The Top 10 Keyword Abilities Ever - #2

Welcome to my countdown of the Top 10 keyword abilities in the history of Magic. To start at the beginning, please go here. To see my picks for #9, #8, #7, #6, #5, #4 and #3 just click on the numbers.

To be considered for this list, a keyword ability has to be just that - both a keyword and an ability. Keyword actions and ability words don't count. I chose three criteria to judge all keywords abilities:
  1. Innovation. When this keyword ability was first released, did it add something fundamentally new to the game of Magic? Since then, has the ability been used in new and different ways?
  2. Endurance. Has the keyword ability aged well? If a number of cards were printed today showcasing this ability, would players welcome those cards? Do players remember the keyword fondly?
  3. Playability. Perhaps the most important criterion, does the keyword ability play well? Is it fun? Does it lead to interesting and exciting games? Can it make for powerful, memorable cards?
If you didn't see the next keyword ability coming in this Top 10 list, you obviously haven't been playing Magic for very long!

#2 - Flying

Was there ever any doubt that flying would take top honors? Wait a second... it didn't? Something is afoot! Anyway, no matter how you slice it, flying remains Magic's killer app. It doesn't matter what I say about cycling's ancestral memory, haste's fundamentality or suspend's revolutionary mechanics, flying is everything you think of when you think of a keyword ability. Magic, as a card game, is a game about opposing creature armies. Sure, there are exceptions to that rule, but it's an unusual deck that does not rely on the back-and-forth of attacking and blocking to secure a victory on some level. Flying was among of the first, and inarguably the most significant wrinkle in Magic's combat phase. It is still the most important evasion ability and the most iconic keyword ability in the game. From the first Serra Angel to the last Iona, Shield of Emeria, flying has defined the higher order of combat.

Can other keyword abilities approximate the effects of flying? They can, and they do. At its basest level, flying is simply a method to avoid blockers, a feat achieved just as much in Limited Edition Alpha by landwalk or protection. But, from the start, flying was different from other evasion abilities. This is because of the class of blockers flying evaded - all other creatures except those with flying. In being self-referential, flying signed its own paycheck. It didn't have to wait for an opponent to drop a basic land of the correct type or a creature of the correct color in order to be useful. Greater threats to flying's dominance have been mounted since then, including shadow and intimidate. Could either of these mechanics dethrone flying, in an alternate universe? Maybe, but that misses the most important point - how, then, would creatures fly? Flying, the keyword, is a perfect marriage of flavor and function. No other keyword ability captures so much flavor so perfectly as flying.

Flying still has room for improvement. Having shifted in the color pie from being a primarily blue mechanic in the heyday of Mahamoti Djinn, flying has become equal parts a white mechanic in today's heyday of Baneslayer Angel. But, flying still has a color pie issue. It is the greatest creature keyword, but it is painfully absent in the greatest creature color. Uktabi Drake got it right - flying needs to be green. It also needs to be free from chaff. Giant Spider and its kind were not a problem prior to Tenth Edition, but upon the keywording of reach, flying reminder text became painfully inelegant. Flying needs to be clean and simple on all cards, especially in sets that have a higher exposure with new players. If that means that reach needs to retire as a keyword ability, that is not too great a sacrifice. Flying is, and must remain Magic's greatest showpiece. It is the game's most perfect keyword ability.
  • Innovation: B+
  • Endurance: A+
  • Playability: A
Agree? Disagree? Have a different perspective to share? Post your comments below.
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