This article was inspired by a throw-away line from one of my Top Ten articles. In it I had a Wind Drake style card, and I mentioned that you probably wouldn't have expected to have seen it in one of my articles unless is was Top Ten Wind Drakes.

That concept has resonated with me, and now it's time!

Now, before I begin, this is a literal Wind Drake:

These are virtual Wind Drakes with no other abilities

What makes a Wind Drake a Wind Drake are the following things:

Ideally, it costs and one colored mana, although I am willing to concede to one of each for a two-color Wind Drake. Frankly, I'll even go with a 1CC one too if it's really a good choice.

Gatherer tells me there are 101 Wind Drakes.

All right then, let's look at them all and Wind Drake this thang up!

10. Avian Changeling

This a virtual Wind Drake save for its creature type/Changeling aspect, but what an ability! This is probably the most played Wind Drake because it fits into so many decks! Need a White Archer? How about a White Wall without any defender baggage tagging along? Need a Goblin or a Rat? A Ninja or a Samurai? Need an actual Drake? No worries, because we have got you covered! It might get played a lot, but sadly, at the end of the day, it's just a Wind Drake, you know?

9. Warden of Evos Isle

Do you really love Wind Drakes? Is it something you want to take to the next level by moving to have a Wind Drake deck? Then do I have the Wind Drake for you! This is Warden of Evos Isle, and it will help to drop the casting cost of any of your flyers as you have need. And it's not like it's legendary or anything, so you could easily control more than one. Even in Commander! Drop the cost of your flying leader? I will give you serious props if you use a Commander staple that often breaks the game, like Rite of Replication kicked, on Warden of Evos Isle. All of the Wardens will come to you!

Note that just one of these will make 1-drop colorless flying dorks, like Hope of Ghirapur, cost nothing at all. Free Hearts for the masses!

8. Loyal Drake

If you like drawing cards, just raise your hand! Look out across the sea of hands that are raised with yours in unity. Seeing how ubiquitous the love of all things card drawing can be, don't you want to slap this Wind Drake onto the table to begin your card-drawing fun times? I know I do! Cards are awesome. Little cute Wind Drakes that are actual Drakes are cute too!

And look at how this little guy is delivering that fun message and just wants to be petted and loved. It's the most a-drake-able creature on today's Wind Drake list!

Speaking of unadorable dorks.......

7. Drogskol Captain

It may not be pretty, but it's definitely powerful. What are my Spirits getting from the Drogskol Captain? They get bigger and untargetable? That's a pretty big bump from a 3-drop Lord that has flying too. This was part of a cycle of uncommon lord draft targets that included stuff like Immerwolf for your Werewolves or Diregraf Captain for your Zombies. Each of the four enemy monster tribes in the block had one (Vampires was the last one). Removing the ability for your foe to successfully interact with your chosen beater while also pumping them is darkly nasty. It's the sort of disruption that made tribal tempo+aggro decks like CounterSliver so difficult to answer at their height. I'm confident that you could easily push this into a similar territory. All you have to do is close your eyes and think of tempo-infused wins.

Might I suggest dipping into some recent Spirits like:

These are all cheap, powerful Spirits that add tempo and evasion to your options. You could easily create a 60 card deck for the kitchen table that dominates using just these cards. As well as the #1 card below! It works for your Spirit deck too.

Don't sleep on some others as well. You can dip into Black for something like Bloodghast or Horobi, Death's Wail who won't hurt you because you have your hexproof via your Captain so you won't be able to get targeted!

If you can't build a cool Spirit-infused brew, then I don't know what to tell you!

6. Bloodwater Entity

Bloodwater Entity recently was released plus it's currently Standard legal but I feel that a lot of folks aren't familiar with it, so let's take a looksee. Your 3-mana investment will net you a bunch of things, included a 2/2 flyer with prowess to amp when you cast the good noncritter stuff. That plays particularly nicely into the archetype of sorcery and instant spells matters. That's why loading one free instant/sorcery from your graveyard to your library is nice. It works together. I like to cast an instant card drawing spell with the Bloodwater Entity on the stack, and then after it resolves, I get the spell back on top of my library for another go around the mulberry bush. Welcome to the club!

5. Lieutenant Kirtar

Lieutenant Kirtar is still one of my favorite options for mono-colored leaders at the Commander table due to its low cost and ability to serve as a Seal of Order:

I am referring to the non-existent mash-up of these two cards:

Anyways, the Lieutenant Kirtar is good generally because you can swing with it early and then keep the mana open for exiling something later. Unlike other effects, such as Mangara of Corondor, it heads to your graveyard on use rather than self-exiling itself. That'll help it play well with others in its color, such as Sun Titan or Karmic Guide. As a Commander, you can exile stuff and then recast it for its Commander Tax, with a cheaper rate than many out there. Lieutenant Kirtar for the Win-Tar!!!!!!

4. Adeliz, the Cinder Wind

At first, Adeliz might just look like another Wind Drake with a weaker version of prowess. What is Adeliz doing here? Isn't the Bloodwater Entity from above better? Not so fast my Izzet-loving friend! Adeliz is pretty cool at two major tricks. First, don't sleep on haste. Haste gets you an early hit. Haste allows your dork to get in a hit before your foe can plan around it. Haste ensures a punch to the face prior to a sorcery speed answer (such as a creature with an enters-the-battlefield kill-ability (see Ravenous Chupacabra for a recently printed example) or an actual proper sorcery). Haste ain't nothing. Neither is pumping an entire team of Wizards when that instant/sorcery gets cast. That gives Adeliz and your Wizard-ing nation a much larger board presence than a Wind Drake normally can provide

3. Flamewake Phoenix and Chandra's Phoenix

Speaking of creatures with haste, checking these bad Phoenixes out! They both can swing at someone's face, and they both have the nifty ability to pop back after death with the correct result. I prefer Flamewake Phoenix, which is why I listed it first. (Although I prefer the art for the latter one.) Flamewake can return to the battlefield, rather than your hand, and just for a single mana as long as you have a creature of size 4 or more on your club. That's easy at the kitchen table, or in Commander when your leader counts. Chandra's Phoenix isn't bad either as it has a larger range of recursive triggers in many decks. Please note that it doesn't cost mana to return but it comes to your hand, so you'll always have to pay another trio of mana to cast this, barring the Warden of Evos Isle we mentioned above or another Helper of Casting Phoenixes. Enjoy the hasted Phoenix smashing of these two bodies!

2. Wingsteed Rider

I know that there will be a number of readers out there who won't have drafted triple Theros. For whom they never really drafted the set and targeted the nastiness of Wingsteed Rider, folks for whom this common wasn't a windmill slam first pick. I can't tell you how happy I was to bestow my fellow common in-set threat of Hopeful Eidolon on it and smash you for a game-swinging level of smashtitude.

It was a common Exalted Angel. Third turn 2/2 into a 4th turn, swinging 4 power aerial lifelinking threat. Only, if you killed the Rider, or forced a trade or something, I get the Eidolon back, and without the Eidolon, I still have a powerful flying threat that is getting pumped by various targeted effects. Wingsteed Rider is a great choice for a top Wind Drake, to my mind!

But it ain't my #1.

1. Kira, Great Glass-Spinner

Everybody say, "Hello Kira! I hope your day is going well!!!" Kira is a creature with a long history of providing a strong harvest from the three mana you sowed. The ability to protect your stuff from every targeted removal spell such as Lightning Bolt or Swords to Plowshares is pretty cool. It also encouraged your foes to spend two spells to kill something rather than save their cards for later, so it encourages card disadvantage. Kira has made the cut in many a deck, and is also a Sprit, so you can combine her with the stuff mentioned above at #7 as well as things like Spirits and Arcane spells from Kamigawa Block. Kira is the best Wind Drake ever printed! Unquestionably!

Enjoy your reign, Kira; enjoy your reign!

And there we have it!

Are there any cards in here you want to add to your next deck, Commander build, or Cube? Anything interesting? I hope so!

Get your Wind Drake on!