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:
“The garden flew round with the angel,
The angel flew round with the clouds,
And the clouds flew round and the clouds few round
And the clouds flew round with the clouds.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)
“Thou Fair-haired Angel of the Evening,
Now, whilst the sun rests on the mountains, light
Thy bright torch of love; thy radiant crown
Put on, and smile upon our evening bed!”
—William Blake (1757–1827)
“In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.”
—Bible: New Testament, Luke 2:8,9.