TL;DR
Demonic Tutor is the cleanest, most efficient “get whatever you want” card in MTG: 1B to grab any card to hand.
It’s a design landmark because it turns your deck into a toolbox instead of a random pile of hopes and prayers.
It’s restricted in Vintage and banned in Legacy for a reason, but it’s a Commander staple (and a lightning rod for “tutors are boring” debates).
What Demonic Tutor does (and why it’s different)
Demonic Tutor is iconic for the simplest possible reason: the text is basically “pick your best card.”
For two mana—one black, one generic—you search your library for any card, put it into your hand, then shuffle. No revealing. No restrictions. No “creature only,” no “mana value 3 or less,” no “put it on top and pray you don’t get wrecked before your next draw.”
That’s the whole deal. And it’s exactly why it’s been a defining benchmark for tutors for more than 30 years.
A quick history lesson: Alpha → now
Demonic Tutor debuted in Limited Edition Alpha, right at the start of Magic’s “we’re still figuring out what the rules of reality are” era. Early MTG design had a lot of brilliant ideas… and a lot of cards that basically read “future formats will regret this.”
At the time, tutoring didn’t look like the kind of effect that would reshape everything. After all, it doesn’t kill creatures, counter spells, or make a dragon. It just improves consistency.
And that’s the trap: in Magic, consistency is power. The more reliably you can access your best cards, the more you can build decks that behave like machines instead of slot machines.
Why tutoring is so powerful in real games
In a normal game of Magic, your deck is a probability engine. You draw, you adapt, you sometimes topdeck exactly what you needed and feel like a genius.
Tutors cut through that. They let you:
turn a single copy of a niche answer into a reliable plan (hello, silver bullets)
assemble combos way faster and more consistently
convert mana into certainty, which is often stronger than converting mana into board presence
The sneaky part is how much Demonic Tutor changes deck construction. When you can reliably find what you need, you don’t have to play four copies of everything (or in Commander terms, you don’t have to load your deck with redundant versions of the same effect). You can diversify, include one-off haymakers, and still “have it” when it matters.
That’s also why tutoring is one of the most common sources of table salt in Commander: it makes games more consistent, which can also make them more samey if your tutor always finds the same two cards.
Where Demonic Tutor is legal in 2026 (paper + Arena)
This is the part people get wrong at tables, so here’s the clean version:
Paper formats (official)
Vintage: Restricted (1 copy allowed)
Legacy: Banned
Commander: Legal (it’s not on the Commander banned list)
Standard / Pioneer / Modern: Generally not legal (it’s not part of those format card pools)
MTG Arena formats (official)
Historic: Banned
Timeless: Restricted (1 copy allowed)
Brawl: Banned
So yes: the card is powerful enough that “one copy only” is a recurring theme whenever a format is trying to stay even slightly sane.
Reprints, versions, and why it never stays “cheap”
Demonic Tutor gets reprinted… but rarely in the “everyone gets one in Draft” way. It usually shows up in premium reprint lanes—Masters sets, special bonus sheets, Secret Lair drops, and similar products.
Notable modern-era appearances include versions tied to:
Strixhaven: Mystical Archive
Ultimate Masters
Commander Masters
Secret Lair variants
Even with reprints, demand stays high because it’s:
a staple in any black Commander deck that wants maximum consistency
historically iconic (collector gravity is real)
the kind of card that stays relevant even when everything else power-creeps around it
Put differently: Demonic Tutor doesn’t need to be flashy. It just needs to be available. And it always is… at the exact moment you least want your opponent to have it.
How to use Demonic Tutor well (without being That Player)
If you’re running Demonic Tutor in Commander (or casual pods), you’ll get the most value by treating it like flexible problem-solving, not “combo piece #2 every single game.”
A few practical habits:
1) Tutor with a plan, not a fantasy
Before you cast it, ask:
Am I trying to win, stabilize, or set up?
What happens if I spend 2 mana and a card… and then the table untaps?
If you can’t answer that, you’re probably about to tutor “because it’s there,” which is how you end up grabbing a cool card that immediately dies to the first removal spell.
2) Timing matters (more than it feels like it should)
Casting Demonic Tutor early can be correct—but it can also paint a target on you. Sometimes the best play is to hold it until:
you know what you need
you can protect what you’re about to do
you can tutor + cast the card in the same turn cycle (or at least not telegraph it for a full lap)
3) Know your pod’s “tutor tolerance”
Some tables love high-power, optimized lines. Some tables want the game to feel like a story, not a flowchart.
A simple rule of thumb:
If your deck has fast mana + tutors + compact win cons, give a quick heads-up before the game.
If your pod dislikes repetitive lines, use tutors to find answers and variety, not the same deterministic finish every time.
You can keep the power without turning every game into “search, shuffle, win, shuffle again.”
FAQs
Is Demonic Tutor the best tutor in MTG?
It’s one of the best unconditional tutors ever printed: low cost, any card, straight to hand. There are tutors that are faster (or weirder) in specific contexts, but Demonic Tutor is the clean benchmark.
Why is it restricted in Vintage but banned in Legacy?
Vintage historically uses restrictions to keep broken cards playable while limiting consistency. Legacy leans more on bans when a card would warp the format too much at four copies.
Is Demonic Tutor legal in Commander?
Yes. Commander is singleton already, so “only one copy” is baked in, and the card isn’t on the Commander banned list.
Is Demonic Tutor legal on MTG Arena?
It depends on the format. As of early 2026: it’s banned in Historic, restricted in Timeless, and banned in Brawl.
Should I run it in my Commander deck?
If you’re in black and your table is cool with tutors, it’s one of the strongest consistency tools you can play. If your group dislikes tutors, consider swapping it for a more thematic or more restrictive tutor—or just agree on expectations before the game.