Flying

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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.)
Storm Scale	1
Other Symbols
Scryfall Search
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 and most resonant 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).

The Mystery Booster test cards and Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths introduced flying counters.

Rules

From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (April 4, 2025—Tarkir: Dragonstorm)

Flying

A keyword ability that restricts how a creature may be blocked. See rule 702.9, “Flying.”

From the Comprehensive Rules (April 4, 2025—Tarkir: Dragonstorm)

• 702.9. Flying
  • 702.9a Flying is an evasion ability.
  • 702.9b A creature with flying can’t be blocked except by creatures with flying and/or reach. A creature with flying can block a creature with or without flying. (See rule 509, “Declare Blockers Step,” and rule 702.17, “Reach.”)
  • 702.9c Multiple instances of flying on the same creature are redundant.

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 (but unlike creatures that actually have flying, these cannot block creatures with flying themselves). Mark Rosewater is not a fan of this design, as it does not differentiate itself from flying meaningfully. It also runs into keyword-referencing issues, as whether or not reach can block it depends on whether reach existed at time of printing.

• Elven Riders
• Treetop Rangers
• Treetop Bracers
• Treetop Scout
• Silhana Ledgewalker

Includes reach

• Canopy Cover
• Orchard Spirit
• Signal Pest
• Spire Tracer
• Tatsunari, Toad Rider ( activated ability)

Can't be blocked by creatures with flying

Some creatures without flying can't be blocked by creatures with flying. This is a red ability, and is sometimes nicknamed "Tunneling" However, "Tunneling" is more often used for “target creature with power 2 or less is unblockable this turn”. Given the lack of defensive fliers in a typical game, this use of the keyword has seen little print.

• Stone Spirit
• Gnat Alley Creeper
• Greater Stone Spirit
• Dust Corona
• Skyblinder Staff , Equip:

Losing flying

As the most common keyword ability, it is also the keyword most commonly explicitly removed or lost by certain effects, twice as common as the next keyword removed, defender. Despite the low utility, it has continued to appear on cards as trinket text.

On own creatures

• Chimeric Sphere ()
• Colossus Hammer ()
• Downdraft ()
• Leering Gargoyle ()
• Magebane Armor ()
• Mist Dragon ()
• Swooping Talon ()

On opposing creatures

• Adarkar Windform ()
• Archetype of Imagination ()
• Burning Palm Efreet ()
• Canopy Claws ()
• Crash Landing ()
• Downdraft ()
• Earthbind ()
• Emerald Charm ()
• Goblin Skycutter ()
• Gravity Sphere ()
• Gravity Well ()
• Grounded ()
• Kinscaer Harpoonist ()
• Invert the Skies ()
• Mammoth Harness ()
• Mu Yanling, Sky Dancer ()
• Mystic Decree ()
• Radjan Spirit ()
• Ribbon Snake ()
• Sky Tether ()
• Short Circuit ()
• Tightening Coils ()
• Thundercloud Elemental ()
• Vertigo ()
• Whiteout ()
• Wind Shear ()

Player flying

The Mystery Booster test card Sarah's Wings (a reference to On Serra's Wings) grants flying to a player (Players with flying can’t be dealt damage by creatures without flying). This was also the idea behind Form of the Dragon, which has a different mechanical implementation.

See also

• High flying

External links

• A Planeswalker's Primer for Magic 2010: Flying (Video). Magic: The Gathering. YouTube.
• Gavin Verhey (February 3, 2017). "The Invention of Flying". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2021-04-29.