Barrow Witches in Token Decks: Crafting Potent MTG Tokens

In TCG ·

Barrow Witches artwork from Throne of Eldraine, a darkly elegant human warlock casting a shadow over a graveyard

Image courtesy of Scryfall.com

Barrow Witches in Token Decks

Token decks have always thrived on nimble economy: a flurry of copyable threats, a chorus of tiny creatures, and a few heavy hitters for when the dust settles. Enter Barrow Witches, a neatly pointed tool in black’s toolbox from Throne of Eldraine. This common winner isn’t a token generator by itself, but its enter-the-battlefield trigger becomes a bridge between graveyard setup and board presence. For players who love the idea of turning a graveyard into a resource, Barrow Witches offers a clean, thematic route to retrieve Knight cards from the dead and keep the cadence of your servoed army marching forward. 🧙‍♂️🔥

Card snapshot: what Barrow Witches brings to the table

Barrow Witches is a creature — Human Warlock — with a cost of {4}{B} and a body that reads 3/4. It hails from the Throne of Eldraine set and wears the common rarity badge, which makes it a budget-friendly option for budget-conscious token builds. Its most relevant line on the battlefield is

When this creature enters, return target Knight card from your graveyard to your hand.
This is a precise, value-powered ETB effect: you don’t have to wait for a complicated combo. If you’ve been milling Knights, discarding them, or simply loading your graveyard with Knight threats, Barrow Witches can fetch one back to hand for immediate re-use. The flavor text—“Taste the sweetness, breath for breath. Keep the balance, death for death.”—hints at a cycle of repayment and resilience that token decks love to lean into. ⚔️🎨

In practical terms, Barrow Witches functions as a modular engine piece. It doesn’t stomp the board on turn five by itself, but it multiplies your late-game options. If you’ve managed to populate your graveyard with Knight cards, you can chain play-after-play: Barrow Witches ETB, grab a Knight back to your hand, and recast it to threaten more board state or trigger other Knight-focused synergies. In multiplayer formats, this tolerance for grindy value can tilt the late game in your favor, giving your team something to answer while your tokens keep pressing. 🧙‍♂️💎

Why it shines in a Knight-forward token strategy

Black decks that flirt with graveyard recursion often pair well with token engines because they can convert a resource (the graveyard) into card advantage at a relatively low cost. Barrow Witches specifically rewards you for Knight-heavy lines of play. Knights in your graveyard become a reliable hand refill, and that Knight you fetch may be a critical piece for a subtheme—perhaps a Knight that can swing for big damage, or a Knight with abilities that anchor your token swarm. The synergy isn’t about overwhelming inevitability in a single turn; it’s about maintaining tempo while your tokens build a scalable board. 🧙‍♂️⚔️

Tokens themselves are a flexible resource: you can swing with a broad front of little bodies, then pivot to a Knight-heavy finisher when Barrow Witches can fetch the right Knight from the grave. The combination of a resilient 3/4 body with a reliable evergreen ability gives you a dependable backbone for midrange and aristocrat-oriented builds alike. You’re not locked into one plan—you’re choosing the moment you push a Knight back into hand, or the exact Knight you want to replay to extend a sequence of plays. This kind of modularity is the essence of token deck design: small pieces that add up to big, satisfying bursts. 🧲🎲

Practical build ideas to maximize Barrow Witches

  • Graveyard setup: Incorporate self-mill or looting effects to stock your graveyard with Knights. Cards that discard or mill Knights can turn Barrow Witches into a reliable fetch engine later in the game.
  • Knight selection: Prioritize Knights that offer immediate impact when recast, or that enable further value once you’ve pulled them back to hand. In a crowded board state, having the right Knight tucked in your graveyard is half the battle won when Barrow Witches enters the battlefield.
  • Token amplification: Pair Barrow Witches with classic token generators or anthem effects, so that every Knight you fetch translates into broader board pressure or late-game inevitability.
  • Graveyard protection: Include resilient answers that protect your engine from graveyard hate, ensuring Barrow Witches continues to fetch the best Knight at the most opportune moment.
  • EDH considerations: This card holds a surprisingly steady role in Commander builds, where recurring value and graveyard interaction can shape longer games, especially in black-infused token archetypes. The ability to realign resources mid-game keeps you in the game longer than a few swing turns would suggest. 🧙‍♂️

Flavor, art, and the joy of a well-timed fetch

The artwork and flavor language of Barrow Witches fit the Eldraine vibe of fairy-tale grimness—where beauty and danger share a currency. The heraldry of the Barrow witches and their incantations give a sense of legacy and ritual: a nod to the cycles of life and death that govern both graveyards and the goblin market of tokens you’re building. The card’s design emphasizes a simple, repeatable effect that scales with your opponent’s attention—after all, every Knight you fetch is a moment of potential growth, not just a single card played. The experience of watching a well-timed Barrow Witches pull a Knight back into hand can feel as satisfying as landing a big token swing. 🧙‍♂️🔥

From a collection standpoint, Barrow Witches offers a strong value proposition for a common card: it’s foil-ready, it sees play in multiple formats, and its versatility remains appealing as you explore different token themes. The Throne of Eldraine era brought a lot of thematic twists into tokens and tribal play, and Barrow Witches stands out as a quietly potent engine piece that rewards patient play and graveyard literacy. If you’re chasing the tactile thrill of a well-executed fetch-and-cast sequence, this is one witch you’ll want in your corner. 💎🎲

More from our network

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Shockproof Phone Case - Durable TPU/Polycarbonate Shell