Bird MTG Card

Bird cards are a source of card advantage, offering value over multiple turns and boosting your hand. Flash ability in Birds provides strategic flexibility, allowing you to surprise opponents and respond rapidly. Despite their strengths, Bird cards can come with downsides, like restrictive mana costs and higher casting prices.
Card setsReleased in 43 setsSee all
TypeToken Creature — Bird
Abilities Flying
Power 1
Toughness 1

Text of card

Flying

Cards like Bird

Bird cards in MTG often soar above the battlefield, combining elegance with utility. An iconic example is Stormscape Familiar, reducing the mana cost of white and blue spells and similarly providing flying capabilities. The soaring Stormscape Familiar, however, contrasts with other bird cards due to its additional cost reduction benefit.

Observing Baleful Strix offers another comparison, bringing with it both flying and deathtouch. While it doesn’t reduce spell costs, the ability to draw a card upon entering the battlefield makes it a valuable asset. Squadron Hawk also shares the sky, its strength lying in its ability to add more copies of itself from the deck to the player’s hand, albeit lacking the utility effects of cost reduction or deathtouch found in its counterparts.

Each avian enchantment brings a unique element to the game, making bird cards not only diverse but also situationally strategic in MTG gameplay. While they share the common trait of flight, their distinct abilities can sculpt the pace and strategy of the match, illustrating the rich diversity within the bird category in MTG.

Stormscape Familiar - MTG Card versions
Baleful Strix - MTG Card versions
Squadron Hawk - MTG Card versions
Stormscape Familiar - MTG Card versions
Baleful Strix - MTG Card versions
Squadron Hawk - MTG Card versions

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Bird cards often provide continued value over multiple turns. Once in play, many can contribute to drawing extra cards with abilities triggered by flying or attacking, helping you maintain an upper hand in the duel.

Resource Acceleration: Several Bird cards offer mana generation, helping you ramp up to your more impactful spells. This generation can come directly or through indirect means such as untapping lands or reducing casting costs, especially in synergistic decks.

Instant Speed: Birds can be particularly menacing due to several of them having flash. This allows you to deploy these winged creatures suddenly, keeping your opponent guessing and offering strategic flexibility by responding to threats on their turn or end step.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Engaging with bird cards often means handling a discard condition that asks you to sacrifice hand advantage. This could put you at a strategic setback especially in the early game when maintaining card count is integral.

Specific Mana Cost: Bird spells typically hinge on certain colors like white or blue mana which may not align with multicolored or off-theme decks, thus restricting their versatility across various archetypes.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: While birds can be evasive and beneficial, their casting cost is sometimes on the higher side when matched with their immediate impact on the game, hindering tempo and possibly yielding to more economical plays.

Reasons to Include Bird MTG Cards in Your Collection

Versatility: Bird cards are known for their flying ability, allowing them to bypass ground defenses and apply pressure on opponents. Their functionality extends across various deck themes and strategies, making them adaptable companions in both offensive and defensive maneuvers.

Combo Potential: Many Bird cards synergize well with strategies that capitalize on creatures with flying. Some even have abilities that can generate card advantage or buff fellow flyers, fitting seamlessly into combo decks that exploit these traits for a tactical edge.

Meta-Relevance: Due to their evasive nature and often efficient cost to power ratio, Bird cards can be a formidable force in the current meta. Their presence can influence board control and swing the tempo in your favor in a landscape dominated by ground-centric creatures.

How to Beat

Facing off against a Bird MTG card in the game often means dealing with a creature capable of swift attacks from the air. Players must consider Bird cards’ evasive flying ability, which allows them to bypass ground creatures when attacking or blocking. This aerial advantage can be frustrating, but there are strategies to counteract these feathered foes effectively.

One of the effective methods to combat Bird cards is to incorporate reach or flying creatures in your deck. This enables you to block those pesky fliers. Additionally, spells that can deal damage specifically to flying creatures, or those that remove flying, can level the playing field. Another strategy involves the use of global removal spells that can clear multiple creatures at once, regardless of their abilities. Lastly, direct removal spells that can target any creature are invaluable for taking down individual Bird threats before they can impact the board significantly.

Paying attention to these strategies can greatly enhance your resilience against flying creatures. Incorporating a varied mix of removal, defensive creatures, and global effects will prepare you to stand your ground against the feathered onslaught and maintain control of the skies throughout your matches.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Bird MTG card by a specific set like Magic Player Rewards 2001 and Eventide, 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 Bird and other MTG cards:

TCGPlayerBUY NOW
BurnMana is an official partner of TCGPlayer
Continue exploring other sealed products in Amazon
See MTG Products

Printings

The Bird Magic the Gathering card was released in 38 different sets between 2008-07-25 and 2024-06-14. Illustrated by 23 different artists.

#ReleasedNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12001-01-02Magic Player Rewards 2001MPR 41997TokenBlackMichael Sutfin
22008-07-25EventideEVE 22003TokenBlackHeather Hudson
32009-10-02ZendikarZEN 22003TokenBlackHoward Lyon
42010-07-16Magic 2011M11 22003TokenBlackPaul Bonner
52011-07-15Magic 2012M12 12003TokenBlackPaul Bonner
62012-10-05Return to RavnicaRTR 12003TokenBlackJames Ryman
72013-01-01League Tokens 2013L13 22003TokenBlackMartina Pilcerova
82013-09-27TherosTHS 42003TokenBlackPeter Mohrbacher
92014-02-07Born of the GodsBNG 42003TokenBlackMike Sass
102014-02-07Born of the GodsBNG 12003TokenBlackClint Cearley
112014-09-26Khans of TarkirKTK 12015TokenBlackMark Zug
122016-11-11Commander 2016C16 22015TokenBlackWinona Nelson
132016-11-11Commander 2016C16 72015TokenBlackPeter Mohrbacher
142017-03-17Modern Masters 2017MM3 22015TokenBlackJames Ryman
152017-11-17Iconic MastersIMA 22015TokenBlackHoward Lyon
162018-06-08Commander Anthology Volume IICM2 22015TokenBlackWinona Nelson
172019-02-15RNA Guild KitGK2 12015TokenBlackShishizaru
182019-06-14Modern HorizonsMH1 32015TokenBlackJames Ryman
192019-08-23Commander 2019C19 22015TokenBlackJana Schirmer
202019-08-23Commander 2019C19 12015TokenBlackMark Zug
212020-04-17Commander 2020C20 22015TokenBlackHoward Lyon
222020-07-03Core Set 2021M21 22015TokenBlackJames Ryman
232020-09-25Zendikar Rising CommanderZNC 12015TokenBlackHoward Lyon
242021-02-05KaldheimKHM 52015TokenBlackJason A. Engle
252021-02-05Kaldheim CommanderKHC 12015TokenBlackHoward Lyon
262021-06-18Modern Horizons 2MH2 12015TokenBlackHoward Lyon
272021-09-24Innistrad: Midnight HuntMID 32015TokenBorderlessJosu Hernaiz
282022-09-09Dominaria UnitedDMU 22015TokenBlackAllen Douglas
292022-09-09Dominaria United Japanese Promo TokensWDMU 22015TokenBlackRyutei
302022-09-09Dominaria UnitedDMU 62015TokenBlackAllen Douglas
312022-11-2830th Anniversary Edition30A 42015TokenBlackSandra Everingham
322023-01-13Dominaria RemasteredDMR 12015TokenBlackAllen Douglas
332023-02-03Phyrexia: All Will Be One CommanderONC 42015TokenBlackHoward Lyon
342023-04-21March of the Machine CommanderMOC 52015TokenBlackHoward Lyon
352023-06-23Tales of Middle-earth CommanderLTC 62015TokenBlackAudrey Benjaminsen
362023-06-23Tales of Middle-earth CommanderLTC 12015TokenBlackPablo Mendoza
372023-08-04Commander MastersCMM 42015TokenBlackWinona Nelson
382023-09-08Wilds of EldraineWOE 12015TokenBlackKisung Koh
392023-09-08Wilds of Eldraine Japanese Promo TokensWWOE 22015TokenBlackAllen Douglas
402023-11-17The Lost Caverns of Ixalan CommanderLCC 22015TokenBlackJason A. Engle
412024-01-12Ravnica RemasteredRVR 12015TokenBlackJames Ryman
422024-04-19Outlaws of Thunder JunctionOTJ 72015TokenBlackEduardo Francisco
432024-06-14Modern Horizons 3MH3 92015TokenBlackCarlos Palma Cruchaga