As humorous as this The Office exchange is, the reality is in Magic, Jim's question is a highly relevant question. Throughout the game's history, there have been 54 different bear creatures printed (including digital-only cards), giving us a large enough list to debate Jim's sage question: What kind of bear is best?

I don't know if there are only two schools of thought, but this week I'm going to give you my thoughts on this not-so-ridiculous question. Keep in mind these are subjective opinions based on my own experiences playing with and against bears - your ranking will surely look a bit different. The one thing I can guarantee about both our lists, however, is that Black Bear won't show up on it!

Honorable Mentions

Before diving into my top ten, I want to give a shoutout to noteworthy bears that don't quite make the cut. These bears still deserve recognition for their impact on the game, but they just aren't that strong compared to some of the more formidable ursids you could add .

Grizzly Bears

First, I want to give a shoutout to the OG Bear, Grizzly Bears. Not because it's any good but, because it established Bears as an evergreen creature type in Magic from day one. I also love Jeff A. Menges' art.

Despite being underwhelming from a power level standpoint, Grizzly Bears has been printed across over a dozen sets and even inspired numerous functional reprints, including Balduvian Bears, Forest Bear, Runeclaw Bear, and Bear Cub.

Ursine Fylgja

Ursine Fylgja manages to strike my fancy in two ways. First, I always laughed with a friend over the pronunciation of "Fylgja." What exactly is a fylgja? Spellcheck struggles to agree with me that it's even a word, telling me with a red line that I should try again.

Fylgjas are supernatural beings from Nordic Folklore that "accompany a person in connection to their fate or fortune." This explains Ursine Fylgja's creature type, Spirit Bear.

It took me my entire life to this point to learn this definition. I always thought Fylgja was a landform (like a hybrid of fjord and taiga), but now I realize the original Fylgja, which inspired Ursine Fylgja, is depicting another Spirit Bear in its artwork. You learn something new every day!

Wilson, Bear Comrade and Oyaminartok, Polar Werebear

In my Top 10, I am going to skip over digital-only cards, such as these two from Alchemy Horizons: Baldur's Gate. Therefore, I'll give Wilson, Bear Comrade and Oyaminartok, Polar Werebear a shoutout in this section - they are both surprisingly powerful and deserve at least some recognition. I like to imagine that Wilson, Bear Comrade is what gives you for a bear creature nowadays, accounting for power creep. Rather than a vanilla 2/2, you would get a 2/2 reach, trample, Ward 2 creature. Even then, I don't think this would see much tournament play without that complicated specialize ability.

Sig's Top 10 Bear Creatures of All Time

Without further ado, I present my Top 10 list of bear creatures, according to me.

10. Duskana, the Rage Mother

I'm not too impressed with a five mana 5/5, especially with three colors in the casting cost. What I love about Duskana, the Rage Mother, however, is her call-back to all the classic 2/2 bear creatures across Magic history. Duskana will draw you cards for each one you have in play (not to mention any other 2/2 creatures), and then it pumps all your 2/2's into 5/5's when they attack! It's a niche ability, but a highly flavorful one and a worthwhile build-around Commander.

9. Casal, Lurkwood Pathfinder // Casal, Pathbreaker Owlbear

I almost overlooked Casal, Lurkwood Pathfinder when browsing bears on Scryfall because you have to transform the Tiefling Druid in order to unleash the bear. Even though you need to start by casting Casal, Lurkwood Pathfinder, I appreciate that the creature spots you a Forest card (it could even be a forest dual land or triome). A 3/3 for 4 mana isn't too impressive, but when she attacks and you pay , you are suddenly attacking with a 6/6 trample, vigilance creature that pumps all your other legendary creatures. It's a powerful one-two punch!

8. Ursine Monstrosity

Ursine Monstrosity is a creature that should disturb all of your opponents when it hits the battlefield. Firstly, the artwork is incredibly disturbing - the thought of encountering a bear mutant like that in the forest is horrifying. Then, each turn, you mill a card and then attack a random opponent. That seems unimpressive with a 3/3 creature, but Ursine Monstrosity gains indestructible and gets pumped for each card type in your graveyard, making it a formidable threat. I can only imagine the apologetic dialogue each turn, "Sorry, Spike, but Ursine Monstrosity chose to attack you this time. Nothing personal!"

7. Doc Aurlock, Grizzled Genius

While there have been over 50 bears printed over the years, you don't see very many making their way into Standard. Doc Aurlock, Grizzled Genius is the exception - this bear offers powerful synergy with Airbending (and of course plotting). With Doc Aurlock in play, you can cast cards from exile (e.g., cards that were Airbended) for free. The strategy is so powerful that Cyprien Tron managed to pilot the deck into the Pro Tour Lorwyn Eclipsed Top 8! I challenge you to name another bear creature that appeared in a Pro Tour Top 8.

6. Surrak and Goreclaw

While other bears on this list involve synergies and particular strategy, Surrak and Goreclaw gives you raw power.

Six mana for a 6/5 trampling creature isn't all that impressive in 2026, but the fact that the card also rants your other creatures trample is huge.

On top of that, Surrak and Goreclaw also grants every nontoken creature that enters under your control a +1/+1 counter and Haste. Over the course of a couple of turns, this can produce a lot of stats for your initial 6 mana investment.

5. Lumra, Bellow of the Woods

This elemental bear has the exact same casting cost as Surrak and Goreclaw. What does Lumra, Bellow of the Woods get you for ? First off, the creature has Vigilance and Reach - a nice, defensive ability pair.

Next, Lumra has power and toughness equal to the number of lands you control. That's likely to be at least five or six by the time it hits the battlefield, with potential for much more later in the game.

Lastly, Lumra returns all your land cards from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped. In addition to any fetch lands or utility lands you already sacrificed, Lumra, Bellow of the Woods spots you four cards milled for potential boost. Thus, that six-mana creature is likely to be 8/8 or even larger if you've built the deck around its abilities.

4. Rampaging Yao Guai

The art for Rampaging Yao Guai looks more like a t-rex than a bear, but I'll grant Wizards of the Coast license with their "bear mutant" subtype. Its casting cost is steep for just a 2/2 creature, but it does enter with X +1/+1 counters on it, making it a solid top-end creature for a ramp deck.

What I especially like about Rampaging Yao Guai is its Enter The Battlefield ability, which triggers as soon as he's played - it destroys any number of target artifacts and/or enchantments with total mana value X or less! If your Commander opponents have spent the first handful of turns casting mana rocks and ramping, you can set them back significantly with a large Rampaging Yao Guai.

The creature scales nicely in the late game and can be a handy utility creature and act as a Reclamation Sage with an extra bit of punch.

3. Kudo, King Among Bears

This card is one of my all-time favorites. Kudo, King Among Bears is the ultimate "hate bear." It's a two-mana 2/2 like your classic hate bears, and it also turns all other creatures into 2/2 bears as well!

Imagine combining this with Duskana, the Rage Mother. Your entire board would attack as 5/5's and you'd draw a card for every creature you control with Kudo already in play. I also love how Kudo, King Among Bears levels the playing field for your opponents as well. You have a bunch of giant creatures in play? Here, now they're all 2/2 bears.

2. Owlbear Cub

I never would have expected a Magic card to contain the text, "Mama's Coming," but, here we are. This three-mana 3/3 Bird Bear doesn't do much of anything until it attacks a player with eight or more lands.

Once it does (which happens frequently in Commander), you look at the top eight cards of your library and can put a creature card from among them directly into play tapped and attacking!

While there's a bit of setup cost here, and it's admittedly difficult for your Owlbear Cub to attack and survive, being able to sneak a giant creature into play has tremendous upside. The prospect of dropping a gigantic Eldrazi or something along the lines of Ghalta and Mavren into play immediately attacking is enough for me to rank the innocent-looking Owlbear Cub at number two on my Top 10 list.

1. Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma

My number one bear creature is none other than Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma, originally printed in Magic 2019 and since reprinted numerous times. A 4/3 with a cost of four isn't all that impressive, but Goreclaw's power comes in with how it synergizes with other large creatures. First and foremost, Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma reduces your larger creature spells casting cost by two generic mana.

Over time, this means you'll be saving tons of mana on your synergistic cards. Next, if you decide to attack with Goreclaw, each creature you control with power four or greater gets a power and toughness bump and gains Trample, making them even more of a threat! Thus, by itself, Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma helps you accelerate the creation of your giant creature army and then makes them difficult to block in combat.

Think about it, with all the three-mana 4/2's nowadays, this creature reduces their cost to just 1 mana and enables them to attack as 5/3 tramplers! Combine this with a card draw engine, and you have an incredibly powerful deck!

Wrapping It Up

That wraps up my Top 10 Bears list. How did I do? Would you have a different bear in the number one spot? Did I overlook a bear that you would have included in the list?

Everyone is sure to have a different opinion about what belongs and what doesn't, but I tried my best to provide rationale behind each of my inclusions. I even included one that may eat beets, as Jim declared on The Office - I'm sure Owlbear Cub would be tempted, right? Regardless, I'd argue all of these creatures are better than a black bear.