The 40 Best Birds in Magic Ranked

Last updated on July 22, 2023

Storm Crow (Secret Lair) | Illustration by Jesper Ejsing

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a…

Oh wait, it actually was just a bird.

Convenient, because today’s list is all about our favorite feathered friends in Magic. Let’s take to the skies and count down the best birds in the game!

What Are Birds in MTG?

Ledger Shredder | Illustration by Mila Pesic

Birds in MTG are any creature card with the subtype “bird.” I thought about including noncreature spells that create Birds, like Migratory Route and Battle Screech, but decided to keep it simple and stick to creature spells for today.

There’s a heavy Commander emphasis here. I mean, why else are you looking at a list of birds if not for your Kangee, Aerie Keeper deck? I’ll mention when an entry has Constructed relevance, but the ranking is based on present-day viability in Commander.

You can expect most birds to have flying, but that’s where their mechanical similarities stop. As you’ll see, birds have a far-reaching wingspan in Magic, ranging from dorky cantripping speedbumps to efficient dragon-like beaters.

Best White Birds

#10. Celestial Gatekeeper

Birds and clerics don’t overlap much, but Celestial Gatekeeper is a decent glue card for either type. You can’t create infinite loops since it exiles itself on death, but it dies into the best two birds/clerics in your graveyard, which can be especially effective with an instant-speed sac outlet.

#9. Cartographer’s Hawk

Cartographer's Hawk showcases white’s ability to ramp, but only as a catch-up mechanic. The trick is to attack someone with fewer lands then play your normal land drop post-combat to actually get ahead on mana.

It won’t always work, and bouncing back to hand is troublesome, but it stacks up well against players who spend their early turns on Rampant Growth effects.

#8. Wingmate Roc

Do you smell what the Roc is cooking?

Wingmate Roc, that is.

Raid isn’t hard to enable, so this’ll be two 3/4 fliers for five mana more often than not, with one of those bodies gaining you life on attacks. This was the scourge of Khans of Tarkir Limited and even left its mark on Standard, but I find it a Roc solid addition to Commander.

#7. Aven Mindcensor

I once brought four copies of Aven Mindcensor to a Modern Grand Prix, and every time I flashed it in against a search effect my opponent found what they needed in the top four cards. I’ve been scorned by this bird, but it’s effective against 100-card Singleton decks.

It’s a disruptive hate bear in a format full of fetch lands and tutors.

#6. Combat Calligrapher

As much as I love Combat Calligrapher and other incentives for your opponents to attack one another, it’s easy for cards like this to backfire. Giving players expendable bodies might enable their gameplan, and someone might kill Calligrapher off and start sending their Inkling tokens your way.

It creates a fun gameplay experience, but it should be relegated to political decks.

#5. Skyboon Evangelist

Support has added utility in Commander, where you can spread counters around to your opponents’ creatures as a bargaining chip. If you’re selfish and want all the counters to yourself, Skyboon Evangelist has the potential to add 9/9 worth of stats to your board and essentially give your whole team flying.

#4. Mavinda, Students’ Advocate

Mavinda, Students' Advocate has a unique ability for a white card, letting you cast spells from your graveyard, but at an absurdly high cost unless they target one of your creatures. That makes Strixhaven’s guidance counsellor the perfect partner for commanders that love cheap combat tricks like Feather, the Redeemed and Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest.

#3. Teshar, Ancestor’s Apostle

I’m used to bracing myself for an infinite combo when I see Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle across the table from me. It’s a fine value commander, turning all your historic spells into Unearths, but it can also create loops with 0-drops like Memnite or Ornithopter.

The engine usually takes three or four cards to win, but the cards involved are cheap to play and easy to recur.

#2. Aerial Extortionist

Aerial Extortionist has flown under the radar in casual EDH, but I urge players to give it a try. It temporarily exiles a permanent on ETB and again during combat, drawing you a card every time your opponent recasts one of the targets.

It can also exile your own permanents as a blink-adjacent effect, and passively draws extra cards whenever your opponents cast spells from a different zone.

#1. Nesting Dovehawk

I’m being very generous giving Nesting Dovehawk the top white spot considering how new it is as the time of writing. Growing Rites is already a slow-but-playable card in token strategies, and Dovehawk has less color restriction.

It’s a pleasant mix of payoff and enabler, and I can foresee this bird becoming a huge threat on the battlefield.

Best Blue Birds

#8. Skyway Robber

Highway Robber… er, I mean Skyway Robber is a cool card, although I’ll admit I’m not sure what its best home is. It escapes and lets you occasionally cast one of the cards you exiled to pay the escape cost, but it’s just a Phantom Monster the first time around.

Please let me know if you’ve had success with this card, because it reads like a cool graveyard payoff to me.

#7. Aven Courier

I thought about combining these next two entries but they’re different enough to keep separated.

Aven Courier lets you take counters on your permanents and spread them around to your other permanents. It’s not quite proliferating, since it can’t stack the same kinds of counters, but it does interesting things with ability counters or things like fate counters from Oblivion Stone.

#6. Thrummingbird

Aven Courier does a good job of mimicking Thrummingbird, but Thrummy B has more explosive potential. Anyone who’s been on the opposite end of an unopposed Thrummingbird in a +1/+1 counter deck can tell you the game gets out of hand quickly.

Grateful Apparition is technically strictly better, but we’re all about the birds today.

#5. Curiosity Crafter

The word Curiosity has become synonymous with dealing damage to draw cards, so it’s fitting that Curiosity Crafter gives that ability to your token creatures. It’s a cool little token payoff with the Reliquary Tower effect that people drool over, and I like the subtle joke in the art (curiosity killed the cat).

#4. Souvenir Snatcher

Souvenir Snatcher is one of the made-for-Commander mutate creatures from the Enhanced Evolution precon, and it has mean-spirited potential. The first mutate often grows a creature and snatches a Sol Ring, then sets you up for a degenerate mutate pile where you’re stealing souvenirs left and right.

Security! Can we escort this bird out of the gift shop, please?

#3. Nimble Obstructionist

Stifle is situationally powerful but isn’t worth an entire card in Commander. Turning it into a cantrip solves that issue, which is why I’m very high on Nimble Obstructionist. You’ll always find an ability to counter, whether it’s the auto-equip on a lethal Embercleave or the draw-2 on a Skullclamp activation.

There are so many windows to cycle Obstructionist for value, and it can even brawl when the situation calls for it.

#2. Ledger Shredder

Ledger Shredder is a multi-format all-star, shredding ledgers everywhere from Legacy to Commander. Double-spelling happens often, and looting is excellent in Commander. Even if this didn’t grow over time, it would still be a great value creature. Sometimes it’s a 2-mana 4/6 or bigger by the time it gets back around to your turn.

Just keep your ledgers safe.

#1. Storm Crow

Who are we kidding? We all know Storm Crow wears the feathered crown, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Best Black Bird

#1. Vulturous Aven

Vulturous Aven is here mostly because I wanted at least one black bird to make the list, and Carrion Screecher wasn’t cutting it.

Aven’s not too shabby, stapling a Sign in Blood to its exploit trigger, although the more recent Fell Stinger puts it to shame.

Best Red Bird

#1. Porcuparrot

Red’s flying creatures tend to be dragons, so it makes sense that we don’t see many birds in the color.

Porcuparrot is a standout even without flying, but it has the ability to grant a pinging effect to any nonhuman creature. It’s an alternative to Hermetic Study or Thornbite Staff, and it makes a deadly mutate pairing with any deathtouch creature.

Best Green Birds

#4. Owlbear Cub

I never thought I’d be unironically saying “mama’s coming” in Magic, but here we are.

Owlbear Cub either does nothing or does something ridiculously powerful, with nothing in between. It punishes opponents for aggressively land-ramping, although it sits there as a telegraphed gameplan, making it easy to anticipate and play around.

#3. Gilded Goose

What’s that phrase everyone likes to say? “Bolt the Goose”? That doesn’t sound quite right, but I’m sure it’ll come back to me.

Gilded Goose is far from the best 1-mana accelerant in EDH, but it has enough food-making utility and incidental artifact synergy to make the cut.

#2. Doric, Nature’s Warden / Doric, Owlbear Avenger

Doric, Nature's Warden starts off as Wild Wanderer and becomes Colossal Dreadmaw mid-combat. That’s quite the glow-up, and Doric, Owlbear Avenger even has some other legendary text to boot.

I don’t understand why the back half has vigilance, but I’m satisfied with the entire package.

#1. Birds of Paradise

Wait a minute, it’s “Bolt the Bird” isn’t it? It’s all coming back to me now.

Birds of Paradise is a classic, and while it’s still not the best 1-mana dork in Commander, BOP gets the job done. Fixing and ramp is all some decks want, making a turn-1 Birds just as effective in Commander as it is in Constructed.

Best Multicolored Birds

#14. Swans of Bryn Argoll

Swans of Bryn Argoll looks fun until your opponent follows up with Blasphemous Act and draws 13 cards. Sure, that’s worst-case scenario, and ideally you’re the one taking advantage of this weird damage-prevention effect.

At the very least it’s a unique political tool to have on board.

#13. Akim, the Soaring Wind

Akim, the Soaring Wind was printed in C20 but reads like a card from 2013. It’s a bit pricy all the way around, but it spearheads a token strategy in a color combination that’s not known for it.

It’s unfortunately outclassed by another Jeskai () legend higher up on the list.

#12. Kangee, Aerie Keeper

Kangee, Aerie Keeper is the go-to bird tribal commander. You need a lot of mana to make this work, so I wouldn’t expect it to be highly competitive, but you know what you signed up for when you brought bird tribal to the table.

Don’t forget to include a copy of Kangee’s best friend, Aven Mimeomancer.

#11. Falco Spara, Pactweaver

Future Sight is a powerful effect to have in the command zone, and that’s a close approximation of what Falco Spara, Pactweaver gives you. It’s meant to play well with New Capenna’s shield counters, but any kind of counter will do.

It’s fun to find negative counters to take advantage of, like the ice counters on Thing in the Ice or Devoted Druid’s -1/-1 counters.

#10. Balmor, Battlemage Captain

Balmor, Battlemage Captain takes a slightly different spin on the Izzet () spellslinger archetype.

Balmor decks demand a healthy mix of bodies on board and cheap spells to pump them. This makes spells that generate tokens fantastic for the deck, which can be followed up with inexpensive cantrips to run your opponents over.

#9. Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker

You might think flying is the most important word on Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker, but it’s actually partner. Thanks to this one word, Ishai gets to buddy up with another partner of your choice and expand your deck’s color identity.

The card itself can become a monster on the battlefield, but I’d argue its power comes from its relevance in the command zone.

#8. Breena, the Demagogue

I currently run Breena, the Demagogue as the head of a political wheeling-and-dealing Orzhov () deck, and I’ve noticed a trend. Breena lets everyone draw cards, then attacks as a 7/9 or 11/13 out of nowhere.

It’s easy to ignore how big Breena gets in a hurry. My only complaint is that the ability stops functioning once it’s down to just you and one other player.

#7. Shabraz, the Skyshark

We live in the age of Magic when a flying shark is about par for the course. Shabraz, the Skyshark and Brallin, Skyshark Rider make a great team, growing in size, gaining life, and dealing damage as you draw and discard cards.

Shabraz is another “get big outta nowhere” creature, and funnily enough it has some applications in regular human tribal decks.

#6. Moira and Teshar

Moira and Teshar is the only MOM tagteam on this list, grabbing the bird creature type from the Phyrexian version of Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle. It’s an interesting take on a reanimator deck, and the historic text gives it several different shells that could be built around it.

#5. Kykar, Wind’s Fury

Despite looking like a RoboRosewater AI-generated card, everything on Kykar, Wind’s Fury adds up to a powerful commander. It’s another spellcaster payoff, but the tokens it generates can refund some of the cost of your spells or stockpile for a more expensive spell later on.

There’s flexibility in how you approach building Kykar, but you’ll probably end up with a good deck regardless of how you do it.

#4. Yorion, Sky Nomad

It’s funny how Yorion, Sky Nomad dominated different Constructed formats but can’t even be companioned in Commander. You can still run it in the 99 or as the commander if you’d like, and it’s going to be just as powerful when you resolve the sweeping blink effect on most of your board.

#3. Vega, the Watcher

Vega, the Watcher is an innocuous commander if you’ve never played against it, but don’t let that uncommon symbol fool you; it’s a card advantage machine.

The design was meant to key off the foretell mechanic in Kaldheim, but it was left open-ended enough to trigger off much more. Cascade, flashback, suspend, and sieges are all mechanics that trigger Vega, making it easy to keep a full grip of cards while this bird’s on watch.

#2. Derevi, Empyrial Tactician

I promise I’m not viewing Derevi, Empyrial Tactician with rose-tinted glasses, despite recently penning a love letter to my favorite commander. Derevi is that good, being one of the early pests of EDH. It cheats on commander tax and plays offense and defense well.

It’s best known as a stax piece, where its tap/untap ability helps to break parity on lock-pieces like Winter Orb and Stasis.

#1. Baleful Strix

It’s hard to argue with the raw consistency and simplicity of a card like Baleful Strix. It’s never the card that wins you the game, but it’s a clean 2-for-1 that ties together so many minute synergies, all while being the world’s most reliable blocker.

If you don’t agree this card deserves to be this high up on the list, you need to cast Baleful Strix more often.

Best Colorless Birds

#2. Junk Diver

I have a soft spot for Junk Diver since it’s the creature that inspired the logo for my personal cube community, but I think it deserves to be on the list by its own merits. It’s generally seen as a worse version of Myr Retriever since it costs one more mana, but it’s a good backup copy for a Singleton format.

#1. Jhoira’s Familiar

Jhoira's Familiar provides cost reduction, which is always a welcome addition to EDH decks. It’s most common in artifact decks where it’s slightly worse than Foundry Inspector, but it also has legs (or wings?) in legends-matter decks or decks full of sagas.

Best Bird Payoffs

Birds aren’t quite as prevalent or heavily supported as some of Magic’s more popular tribes like dragons or demons, but there are still a few rewards out there for jamming a bunch of birds in one deck.

As far as actual bird tribal cards are concerned, there’s Kangee, Aerie Keeper as a fun casual bird lord, and Tawnos, the Toymaker and the upcoming Radagast, Wizard of Wilds for bird/beast hybrid decks.

There are also obscure support cards like Soulcatchers' Aerie, Seaside Haven, and Keeper of the Nine Gales. These aren’t highly competitive cards, but they show you someone at Wizards was looking out for the birds.

A more general approach is a “flying matters” deck, where your birds play into more generic flying payoffs. It’s a great home for Skycat Sovereign, Watcher of the Spheres, and Kangee, Sky Warden, cards that didn’t make the list for various reasons.

You might take the token approach, since there are so many cards that generate 1/1 Bird tokens. I mentioned Akim, the Soaring Wind and Nesting Dovehawk, but you might also consider cards like Emeria Angel or even Crow Storm if your group’s alright with an inoffensive silver-border card.

The Bird Is the Word

Birds of Paradise (Secret Lair) | Illustration by Ovidio Cartagena

Hopefully I’ve provided enough fodder here for you to dig your talons into. Birds are a common feature of Magic sets, but it’s not often we get explicit payoffs for them. I’ve demonstrated that many of these feathered fellows are just good on their own and don’t need the support of other cards.

If you think I missed any crucial bird creatures, let me know! You can chirp and cheep your thoughts in the comments below, or over in the Draftsim Discord. Or more appropriately, send me a Tweet!

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