Mystic Skyfish MTG Card
2020-07-03 - Number 326
2022-07-07 - Number 905
2022-12-02 - Number 326
| Card sets | Released in 3 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 3 |
| Rarity | Common |
| Type | Creature — Fish |
| Power | 3 |
| Toughness | 1 |
Key Takeaways
- The card supports active hand management through its scrying ability, providing a way to improve draw quality.
- Synergy with flying cards enables stronger board presence and can help reduce spell costs over time.
- Instant speed summoning of Mystic Skyfish adds a versatile and tactical layer to your gameplay.
Text of card
Whenever you draw your second card each turn, Mystic Skyfish gains flying until end of turn.
The problem wasn't that fish had learned how to fly. It was that sharks had adapted to follow them.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Mystic Skyfish enables scrying, helping you sort upcoming draws for quality control. This increases your chances of having the right card at the right time, contributing to a sustainable card advantage during gameplay.
Resource Acceleration: Though not a direct source of mana, the Mystic Skyfish’s synergy with flying creatures can bolster your board presence significantly. This leads to indirect resource acceleration by allowing for more efficient plays and potential cost reductions on spells that care about flying creatures.
Instant Speed: As a creature with flash, Mystic Skyfish can be summoned at instant speed, offering a versatile defensive move against incoming attacks or allowing end-of-turn plays to keep mana open for counter magic and other instant-speed interactions.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Mystic Skyfish necessitates a card discard to activate its ability. This trade-off can hinder your hand advantage, leaving you with fewer options as the game progresses.
Specific Mana Cost: Casting Mystic Skyfish requires both blue and generic mana, which could be restrictive if your deck isn’t consistently generating the necessary colors.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: At an investment of three mana for a 2/1 flyer, there are alternative creatures that could offer better stats or additional abilities for a similar or lower cost.
Reasons to Include Mystic Skyfish in Your Collection
Versatility: Mystic Skyfish offers a unique blend of aerial prowess and card filtering, making it a useful addition for decks that need early blockers and a way to sift through cards to find key components.
Combo Potential: With its scry ability on each attack, Mystic Skyfish can orchestrate your draws and improve the consistency of pulling off your deck’s combos, ensuring smoother gameplay.
Meta-Relevance: In a meta where tempo and card advantage are king, Mystic Skyfish holds its own by offering both as a low-cost creature, becoming a handy tool against a variety of popular deck archetypes.
How to beat Mystic Skyfish
Mystic Skyfish is an intriguing flyer creature card that can impact the aerial combat dynamic in MTG. It’s not the most formidable flyer out there, but it holds its own with abilities that could give your opponent an edge. Unlike some other more powerful creatures with flying, Mystic Skyfish requires a bit of setup to maximize its potential, often involving casting a noncreature spell to gain the ability to scry.
To counter Mystic Skyfish effectively, consider using flying blockers of your own, as their defense could neutralize the Skyfish’s offensive capabilities. Cards that can hinder or eliminate flying abilities, such as ones with reach or those that can directly remove flying creatures from play, are especially key in handling this creature. Board control spells that clear multiple creatures also work well to remove it alongside any other threats. Beyond that, keeping an eye on your opponent’s noncreature spells is vital since this hampers the card’s scrying ability and minimizes the advantages it could grant.
Having the right counters in place when facing Mystic Skyfish can mitigate its influence on the game, ensuring your opponent doesn’t snowball their advantage in the skies. A well-timed removal or the strategic deployment of your own aerial defenders can be the pivot needed to maintain dominance on the board.
Cards like Mystic Skyfish
Mystic Skyfish has a unique place within the pantheon of creatures in Magic: The Gathering. It’s often compared to cards like Cloudkin Seer, which similarly grants card draw upon entering the battlefield. However, Mystic Skyfish stands out with its flying ability coupled with the option to scry 1 whenever you cast a spell with converted mana cost 3 or higher, keeping your draws strategic.
Murmuring Mystic is another creature that comes to mind. Although it doesn’t have the scry ability, it creates 1/1 blue Bird Illusion creature tokens with flying upon casting an instant or sorcery spell, offering a different but complimentary strategic advantage for deck builders focusing on spell-slinging strategies.
Looking at Winged Words, while not a creature, this spell emphasises card draw efficiency in decks with flying creatures. It rewards players with a reduced casting cost under the right conditions, echoing Mystic Skyfish’s utility in aerial-focused decks. Factoring in the versatility and synergistic value of these cards, Mystic Skyfish can be an excellent role-player, smoothing out draws and strengthening the synergy in decks built around flying creatures and significant spellcasting moments.
Cards similar to Mystic Skyfish by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Mystic Skyfish MTG card by a specific set like Core Set 2021 and Alchemy Horizons: Baldur's Gate, 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 Mystic Skyfish 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
Printings
The Mystic Skyfish Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2020-07-03 and 2022-12-02. Illustrated by Alayna Danner.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2020-07-03 | Core Set 2021 | M21 | 326 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Alayna Danner | |
| 2 | 2022-07-07 | Alchemy Horizons: Baldur's Gate | HBG | 905 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Alayna Danner | |
| 3 | 2022-12-02 | Jumpstart 2022 | J22 | 326 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Alayna Danner |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Mystic Skyfish has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Historicbrawl | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Commander | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Pauper | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Explorer | Legal |
| Timeless | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Mystic Skyfish card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2020-06-23 | If a spell or ability causes you to put a card into your hand without specifically using the word “draw,” it's not a card drawn. |
| 2020-06-23 | The triggered ability can trigger only once each turn. It doesn't matter Mystic Skyfish was on the battlefield when the first card was drawn. If it's not on the battlefield when the second card is drawn, the ability can't trigger at all that turn. It won't trigger when the third or fourth card is drawn. |