Angel
Angels are native to Serra's Realm, the Alara shard of Bant, Dominaria, Ravnica, Zendikar, Innistrad and can be found on the artificial planes of Mirrodin and Rath. Angels are beautiful winged humanoids primarily aligned with white, though angels exist in all 4 other colours often multicoloured with white. As a race, angels have an extremely strong sense of justice and often devote their lives - and their deaths - to its cause, whatever it may be. This has led to a general perception of angels as selfless and reliable guardians. This overriding devotion to justice, however, can lead to a fundamentalist and totalitarian instinct. They are one of Magic's species described as being composed of "pure mana" and therefore entirely magical in origin. The majority of Angels native to Rath and Dominaria are actually of Serran origin. Serra, an idealistic human planeswalker, created her own plane to reflect her strict vision of perfection, and populated it with angels. A Phyrexian invasion of that realm led to its collapse, and a mass exodus of its inhabitants to Dominaria. These angels played a vital part in repelling the eventual Phyrexian invasion of that plane, too. On Ravnica, the only original angel is Razia, Boros Archangel, the Parun (founder) of the Boros Guild. She created the other angels as images of herself.
In the game, Angels normally represent large, aggressive flyers. They tend not to work well together, instead taking the role of a deck's single finisher to complement its other, smaller creatures. Angels have almost always had a strong presence on the tournament scene, from its earliest days (The game's earliest acknowledged deck archetype, known simply as "The Deck," used a smothering control strategy and a single Serra Angel to win once the opponent was unable to do anything) to the present. Other powerful, popular angel cards that have seen considerable tournament play include Exalted Angel, Platinum Angel, Firemane Angel, Baneslayer Angel, and the iconic Akroma, Angel of Wrath.
Read more about this topic: List Of Species In Magic: The Gathering
Famous quotes containing the word angel:
“While shepherds watched their flocks by night,
All seated on the ground,
The angel of the Lord came down,
And glory shone around.”
—Nahum Tate (1652–1715)
“If an angel were ever to tell us anything of his philosophy I believe many propositions would sound like 2 times 2 equals 13.”
—G.C. (Georg Christoph)
“I saw young Harry with his beaver on,
His cuisses on his thighs, gallantly armed,
Rise from the ground like feathered Mercury,
And vaulted with such ease into his seat
As if an angel dropped down from the clouds
To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus,
And witch the world with noble horsemanship.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)