The Magus Circle Tier Lists
Demo-era ranks for spells, mages, and upgrade types before 24 Sep 2026.
The Magus Circle does not have a live ranked ladder. Steam lists the full game for 24 September 2026. The Next Fest demo opened on 23 February 2026, drew 21,000+ players, and sat at Very Positive on 163 reviews. Every list on this hub is a preview: what VODs, designer shorts, and Steam screenshots showed, labeled so you do not treat it as a launch gospel.
If a chest in your build disagrees with an S-tier label, take the chest. The Magus Circle is a single-player roguelite with 250+ unique upgrades and a hand of spells that changes every run. Tiers are a way to learn names, not a way to skip drawing.
Three lists, three jobs
- Spell tier list — Ice Spear, Riptide (Quazar, Wattatsumi), meteor swarm, chain lightning, magic missile, Spellblade. About 20 unique spells in later dev talk, up from 12.
- Character tier list — the six mages: Milk, Matcha, Rum, plus Coffee, Chicha, and Anchan on the mages hub.
- Upgrade tier list — types (crit, mana, duration, size, tarot versus in-run) and the few named cards we can quote.
Read Getting Started before you optimize. A pretty Ice Spear still needs a finished sigil. How to draw spells and the spell sigils table matter more than any letter grade.
How we grade before launch
S — Preview strong. Showed up as a damage or safety carry in multiple demo recordings, or has studio-facing identity (Rum’s Spellblade short, Milk’s full tooltip).
A — Reliable. Works if you can draw it. Not a trap.
B — Situational or under-documented. Fine as a third spell, a locked mage, or a tarot you buy for one stat.
We do not use D-tier trash talk for unreleased tools. Missing information is not a dumpster.
Sources: DeepSpaceMatt and JedoRPG Next Fest footage, Thorcia’s drawing-focused demo, the official Spellblade short, Steam screenshots (character select 0.4.6, tarot 0.4.1). Festival recap: Next Fest. Date sheet: release date.
What the lists will not do
- Invent upgrade names that never appeared on a card.
- Rank 250 options one by one. That would be fiction.
- Pretend there is a second player. There is not.
- Copy a Roblox code meta. This is a Steam drawing game.
How to use a tier on a real run
- Pick a mage you can actually control. Milk if you miss, Rum if you want blades. How to play is the loop.
- Lock one S or A spell you can finish while moving.
- Spend chests on that spell’s type: damage, duration, crit, mana.
- Keep Riptide or another push in the back pocket for Leviathans. How to beat bosses.
- After the extract, buy tarot that matches the hole in the run (speed, regen, duration).
Runs in demo talk often lasted about 10–15 minutes if you teleported after a boss, with an option to continue. Do not stall a good Ice Spear run because a wiki said meteor swarm is cooler.
Sibling pages
Stay inside this hub: spells, characters, upgrades. Cross over to the Guides Hub, demo guide, Tools Hub, and Links when you need store pages or Discord.
When the 24 September 2026 client ships, these letters will move. Until then, the honest rank is: whatever you can draw twice in a row under a timer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers to the most common questions.
Is this a live The Magus Circle meta?
No. Steam lists 24 September 2026. These are Next Fest preview ranks. See Next Fest.
Which list should I open first?
Spells if you already picked a mage. Characters if you are still on the select screen.
Why is Ice Spear mentioned so much?
Demo VODs called it aggressive and high damage. It is still only as good as your drawing. Practice on how to draw spells.
Do you rank all 250 upgrades?
No. The upgrade tier list ranks types and the named cards we can quote.
Will ranks change at launch?
Yes. Bookmark this hub and the release date page.