Mu Yanling, Sky Dancer MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	3
Rarity	Mythic
Type	Legendary Planeswalker — Yanling
Released	2019-07-12
Set symbol
Set name	Core Set 2020
Set code	M20
Loyalty	2
Number	68
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	G-host Lee

Key Takeaways

Mu Yanling’s abilities focus on flying creatures, enhancing them for a dominant aerial strategy.
The planeswalker can be challenging to include in decks due to specific mana requirements.
Countering Mu Yanling involves early pressure and effective creature removal strategies.

Text of card

+2: Until your next turn, up to one target creature gets -2/-0 and loses flying. −3: Create a 4/4 blue Elemental Bird creature token with flying. −8: You get an emblem with "Islands you control have ‘: Draw a card.'"

Card Pros

Card Advantage: With Mu Yanling, Sky Dancer, players gain the upper hand by generating card advantage. Her second ability lets you draw two cards as long as you control a creature with flying, ideal for decks that capitalize on aerial threats.

Resource Acceleration: The planeswalker’s minus ability is a formidable form of resource acceleration. By reducing the cost of creature spells with flying, it paves the way for a more aggressive board presence, allowing players to cast more spells sooner than usual.

Instant Speed: Although Mu Yanling herself doesn’t operate at instant speed, she creates opportunities for instant speed interactions. Her ultimate ability grants you an emblem with the power to summon a 4/4 blue Elemental bird creature token with flying during each upkeep. This ability enhances your board state at the speed of your opponents’ turns, giving you a persistent and formidable air force.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While Mu Yanling, Sky Dancer offers powerful abilities, this planeswalker lacks a direct mechanism for card advantage. Engaging her skills often means keeping valuable cards in hand untapped to defend her, which can hamper your game tempo as resources remain unused.

Specific Mana Cost: Requiring both blue mana and generic mana, Mu Yanling’s casting cost may not seamlessly fit into multi-colored decks. Decks without a heavy blue focus can struggle to deploy her at the optimal moment, reducing her overall effectiveness.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a loyalty cost that commits six mana to the board, some MTG players may find Mu Yanling less appealing compared to other planeswalkers or blue cards that can provide immediate impact or control for less mana investment.

Reasons to Include Mu Yanling, Sky Dancer in Your Collection

Versatility: Mu Yanling, Sky Dancer offers a dynamic presence in blue-focused decks. Her abilities to manipulate flying creatures, draw cards, and potentially neutralize threats lend her to various strategies from control to tempo plays.

Combo Potential: With Mu Yanling, her ultimate ability can set up devastating combos by establishing a board where flying creatures rule the skies and your opponents are left with a dwindling number of resources.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta heavily influenced by creature-based strategies, Mu Yanling, Sky Dancer shines by offering ways to create aerial threats while keeping opposing creatures at bay, making her a powerful inclusion in decks designed to outpace and outmaneuver opponents.

How to beat

Mu Yanling, Sky Dancer is a formidable planeswalker card that can give MTG players an aerial advantage by creating flying creature tokens. Her loyalty abilities also include the potential to reduce the power of your opponent’s creatures, making for disruptive plays that can tip the scales of a match. To successfully counter Mu Yanling, it’s essential to apply pressure early in the game before she accumulates too many loyalty counters and overwhelms the board with her powers.

Direct damage spells and creature removal are effective strategies against Mu Yanling. Cards that can deal damage to any target allow you to target her directly and prevent the accumulation of loyalty counters. Additionally, playing cards that can bypass her creatures’ flying ability, such as those with reach or spells that can clear multiple creatures at once, would minimize her impact on the board and maintain a balanced state of play.

Overall, maintaining a proactive approach and keeping removal spells at hand will go a long way in minimizing the influence of Mu Yanling, Sky Dancer on the game. With calculated plays and timely counters, you can navigate past this planeswalker’s abilities and steer the game towards your victory.

Cards like Mu Yanling, Sky Dancer

Mu Yanling, Sky Dancer offers a unique set of abilities among planeswalker cards in Magic: The Gathering. Her closest peers include Jace, Unraveler of Secrets which also provides a means to disrupt opponents and draw cards. However, Mu Yanling’s ability to summon a 4/4 elemental bird creature with her second ability sets her on a different playing field. This particular feature offers more aggressive strategies as opposed to Jace’s predominantly defensive and setup tactics.

In comparison to another flying advocate, Tamiyo, Field Researcher grants a combination of card draw and protection mechanics, with a touch of versatility in her plus one ability. However, Mu Yanling’s focus on flying creatures, granting them additional power and tapping down potential threats, showcases a synergy that is specifically tailored towards an aerial combat strategy. Tamiyo’s capacity to lock down any permanent is versatile, but Mu Yanling’s flying specialization can significantly alter the pace of the aerial battle.

Ultimately, while each of these planeswalkers brings their unique twist to a player’s deck, Mu Yanling, Sky Dancer carves out her niche by actively enhancing and enabling flying creatures, possibly shaping the deck’s theme around her strengths in the gameplay of Magic: The Gathering.

Jace, Unraveler of Secrets - MTG Card versions

Tamiyo, Field Researcher - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Mu Yanling, Sky Dancer MTG card by a specific set like Core Set 2020, 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 Mu Yanling, Sky Dancer and other MTG cards:

Continue exploring other sealed products in Amazon
See MTG Products

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Mu Yanling, Sky Dancer has restrictions

Format	Legality
Historicbrawl	Legal
Commander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Explorer	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Timeless	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2019-07-12	After Mu Yanling’s first ability has resolved, the target creature will have flying again if another effect grants it flying.
2019-07-12	An Island is a land with the subtype Island, not any land with a mana ability that produces blue mana.
2019-07-12	In a multiplayer game, if you leave the game after Mu Yanling’s first ability resolves but before your next turn begins, its effect lasts until your next turn would have begun. It neither expires immediately nor lasts indefinitely.
2019-07-12	Mu Yanling’s first ability can target a creature that doesn’t have flying. The creature just gets -2/-0.
2019-07-12	Tapping an Island for mana is an activated ability. You can’t activate that ability and also activate the ability it gains from Mu Yanling’s emblem.