Magic: The Gathering has included many mythical creatures and archetypes over the years, including original creations like the terrifying Eldrazi and the Sliver hives. Angels, meanwhile, are universally recognized as benevolent guardians of the innocent, and they've always been a part of the game.
The first-ever Angel card was Serra Angel in Alpha, the very first set. Since then, the idea of "warrior angels" has persisted in the game. By now, Angel creatures are the iconic type for white mana, embodying white mana's values of defense, justice, honor, virtue and more.
Not all planes in Magic's lore have Angels on them, but many do. When they appear, Angels are nearly always the embodiment of white mana, with other colors sometimes splashed in. Angels are large, powerful beings that fly with bird wings in the skies, directly taking the fight to demons, tyrants, devils and other threats to justice. Angels often listen to and answer the prayers of their followers, but do not idly sit in the heavens, commanding their followers from above.
Instead, angels get down and dirty with their unholy enemies, slashing them apart with swords or spears and using their shields to personally defend the devout. These are hands-on angels, and their followers are emboldened by their presence. By the same token, all but the mightiest demons or monsters will flee from an angel in battle.
Angels often inspire entire organizations to follow them, typically a church or temple whose members pray to them for defense and salvation. This is especially true on the dark, gothic plane of Innistrad, where angels are by far humanity's best hope against the plane's many monster races. Avacyn the archangel is the single most powerful champion of humanity, wielding incredible power in battle against demons, devils, zombies and more. She is the creation of the vampire Sorin Markov, and the Church of Avacyn is built around her and her fellow angels. For a time, Avacyn was accidentally trapped inside the Helvault, but once freed, she resumed her crusade against evil with no loss of momentum.
Angels can also be found on Bant, one of the five shards of the fractured plane of Alara. This plane is dominated by white mana and its allies blue and green, meaning corruption and evil are nowhere to be found. Instead, the multicolored angels of this world watch over their human and rhox champions in honorable duels, rewarding the winners of knight tournaments with a blessed kiss and a sigil. When the five shards of Alara came crashing together, Bant's angels rushed to the front lines to face all kinds of foreign monsters, from Jund's dragons to the strange Etherium constructs of Esper.
Angels appeared on the plane of Mirrodin as well, being partly forged by metal. When the Phyrexians invaded and created New Phyrexia, the Angels were corrupted and became compleat, morphing into eerie, cracked porcelain versions of their former selves. Nearly all of New Phyrexia's angels serve the Machine Orthodoxy faction, led by Elesh Norn. One such angel is the notorious Atraxa, Praetor's Voice.
Meanwhile, angels have appeared on Amonkhet, a desert world secretly ruled by Nicol Bolas himself. These angels, appearing in both male and female forms, can even be mummified and serve as white mana zombies if they fall in battle. On the frosty plane of Kaldheim, angels are known as Valkyries, who not only fight the demons of Immersturm, but also grant passage to the glorious afterlife for worthy human warriors.
Angels appears in nearly every set, and they're powerful and beloved creatures who can easily dominate the skies of any game. Since they need to maintain their reputation as the iconic creature type of white mana, Angels appear in every set where the lore and story allow it. Early in the game, Angels were moderately powerful flying white creatures, such as the original Serra Angel, a 4/4 flier for {3}WW that had both flying and vigilance.
While that's not bad, later Angels showed players what this creature type can really do. Akroma, Angel of Wrath is one of the strongest Angels of all, a mighty 6/6 flier for {6}WWW that has a "kitchen sink" array of abilities, including protection from red and from white, flying, trample and haste. Interestingly, not all of these abilities are inherent to white mana; trample belongs to green and red, and haste is mainly red.
Avacyn, Angel of Hope is arguably the strongest Angel creature of all. It's a massive 8/8 flier that resolutely protects itself and all allied permanents (not just creatures) with indestructible. Having vigilance allows Avacyn to take the fight to the enemy while also defending its own side of the board. Avacyn is a moderately popular choice for mono-white Commander decks, despite white mana's weak reputation in that format.
Archangel of Thune is the ultimate lifegain card, being a reasonably costed 3/4 flier with lifelink. Gaining life for any reason will grant a +1/+1 counter on all friendly creatures, including the Archangel. Finally, Baneslayer Angel has a reputation for its aggressive stats and protection from Demons and Dragons, in addition to flying, first strike and lifelink.
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