Air Elemental MTG Card
1993-08-05 - Number 46
1993-10-04 - Number 47
1993-12-01 - Number 47
1993-12-10 - Number 47
1993-12-10 - Number 47
1994-04-01 - Number 47
1994-04-01 - Number 47
1994-06-21 - Number 47
1995-04-01 - Number 59
1995-04-01 - Number 59
1997-03-24 - Number 71
1998-06-24 - Number 31
1999-04-21 - Number 56
1999-07-01 - Number 32
1999-11-12 - Number 3
2000-10-01 - Number 1
2001-04-11 - Number 58
2001-04-11 - Number 58★
2003-07-28 - Number 59
2003-07-28 - Number 59★
2005-07-29 - Number 58★
2005-07-29 - Number 58
2007-07-13 - Number 64★
2007-07-13 - Number 64
2008-11-07 - Number 13
2009-07-17 - Number 42
2010-06-04 - Number 1
2011-01-10 - Number 37
2014-12-05 - Number 13
2017-04-15 - Number 7
2017-09-29 - Number 45
2018-07-13 - Number 308
2018-11-16 - Number 19
2019-07-12 - Number 44
2020-08-13 - Number 23
2022-11-28 - Number 343
2022-11-28 - Number 46
2020-09-26 - Number P02-31
| Card sets | Released in 38 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 5 |
| Rarity | Uncommon |
| Type | Creature — Elemental |
| Abilities | Flying |
| Power | 4 |
| Toughness | 4 |
Text of card
Flying
These spirits of the air are winsome and wild, and cannot be truly contained. Only marginally intelligent, they often substitute whimsy for strategy, delighting in mischief and mayhem.
Cards like Air Elemental
The essence of Air Elemental in Magic: The Gathering lies in its straightforward yet potent presence on the battlefield. Like Air Elemental, cards such as Wind Drake also take to the skies with flying. However, Air Elemental towers over with its significant 4/4 body, making it a formidable threat compared to Wind Drake’s smaller 2/2 frame.
Examining Serra Angel, another card with flying, provides a different perspective. While it shares the same power with Air Elemental, it additionally showcases vigilance, allowing it to attack without tapping. This grants a considerable strategic advantage over Air Elemental, which lacks this defensive edge. Despite that, Air Elemental remains efficient due to its lower mana cost, making it an accessible choice earlier in the game.
Another card to consider is Mahamoti Djinn. Acting as a larger counterpart to Air Elemental with a 5/6 stat line, the Djinn demands a heavier mana investment. This trade-off adds raw power but at the cost of delaying your game plan. Weighing these aspects, Air Elemental holds a balanced position in the pantheon of flying creatures within Magic: The Gathering for its cost-to-power ratio.
Cards similar to Air Elemental by color, type and mana cost
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Air Elemental doesn’t directly offer card advantage upon entering the battlefield, but as a sizable flyer, it can quickly become a must-answer threat that forces your opponent to spend resources, potentially leading to a two-for-one scenario in your favor.
Resource Acceleration: While not a direct source of resource acceleration, its 4/4 flying stature often requires more than one card from the opponent to deal with it, allowing you to outpace them in terms of resources over time.
Instant Speed: Though Air Elemental is a creature spell cast only at sorcery speed, its dominance in the air swiftly changes the pace of the game, obliging opponents to react immediately or suffer considerable aerial damage each turn.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Playing the Air Elemental could set you back when it demands a card to be discarded to fulfill its cast conditions, potentially depleting valuable options from your hand.
Specific Mana Cost: Wielding the power of the Air Elemental necessitates a specific blend of mana, including two blue, which could prove challenging to incorporate into decks not dedicated to this color.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: Commanding a total of five mana, the Air Elemental’s cost can be deemed steep, particularly when measured against other creatures that could come into play more strategically or provide additional abilities for the same or lesser investment.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: The Air Elemental offers a straightforward yet powerful presence on the battlefield. Its flying ability enables it to glide over ground-based defenses, making it a fit for decks that aim to dominate the skies or simply need a robust defender against other flyers.
Combo Potential: With a respectable 4/4 body, Air Elemental can synergize well with cards that capitalize on flying creatures or those that benefit from having more significant power creatures in play. It can amplify the effects of cards that boost flyers or work in tandem with abilities that trigger upon dealing combat damage.
Meta-Relevance: In environments where the board is often congested with creatures, the evasion provided by Air Elemental’s flying ability helps it stay relevant. It can reliably apply pressure in the air, making it significant in metas where control or creature-based strategies are prevalent.
How to beat
Air Elemental is a classic blue creature that has floated through Magic: The Gathering’s history, boasting a strong presence in the skies. With its stats sitting at a solid 4/4, it’s a straightforward yet powerful threat when soaring overhead. To counter this card effectively, it’s advisable to have removal options ready in your deck. Cards like Murder, which can destroy a target creature for three mana, can easily dispatch Air Elemental, ensuring that your opponent’s aerial advantage is short-lived.
Additionally, spells that force the opponent to sacrifice a creature, like Diabolic Edict, bypass the Elementals’ inherent protection from certain colors or targeting restrictions. Don’t forget, efficient blockers with reach or flying, such as Spiders or Angels, can also stand in defiance against the gusty might of this iconic Elemental. As with most nonhexproof or nonshroud creatures, the key to overcoming Air Elemental lies within a well-rounded deck, equipped with a variety of answers. This approach will keep your opponent’s creatures from dominating the battlefield, regardless of their power or stature.
In any confrontation against an Air Elemental, your focus should be on keeping your removal options versatile and your defenses ready to challenge creatures that take to the battlefields of the skies.
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Air Elemental MTG card by a specific set like Limited Edition Alpha and Limited Edition Beta, 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 Air Elemental and other MTG cards:
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- eBay
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
- MTGO Traders Magic Online
See MTG Products
Printings
The Air Elemental Magic the Gathering card was released in 33 different sets between 1993-08-05 and 2022-11-28. Illustrated by 7 different artists.
Show/hide all sets| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1993-08-05 | Limited Edition Alpha | LEA | 46 | 1993 | Normal | Black | Richard Thomas | |
| 2 | 1993-10-04 | Limited Edition Beta | LEB | 47 | 1993 | Normal | Black | Richard Thomas | |
| 3 | 1993-12-01 | Unlimited Edition | 2ED | 47 | 1993 | Normal | White | Richard Thomas | |
| 4 | 1993-12-10 | Intl. Collectors' Edition | CEI | 47 | 1993 | Normal | Black | Richard Thomas | |
| 5 | 1993-12-10 | Collectors' Edition | CED | 47 | 1993 | Normal | Black | Richard Thomas | |
| 6 | 1994-04-01 | Revised Edition | 3ED | 47 | 1993 | Normal | White | Richard Thomas | |
| 7 | 1994-04-01 | Foreign Black Border | FBB | 47 | 1993 | Normal | Black | Richard Thomas | |
| 8 | 1994-06-21 | Summer Magic / Edgar | SUM | 47 | 1993 | Normal | White | Richard Thomas | |
| 9 | 1995-04-01 | Fourth Edition | 4ED | 59 | 1993 | Normal | White | Richard Thomas | |
| 10 | 1995-04-01 | Fourth Edition Foreign Black Border | 4BB | 59 | 1993 | Normal | Black | Richard Thomas | |
| 11 | 1997-03-24 | Fifth Edition | 5ED | 71 | 1997 | Normal | White | D. Alexander Gregory | |
| 12 | 1998-06-24 | Portal Second Age | P02 | 31 | 1997 | Normal | Black | Doug Chaffee | |
| 13 | 1999-04-21 | Classic Sixth Edition | 6ED | 56 | 1997 | Normal | White | Doug Chaffee | |
| 14 | 1999-07-01 | Starter 1999 | S99 | 32 | 1997 | Normal | White | Doug Chaffee | |
| 15 | 1999-11-12 | Battle Royale Box Set | BRB | 3 | 1997 | Normal | White | D. Alexander Gregory | |
| 16 | 2000-10-01 | Beatdown Box Set | BTD | 1 | 1997 | Normal | White | Doug Chaffee | |
| 17 | 2001-04-11 | Seventh Edition | 7ED | 58 | 1997 | Normal | White | Wayne England | |
| 18 | 2001-04-11 | Seventh Edition | 7ED | 58★ | 1997 | Normal | Black | Wayne England | |
| 19 | 2003-07-28 | Eighth Edition | 8ED | 59 | 2003 | Normal | White | Wayne England | |
| 20 | 2003-07-28 | Eighth Edition | 8ED | 59★ | 2003 | Normal | Black | Wayne England | |
| 21 | 2005-07-29 | Ninth Edition | 9ED | 58★ | 2003 | Normal | Black | Nick Percival | |
| 22 | 2005-07-29 | Ninth Edition | 9ED | 58 | 2003 | Normal | White | Nick Percival | |
| 23 | 2007-07-13 | Tenth Edition | 10E | 64★ | 2003 | Normal | Black | Kev Walker | |
| 24 | 2007-07-13 | Tenth Edition | 10E | 64 | 2003 | Normal | Black | Kev Walker | |
| 25 | 2008-11-07 | Duel Decks: Jace vs. Chandra | DD2 | 13 | 2003 | Normal | Black | Kev Walker | |
| 26 | 2009-07-17 | Magic 2010 | M10 | 42 | 2003 | Normal | Black | Kev Walker | |
| 27 | 2010-06-04 | Duels of the Planeswalkers | DPA | 1 | 2003 | Normal | Black | Kev Walker | |
| 28 | 2011-01-10 | Masters Edition IV | ME4 | 37 | 1997 | Normal | Black | Richard Thomas | |
| 29 | 2014-12-05 | Duel Decks Anthology: Jace vs. Chandra | JVC | 13 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Kev Walker | |
| 30 | 2017-04-15 | Welcome Deck 2017 | W17 | 7 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Kev Walker | |
| 31 | 2017-09-29 | Ixalan | XLN | 45 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Tomasz Jedruszek | |
| 32 | 2018-07-13 | Core Set 2019 | M19 | 308 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Tomasz Jedruszek | |
| 33 | 2018-11-16 | Game Night | GNT | 19 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Kev Walker | |
| 34 | 2019-07-12 | Core Set 2020 | M20 | 44 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Tomasz Jedruszek | |
| 35 | 2020-08-13 | Arena Beginner Set | ANB | 23 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Tomasz Jedruszek | |
| 36 | The List | PLST | P02-31 | 1997 | Normal | Black | Doug Chaffee | ||
| 37 | 2022-11-28 | 30th Anniversary Edition | 30A | 343 | 1997 | Normal | Black | Richard Thomas | |
| 38 | 2022-11-28 | 30th Anniversary Edition | 30A | 46 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Richard Thomas |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Air Elemental has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Oldschool | Legal |
| Historicbrawl | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Restricted |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Alchemy | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Commander | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Premodern | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Explorer | Legal |
| Predh | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
| Timeless | Legal |