Kastral, the WindcrestedKastral, the Windcrested | Art by Jesper Ejsing

Welcome back to Best At, Worst At. In this series, we look at some of Commander's most popular strategies, see which legendary creatures lead the most decks for them, and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of those cards. Then, noting those weaknesses, we'll examine another legendary creature that excels where the first commander falters.

In today's edition, we'll be looking at Bird decks. These flying phenoms are the 21st most popular creature type to build a deck around on EDHREC, with 5,130 decks to their name as of the time of writing. They're primarily centered in and , but there are a few cards that branch out into , too.

Why Play Birds?

Birds offer several advantages. First, they're extremely evasive. Because (almost) every Bird has flying, we're guaranteed to rule the skies in a deck built around this creature type. Plus, Birds have been around since Magic's beginning. There's a deep card pool of cards to play with, and some great synergy packages available too.

Among the most popular Birds in Commander are Birds of ParadiseBirds of Paradise (in 73% of eligible typal decks), MockingbirdMockingbird (in 63% of those lists), and Baleful StrixBaleful Strix (in 58% of eligible 99s). These three creatures paint a good picture of this subtype. Birds can do everything! Whether we want to make mana, imitate another powerful permanent, or just draw some cards, our feathered friends have got us covered.

Who's The Most Popular Bird Commander?

By far the most popular commander for this creature type is Kastral, the WindcrestedKastral, the Windcrested. This five-drop leads more than 2000 decks tagged as "Bird Typal," and more than 10,000 decks overall. Kastral's currently the 218th most popular commander in the whole format!

For , we get a 4/5 Bird Scout with flying. Additionally, whenever one or more Birds we control hit an opponent, we get to choose one of three powerful abilities. We can either put a Bird from our graveyard or hand onto the field with a finality counter on it, put a +1/+1 counter on each Bird we control, or draw a card.

What Makes Kastral So Powerful?

All three of the choices that Kastral offers during combat are useful at some point, and the flexibility offered by this commander is hard to beat.

Kastral's first ability can help us snowball into a super powerful board state, or rebuild after an opposing removal spell. While it does stink to place a finality counter on the Bird that we cheat onto the board, that'll hardly matter. We can extract a good amount of value from those creatures before we're forced to exile them, and there are even a few ways to remove those finality counters in Kastral's color identity.

Then, placing +1/+1 counters on our creatures can speed up our clock. Due to the built-in evasion that so many Birds have, placing +1/+1 counters on them can make our opponents' life totals dwindle fast.

Finally, "draw a card" may be the best three-word sequence in Commander. Having access to that powerful sentence fragment in the command zone is quite powerful, and can ensure consistency in our game plan.

If we've got a bunch of Birds on the battlefield, Kastral lets us choose between these options up to three times per turn (even more if those Birds have first strike or double strike). Putting that many creatures directly onto the board, placing that many +1/+1 counters on our creatures, and drawing that many cards can end games fast. This commander rocks!

What's in a Kastral Deck?

Watcher of the SpheresWatcher of the Spheres is in tons of lists, both as a cheap Bird to cast before Kastral and as a cost reducer to make the rest of our gameplay smoother. This Bird Wizard can even become a huge attacker under the right conditions. We can also protect our flying family with Jubilant SkybonderJubilant Skybonder or throw down Steel-Plume MarshalSteel-Plume Marshal as a game-ending anthem.

Perch ProtectionPerch Protection can save our butt from a big attack or board wipe while also making some flying attackers for us to use later. Many lists also run creature-type-based card draw spells, like Distant MelodyDistant Melody and Airborne AidAirborne Aid. Finally, as a researcher studying animals that move across borders, I've got to shout out Migratory RouteMigratory Route. It may not be the flashiest card, but creating four evasive creatures for five mana (with the option to fix our mana instead) ain't bad at all.

For the mean-spirited among you, there are a few "hatebears" that just so happen to be Birds. Aven InterrupterAven Interrupter is a pseudo-counterspell that can bog down graveyard decks. It's also a low-cost evasive threat. Similarly, Aven MindcensorAven Mindcensor can shut off tutors while being a neat attacker. Finally, for those of you interested in drawing oodles of cards, there's Aerial ExtortionistAerial Extortionist and Wan Shi Tong, LibrarianWan Shi Tong, Librarian.

To give a bit more context to those inclusions, here's Kastral's average deck list according to EDHREC:

What Are Kastral's Shortcomings?

Kastral does a bit of everything a typal deck wants. Its biggest problem isn't from its abilities; it's the mana cost. Kastral costs five mana to get on the board initially, and costs a whopping to recast after it's inevitably targeted by opposing removal. That high cost only grows over the course of a Commander game.

Spending a whole turn's worth of mana just to recast our commander is risky and can put us out of the game entirely if we're not careful. Kastral has no ward cost to keep opponents' interaction at bay, and will frequently find itself back in the command zone if we don't have any protection spells in our hand.

How Can We Shore Up Kastral's Weaknesses?

For the first time in this series, I'll be taking a look at a partner pair to replace our article's focus. In this case I'm talking about Ishai, Ojutai DragonspeakerIshai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker and Esior, Wardwing FamiliarEsior, Wardwing Familiar.

These commanders don't provide the same level of value that Kastral does, but they do have several advantages. First, Esior gives a relatively steep quasi-ward cost to both itself and Ishai. That makes them harder for our opponents to interact with starting as early as turn two. Second, Ishai provides a definitive win condition. This Bird Monk will get really big, really fast. It can present a must-answer threat that Esior makes harder to answer.

These commanders also benefit from being... two commanders. Having two Birds at different mana costs in the command zone can allow some of our synergy pieces to perform even better. KingfisherKingfisher and Door of DestiniesDoor of Destinies, for example, will shine in a 99 led by this partner pairing.

This deck will look a little different, even if we are still theming it around Birds. Cost reducers like Warden of Evos IsleWarden of Evos Isle will become more important, as they'll make both of our commanders cheaper. Birds that protect our stuff, like Judge's FamiliarJudge's Familiar and Plumecreed EscortPlumecreed Escort are also great to slot in here. These Birds are actually among my favorite cards, and I think they deserve a bit more love from the Commander community. They protect our important permanents, while also being evasive attackers when we need them!

Looking outside of Birds for a moment, though, Gold-Forged ThopteryxGold-Forged Thopteryx can bump our commanders' ward costs up to . That might as well be hexproof! We may also look to further beef up Ishai, using Norn's ChoirmasterNorn's Choirmaster. This Phyrexian Angel can provide a steady stream of +1/+1 counters to Ishai, incrementing its power twice per combat if we attack with both of our commanders.

Here's the average EDHREC deck list for Ishai and Esior. It's themed pretty heavily around Birds, but there are tons of ways to build this pairing.

Conclusion

It's time for this series to fly away for another week! But, before I go, tell me your thoughts on Birds! Do you have a favorite? I'm partial to the American Goldfinch, but I think any migratory bird is cool. Let me know in the comments below, and I'll be back next Monday with another Best At, Worst At.