Pride of the Clouds from Dissension - A Magic the Gathering Card Review

by Phoenix Desertsong, Old School Duelist

Are you a fan of flyers in Magic? Then, Pride of the Clouds is a card for you to strongly consider. A steady gainer financially for the past couple of years, this casual hit is a two-drop that gets +1/+1 for each creature you control that has flying.  For two mana, in a flyer-heavy deck, it can get pretty big!

The Elemental Cat also has an ability called Forecast. This was a mechanic featured on the Azorius Guild cards in Guildpact. You get to reveal the card from your hand during your upkeep. By paying some additional cost, you get an effect once per turn. The Pride's Forecast ability costs 2UW and lets you put a 1/1 white and blue flying Bird token into play. The fact that you can do this every turn, even for 4 mana, provides pretty good value.

Believe it or not, Pride of the Clouds has made a fairly high-profile appearance in a Blue-White Fliers deck in Modern. It was back in 2014 at Grand Prix Kobe. This deck was profiled and play by Frank Lepore for TCGPlayer's Modern Monday series. While this deck hasn't really done much on the competitive scene again, it shows that this card actually can do something in competitive play. Apparently, it was pretty good back when it was in Standard, too.

In Commander, Pride of the Clouds mostly sees play in Kangee, Aerie Mystic Bird Tribal and Isperia the Inscrutable Fliers Commander decks. The Elemental Cat also sees play in some Derevi, Empyrial Tactician and Grand Arbiter Augustin IV decks. The former is a Bird Wizard that can benefit from some of the Bird support out there, and Augustin appreciates the fliers. Also, being that the Pride is blue and white and its tokens are also blue and white, they can benefit from power boosters like Thistledown Liege (+2/+2 boost!) The Pride itself can also benefit from a card like Steel of the Godhead, an Aura that can make it unblockable and give it lifelink, making it quite a formidable creature for a two-drop, as all of your other flyers pump it, as well.

Some great cards to play alongside Pride of the Clouds:

Aven Mimeomancer - A card that I loved playing with when I first started playing Magic, this Bird Wizard from Alara Reborn lets you put a feather counter on a target creature during each of your upkeeps. That feather counter makes that creature a 3/1 with flying. If you use this on one of your bird tokens, it’s essentially a +2/+0 boost. Use it on the Pride and also gain a +2/+0 boost. But it also lets you put feather counters on opponent’s creatures. Big fatty in your way? Here’s how to deal with it. Such a fun card.

Airborne Aid - 3U to draw a card for each Bird you control is pretty sweet. This common sorcery from Onslaught only gets better with the Pride fueling the draws.

Keeper of the Nine Gales - This rare Bird Wizard from Legions lets you tap two untapped Birds you control to Boomerang a permanent.

Seaside Haven - This uncommon land from Onslaught lets you tap it and pay UW (White/Blue) to sacrifice a bird and draw a card - a great combo with the next card, Soulcatchers’ Aerie.

Soulcatchers’ Aerie - This Enchantment from Judgment gets a feather counter each time one of your Birds is put into the graveyard. Since this includes your Bird tokens dying as well, this can get a lot of counters quickly. Then for each feather counter on this card, all Birds gain +1/+1. Suddenly, those 1/1 tokens get a lot bigger and a lot scarier.

Because Forecast is a mechanic unlikely to see a reprint any time soon, Pride of the Clouds should be a safe investment for those wanting to go and secure their copies now. It’s a solid complimentary piece for any fliers deck.

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