Blizzard Strix MTG Card
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 5 |
| Rarity | Uncommon |
| Type | Snow Creature — Bird |
| Abilities | Flying, Flash |
| Released | 2019-06-14 |
| Set symbol | |
| Set name | Modern Horizons |
| Set code | MH1 |
| Power | 3 |
| Toughness | 2 |
| Number | 42 |
| Frame | 2015 |
| Layout | Normal |
| Border | Black |
| Illustred by | Suzanne Helmigh |
Key Takeaways
- Gains card advantage and can untap lands, bolstering your strategic options significantly.
- Its flash ability allows for surprise plays and instant speed reactions in complex board states.
- While powerful, it requires careful hand management and a specific mana base to utilize effectively.
Guide to Flash card ability
Explore the dynamic Flash ability in Magic: The Gathering (MTG), a feature that allows you to cast spells at lightning speed, often leaving your opponents reeling and your strategy several steps ahead. This versatile ability can turn the tide of a game, providing the element of surprise and tactical advantage. It places a premium on timing and foresight, transforming an ordinary deck into a formidable arsenal of instant threats and responses.
Text of card
Flash Flying When Blizzard Strix enters the battlefield, if you control another snow permanent, exile target permanent other than Blizzard Strix. Return that card to the battlefield under its owner's control at the beginning of the next end step.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Blizzard Strix provides a significant edge by allowing players to potentially draw a card when it enters the battlefield. This aligns with strategic gameplay, where maintaining a robust hand can lead to victories.
Resource Acceleration: This feathered force can often untap up to two lands when it flies into play, offering a subtle yet effective form of resource acceleration, allowing players to cast additional spells or maintain defensive capabilities.
Instant Speed: Blizzard Strix’s flash ability enables savvy players to deploy it at the most opportune moments. This characteristic amplifies its strategic value, as it can be played in response to an opponent’s actions or to surprise them during combat.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Blizzard Strix demands players to discard a card to utilize certain abilities. This can deplete your hand, leaving you vulnerable and potentially without the necessary resources to respond to your opponent’s threats.
Specific Mana Cost: One challenge with Blizzard Strix is its color-heavy mana cost, meaning it requires a commitment to both blue and green mana. This can pose a deckbuilding constraint, especially in formats that favor more flexible mana bases.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: While Blizzard Strix offers some impactful abilities, its mana cost is on the high side. Players might find it less than optimal in situations where speed and efficiency are crucial, and other lower-cost creatures could provide a similar level of impact on the game more quickly.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Blizzard Strix offers flexibility in deck-building, functioning well in control decks that aim to disrupt the board as well as in flyer-centric strategies seeking evasive creatures.
Combo Potential: With its flicker ability, the card pairs excellently with permanents that have enter-the-battlefield effects, setting up potential repeatable value plays within your game.
Meta-Relevance: In an environment where board presence and long-term value are key, Blizzard Strix shines by potentially negating an opponent’s threat while establishing your aerial dominance.
How to beat
Blizzard Strix, a creature card in Magic: The Gathering, brings a chill to the battlefield with its flash ability, allowing it to swoop in unexpectedly. In addition to its surprise entrance, it can potentially alter the tide of combat or disrupt opponents’ plans with its ability to flicker another permanent. This feature can save your important pieces from removal or reuse their enter-the-battlefield effects for additional value.
When facing this icy flyer, removing it swiftly is crucial. Efficient removal spells that can target a creature regardless of its flying ability are key to neutralize this threat. Think along the lines of cards such as Fatal Push or Path to Exile. Alternatively, making your key spells and permanents hexproof or indestructible can protect them from its flickering disruption, edging out the advantage Blizzard Strix brings to the table.
Winning against Blizzard Strix ultimately requires keen timing and the right removal tools. Engage removal when the flash ability is on the stack to preempt its effect, or enhance your key pieces’ resilience to withstand the flickering storm. Careful planning and adaptation are your greatest allies in overcoming the challenges posed by this wintry raptor.
Cards like Blizzard Strix
Blizzard Strix is a notable creature in the icy realm of Magic: The Gathering. This frosty bird shares similarities with other flying creatures, such as Baleful Strix. Both have flying and offer additional value beyond just combat. The value of Blizzard Strix comes from its ability to flicker another permanent when it enters the battlefield, potentially repeating enter-the-battlefield effects. Baleful Strix, while it doesn’t flicker, also provides card draw and deathtouch, making it a multipurpose defensive tool.
Another comparable card is Felidar Guardian. Much like Blizzard Strix, this cat beast is known for its flicker ability upon entry. It lacks the snowy bird’s flying trait but makes up for it with the possibility of an infinite combo with cards like Saheeli Rai. Additionally, Venser, Shaper Savant is a similar choice, offering not a flicker but rather a bounce effect, which can return either spells or permanents to their owner’s hand, providing a versatile form of disruption.
These comparisons offer insights into the diverse tactical uses Blizzard Strix grants to control and flicker strategies, making it a powerful card in the appropriate Magic: The Gathering decks, particularly when used in conjunction with synergistic cards.
Cards similar to Blizzard Strix by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Blizzard Strix MTG card by a specific set like Modern Horizons, 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 Blizzard Strix 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 MTG Products
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Blizzard Strix has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Restricted |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Blizzard Strix card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2019-06-14 | Auras attached to the exiled permanent will be put into their owners’ graveyards. Equipment attached to the exiled permanent will become unattached and remain on the battlefield. Any counters on the exiled permanent will cease to exist. Once the exiled permanent returns, it’s considered a new object with no relation to the object that it was. |
| 2019-06-14 | If Blizzard Strix enters the battlefield during a player’s end step, the exiled permanent will remain exiled until the next turn’s end step. |
| 2019-06-14 | If a token is exiled this way, it will cease to exist and won’t return to the battlefield. |
