Angel

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Angels are humanoid beings with large wings on their backs.

Description

Often worshiped as divine beings, angels are manifestations of predominantly white mana [1] (the original description of Serra angels imply that their bodies are constructs inhabited by holy spirits[2]), though some have been corrupted with black mana [3], and angels from Bant, Innistrad, and Ravnica have boasted traits from each of the other colors. Almost all known angels are female, intentionally so.[4] The first creature to bear the type was Serra Angel from Alpha. Angel is the iconic creature for the color white.[5][6][7]

Types of Angels

Alara

While angels are normally confined to specific Shards of the sundered plane, the Conflux has lead to the creation of Maelstrom Archangels that wield the power of all five kinds of mana.

Bant

In the Shard of Alara called Bant, there are angels who are thought to be ultimate representations of its society's ideals. It is commonly believed that a noble life and death will lead a person to be reborn as one.

The most revered angel in Bant history was named Asha. History tells that she sacrificed herself to defeat the half-demon/half-dragon abomination Malfegor (though in reality, she simply banished him to the Shard of Grixis). Though she has been gone for many years, she left a powerful sigil that, until the Conflux, maintained safety and peace among her people. The faithful still pray to Asha, and some believe that she still might some day return.

Angels lend guidance to mortals, but otherwise they do not directly interfere with their lives. Among angels, there is a hierarchy with four different ranks.

Asura

The Asura are the highest ranked angels. There are only seven of them, which make up the Court of Orderly Contemplation. Only one has been revealed via the cards, Jenara who is the Asura of War.

Amesha

The Amesha represent ideals, such as honor or justice.

Mahra

The Mahra carry out the orders of the Asura and the Amesha.

Celebrant

Celebrants, as the lowest ranking angels, are responsible for protecting the lives and ideals of mortals.

Esper

Following the Conflux, some Angels have accepted Etherium parts, becoming Filigree Angels. They have pledged themselves to the Noble Work of infusing all life with Etherium.

Dominaria

Copper-Leaf Angels

A copper-leaf angel

Copper-Leaf Angels were artificial angels created by Latulla to aid in the Keldon war effort against Jamuraa. However, they did not play a significant role in the Keldon invasion and likely fell into disuse following their creator's downfall.

Duler Angels

Duler Angels were created by the Sages of Lat-Nam and were inspired by legends about Serra angels. The sage who created them based them on humans, giving them wings. Their purpose was to guard School of Lat-Nam and its secrets.

Fallen Angels

Fallen Angels were Serra angels, crowned with a Horned Halo, who were under the command of an Angel Keeper. Fallen angels tended to require sacrifices to remain strong. These were very powerful creatures, used by wizards as a means to gain more power. According to a Dominarian fable, an angel who dies as a fallen angel dies forever.

The most famous fallen angel was Trine. Another was controlled by the wizard Dreygar in the western Domains.

Angels of Vengeance

Angels who were summoned and bound to carry out acts against their nature lost their celestial nature and became material beings. Unlike other angels, they have dull feathers and highly predatory features. This process takes some time to happen, but with each act they fall further from what they once were.[8]

Mirrodin / New Phyrexia

Aloof and mysterious, Angels were rarely seen on Mirrodin. Like all life on the plane, its Angels had metallic parts, particular the wings. Revered by the Auriok, these Angels were primary aligned with the Bringer.

In the war against the growing influence of Phyrexia, numerous angels fought and died to halt the corruption. Several of these were captured and forcefully compleated. While multiple of these corrupted angels serve the Machine Orthodoxy, Elesh Norn has on one occaison cooperated with the other Praetors to create a particular powerful servant of New Phyrexia.

Ravnica

Firemane Angels

A Boros angel.

Within the Boros, angels are considered to be incarnations of the spirit of justice and revenge. They are considered to be the top members of the guild, whose parun Razia is an angel herself. Razia created all other Boros angels as clones, reflections or copies of herself. They all lived in the floating hall called the Parhelion.

Boros angels possess no need to drink, eat, or sleep, but can if it so pleases them. They have enhanced strength, a strong sense of duty and morality, and are supposedly incapable of lying. Boros angels can hear people calling their name from anywhere in Ravnica.

The only surviving first generation angel is Feather, who became the Guildmaster after Razia's death. Following in her progenitor's footsteps, Feather created a new lineage of angels. Feather was later replaced by one of these Angels, Aurelia, who argued that a disgraced angel can't command authority or respect.

Angels of Despair

An Orzhov angel.

The exact origin of the Orzhov Syndicate's angels is still unknown. They may be related to the Boros angels or were made as a copy of them, but either way they possess the same sense of duty. Orzhov angels are empty voids whose only fulfillment comes from performance of duty. They appear only on special occasions such as high ceremonies, where they inspire awe and fear in onlookers.

Serra Angels

File:Serra angel.jpg
A Serra angel.

There are two types of Serra Angels. First, and one of the oldest forms of angels, are those associated with goddess Serra, who is probably worshiped on many planes.[9] They are souls of brave warriors who rise in the form of angels, divine creatures of pure mana (though they can also conjure bodies). Even if defeated in battle, they can't be truly killed, and their souls rise again. Interestingly, goblins have used Serra Angel skulls to make their war drums. These angels played an important role in the rebellion of Epityr against Sheoltun. [10]

Serra, a planeswalker named after the goddess, created her own artificial plane, Serra's Realm, where she brought her own angels into being to populate her world. Their society was peaceful and harmonious until the arrival of Urza Planeswalker and the Phyrexians, the latter of whom brought with them black mana that corrupted the realm, drove away Serra, and led to Radiant's coup. The Phyrexian attacks against Serra's Realm also accelerated the plane's collapse, but Urza was able to evacuate some of the angels to Dominaria, where many still exist.

Famous Serra Angels include Radiant, Selenia, and Reya Dawnbringer.

Innistrad

The archangel Avacyn had a host of angels who served her. These were originally organized in three flights: [11] [12] The flights predate Avacyns creation.

The Flight of Goldnight

Gisela lead these angels, which were associated with the sun. Once a year during the Harvest Moon season, the sun will not dip below the horizon for two full days, and during this time the moon isn't visible. Known as the Feast of Goldnight, this is the holiest day for the humans. It is the time when the Avacynian enchantments are strongest throughout Innistrad. Many fell when Avacyn turned mad.

The Flight of Alabaster

Bruna lead these angels, which personified the Blessed Sleep and were associated with the Hunter's Moon season. They provided magic that warded against the desecration of dead humans. They, too, turned en masse against humanity.

The Flight of Herons

Sigarda lead these angels, which were associated with birth, purity and the New Moon season. Their magic is said to ward humans against harm in life (as opposed to the Alabaster host, which wards against harm in death). The Flight of Herons chose to side with humanity instead of Avacyn, leaving them uncorrupted.

The nature of Avacyn

Avacyn herself differed significantly from her angels; while the others were created from "the dawn essence" long ago, Avacyn was a construct of the planeswalker Sorin Markov, engineered specifically to strike a balance between mankind and the monsters as a deity. As such, "normal" angels could not sense her and felt detached from her, seeing her in the same manner humans see angels. However, they respect her power and thus follow her whims.

The fourth Flight

The former leaders of Flights Goldnight and Alabaster, Bruna and Gisela, were twisted by Emrakul into her herald Brisela.

A fourth flight once existed, lead by an unnamed angel, who apparently enjoyed consorting with demons and vampires. Due to these practises, Avacyn murdered her and her entire flight; the names of both the angel and her flight are now forbidden to say and thus supposedly forgotten to history.[13]

The Flight of Moonsilver

A new flight created after the Avacyn's descent into madness. Angels of the Flight of Moonsilver wield a spear made from a shard of the Helvault, and serve as Avacyn's honor guard. The Reaper of Flight Moonsilver personificates this Flight.

The last Flight

In recent storyline events, Avacyn was corrupted, leading to a genocidal angel rampage against humanity. Innistrad's angels now overwhelmingly leaned towards Red mana. After Avacyn's death at the hands of her creator Sorin, Emrakul successfully entered Innistrad, and began corrupting angels into horrific abominations. These formed the Flight of Nightmares.

Kaladesh

An Angel of Invention

The angels of Kaladesh are red-skinned, four-armed entities with ornate wings. All seen angels wear an metallic, heavily ornated headpiece that obscures their eyes.

Zendikar

The angels were among the first creatures that attempted to mount a resistance against the original arrival of the Eldrazi but were easily defeated. Because of this, their halo is worn down over her eyes, symbolizing their blindness to the Eldrazi's atrocities and their powerlessness to aid her world. Over time the angels' forced aloofness was incorporated into the world's religions. The "deity" Emeria, for example, was conceptualized as a great angelic being, an impartial refuge in a dangerous world—her halo a sign of hope, not of separation. When the Eldrazi were released again, the halos of oppression shattered and the angels were given the opportunity to redeem themselves. [14] The angels fought, and mostly, they died. [15]

Notable Angels

Angel tokens

Token Name Color Type Line P/T Text Box Source Printings
Angel White Creature — Angel 3/3 Flying
White Creature — Angel 4/4 Flying
White Creature — Angel 4/4 Flying, vigilance
Black Creature — Angel 3/3 Flying
Avacyn White Creature — Angel 8/8 Flying, Vigilance, Indestructible
Angel Warrior White Creature — Angel Warrior 4/4 Flying
White Creature — Angel Warrior 4/4 Flying, vigilance
Alien Angel Black Artifact Creature — Alien Angel 2/2 First strike, vigilance
Whenever an opponent casts a creature spell, this permanent isn’t a creature until end of turn.
Eldrazi Angel Colorless Creature — Eldrazi Angel 4/4 Flying, vigilance
Angel of Sanctions White Creature — Zombie Angel 3/4 Flying
Whenever Angel of Sanctions enters the battlefield, you may exile target nonland permanent an opponent controls until Angel of Sanctions leaves the battlefield.
Herald of the Host White Creature — Angel 4/4 Flying, vigilance
Battle Angels of Tyr White Creature — Angel Knight 4/4 Flying
Whenever Battle Angels of Tyr deals combat damage to a player, draw a card if that player has more cards in hand than each other player. Then you create a Treasure token if that player controls more lands than each other player. Then you gain 3 life if that player has more life than each other player.

Angel enchantment

References

  1. ↑ Template:NewRef
  2. ↑ Planeswalker's Guide to Ulgrotha
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  4. ↑ Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (August 01, 2014). "". Tumblr.
  5. ↑ Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (March 20, 2012). "". Tumblr.
  6. ↑ Template:NewRef
  7. ↑ Template:NewRef
  8. ↑ The Colors of Magic
  9. ↑ Template:NewRef
  10. ↑ Template:NewRef
  11. ↑ Template:NewRef
  12. ↑ Template:NewRef
  13. ↑ Template:NewRef
  14. ↑ Template:NewRef
  15. ↑ Template:NewRef
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