Aerial Modification MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost5
RarityUncommon
TypeEnchantment — Aura
Abilities Enchant

Key Takeaways

  1. Provides card advantage by significantly enhancing a vehicle or creature’s battlefield impact.
  2. Can rapidly alter game dynamics, serving as indirect resource acceleration through surprise attacks.
  3. Combines well with instant-speed creature plays, enabling unexpected defensive or offensive shifts.

Text of card

Enchant creature or Vehicle As long as enchanted permanent is a Vehicle, it's a creature in addition to its other types. Enchanted creature gets +2/+2 and has flying.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Unlike single-effect improvements, Aerial Modification alters a vehicle or creature significantly when it lands, potentially turning it into a formidable airborne threat. This can pressure the opponent in multiple ways, all from a single card investment.

Resource Acceleration: By enabling a creature or vehicle to attack the turn it comes into play, you’re effectively speeding up your resource usage. It converts static board assets into immediate aerial threats, which can be seen as a form of indirect acceleration.

Instant Speed: Though Aerial Modification itself doesn’t feature instant speed, it synergizes well with creatures that do. Deploying creatures at instant speed before your turn, then enchanting them with Aerial Modification, can create surprise blockers or attackers and lead to substantial tactical advantages.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While Aerial Modification does not explicitly require a discard to cast, it being a single-use aura increases the risk of card disadvantage. Enchantments that attach to creatures can leave you vulnerable if your creature is removed from the battlefield, effectively losing two cards with one action from your opponent.

Specific Mana Cost: Aerial Modification demands a specific color combination that includes white mana. This can restrict its inclusion to decks that can consistently generate white mana, therefore limiting its flexibility across various deck archetypes.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of five mana, Aerial Modification is on the higher end for an aura. It competes for a slot in your deck with other impactful five-mana spells that may provide immediate board presence or have a more significant effect on the game state when played.


Reasons to Include Aerial Modification in Your Collection

Versatility: Aerial Modification offers flexibility for decks that could use a power boost and evasion. By turning any vehicle or creature into a flying threat, it opens up new angles of attack, especially in limited formats where flying can be a decisive advantage.

Combo Potential: For decks that center around artifacts or vehicles, Aerial Modification not only enhances those strategies but can also serve as a surprise element, transforming idle artifacts into potent, air-bound machines of war.

Meta-Relevance: In environments where ground stalls are common, the ability to grant flying can break through deadlocks. As the meta fluctuates, having Aerial Modification in your arsenal ensures you have a response to an increasingly creature-heavy field.


How to beat

Aerial Modification is a unique enchantment aura card in MTG that can turn any vehicle into a formidable creature with flying. Its ability to bestow not just flying, but also a significant power boost, makes it a significant threat on the battlefield. To counteract this card, it’s crucial to have a strategy that either neutralizes it before it can be attached or deals with the modified vehicle afterwards.

Effective ways to counter this card include employing instant-speed removal spells that can target either the aura or the vehicle it enchants. Naturalize and Disenchant are classic examples of green and white spells, respectively, that can destroy enchantments at instant speed, offering an efficient way to dismantle the threatening combo. Counterspells can also be decisive, preventing Aerial Modification from ever hitting the field and leaving the vehicle without its aerial upgrade.

In essence, staying ahead of Aerial Modification involves preemptively managing potential enchantment threats or keeping removal spells in hand for responsive play. A mixture of foresight and flexibility can help ensure that this powerful upgrade doesn’t tip the scales too heavily in your opponent’s favor.


Cards like Aerial Modification

Aerial Modification is an intriguing enchantment in Magic: The Gathering, embracing the fusion of vehicle enhancement with creature boosting. It shares common ground with cards like Siege Modification, which also turns a vehicle into a deadly threat by granting it first strike and a significant power boost. Aerial Modification, however, elevates the game by giving the enchanted vehicle or creature flying in addition to its power-up. This key difference can dramatically alter board presence by making aerial assaults a possibility.

Another kin in this niche is Start Your Engines. This card affects not just one but all vehicles you control, giving them +2/+0 and enabling them to become creatures until the end of the turn without the need to crew them. While Start Your Engines is momentary, offering a significant but fleeting advantage, Aerial Modification provides a lasting effect. Furthermore, the flexibility offered by Aerial Modification to target creatures as well stands out as it can turn any creature into an air-borne threat.

Examining the broader spectrum, Aerial Modification proves to be a versatile upgrade in a deck centered around vehicles or creature buffs. It combines the best of both worlds, giving permanence and flight, factors that can swing the game in your favor.

Siege Modification - MTG Card versions
Start Your Engines - MTG Card versions
Siege Modification - Aether Revolt (AER)
Start Your Engines - Kaladesh (KLD)

Cards similar to Aerial Modification by color, type and mana cost

Safeguard - MTG Card versions
Angelic Chorus - MTG Card versions
Noble Purpose - MTG Card versions
Noble Stand - MTG Card versions
Rabble Rousing - MTG Card versions
Righteous Cause - MTG Card versions
Lucent Liminid - MTG Card versions
Imperial Mask - MTG Card versions
Boon Reflection - MTG Card versions
Sigil of the Empty Throne - MTG Card versions
Mammoth Umbra - MTG Card versions
Near-Death Experience - MTG Card versions
Commander's Authority - MTG Card versions
Cathars' Crusade - MTG Card versions
Knightly Valor - MTG Card versions
Sphere of Safety - MTG Card versions
Debtor's Pulpit - MTG Card versions
Celestial Archon - MTG Card versions
Mystic Barrier - MTG Card versions
Dictate of Heliod - MTG Card versions
Safeguard - Tempest (TMP)
Angelic Chorus - Battlebond (BBD)
Noble Purpose - Eighth Edition (8ED)
Noble Stand - Nemesis (NEM)
Rabble Rousing - Streets of New Capenna Promos (PSNC)
Righteous Cause - The List (PLST)
Lucent Liminid - Future Sight (FUT)
Imperial Mask - Future Sight (FUT)
Boon Reflection - Double Masters (2XM)
Sigil of the Empty Throne - Commander Masters (CMM)
Mammoth Umbra - Ultimate Masters (UMA)
Near-Death Experience - From the Vault: Lore (V16)
Commander's Authority - Avacyn Restored (AVR)
Cathars' Crusade - Jumpstart (JMP)
Knightly Valor - Wilds of Eldraine: Enchanting Tales (WOT)
Sphere of Safety - Ravnica Remastered (RVR)
Debtor's Pulpit - Gatecrash (GTC)
Celestial Archon - Commander 2018 (C18)
Mystic Barrier - Commander 2013 (C13)
Dictate of Heliod - The List (PLST)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Aerial Modification MTG card by a specific set like Aether Revolt and Jumpstart 2022, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Aerial Modification and other MTG cards:

Continue exploring other sealed products in Amazon
See Magic products

Printings

The Aerial Modification Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2017-01-20 and 2022-12-02. Illustrated by Jung Park.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12017-01-20Aether RevoltAER 12015normalblackJung Park
22022-12-02Jumpstart 2022J22 1392015normalblackJung Park

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Aerial Modification has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PioneerLegal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Aerial Modification card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

DateText
2017-02-09 If Aerial Modification becomes unattached from a Vehicle that’s attacking or blocking, that Vehicle will be removed from combat unless another effect (such as its crew ability) is also making it a creature.

Recent MTG decks

Continue exploring other format decks
More decks