The EndstoneThe Endstone | Art by Ryan Pancoast | Herd HeirloomHerd Heirloom | Art by Allen Morris

As 2025 comes to a close, let's go over the facts. The artifacts. Many cards of many different types have been printed this year, and it's hard to pick out "the best."

From card advantage to cheating of mana costs, to strong enough that they needed to get banned, artifacts have taken all different shapes and sizes this year. I dug through the files and scoured the player base to find the standouts brought to the game straight from WOTC. Join me as we take a look at what might be the "Best" new artifacts of 2025.

Honorable Mentions

First up is one honorable mention. I have no doubt that had this card come out at any other time before the final set of the year, it would be on the list and not waiting outside for someone to let it in.

Planetarium of Wan Shi TongPlanetarium of Wan Shi Tong

Coming from the very last set of the year, Avatar: The Last Airbender, the Planetarium allows the cheating of mana costs by casting spells for free. Any time a card allows an effect like this to transpire, it's worth taking a look at.

I imagine this card will see decent play; the only thing holding it back is the mv of the spell. Any deck that can find a way to mitigate the high mana cost of this card will love to add it to their 99.

Best Artifacts of 2025

The Crystal Cycle

The entire cycle of Crystals from Final Fantasy is worth discussion, but I've decided to focus on Water, Fire, and Wind as the standouts.

The Water CrystalThe Water Crystal was the most hyped of the cycle during spoiler season and is a win condition in Mill decks. Powering up mill effects so that the minor instances turn into bigger payoffs is what makes this card shine. Taking a card such as Glimpse the UnthinkableGlimpse the Unthinkable from 10 cards to 14 cards milled is all well and good. But having your Persistent PetitionersPersistent Petitioners mill five cards per tap instead of a single card is massive.

The Fire CrystalThe Fire Crystal is my favorite because it gives your creatures haste and has a way to make token copies for significant attack steps. Haste and token making are two things that red decks often look for, and having it all on one card that costs reduces red spells is icing on the cake. Doubling up on ETB effects or good attack triggers makes the options for The Fire Crystal greater than the other, more straightforward options.

The Wind CrystalThe Wind Crystal might not be flashy, but life gain decks occasionally want a boost in the amount of life gained with each effect. Similar to how the Water Crystal increased each occurrence of mill, increasing every Soul WardenSoul Warden effect can have a real impact. Pairing up this Crystal's ability to give the team flying to close out the game with a card often found in decks focused on lifegain, Archangel of ThuneArchangel of Thune, and now you have a game-ending threat.

Cryogen RelicCryogen Relic

What does it take for a common to make a best of the year list? Everything printed on Cryogen Relic. A cheap card that replaces itself on ETB in one of the best colors for artifact decks would be list-worthy if it ended there. Tack on the fact that it can be used to lock down an opponent's creature for a turn, and you have an above-average rate for a common card. If you can blink or recur it, the value never stops.

The Relic is an all-star in the the Pauper format, and it deserves to see even more play than it already does in Commander.

Insight EngineInsight Engine

One of the more archetype-specific cards on the list, but a powerful one, is Insight Engine from the standout set Edge of Eternities. If you're playing a deck built around charge counters, this might be the best card made for the deck ever. If you're playing a more put-together strategy and care about proliferation, then Insight Engine is also a great card.

Untapping this artifact is what makes it go from a five to about an eight on the power level scale, and combining it with something like Clock of OmensClock of Omens means it never stop.

Certain commanders like Tekuthal, Inquiry DominusTekuthal, Inquiry Dominus can increase the card draw even more. This card isn't close to the power of, say The One RingThe One Ring, but being mentioned in the same breath should count for something in its favor.

Repurposing BayRepurposing Bay

Birthing PodBirthing Pod, but for artifacts, is a strong way to start when designing a card. Another fun card from Aetherdrift, Repurposing Bay doesn't see a ton of play currently, but it's too strong not to be included.

Getting cards like Corridor MonitorCorridor Monitor to go up the chain of mana costs means this is ripe for combo potential. Though even using it for value while not building the entire artifact list around climbing the ladder can lead to some fun deck inclusions. I always love a card like Su-ChiSu-Chi for moments such as this.

Cori-Steel CutterCori-Steel Cutter

The return to a fan favorite plane with Tarkir: Dragonstorm brings with it the only card on the list that has received a ban this year. One of the strongest cards in a variety of 60-card formats, Cori-Steel Cutter is also one of the most fun. If you love casting spells and making tokens, then this card is built for you and pushed to the max by giving trample and haste.

Flurry allows it not only to make a token but also to auto-equip to that token. The power level of Cutter is a bit tamped down in Commander due to more opponents and usually gummed-up boards. However, that doesn't diminish its raw power or its impact in 2025.

Monument to EnduranceMonument to Endurance

When there's cross synergy between sets in Magic, good cards can become great cards. Not that Monument to Endurance is a great card yet, but when a card from the first set of the year gets better with the release of cards months later, you start to see the good-to-great line. One of the most interesting cards with the word monument in its name, giving the owner a bonus for discarding cards.

That makes playing this card feel much better than punishing the opponents for discarding their cards. Plenty of good things can happen when you put your own cards in the yard. Adding on card draw, Treasures, or life loss to something like Faithless LootingFaithless Looting lets you turbo through a deck with ease.

The AethersparkThe Aetherspark

I was incredibly wrong about this card, and I would guess some of you out there were wrong, too. To me, this card was just ok until I was beaten down by it from a blink deck. The Aetherspark is just a ridiculous card. Removing it from the battlefield is so much more complicated than you would think, and using single-target artifact removal on it feels so bad.

Adding ten mana off this card is honestly trivial to accomplish, and it offers nothing but value at every stage of the game.

If the Aetherspark is your only Equipment in a deck or one of the very few, it might be all you need. If you can pair it with a Stoneforge MysticStoneforge Mystic or put it inside a deck with a powerful commander like Gilgamesh, Master-at-ArmsGilgamesh, Master-at-Arms, then you're going to fall in love with this spark.

The EndstoneThe Endstone

The last card on this list is also my favorite. Coming once again from Edge of Eternities, a set filled with artifacts, The Endstone allows you to do one of the best things in the game: draw cards. Yes, you'll lose half your life because of it. What you get for giving up half of your life is card draw with every spell you play and every land you drop.

The more powerful the format you play in, the better this card gets. Now, mana is expensive, but if it were any cheaper, it might be truly broken. Combine all of this with some fantastic art, no matter the version, and you have the best card to round out this list.

Wrap Up

Two sets dominated the 2025 artifacts list: Aetherdrift and Edge of Eternities. The first was one of the worst-received sets, not only of the year, but in Magic in quite a while. The second was many players' favorite set in years. This list didn't have any anti-Universes Beyond set bias, but the facts of the artifacts are that most of the good ones came from in-universe sets in 2025.

UB vs. in-universe conversation aside, what's your favorite artifact release in 2025? Why is it the same choice as mine with The EndstoneThe Endstone? Is there a card or cards that you think I missed on the list? Let me know.

Either way, have a great end of 2025, and I hope to sling some spells with you in 2026.

See you next year.

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