Clip Wings MTG Card

Clip Wings - Shadows over Innistrad (SOI)

Shadows over Innistrad (SOI)
2016-04-08 - Number 197

Mystery Booster (MB1)
2019-11-07 - Number 1163

The List (PLST)
2020-09-26 - Number SOI-197

Card sets	Released in 3 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	2
Rarity	Common
Type	Instant

Key Takeaways

Clip Wings provides board control against flying creatures without losing card advantage.
Instant speed allows disrupting opponent plays unexpectedly, leveling the battlefield.
It’s a versatile sideboard card, particularly potent in green decks.

Text of card

Each opponent sacrifices a creature with flying.

It is a grim duty to save the world from those created to protect it.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Clip Wings presents a strategic option to deal with flying creatures that broadens your control over the board without losing card advantage. By removing key airborne threats, you’re effectively negating your opponent’s previous card investments while maintaining your own hand count.

Resource Acceleration: While Clip Wings itself does not directly accelerate your resources, clearing the skies of potential blockers or attackers allows for unfettered assaults or defenses, effectively hastening your path to victory by removing those with the power to fly over your barriers.

Instant Speed: The instant nature of Clip Wings gives you the flexibility to disrupt your opponent’s plans at a moment’s notice. This surprise element can tilt the battlefield in your favor, turning their airborne offense or defense into a sudden liability during their turn or in response to an attack.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Unlike cards that allow you to disperse threats without any additional costs, Clip Wings may leave you at a strategic disadvantage as it does not require the opponent to discard, potentially diminishing your card advantage.

Specific Mana Cost: Requiring a single green mana may seem convenient, but it can also be restrictive. For decks that are not based on green mana or those running a tight mana curve, Clip Wings can be difficult to accommodate.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: For its specialized effect—forcing each opponent to sacrifice a creature with flying—it sits at a higher mana cost side when compared to other instant-speed removal spells in the game that might offer more flexibility or lower cost solutions.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Clip Wings offers a straightforward yet powerful solution for dealing with flying threats, making it a versatile sideboard option for green decks contending with aerial strategies.

Combo Potential: While not a combo piece in itself, Clip Wings works elegantly in concert with effects that prevent your opponent from sacrificing lesser creatures, ensuring their key flyers are grounded.

Meta-Relevance: In metagames dominated by formidable flying creatures, Clip Wings serves as an efficient and inexpensive tool to disrupt opponent tactics and maintain board control without costing valuable mana investment.

How to beat

Clip Wings is a card that can often catch MTG players off guard due to its ability to force each player to sacrifice a creature with flying. Its low mana cost of just two makes it both accessible and unpredictable. While it might seem daunting for those who heavily rely on powerful flyers, its asymmetrical effect can be mitigated.

One effective strategy is to ensure that you have multiple creatures with flying on the battlefield, diluting the impact of Clip Wings. Additionally, running creatures that can protect themselves, such as those with hexproof or shroud, can prevent them from being targeted by such effects altogether. For a more direct approach, consider cards with the capability to counter noncreature spells, negating Clip Wings before it can influence the board state.

By diversifying your threats and incorporating countermeasures in your deck, Clip Wings loses much of its potency, allowing you to stay in control. Recognizing and neutralizing key threats like Clip Wings can dramatically improve your win ratio and help maintain the integrity of your aerial assault.

Cards like Clip Wings

Clip Wings serves as an efficient means of combating creatures with flying in Magic: The Gathering. Its strength lies in forcing each opponent to sacrifice a creature with the toughest wings, a direct hit to a strategic element in many decks. When we consider a card like Plummet, we find a similar purpose: to destroy any creature with flying. However, Plummet targets a specific creature, whereas Clip Wings impacts each opponent, which can be game-changing against decks that heavily rely on fliers.

There’s also the card Windstorm, which scales in power with the amount of mana invested. Like Clip Wings, it’s designed to clear multiple flying threats at once. Nevertheless, it requires a significant mana investment to remove larger creatures, unlike the constant low cost of Clip Wings. Crushing Vines is another spell that showcases versatility, with the capability to destroy either an artifact or a creature with flying, yet it’s restricted by a higher casting cost and single-target limitation.

In essence, Clip Wings is valued for its economic mana cost and broad impact in targeted scenarios. While similar cards offer their own advantages, Clip Wings stands out for its ability to alter the sway of a multiplayer match with just two mana, making it a favored choice among responses to flying in Magic: The Gathering.

Cards similar to Clip Wings by color, type and mana cost

Inscription of Abundance - MTG Card versions

Might of the Nephilim - MTG Card versions

Strength of the Tajuru - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Clip Wings MTG card by a specific set like Shadows over Innistrad and Mystery Booster, 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 Clip Wings and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Clip Wings Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2016-04-08 and 2019-11-07. Illustrated by Howard Lyon.

#	Released	Name	Code	Number	Frame	Layout	Border	Artist
1	2016-04-08	Shadows over Innistrad	SOI	197	2015	Normal	Black	Howard Lyon
2	2019-11-07	Mystery Booster	MB1	1163	2015	Normal	Black	Howard Lyon
3	~~2020-09-26~~	The List	PLST	SOI-197	2015	Normal	Black	Howard Lyon

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Clip Wings has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Penny	Legal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Clip Wings card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date	Text
2016-04-08	You can cast Clip Wings even if some (or all) of your opponents don’t control a creature with flying. Those who do must each choose a flying creature to sacrifice, and those who don’t are unaffected.