Flying

Flying
Keyword Ability
Type	Evasion
Introduced	Alpha
Last used	Evergreen
Reminder Text	Flying (This creature can't be blocked except by creatures with flying and/or reach.)
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keyword:"Flying"

Flying is an evergreen evasion ability that makes creatures without flying unable to block creatures with flying. It has been in Magic since the original Alpha set. It was the first mechanic that Richard Garfield designed for the game.

Description

Flying appears on over 1,000 different cards and is scattered wildly on the color wheel, mostly being found on blue and white cards, and to a lesser extent in black and red. Green rarely has flying creatures, but is the best color at destroying them (e.g. Hurricane, Plummet). There are a number of creature types that almost always have flying, such as Angels, Birds, Sphinxes, Dragons, and Griffins (each of these generally being creatures with wings).

Examples

Example

Bog Imp
Creature — Imp
1/1
Flying (This creature can't be blocked except by creatures with flying or reach.)

Enchantments that grant just Flying

One creature

• Flight
• Shimmering Wings
• Arcanum Wings
• Buoyancy
• Crown of Ascension
• Dragon Wings
• Illuminated Wings
• Launch
• Phantom Wings
• Flight of Fancy

All your creatures

• Levitation

Pseudo-flying

Some creatures without flying can't be blocked except by creatures with flying or reach. Mark Rosewater is not a fan of this design.

• Orchard Spirit
• Signal Pest

Tunneling

Some creatures without flying can't be blocked by creatures with flying. This is a red ability, and is nicknamed "Tunneling"

• Stone Spirit
• Gnat Alley Creeper

See also

• High flying

External links

• A Planeswalker's Primer for Magic 2010: Flying
• Template:NewRef