Iridescent Drake MTG Card
1999-06-07 - Number 35
2018-12-07 - Number 59
| Card sets | Released in 2 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 4 |
| Rarity | Uncommon |
| Type | Creature — Drake |
| Abilities | Flying |
| Power | 2 |
| Toughness | 2 |
Text of card
Flying When Iridescent Drake comes into play, return target enchant creature card from a graveyard to play enchanting Iridescent Drake. (You control that enchantment.)
Cards like Iridescent Drake
Iridescent Drake is a unique creature in the MTG universe, offering a blend of flying ability with a fascinating twist—the automatic enchantment retrieval upon its entrance to the battlefield. This ability is reminiscent of cards like Auramancer, which can also return enchantment cards from your graveyard to your hand. However, Iridescent Drake goes a step further by allowing the enchantment to directly attach itself, bypassing the need for additional mana to recast it.
Nomad Mythmaker is another card that shares a similarity, providing the ability to recur enchantments, specifically Auras, directly onto the battlefield or attached to creatures. While Nomad Mythmaker requires mana and tapping to activate this ability, Iridescent Drake does it for free as part of its casting cost. Lastly, we have Monk Idealist, another creature that also retrieves enchantments from the graveyard to hand, like Auramancer, but without the added advantage of directly attaching them, which the Drake offers effortless upon entry.
When analyzing the strengths in reusing enchantments, Iridescent Drake holds a unique position with its straightforward, immediate impact, which can be a game-changer in aura-focused MTG decks.
Cards similar to Iridescent Drake by color, type and mana cost
Card Pros
Card Advantage: The Iridescent Drake MTG card offers a unique advantage by allowing you to bring it into play with an aura from your graveyard attached to it. This effectively recycles both the Drake and the aura, providing two cards’ worth of value with a single play. This synergy can be a game changer by maintaining your presence on the board with what could be considered a two-for-one deal.
Resource Acceleration: Although not directly providing mana, this card could be seen as a form of resource acceleration. By recuperating an aura from the graveyard, you save on the mana typically required for casting both a creature and an enchantment, therefore speeding up your game plan through an economic use of resources.
Instant Speed: While the Iridescent Drake itself is a creature card and does not have instant speed, the ability to reanimate an aura at the time of the Drake’s entry can emulate an instant speed effect. This is particularly relevant if the aura in question has an ability that can be leveraged at critical moments, such as those granting flash, or providing a combat trick or protection.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Playing Iridescent Drake comes with a condition that it must return an aura card from your graveyard to the battlefield attached to it. This necessitates having a valuable aura already in the graveyard, which can sometimes be a restrictive and situational requirement, limiting the card’s potential in your hand without prior setup.
Specific Mana Cost: Iridescent Drake’s casting cost is narrowly defined, requiring both blue and white mana. This can make it less versatile and more challenging to cast in a deck that isn’t specifically tailored to support such a mana base, reducing its general applicability across various deck types.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a total cost of four mana (two of which are color-specific), Iridescent Drake is considered to have a high investment for its effect. This can be seen as inefficient, especially when there are lower cost creatures with similarly impactful effects or those that offer more immediate board presence or versatility without the graveyard dependency.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Iridescent Drake stands out due to its ability to slot into various decks, particularly those harnessing graveyard synergies. Its aura-recursion effect makes it a strong choice for enchantment-focused builds and gives it a presence in reanimator strategies.
Combo Potential: This card’s ability to bring back an aura from your graveyard when it enters the battlefield opens up combo possibilities with cards like Animate Dead or other enchantments that can create potent, repeatable effects or even infinite loops under the right conditions.
Meta-Relevance: In environments where control decks lean heavily on creature removal, Iridescent Drake’s value can increase as it offers resilience, bringing auras back repeatedly and applying persistent pressure on your opponent’s resources.
How to beat
Iridescent Drake is an intriguing fixture in the world of MTG with its ability to resurrect enchantments and effectively recycle powerful Auras from your graveyard to the battlefield. This, however, also opens avenues for crafting a strategy to disrupt this recursion. When dealing with Iridescent Drake, graveyard interaction becomes a paramount consideration as removing the fuel is key. Consider packing your deck with cards that can exile enchantments or prevent graveyard manipulation, effectively nullifying the Drake’s ability.
Utilize targeted removal spells that can exile creatures. This ensures the Drake doesn’t leave a window for reanimation. Moreover, cards with instant speed interaction trump the Drake’s trigger on the stack, providing a safer approach to dispatch the creature before its effect resolves. It’s also critical to monitor your own graveyard since cards like Iridescent Drake can in some cases be turned against their owner if their graveyard becomes a resource for the opponent.
By incorporating these tactics, the Iridescent Drake’s formidable presence on the battlefield can be curtailed, ensuring it becomes less of a recurring threat and more of a manageable challenge within the game.
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Iridescent Drake MTG card by a specific set like Urza's Destiny and Ultimate Masters, 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 Iridescent Drake 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
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Printings
The Iridescent Drake Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 1999-06-07 and 2018-12-07. Illustrated by 2 different artists.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1999-06-07 | Urza's Destiny | UDS | 35 | 1997 | Normal | Black | Jim Nelson | |
| 2 | 2018-12-07 | Ultimate Masters | UMA | 59 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Donato Giancola |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Iridescent Drake has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Restricted |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Premodern | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Predh | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Iridescent Drake card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2018-12-07 | In a multiplayer game, if a player leaves the game, all cards that player owns leave as well. If you leave the game, the Aura you control from Iridescent Drake’s ability is exiled. |
| 2018-12-07 | Iridescent Drake’s triggered ability can target any Aura card in a graveyard. However, if the Aura can’t be attached to Iridescent Drake, it remains in its owner’s graveyard and doesn’t enter the battlefield. |