Demons are a fun creature type to write about. They've been here forever, kind of, but they also took a bit of a hiatus during the 90's thanks to the Satanic Panic. Despite having fewer cards to call on than angels or dragons, they might have a better tournament repertoire - especially, as you'll see below, in recent years.

Herald of Torment

During its Standard run, Herald was a reasonable part of the meta-game. Originally, it was the top end of many Mono-Black aggro decks, though its flexibility to "just" be a 3-drop was a big part of its appeal. Later on, it put up some decent performances in Abzan midrange decks of the Khans-Theros era. Bestowing this onto a Siege Rhino was a way to put games out of reach real fast, though you could argue this was the lesser partner in that duo.

Butcher of the Horde

Speaking of Khans-Theros Standard... Mardu was never quite as popular of successful as some of the other clans, but it did have some moments in the sun. Butcher usually played a big part, as a flexible threat that could play offence against control and defense against aggro decks. While you wouldn't necessarily call this a format-defining card, it was a Standard staple during its time.

Rakshasa Deathdealer

The third and final card from Khans block, Deathdealer was an appropriate name. This 2/2 was extremely difficult to deal with and saw tons of play from the moment it was printed to the day it left Standard. But this cat demon didn't just show up, it top-8ed many high-stakes tournaments and won quite a few, including GP Paris and GP Memphis. While we might think of demons as being giant fliers, it turns out that the most successful ones were actually a poky little 2/2.

Scourge of the Skyclaves

Remember when I talked about the best demons usually being the cheaper ones? Well, while you could pay 7 mana for this one, you usually wanted to pay two and have it be an extra few copies of Death's Shadow. It rarely showed up as a four-of, due to its reliance on your opponent's life total as well as your own, but it did show up a lot for a few years. Sadly, this paragraph has all been in past tense because Death's Shadow is no longer a top-tier deck, and even when it does appear in a top-8, it usually doesn't include this card any more.

Blade of the Oni

An odd trend I'm noticing as I write this is that demons often need a little more help than Standard offers them. I found no Standard entries for this card on mtgtop8 when I filter by major and professional, but it's been a pioneer staple for a couple of years now. It mostly shows up in Rakdos or Mono-Black decks as an additional way to help with Unholy Annex while also providing an early play to apply pressure. It doesn't seem to win many tournaments, but partly that's because pioneer doesn't have a lot of tournaments. It's also not as important to its archetype as some other cards on the list, but its pedigree is undeniable.

Raffine, Scheming Seer

Although the Obscura boss was largely limited to Standard play, she saw a lot of it. From release day to rotation, Raffine was all over Standard during her run. Indeed, the deck I always thought of as Esper Legends is labelled Esper Raffine on most websites I checked - that's how important the sphinx was to the archetype. Raffine had top-8s coming out of her ears, including first and second place at Worlds in 2023 and you couldn't play Standard on Arena for more than a few minutes without facing her. A true Standard all-star, who never really made the leap to older formats.

Archfiend of the Dross

Abyssal Persecutor walked so Archfiend of the Dross could run. This is what cards with a "downside" look like in modern day Magic. It's been a staple since it was printed, appearing in a multitude of Standard archetypes and has even more success in pioneer. If you've played any competitive Magic in the last few years, you already know this card. Because of that, it's hard to say anything new or interesting about a card that is so obviously (and kind of uninterestingly) powerful. An absolute unit. It does seem to have slowed down somewhat since leaving Standard but it has picked up traction in smaller Legacy tournaments so maybe there's life in the old dog yet.

Bloodletter of Aclazotz

It's been a good few years for demons, hasn't it? Here's another one that's still in Standard, still running amok. I died to it earlier this morning on ladder, in fact, alongside its best friend Unstoppable Slasher. This is another one that performs a little better in pioneer (where it can play with its other friend, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse) than it does in Standard, but it does pretty well in both.

Doomsday Excruciator

So, this is a bit awkward. This card was part of the world championship winning deck in 2024. We can't really leave it off the list, can we? But outside of that tournament it barely made a dent anywhere. It had a handful of tournament showings after that, but really none before it and since May last year it's basically disappeared altogether. Can't really ignore the world champ though, can we?

Griselbrand

The daddy. For a long time, Griselbrand was the de facto best thing to cheat into play in almost any format where that was worth doing. Whether you were targeting it with Unburial Rites in Standard, Reanimate in Legacy or Dread Return in Vintage, there was nobody better than Griselbrand. While that time has passed thanks to Atraxa, Grand Unifier, he remains a huge part of Eternal formats to this day. Definitely the card that has been cast the least on this list, but probably the one that hast been played the most.