value somewhere)
   2. Effects that set "base" power and toughness, like Humility
   3. Effects and counters that modify power and toughness, like Giant Growth and +1/+1 counters
   4. Effects that switch power and toughness, like Inside Out.

Apply effects in order from 1-7 to determine just what stats a permanent actually has. 

Humble effects mostly see play in Commander these days since they can effectively shut down an opponent's commander without sending it to the command zone to be recast. For our list, the best humble effects will be costed aggressively, have instant-speed activations, or will effectively be semi-permanent removal for those indestructible creatures. We're using the scryfall oracle tag "otag:humble" to find our list of humble effects, so don't burn me at the stake if I miss some; I am but a humble Commander's Herald writer.

Honorable Mentions: OGs

Before we hop into the real list, I wanted to touch on some cards that are my favorite humblers, but not necessarily playable. These three cards are the original pseudo-humbles from Arabian Nights and are the first instances of effects that change the base power and toughness of creatures.

Island of Wak-Wak

You'd be forgiven if you'd never heard of Island of Wak-Wak. This Arabian Nights land has no mana abilities and can tap to change a flying creature's power to 0. This card is particularly situational, and not that great when the situation comes around, but it's one of the oldest "humble"-adjacent effects in the game, and I feel like I could write an entire D&D campaign based on that flavor text.

Sorceress Queen

Sorceress Queen is another pseudo-humble effect that also hails from Arabian Nights. Her ability was subsequently color-shifted onto Serendib Sorcerer, where blue makes a lot more sense for this ability.

Singing Tree

A step up from Island of Wak-Wak is this goofy little four-mana 0/3 that reduces an attacking creature's power to 0. Basically a single-target and repeatable Fog, I can see Singing Tree being a great lock-down card back in 1993 when folks usually only had one threatening creature at a time, and it was only a threat because it could deal combat damage.

#10. Ichthyomorphosis

Ichthyomorphosis is similar to both Imprisoned in the Moon and Darksteel Mutation, but scores lower because its target stays as a creature that can die, return to the command zone, and then be recast later. This Aura is best used when your gameplan doesn't involve swinging for combat damage at the Ichthyomorphosis-ized player. 

#9. Final Showdown

Yee-haw! Final Showdown's humble effect plus a board wipe make it super effective for removing a board of indestructible creatures while saving your own. Removing creatures' abilities before they're destroyed can pay off in spades as well when those undying creatures can't reanimate themselves, Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver's death triggers don't happen, and nobody's Blood Artist can ping you to death as a result. A quick-draw instant-speed board wipe you can break out to prove you're the fastest shot in the West.

#8. Vraska, Betrayal's Sting

Vraska, Betrayal's Sting's second ability can turn a creature into a measly little Treasure token at the cost of two loyalty. Vraska's humble effect isn't as permanent as the others on this list, but it's repeatable and guaranteed to shut down that player's commander for at least one more turn when they chuck their commander-Treasure to cast something, and then wait another turn to recast said commander. 

Vraska, Betrayal's Sting is best used when you need to remove a slower commander, one that needs to stick to the field for a turn before it can start generating value.

#7. Overwhelming Splendor

Overwhelming Splendor is such a mean card to play. Not only does it humble an entire board of creatures, it also prevents the enchanted player from activating any abilities from noncreature permanents that might've helped remove this Curse. Best combined with Curse of Death's Hold to lock them out of ever playing another creature. Really, Overwhelming Splendor's only drawback is its huge mana cost, but hitting eight mana in an average Commander game shouldn't be that hard.

#6. Lignify

Lignify used to be our go-to for permanent commander removal, at least after they stopped letting us Chaos Warp them into our opponents' libraries. Lignify is a bit better than Ichthyomorphosis because the creature it changes its target into is a tad tougher, meaning it can block in combat without dying. We want our opponents' commanders to be stuck in tree-form for the rest of the game, so keeping it alive and tree-ish when players declare attackers at them is paramount to Lignify working.

#5. Dress Down

Dress Down's one of my favorite Magic card designs from recent years. An enchantment with flash that removes all creatures' abilities and it's a cantrip? Dress Down makes one for one of the coolest "gotcha!" interactions: by proving your knowledge of timing in the Magic sphere, you can use Dress Down as a counter for any number of common strategies. Walking Ballistas got you down? Drop Dress Down in response to your opponent casting the Ballista, or Hangarback Walker, or whatever, and giggle as it enters the battlefield as a 0/0 with no +1/+1 counters. 

Or maybe, you're looking to go on the offensive. Since Dress Down's effect doesn't modify the power or toughness of creatures, we can use it to nullify any number of drawbacks on our own creatures. How about a 13/13 Death's Shadow for one black? Or a Scourge of the Skyclaves? Or how about keeping our evoked creatures around after their ETB has resolved? Dress Down's uses are endless, so it's no wonder it's seen some play in Modern.

#4. Humility

The origin of Humility is, well, Humility, and it's one of the best ones out there. It's not often R&D gets it right on the first try, but Humility's board-wide humble effect is one of the best ways to freeze an EDH game in its tracks. I don't care how many Dragons your Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm deck just created; they're all 1/1s with no abilities until I say otherwise. The original Humility turns off whatever clock your opponents had put you on. Commander being a 40-life format should give you more than enough time to recover when an army of weeny 1/1s with no internal synergy has no choice but to aimlessly pick at you one point at a time.

#3. Imprisoned In The Moon

Imprisoned in the Moon is one of the best ways to deal with an opponent's commander permanently. They better hope they're running Naturalize, otherwise their Nadu, Winged Wisdom is now a colorless land (okay, that's a bad example: that Nadu is still going to trigger one more time and go nuts). 

Imprisoned in the Moon locks down an opponent's commander and makes it very hard to get it back. Your options basically boil down to destroying the enchantment with a Disenchant or finding a way to sacrifice your own land; maybe you're running Aggressive Mining for this specific instance, but most likely you're waiting for someone to wipe the enchantments from the table with Merciless Eviction. At three mana, it's not the cheapest Humility effect, but it's still better than just Murdering that commander.

#2. Darksteel Mutation

Darksteel Mutation is probably the best way to permanently deal with an opponent's commander. By humbling it, making it 0/1, and giving it indestructible, you've turned that The Ur-Dragon into a solid lump of darksteel that can do nothing but block one non-flying creature each turn. The only way they'll be getting their commander back is by removing the enchantment (something I've found not enough players are accounting for), sacrificing the creature (easier to do but still a pain), or blinking it to force the Aura to fall off. Either way, Darksteel Mutation's humble effect is the best way to lock down a creature and make it useless.

#1. Oko, Thief of Crowns

I love to look at Oko, Thief of Crowns's Scryfall page. "BANNED, BANNED, BANNED, BANNED" it reads down the list of formats, until we come to Commander, where this three-mana terror of a planeswalker is still legal! Oko ran wild over just about every format while it was legal. It's a super valuable planeswalker, with two abilities that tick its loyalty up. Its second ability, the dread Elk-enizer, humbles a creature and makes it a 3/3. The option to shut down a different creature every turn makes Oko one of the best removal and control planeswalkers out there, to say nothing of its other abilities. Best of all, Oko's Elk-enizer ability lasts indefinitely, persisting after Oko's destroyed and until they can find a way to sacrifice their commander back into the command zone.

A Humbling Experience

Humble effects are just about the best way to lock out decks that rely too heavily on their commander. From Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow to Kenrith, the Returned King, so many commanders become nothing-sandwiches when their abilities are removed. Tired of watching that Yisan, the Wanderer Bard player tutor from their library for twenty minutes every turn? Humble that dork. Too many Zulaport Cutthroats on the field for you to board wipe? Drop Humility. 

What are some of your favorite humble effects? Are there any great commanders to build around a humble theme? How salty does being Humbled make you? Let me know in the comments!

Thanks for reading! Stay humble!