Birds of Paradise

Creature — Bird

Flying

: Gain one mana of any colour.

Discussion (48)

ahthornev2 on Death & Taxes

1 day ago

Hey blessrain -- Walking Ballista is definitely at it's most fair in this deck but it serves a few cool use cases. It has a unique role in the deck where it can act like Umezawa's Jitte w/ counters and ping off some creatures or act as just a bear that can send a few points of damage at the opponent if it is about to be removed. In both cases it is pretty solid, mono-white can use the extra reach sometimes.

a) Tutor target for both Recruiter of the Guard and Ranger-Captain of Eos , and also Ranger of Eos that is in the maybe board. It's usually the best target for Ranger-Captain if the game is going to go long at all or I have some excess mana that I can feed into the Ballista the next turn. Would likely add Ranger of Eos if I was going into the Heliod combo just to maximize on ways to find Ballista.

b) Can help mana denial strategy. Pinging off x/1 creatures is really helpful when half of the payoffs in this deck involve removing the opponent's resources. Pinging their Noble Hierarch or Birds of Paradise leading into an Armageddon / Wasteland to choke out certain colours or an early 3 drop is exactly what we want to do to maximize our disruption.

c) Goes well with the fast mana draws, whether it is Mana Crypt or City of Traitors , Ancient Tomb , getting an early Ballista against creature decks is great for the reason described above, plus it can be a mana sink later while fitting the curve early.

I've been looking to add more +1/+1 counter synergy as well, both Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit and Luminarch Aspirant are underrated and there are a few other cards I have been looking at too. I think in a slower meta including the Heliod, Sun-Crowned combo is a very valid build, too. Heliod is just a little bit weak on his own but it is a good card to slam early off a fast mana start. Ballista is just a good enough card on its own that I have really embraced playing it in a deck like this!

Last_Laugh on Animar Commander (Big Eldrazi)

3 days ago

Trying to keep your budget in mind I have several suggestions. I'll try to break it down by category. My main advice is if an effect is available on a creature, use it over other versions (i.e. Stratus Dancer over Negate).

Turn 2 Animar: Birds of Paradise , Wild Cantor , and Utopia Sprawl are all options.

Ramp: Lose your artifacts and look into several options like Rattleclaw Mystic (doubles as a combo piece with bounce enablers), Cloud of Faeries , and Peregrine Drake .

Bounce Enablers: Equilibrium and Temur Sabertooth for repeatable bounce. Shrieking Drake , Dream Stalker , and Man-o'-War for single target (including self).

Feel free to check out my list for inspiration. It's not cheap overall but Animar has several good options for reasonable prices. Upvotes on any of my decks are appreciated. Animar, Gaea's Hemorrhoid

Kazuhahaha on Will WotC Eventually Print an …

6 days ago

plakjekaas: no offense, but he said "even better", but then in all the examples you mention, the new card is worse. Prime Speaker Vannifar is a worse Birthing Pod , Gilded Goose is a worse Birds of Paradise . instead imagine a better birthing pod or birds.

plakjekaas on Will WotC Eventually Print an …

1 week ago

Grubbernaut "A better question is: with artifacts already so incredibly strong, why would they ever consider offering them something that does the thing they already do best (fast mana) even better? What does the game stand to gain?"

Well that's easy to answer, lots of cards are printed whose only function is: "hey, remember this broken old card that was really good in other formats in the past? Wanna play with it again?" Like Prime Speaker Vannifar is referring to Birthing Pod , Gilded Goose being a warped Birds of Paradise , Growing Rites of Itlimoc  ^Flip as Gaea's Cradle , every Magus of the XXX ever, etc.

Nostalgia sells packs.

Ammonzy on General Ferrous Midrange [Modern 5c GoodStuff]

3 weeks ago

CoSM0

I gave Birds of Paradise a thought but it doesnt do anything besides enable T2 three-drops. If its not played on T1 than it really has no purpose & usually its best in most situations to get a triome to enable a 5/5 Territorial Kavu & 2 mana Scion of Draco . Wild Cantor serves the same purpose as a Birds of Paradise however it actually will trigger General Ferrous Rokiric if played later on. Plus people like to bolt mana dorks however Wild Cantor can be sac'd at instant speed so it's mana can be used for a removal spell.

Manamorphose gives the deck an ability to filter mana & draw, which helps greatly when we're looking for a land drops/gas along with triggering General Ferrous Rokiric . Without it, the deck is extremely top deck reliant outside of Territorial Kavu

CoSM0 on General Ferrous Midrange [Modern 5c GoodStuff]

3 weeks ago

Wild Cantor feels very much not good in this deck. I get that it filters your mana but i think i'd rather have Birds of Paradise or one of the two hierarchs instead since those cards both ramp and filter, especially cause this deck is kinda weak on turn two, skipping past it might be worth. If you want to go heavy into the t1 mana dork you could also remove manamorphose for either the second set of hierarchs or birds.

zapyourtumor on Angelic Enchantment

4 weeks ago

I know the card is super slow, but it bothers me a ton that there isn't a single copy of Sigil of the Empty Throne in deck built around angels and enchantments.

Also Arbor Elf is much better than Birds of Paradise because it can generate obscene amounts of mana with Utopia Sprawl .

Lastly, Prismatic Ending can be some additional removal for noncreatures besides Binding the Old Gods.

TriusMalarky on Daemogoth Titan Pest Deck

1 month ago

Given you're playing in Modern:

Jund Titan seems like a fun build. You'd play 4x each Utopia Sprawl , Arbor Elf , and Ignoble Hierarch maybe with a couple Birds of Paradise . All of your lands should tap for green or black, as you're splashing red for Temur Battle Rage and Thud , possibly Lightning Bolt as well.

An optimal play would be

• Turn One Arbor Elf

• Turn Two Utopia Sprawl, tap it and untap the sprawled land for 4 mana, drop Titan

• Turn three swing with titan and use either TBR or Thud to pull a turn three kill.

Otherwise, you'd be trying to play Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek on top of your ramp to get a turn four kill, backed with interaction.

You get a lot of power from Grisly Salvage digging 5 cards deep for a titan, and also just swinging with titan a couple times typically wins the game if you can use 's great removal suite to keep the board clear.

It probably won't be top tier by any means, as Path to Exile and Thoughtseize easily trash your fast kills, but it should work.