The 34 Best Clones in Magic Ranked

Last updated on January 3, 2025

Phantasmal Image | Illustration by Darren Tan

I love playing Magic with my opponents’ cards thanks to theft effects like Gonti, Lord of Luxury and Stolen Strategy. But if I can’t steal from them directly, plagiarizing their work is the next best thing!

That’s where Clone variants come in, to copy the best creatures my opponents (or I) control for a steady stream of value. This effect has a long history in Magic: Clone debuted in Alpha, giving us plenty of iterations to examine.

Let’s check out which are the best!

What Are Clones in MTG?

Glasspool Mimic | Illustration by Johan Grenier

Named for the Alpha classic Clone, clones copy other creatures when they come into play, though the years have seen several iterations of the effect that copy artifacts and even copy any permanent. This effect is mostly found on blue cards.

In addition to clones that enter as a copy, Magic has lots of effects that create token copies of permanents, like Quasiduplicate and Cackling Counterpart. This list doesn’t include cards that make temporary copies that leave play at the end of the turn like Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker or Flameshadow Conjuring.

Theres a third subsection of clones: clones that transform into creatures that are already on the battlefield, like Protean Thaumaturge. While these clones don’t get those ever-valuable enters abilities, they have a few benefits—namely copying something after they’ve been in play for a turn so you don’t have to worry about summoning sickness. This list considers all three variants with an eye for Commander and Cube.

#34. Progenitor Mimic

One of the most expensive Clone variants, Progenitor Mimic takes over the game… if you survive long enough. This kind of slow, grindy payoff can be outclassed in the modern Commander landscape, but creating copies of Archon of Cruelty and Agent of Treachery each turn is a tantalizing enough reward to try anyway.

#33. Extravagant Replication

Playing Extravagant Replication comes with a big risk: This blue enchantment does nothing the turn you play it, so an opponent with a Reclamation Sage or Destroy Evil waiting in the wings might devastate you. But if you protect it (or just know your pod never runs enchantment removal) you get a disgusting chain of value.

#32. Metamorphic Alteration

Metamorphic Alteration’s a strange one. This aura is among the most efficient copy abilities yet sets you up for a blowout in a way others don’t and effectively forces you to sacrifice a creature for your copy instead of adding to the board. But turning a token or an unnecessary mana dork into a real creature has its appeal.

You can also do some neat tricks with this blue aura by targeting opposing creatures; this briefly saw Pioneer play in a combo deck that used Alteration to transform an opposing creature into Archfiend of the Dross, causing them to lose on their next upkeep. If you put this on a good non-legendary creature while an opponent controls their commander, you force them to sacrifice one to the legend rule.

#31. Moritte of the Frost

Copying any permanent opens the door to interesting plays, like doubling down on your Rites of Flourishing or Propaganda. But the biggest appeal to Moritte of the Frost are the +1/+1 counters it enters with, ensuring this shapeshifter enters play as a significant threat and giving you a wealth of synergies to draw upon.

#30. Dack’s Duplicate

The standard rate for a Clone has been 4 mana since Alpha, but modern iterations staple additional text onto the template for a variety of clones with upside.

Dack's Duplicate is an excellent example of this with the addition of red allowing it to be a hasty copy. It works best when copying creatures with strong attack triggers like Grave Titan and Overlord of the Boilerbilges for immediate, devastating value.

#29. Evil Twin

Evil Twin has a beautifully flavorful design. It’s excellent against opposing commanders because you can activate the ability again and again, forcing your opponents to have an answer to this Dimir card () if they want their commander to stick around.

#28. Auton Soldier

Combining myriad with a Clone makes Auton Soldier a nasty threat. You can dominate games with cards like Overlord of the Mistmoors and Scourge of Fleets or establish long-term value with humbler targets like Solemn Simulacrum and Plaguecrafter.

#27. Body Double

I always enjoy simple riffs on classic cards, which is exactly what Body Double provides: a Clone that uses the graveyard rather than the battlefield.

This blue creature finds a natural home in mill decks and works as a janky recursion spell, like a Rise from the Grave that works with creature synergies like Animar, Soul of Elements.

#26. Pirated Copy

Clones that interact with the copied creature are fascinating bits of tech. As interesting as I find Pirated Copy, it has a downside: For this shapeshifter pirate to function properly, you’re restricted in what you can copy. You don’t want to clone a value creature like Orcish Bowmasters or Storm-Kiln Artist, you want to copy something that’s aggressive and capable of attacking, otherwise you leave most of this card’s potential on the table.

#25. Vizier of Many Faces

Vizier of Many Faces provides two clones in one card with the upside of token synergies for cards like Adrix and Nev, Twincasters and Caretaker's Talent. It’s just a clean two-for-one that fits well into self-mill decks.

#24. Supplant Form

I love the tempo of Supplant Form. It’s restricted to creatures your opponents’ control which limits its uses; in theory, your opponents might not have anything worth bouncing, at least not for 6 mana, or the target has a strong enters ability you don’t want them to repeat. I like this best in a battlecruiser-heavy meta where you know you’ll have lots of juicy targets.

#23. Sublime Epiphany

I love big, flashy counterspells and Sublime Epiphany hits that note perfectly. I’ve never gotten less than three modes with countering a spell, drawing a card, and bouncing something for a sick three-for-one but it can often be way better, especially when paired with Torrential Gearhulk for crazy clone value.

#22. Three Steps Ahead

One of the best Cancel variants, Three Steps Ahead provides an instant-speed Clone that sometimes hits a spell and filters your hand, giving it graveyard synergies on top of the token stuff. If your deck plays to the board, this blue instant functions as a combat trick by producing a surprise blocker.

#21. Synth Infiltrator

Synth Infiltrator starts off more expensive than the average Clone, but improvise takes the edge off. You should run this artifact creature when you have artifact synergies, especially with cards like Indomitable Archangel and Urza, Prince of Kroog that benefit from becoming artifacts themselves.

#20. Stunt Double

Having a Clone with flash is really cool. You can use it as a sort of protective spell by responding to an opponent’s removal spell and copying the creature they attempt to kill or surprise a creature like Niv-Mizzet, Parun in combat to trade. It also plays well with certain enters abilities that are much stronger when they happen at instant speed instead of sorcery, like those that make opponents discard cards. Most importantly, you can hold up all your countermagic with this!

#19. Mirror Room // Fractured Realm

The big draw to Mirror Room // Fractured Realm as a copy spell is the enchantment synergies. Copying constellation cards like Setessan Champion and Archon of Sun's Grace gives you more of a good thing. Those cards make excellent use of the other side of this room enchantment, though I heavily recommend you don’t play this for Fractured Realm; if you don’t want Mirror Room, you don’t want this card.

#18. Protean Raider

You have to be fairly aggressive to exploit Protean Raider. Unlike other clones, this is technically a card if you don’t copy something. Technically. It’s weak… so make sure you have aggro if you put this Izzet card () in your deck. It has the upside of being cheap.

#17. Wall of Stolen Identity

Wall of Stolen Identity strikes me as an interesting bit of tech that locks down anything that wants to attack. Critically, this card doesn’t target the creature it copies, so it sneakily handles hexproof and shroud cards like Uril, the Miststalker and Invisible Stalker.

#16. Mirrorhall Mimic / Ghastly Mimicry

Mirrorhall Mimic’s a fine, completely on-rate Clone, but the intriguing part comes from Ghastly Mimicry. You don’t even need to put this aura on your creature; you can swipe your opponents’ creatures. The idea of copying an opponent’s Etali, Primal Conqueror… beautiful.

#15. Riku of Two Reflections

Since Riku of Two Reflections’s ability triggers when a creature enters, you can use cards like Thassa, Deep-Dwelling and Essence Flux to generate many copies of one card. This is an incredible X-for-one, even if a 2/2 for 5 is ludicrously mopey by today’s standards.

#14. Croaking Counterpart + Cackling Counterpart

Croaking Counterpart and Cackling Counterpart are similarly strong card advantage sources since you get two copies or extra value when discarding or self-milling. Cackling Counterpart has an edge since it doesn’t shrink your creatures, but it costs significantly more mana for both sides than our froggy friend. Making the creatures into 1/1s doesn’t matter much given the high-quality enters abilities running around the game today. Do you really care if your Archon of Cruelty or Etali, Primal Conqueror lose some power when you get those busted abilities two more times?

#13. Machine God’s Effigy

A clone that makes a creature into a noncreature artifact seems suspect at first, but the trick lies in avoiding creatures that have to attack. Devoted Druid is an obvious choice due to the infinite mana combo, but copying cards like Orcish Bowmasters and Drannith Magistrate that aren’t swept away by a Wrath of God is incredibly useful. There are enough interesting plays with Machine God's Effigy to warrant its inclusion.

#12. Callidus Assassin

What happens if you staple a Clone to Ravenous Chupacabra? You get an absolute banger. Warhammer 40K‘s Callidus Assassin is a baseline 2-for-1 that often gets stronger once you factor in whatever abilities it steals from the creature it copies.

#11. Double Major

Double Major is super efficient, except it comes with a wonky timing restriction.

This Simic card‘s () real charm comes from that sneaky line of text that makes the copy nonlegendary. That’s huge in Commander and a common theme among better clone effects. Legendary creatures are incredibly powerful, especially in our modern era of Commander-centric card design. If you thought one copy of Koma, Cosmos Serpent was bad, wait until you see the second…. 

#10. Quasiduplicate

There are plenty of 2-for-1 Clone variants but Quasiduplicate is the best because it costs the least amount of mana to cast both halves. Sure, jump-starting this requires discarding a card, but you should have an extra land at that point in the game. It’s cheap and you get the full value of whatever creatures you copy.

#9. Helm of the Host

Though most of Helm of the Host’s press comes from its infinite combos with Godo, Bandit Warlord and Combat Celebrant, it’s a perfectly fine, fair card. A little mana-intensive, but a hasty copy of anything makes up for it. I love it with cards like Alibou, Ancient Witness and Arna Kennerüd, Skycaptain that scale well with multiple copies.

#8. Clever Impersonator

Clever Impersonator has no restrictions on what it copies outside lands. Do you want your own Liliana, Dreadhorde General? Perhaps an Anthem of Champions of your own? The appeal to this card is stealing permanents that are outside your blue deck’s slice of the color pie for incredible value.

#7. Quantum Misalignment

My criteria for running Quantum Misalignment is simple: Does my deck actively benefit from two additional copies of my commander? It doesn’t matter with some commanders, but commanders with powerful abilities like Omnath, Locus of Creation and once-per-turn triggers like Rashmi, Eternities Crafter that stack? Sign me up!

#6. Spark Double + Irenicus’s Vile Duplication

Spark Double and Irenicus's Vile Duplication are Quantum Misalignment but easier on the mana.

Spark Double’s additional counter opens the door to various synergies with proliferate and other counter shenanigans; it plays particularly well in midrange decks with a planeswalker or two.

Irenicus's Vile Duplication works best with decks that care about instants and sorceries and/or has a commander that benefits from evasion, like Kalamax, the Stormsire.

#5. Glasspool Mimic / Glasspool Shore

Glasspool Mimic’s more restrictive than your average Clone since it only copies one of your creatures, but the versatility of a modal double-faced card vastly outweighs that. One card giving you the option of a second copy of your best creature late in the game versus a land early is absurd enough that this often makes the cut in my blue deck regardless of whether my strategy cares about clones.

#4. Imposter Mech

Imposter Mech does most of that cool stuff I mentioned with Machine God's Effigy except for half the price. This card is almost always above rate for anything worth copying. Having the option of turning your random value artifact into an attacker gives it a greater breadth of “targets” since it can copy things that want to attack as well as cards with strong static abilities.

#3. Mythos of Illuna

Mythos of Illuna wins the reward for the least restrictive copy effect with the most upside. The dream scenario is paying Temur mana () to copy something like It That Betrays and fighting something else for a clean two-for-one, but swiping any permanent can be powerful, especially since Simic+ is the perfect color pair to exploit token doublers.

#2. Phyrexian Metamorph

A 3-mana Clone would be perfectly fine; Phyrexian Metamorph, one of blue's best artifacts, takes that one step further by borrowing an idea or two from the artifact player and copying their Bolas's Citadel. Your copy becoming an artifact comes with upsides and downsides. On the one hand, it sucks when this becomes collateral damage to a Vandalblast; on the other, being an artifact makes this far easier to cheat into play.

#1. Phantasmal Image + Flesh Duplicate

Phantasmal Image and Flesh Duplicate absolutely have a weak spot since neither can stick around for long. A sneeze can blow out Phantasmal and the Duplicate has a horribly restrictive lifespan.

But these are by far the most efficient Clones you can play, which comes in handy. Commander tables are littered with creatures worth copying. Doing so at a cheap rate is great for copying little things like Skyclave Apparition and Baleful Strix since you aren’t down on mana and it’s astounding when you get some of the bigger battlecruisers. The trick to making these creatures work is ensuring you copy something worthwhile; getting in a hit with an annihilator Eldrazi is game-warping enough that losing the clone a turn or two later doesn’t matter.

Best Clone Payoffs

The best clone payoff tends to be enters abilities since you get those straight away. Having your creatures impact the board immediately is good, who knew? They’re excellent additions to commanders like Yarok, the Desecrated and Brago, King Eternal since they let you retrigger your best creatures, like Ravenous Chupacabra and Cloudblazer.

When playing with the token copy cards specifically, token doublers are incredible. Cards like Anointed Procession and Doubling Season spin out of control, especially if those are the permanents you copy.

Cards that stack well also synergize well with clones. For example, creating three Rhystic Study copies makes it almost impossible for your opponents to play the game without feeding you cards, multiple Archangel of Tithes shuts down attackers, and so on. You can get really spicy with Biovisionary.

Does Cloning Target?

The typical Clone doesn’t target, but copy effects like Quasiduplicate do target. If a Clone says it enters “as a copy of any creature on the battlefield,” you simply choose a creature without targeting it, which lets you copy creatures with hexproof, shroud, or ward with no issues.

Do Clones Copy Color?

Unless otherwise specified, yes. Some clones might change color when they do their copying; one example is Vizier of Many Faces, which becomes white when you embalm it.

Do Clones Copy Counters?

No. Clones only copy the printed text of a card, so they won’t copy any counters, equipment, or auras attached to a creature. The only exception is a card like Fertilid that specifies that it enters with a set number of +1/+1 counters (don’t try this trick on a creature that enters with X +1/+1 counters; as you had no way to pay X, X=0 and your cloned Walking Ballista dies).

Do Clones Copy Creature Types?

Yes! Some clones might add a creature type, like Mirrorhall Mimic becoming a spirit in addition to its other types, but clones copy everything on the printed card.

Do Copies Enter the Battlefield?

Yes! Clones and cards that make token copies all enter the battlefield, so you get all those juicy ETB triggers.

Do Copies Have Summoning Sickness?

Any creature that comes under your control has summoning sickness, which applies to clones or copies. If you copy a noncreature permanent, or your copy becomes a noncreature permanent à la Imposter Mech, you can ignore summoning sickness because they aren’t creatures.

Do Copies Have Mana Values?

Yes. Any effect that copies a permanent has a mana value.

Can You Create a Copy of a Copy?

You can! This can be a really useful trick in conjunction with nonlegendary copies. For example, if you control an Omnath, Locus of Creation and make a nonlegendary copy of it with Irenicus's Vile Duplication, you can use regular copy effects on the new token to skirt the legend rule.

What Happens When You Clone a Clone?

A clone copies the complete text of whatever it copies, so the second clone becomes a copy of what the original clone copied. Let’s break it down into an example.

Your opponent controls a Ravenous Chupacabra. You play Clone, which copies the Ravenous Chupacabra. For all intents and purposes, you now control a RC until it changes zones. Your second clone sees the first as a RC, so it can copy it, giving your two copies of Ravenous Chupacabra.

Can You Copy a Legendary Creature?

You can, but the legend rule comes into effect if your copy effect doesn’t make the copy nonlegendary. This doesn’t always matter; but if you plan on the copies sticking around, you need something that makes them nonlegendary.

Are All Copies Tokens?

That depends on the effect. If you’re using a Clone variant that’s a creature, it won’t count as a token. It’s just a creature. But copies made with cards like Riku of Two Reflections and Double Major are tokens. The card always specifies when it makes a token.

Did You Copy That?

Phantasmal Image | Illustration by Nils Hamm

I love modal cards, and that’s essentially all a clone is, right? You have the option of everything on the table, which becomes real spicy once it’s turn 10 at a Commander pod. Whether you set up a crazy combo with Gyruda, Doom of Depths or just get some honest value, Clones have a home in many blue decks.

Do you prefer the creature clones or the token copies? What’s your favorite card to clone? Let me know in the comments below or on the Draftsim Discord!

Stay safe, and keep cloning!