Skymarcher Aspirant MTG Card

With ascend, Skymarcher Aspirant becomes an unblockable force, boosting your combat and card advantage. Its low cost accelerates your board state presence, crucial for achieving ascend swiftly. Complements instant-speed strategies, allowing flexible and tactical plays mid-game.
Card setsReleased in 3 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost1
RarityUncommon
TypeCreature — Vampire Soldier
Abilities Ascend
Power 2
Toughness 1

Text of card

Ascend (If you control ten or more permanents, you get the city's blessing for the rest of the game.) Skymarcher Aspirant has flying as long as you have the city's blessing.

"I was born to glory."

Cards like Skymarcher Aspirant

Skymarcher Aspirant holds its ground as a formidable one-drop creature within Magic: The Gathering. When pitted against other early-game creatures like Elite Vanguard, which also boasts a solid 2/1 body for the same mana cost, Skymarcher Aspirant brings something extra to the table. As the game progresses and you reach the city’s blessing with ten or more permanents, it gains flying – an ability that Elite Vanguard lacks, providing a strategic advantage in evasion.

Another worthy comparison is Healer’s Hawk, a card that offers flying and lifelink right off the bat for a single white mana. Although its 1/1 stats are less imposing than Skymarcher Aspirant’s 2/1, the consistency of having those abilities immediately can be crucial in some decks. Where Healer’s Hawk provides steady and immediate utility, Skymarcher Aspirant scales with the game’s progress, becoming a more significant threat as you meet its city’s blessing requirement.

Assessing Skymarcher Aspirant’s place, it’s clear that its potential to soar over blockers gives it a unique niche. If your deck can consistently enable the city’s blessing, Skymarcher Aspirant can be an invaluable asset that rivals and often surpasses its counterparts in the one-drop slot.

Elite Vanguard - MTG Card versions
Healer's Hawk - MTG Card versions
Elite Vanguard - MTG Card versions
Healer's Hawk - MTG Card versions

Decks using this card

MTG decks using Skymarcher Aspirant. Dig deeper into the strategy of decks, sideboard cards, list ideas and export to play in ARENA or MOL.

#NameFormatArchetypeEvent
Boros TokensBoros Tokens GladiatorSword and Sandals Showdown: EMEA Week 14 2024
Boros Death & TaxesBoros Death & Taxes GladiatorGladiator Proving Grounds: Week 13 2024
Boros AggroBoros Aggro GladiatorGladiator Team Unified League
Mono-White AggroMono-White Aggro GladiatorGladiator Team Unified League
Mono-White Death & TaxesMono-White Death & Taxes GladiatorGladiator Team Unified League

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Skymarcher Aspirant might not directly allow you to draw additional cards, but its ascend ability can give you a decisive edge. Once you control ten or more permanents and get the city’s blessing, this agile creature turns into a persistent aerial threat that’s hard to block, effectively pressuring the opponent and paving the way for card advantage through combat.

Resource Acceleration: While Skymarcher Aspirant itself doesn’t speed up your mana production, its low casting cost encourages a swift build-up of the board state. This rapid deployment can be a stepping stone towards reaching the pivotal ascend threshold sooner, keeping you ahead in the race for resources.

Instant Speed: Despite being a creature, Skymarcher Aspirant complements strategies that operate at instant speed. With a single white mana needed for casting, you keep other mana open for reactive plays, summoning this flyer when the coast is clear or when you deem it is most tactically advantageous.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While Skymarcher Aspirant doesn’t require you to discard a card, it’s essential to note that playing low-cost creatures like this in a late game can often mean sacrificing a more substantial card from your hand due to hand size limits.

Specific Mana Cost: Skymarcher Aspirant demands a single white mana to play. While this seems low, it commits you early to white mana and can potentially disrupt a more diverse color strategy in multi-colored decks.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Although initially appearing as a low-cost creature, to fully utilize Skymarcher Aspirant’s ascension ability, a considerable investment in board presence is required. Building a deck to reliably meet the city’s blessing condition can lead to a higher overall deck curve.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Skymarcher Aspirant is a solid addition to any deck looking to apply early pressure. As a 1-mana creature with the potential to gain flying, it fits seamlessly into aggressive white weenie strategies and provides value in any deck featuring a go-wide approach.

Combo Potential: Thanks to its Ascend ability, Skymarcher Aspirant pairs well with cards that populate the battlefield quickly. Once you achieve the city’s blessing, its flying capability helps maintain board presence and synergizes with other cards that benefit from flying creatures.

Meta-Relevance: In a metagame where early board presence can dictate the pace of the game, Skymarcher Aspirant shines. With evasion in the form of flying, it can consistently chip away at an opponent’s life total, making it a noteworthy threat in current creature-based strategies.

How to beat

Skymarcher Aspirant presents a challenge on the battlefield with its capability to gain flying through its ascend mechanic, making it a potent early threat in the game. To effectively counter this card, control strategies are key. Removal spells are particularly effective, with options like Fatal Push or Shock allowing you to dispatch the Aspirant before it ascends or immediately after it gains flying. Board wipes are also an excellent method of clearing multiple threats, including Skymarcher Aspirant, and resetting the board.

Enchantment-based removals such as Seal Away or Cast Out can handle Skymarcher Aspirant once it’s already in flight, bypassing its evasion ability. In addition, cards that prevent your opponent from achieving the city’s blessing, such as Damping Sphere, can be crucial in making Skymarcher Aspirant less of a menace. Lastly, outpacing your opponent with a more powerful flying creature or overwhelming them with a swarm strategy can circumvent the advantages Skymarcher Aspirant offers, shifting the tides of the match in your favor.

Considering these strategies can significantly reduce the impact of Skymarcher Aspirant on the game, allowing you to maintain control of the match and navigate towards victory.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Skymarcher Aspirant MTG card by a specific set like Rivals of Ixalan 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 Skymarcher Aspirant and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Skymarcher Aspirant Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2018-01-19 and 2019-11-07. Illustrated by Winona Nelson.

#ReleasedNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12018-01-19Rivals of IxalanRIX 212015NormalBlackWinona Nelson
22019-11-07Mystery BoosterMB1 2332015NormalBlackWinona Nelson
32020-09-26The ListPLST RIX-212015NormalBlackWinona Nelson

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Skymarcher Aspirant has restrictions

FormatLegality
HistoricbrawlLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
PaupercommanderRestricted
OathbreakerLegal
GladiatorLegal
PioneerLegal
CommanderLegal
ModernLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
ExplorerLegal
TimelessLegal

Rules and information

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

Date Text
2018-01-19 A permanent is any object on the battlefield, including tokens and lands. Spells and emblems aren’t permanents.
2018-01-19 Ascend on a permanent isn’t a triggered ability and doesn’t use the stack. Players can respond to a spell that will give you your tenth permanent, but they can’t respond to getting the city’s blessing once you control that tenth permanent. This means that if your tenth permanent is a land you play, players can’t respond before you get the city’s blessing.
2018-01-19 If you cast a spell with ascend, you don’t get the city’s blessing until it resolves. Players may respond to that spell by trying to change whether you get the city’s blessing.
2018-01-19 If you control ten permanents but don’t control a permanent or resolving spell with ascend, you don’t get the city’s blessing. For example, if you control ten permanents, lose control of one, then cast Golden Demise, you won’t have the city’s blessing and the spell will affect creatures you control.
2018-01-19 If your tenth permanent enters the battlefield and then a permanent leaves the battlefield immediately afterwards (most likely due to the “Legend Rule” or due to being a creature with 0 toughness), you get the city’s blessing before it leaves the battlefield.
2018-01-19 Once you have the city’s blessing, you have it for the rest of the game, even if you lose control of some or all of your permanents. The city’s blessing isn’t a permanent itself and can’t be removed by any effect.
2018-01-19 Some cards get power, toughness, and/or abilities once you have the city’s blessing. If another card has an ability that triggers when creatures with certain characteristics enter the battlefield (such as Mentor of the Meek or Elemental Bond do), use the entering permanent’s characteristics after you have the city’s blessing to determine whether those abilities trigger. This is true even if the entering permanent is your tenth permanent.