Radiant, Serra Archangel MTG Card
2020-11-20 - Number 553
2020-11-20 - Number 40
2002-06-24 - Number 86316
| Card sets | Released in 3 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 7 |
| Rarity | Uncommon |
| Type | Legendary Creature — Angel |
| Abilities | Flying,Partner |
| Power | 6 |
| Toughness | 4 |
Key Takeaways
- Enhances battlefield options, offering card advantage with untapped creature strategies.
- May restrict deck building due to specific mana requirements and high cost.
- Has potential to dominate air combat, influencing the deck’s offensive and defensive tactics.
Text of card
Flying Tap another untapped creature you control with flying: Radiant, Serra Archangel gains protection from the color of your choice until end of turn. Partner (You can have two commanders if both have partner.)
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Radiant, Serra Archangel is a powerhouse when it comes to enhancing your options on the battlefield. With its ability to untap all your creatures that share a creature type, it ensures that your hand remains full by giving those creatures pseudo vigilance, making them available for both offense and defense. This can lead to overwhelming board states that translate into significant card advantage over your opponent.
Resource Acceleration: By allowing your creatures to remain untapped, Radiant, Serra Archangel indirectly contributes to resource acceleration. You’re able to commit to an aggressive attack without sacrificing your defensive capabilities, stretching the value of every creature in play. In multiplayer games, this can equate to having a more substantial presence and the ability to respond to multiple opponents’ actions.
Instant Speed: As a creature, Radiant doesn’t operate at instant speed itself. However, it empowers an array of cards within your deck that do. With a suite of creatures untapped due to her ability, cards in your hand that are playable at instant speed become more potent, as you can better disguise your intentions with the mana available and react swiftly to changing game states.
Card Cons
Specific Mana Cost: Radiant, Serra Archangel requires a very specific mana allocation, including no less than two white mana. This specific mana requirement can be restrictive, potentially limiting its inclusion to mono-white or white-heavy decks and reducing the card’s flexibility across various deck builds.
Discard Requirement: While not directly demanding a discard, Radiant, Serra Archangel’s seven mana cost could indirectly lead to a discard situation where you’re forced to prioritize her over other cards. This mana-intensive play can set you back, especially if the game state doesn’t warrant such a high-cost commitment.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: Speaking of mana, with a total cost of seven mana, including two white, Radiant, Serra Archangel comes with a hefty price. In MTG, cards with such a high mana cost can often be too slow to impact the fast-paced matches, especially when facing aggressive or highly efficient decks that capitalize on lower-cost creatures and spells.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Radiant, Serra Archangel offers flexibility to deck builders, seamlessly integrating into angel tribal or control decks. With her unique ability to grant your other creatures flying, she elevates not just your creatures but also your game plan, no matter the strategy.
Combo Potential: With flying and vigilance, Radiant pairs well with cards that capitalize on these abilities, such as those that reward you for attacking with fliers or cards that benefit from creatures remaining untapped. Her combo potential spreads across many synergistic strategies.
Meta-Relevance: Given the evolving nature of the meta, a card like Radiant, Serra Archangel can be particularly useful. She can dominate the skies in a meta filled with ground-based creatures and serve as a formidable force against many of the non-flying threats common in various competitive formats.
How to beat
Radiant, Serra Archangel is a formidable presence in the skies of any MTG battlefield. With flying and the ability to block any number of creatures, she embodies a powerful defense mechanism, especially in commander matches. Therein lies the strategy – to overcome Radiant, ensure your deck is equipped with an array of targeted removal spells or board wipes, which are not affected by her blocking capability.
Consider cards like Doom Blade or Go for the Throat for cost-effective methods to dispatch single threats. Alternatively, Wrath of God and Day of Judgment can clear multiple creatures, including those pesky angels, by bypassing the defenses that flying provides. For those preferring subtlety, enchantment-based removal such as Oblivion Ring offers a versatile answer, capable of addressing more than just creatures.
Ultimately, the secret to triumphing over Radiant isn’t to engage her in combat. Rather, it’s to deploy resourceful strategies that can neutralize her before her blocking ability becomes a nuisance. With proper deck preparation, Radiant’s light can be extinguished, and victory can be claimed from the high heavens of her keep.
Cards like Radiant, Serra Archangel
Radiant, Serra Archangel is a majestic presence among Magic: The Gathering’s high-flying cards. Embodying a similar essence to cards like Avacyn, Angel of Hope, Radiant offers an invaluable flying ability on a larger scale. Avacyn’s advantage lies in granting indestructibility to your other permanents, whereas Radiant’s uniqueness involves tapping to protect your attacking creatures from spells or abilities your opponents control.
Another celestial contender is Iona, Shield of Emeria. While Iona’s casting cost is high and shares a significant defensive ability by choosing a color and restricting opponents from casting spells of that color, Iona does not provide the active utility that Radiant does. Serra Avenger is yet another winged companion in the realm of angelic beings, with the upside of a much lower casting cost and vigilance, but lacking the same level of influence on the battlefield that Radiant commands.
Assessing Radiant’s role, it’s clear that it carves its niche admirably, offering a blend of protection and aggression. Radiant, Serra Archangel stands tall—its strategic value secured amongst MTG’s angelic elite for players looking to assert dominance in the skies.
Cards similar to Radiant, Serra Archangel by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Radiant, Serra Archangel MTG card by a specific set like Magic Online Promos and Commander Legends, 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 Radiant, Serra Archangel and other MTG cards:
- eBay
- TCG Player
- 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 Magic products
Printings
The Radiant, Serra Archangel Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2020-11-20 and 2020-11-20. Illustrated by Chris Rallis.
| # | Release | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Magic Online Promos | PRM | 86316 | 2015 | normal | black | Chris Rallis | ||
| 2 | 2020-11-20 | Commander Legends | CMR | 553 | 2015 | normal | black | Chris Rallis | |
| 3 | 2020-11-20 | Commander Legends | CMR | 40 | 2015 | normal | black | Chris Rallis |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Radiant, Serra Archangel has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Restricted |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Radiant, Serra Archangel card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2020-11-10 | An effect that checks whether you control your commander is satisfied if you control one or both of your two commanders. |
| 2020-11-10 | Both commanders start in the command zone, and the remaining 98 cards (or 58 cards in a Commander Draft game) of your deck are shuffled to become your library. |
| 2020-11-10 | If something refers to your commander while you have two commanders, it refers to one of them of your choice. If you are instructed to perform an action on your commander (e.g. put it from the command zone into your hand due to Command Beacon), you choose one of your commanders at the time the effect happens. |
| 2020-11-10 | If your Commander deck has two commanders, you can only include cards whose own color identities are also found in your commanders' combined color identities. If Falthis and Kediss are your commanders, your deck may contain cards with black and/or red in their color identity, but not cards with green, white, or blue. |
| 2020-11-10 | Once the game begins, your two commanders are tracked separately. If you cast one, you won't have to pay an additional the first time you cast the other. A player loses the game after having been dealt 21 damage from any one of them, not from both of them combined. |
| 2020-11-10 | To have two commanders, both must have the partner ability as the game begins. Losing the ability during the game doesn't cause either to cease to be your commander. |
| 2020-11-10 | You can choose two commanders with partner that are the same color or colors. In Commander Draft, you can even choose two of the same commander with partner if you drafted them. If you do this, make sure you keep the number of times you've cast each from the command zone clear for "commander tax" purposes. |
