Flying Men

Creature — Human

Flying

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Oldschool 93/94	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Pauper Duel Commander	Legal
Pauper EDH	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (30)

Epicurus on When did you start playing, …

2 years ago

My first deck was a blue/white weenie deck, with Flying Men, Savannah Lions and Counterspells. I quickly started running mono-white weenie, which is why to this day I get offended when people badmouth white. That first white weenie is actually still together 30 years later, it just gets updated every few years or so. And it still wins more often than not. Armageddon + Howling Mine + a crap load of creatures that only cost one mana = a lot more powerful than people want to give it credit for. More than half of the cards in that deck were pulled from packs of Revised (3rd Edition) that I bought back then; including the cards I listed above, as well as Swords to Plowshares.

I'm with Fuzzy003 on the power creep thing. However, just like I said in a previous comment about another topic, it's really always been that way. Back in the day, if you weren't playing black/blue draw/control or Suicide black, you weren't going to win any tournaments. The only real combo was Channel + Fireball , but a good lockdown control deck was nearly impossible to beat (besides the fact that Channel was one of the first non-ante cards ever banned, because it was too easy to win with it).

I did once own a turn 2 Guilty Conscience + Stuffy Doll deck. It won every game I played. As such, it was pretty boring. I never competed with it, because it was Vintage legal, and I didn't have Power 9 cards with which to make it a turn 1 deck. So I ended up selling it (which I've regretted ever since, because this was before Commander drove up the prices of the four Plateau in there from $75/each to well over $300/each, and the Wheel of Fortune in there that I had pulled from a pack jumped from $40 at the time to I-don't-wanna-know how much it is now).

The best I ever did at a competition was getting 3rd place out of 50 people back in ('95/'96?) with a budget Goblin tribal deck, that ran such beauties as Goblin Balloon Brigade and Keldon Warlord, hahaha. Of course, my Wheel of Fortune and Sol Ring were in that deck, as well as the Howling Mines, but remember, that's when WoF listed at a whopping $10. I believe that I even had a couple Juggernaut in there. And I beat some very competitive decks with all that jank. It was awesome.

I decided to post this story partly because the last couple of y'all made me nostalgic for the old days. Also, though, to say that:

• a) it's kinda annoying to me, having been playing as long as I have, that everyone plays Commander now. I miss the old 60 card constructed formats. I have a lot of fond memories playing 8-player games in what was basically Legacy format (though you can call it "casual" or "kitchen table" if you like). Not to mention how much Commander format has inflated prices of individual cards.

• b) I personally find infinite combos to be a nuisance, and wish that more people shied away from them in casual play. Honestly, it's more about variety and creativity than anything else. I'm tired of looking at the 31 flavors of Thassa's Oracle decks, for example. Like, someone will be like "Hey, check out my new (insert legendary creature here) deck." And I say "oh, I love that guy! What's the theme?" And they reply with something like "It's (insert creature type) tribal, with synergies built around (insert mechanic)... and it wins by going infinite with XYZ and casting Thassa's Oracle." And then, when I say "Oh, so it's a Thassa's Oracle deck," they get butthurt, because they think they're being creative in their construction of a deck that wins using exactly the same card as a million other people's decks. "But, but, MY Thassa's Oracle deck is different!"

I don't mean to be a downer or an old fogey, I just appreciate a bit more creativity than that. Always have. And since there's a finite number of ways to go infinite in any given color combination, and a finite number of wincons that flow from those infinite combos, decks that do so all look the same to me. Just a bunch of fetch, removal and draw surrounding a combo. 50% of the deck is setting up and executing the combo, and the other 50% is protection/denial/removal. So what percentage is leftover for theme?

Anyway, that's this old man's grumpy gripe about the state of the game these days. The old budget Goblin deck wouldn't stand a chance anymore. Although, I would put my White Weenie against any 60-card casual deck you'd want to try to throw at it ;)

But I don't want that rant about Commander or infinite combos to be the final takeaway from my post here. Fact is, I've ultimately enjoyed the journey. The ups and downs are as much a part of that journey as they are with anything else in life. Here I am, still playing a game that I learned before I had pubes. And still enjoying it. And I taught my kids to play it, and they love it too (though, maybe I should have gotten them into drugs instead, because it would probably be a cheaper hobby, hahaha). And I've been around the block long enough to know that nothing lasts forever, so I hope to keep on enjoying it until kids don't like it anymore and it ends up fading away.

Like I said in a previous comment, I was really excited about Neon Dynasty. I haven't seen anything from New Capenna yet that has me as excited, but time will tell. And The Brothers' War has me stoked. In other words, to hell with my complaints about the state of the game these days. Let's throw some damn cards! Turn 'em sideways! Play on!

seshiro_of_the_orochi on Azorius Forced Combat: Maragar, the …

2 years ago

In the last months, I've become a sucker for forced combat strategies. My Thantis, the Warweaver is a project of love, and I'm currently waiting for the last pieces for Saskia the Unyielding. What I'd like to build though, is an Azorius forced combat deck. I haven't found a fitting commander for that, yet. Pramikon, Sky Rampart is interesting, but feels more fitting for pillowfort. Thus, I've come up with another design for exactly that strategy:

Many forced combat decks already want to give creatures to their opponents. Maragar heavily leans into that, as he can be cast for cheap if our opponents control enough creatures. After that, he basically turns all of our creatures into better Alluring Sirens. In addition, Maragar is a Coastal Piracy for all players that don't hit us, so while he has no actual protection, he'll often stay on the field because he draws all players cards. And players like drawing cards.

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Besides lots of tokens to goad opposing creatures, the deck would propably have plenty of cards like Hunted Lammasu, Hunted Phantasm, Akroan Horse and Forbidden Orchard, combining these with some pillowforts a la Propaganda and finishing off with more Coastal Piracy and some Flying Men. Besides combat damage, Approach of the Second Sun seems like a wincon that even works flavourwise: Are your opponents stupid enough to fall for the old "sunlight in the deep sea" trick twice? Well, they deserve to lose.

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I'd love to hear your feedback on this card. Would you change anything? Is the mana cost to low or too high? Thanks for your attention.

Epicurus on Card creation challenge

3 years ago

As a kid, I would always use Earthbind in all of my red burn decks. It would kill my brother's Flying Men outright, while taking away his Mahamoti Djinn's evasion. So, not quite a Lightning Bolt, but it still had the versatility to be useful against some bigger creatures. Here's an homage to that.

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Treacherous Pass

Enchantment

When ~ enters the battlefield, it deals 1 damage to all nonflying creatures

Whenever a nonflying creature attacks you or a planeswalker you control, if you control an untapped mountain, ~ 1 damage to it

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I think that I pushed it into uncommon there, so I concede the challenge. Again with the common burn spell.

Peoni on Tuvasa’s Enchanted Whore House

3 years ago

You could've filled this deck with Flying Men and Storm Crows and I wouldn't have cared. It's so nice to see someone running nice lands that don't enter tapped. You saved me so much nitpicking and then feeling like a prick after.

In all seriousness though this is a nice list. If you included Greater Auramancy to couple with your Privileged Position and then tossed Solemnity and Phyrexian Unlife into the mix, killing you off would be a real head scratcher for your opponents.

Good deck. Your lands make me happy. Probably consider Utopia Sprawl. Hope this helps. :^)

zanesebo on Edric's Aggressive Diplomacy

4 years ago

I really enjoy this deck! And thanks for your comment on mine. I'm a budget player, so a lot of the choices you've made wouldn't exactly work for me. However, I've been really sleeping on that Wirewood Symbiote combo. I have most of the important elves for that to be effective, so I'll be adding that card to the mainboard for sure. I also really like Plaxmanta . I've never seen this card before, and I think it works fantastic in the deck. I considered Bident of Thassa and Druids' Repository before, but seeing it in this deck convinced me to add them.

I think Hypnotic Siren could be a good replacement for Flying Men or Cloud Pirates . It's basically the same thing, but it can be used mid-late game if needed to steal a bothersome creature from an opponent. Jace's Phantasm and Hope of Ghirapur are also 1/1 flying creatures that can be useful mid-late game. I also think One with Nature is good ramp in this deck because of the evasive creatures.

seshiro_of_the_orochi on Mono Blue 3 cmc slot …

4 years ago

Seeing how aggressive this list seems, you should definitely go with Djinn. The specter seems totally off here.

If I've been counting correctly, you have five empty slot. As this is basically a Flying Men deck, you should definitely include a playset of Curious Obsession . To stay true to the aggro plan, some number of Dive Down should be your choice for the control spell.

Optimator on Derevi 'n' Wizards

4 years ago

Looking your deck over, I love how you're avoiding stax. I want to with my deck as well. My list is an agro deck utilizing cards like Coastal Piracy , Edric, Spymaster of Trest , Favorable Winds , and Coat of Arms . Kind of a classic Flying Men deck, but with wizards.

I love all the untapping shenanigans you have and I love your wizard-based combos. I would love to incorporate them into my list but a bunch of the core pieces are out of budget, like Intruder Alarm and Enlightened Tutor . Not all of them though!

GoodLuckGuy on Edric Aggro

5 years ago

First of all, Sol Ring

Craterhoof Behemoth is a strong finisher in a go-wide strat like flying men. You can also add a Natural Order for a second copy at half the cost.

If you feel like you could use another board wipe, Evacuation is efficient and has strong tempo potential.

Nostalgic Dreams could certainly replace one of your regrowths; I think Call to Mind is sub-optimal.

Delay , Abjure , and Arcane Denial are all really efficient counterspells that are worth considering.

I think this deck needs more Flying Men , they're not hard to find so I won't bother listing a bunch, but I will mention Blinkmoth Nexus as it's often overlooked in Edric.

I noticed you're not running any non-creature removal, I'd recommend Natural State and Nature's Claim at least.