Aerial Guide MTG Card

Card Pros

Card Advantage: By granting flying to another creature, Aerial Guide can aid in bypassing ground-based blockers. This can lead to more effective attacks, potentially drawing cards if combined with abilities that trigger on dealing combat damage to a player.

Resource Acceleration: Although not directly providing mana or ramp, Aerial Guide enables more swift combat damage to opponents, accelerating the game towards a win before your opponent can stabilize their resources.

Instant Speed: While Aerial Guide itself is a creature and not an instant, its ability to give another creature flying until end of turn can be used tactically during the ‘declare blockers’ step, potentially mimicking the surprise element of instant-speed interactions and disrupting opponent’s calculations.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Sometimes employing creatures with utility like the Aerial Guide demands trading off key cards from your hand. While it can offer significant aerial advantages, having to discard cards might place players in a challenging position if their hand size is already diminished.

Specific Mana Cost: Aerial Guide’s blue mana requirement might not seamlessly fit into every deck’s color scheme. Players running multicolored decks or those that lean towards other colors may find its inclusion a bit restrictive. Thus, it finds its home primarily in blue-centric or compatible two-color decks.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Clocking in at three mana, with one blue mandatory, Aerial Guide’s cost is a point of contention. When considering its 2/2 stats and the flying mechanic, some may argue that similar creatures could provide a better advantage or lower-cost alternative for the same, or even enhanced, tactical impact.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Aerial Guide is adept at enabling various strategies, fitting seamlessly into decks that seek to elevate their board presence—quite literally. Its ability to give another creature flying can often be a game-changer, offering new angles of attack or enabling evasion against ground-based defenses.

Combo Potential: The Guide synergizes well with cards that benefit from flying creatures or those that trigger upon dealing combat damage to a player. In conjunction, this card can be a key piece in executing powerful offensive combos or enabling certain win conditions.

Meta-Relevance: Given its modest mana cost and the common place of flyers in a wide array of meta decks, Aerial Guide has the potential to make an immediate impact on the board state. It fits comfortably into limited formats and can be a surprise inclusion to outmaneuver opponents in creature-heavy matchups.

How to Beat

Aerial Guide gives your creatures a powerful edge by granting them the ability to soar over blockers, changing the dynamics of a game. To counter this evasive threat in Magic: The Gathering, the key is to remove or neutralize it before your opponent can capitalize on its flying support. Direct removal spells like Fatal Push or Shock work efficiently to send Aerial Guide on a permanent descent. Enchantment-based removal such as Pacifism also clips its wings by preventing it from attacking or blocking, thereby negating its main strength.Additionally, employing creatures with reach or those with flying can protect your skies from this guide’s influence. Lastly, prioritize board control spells to keep the aerial threat at bay and dictate the flow of combat. By incorporating these tactics into your deck, Aerial Guide’s impact will be significantly minimized, and you’ll maintain a solid defense against your opponent’s aerial assaults.