The Eagles Are Coming! is one of those cards players keep asking about. Here is, in plain words, what its official text says, the rulings published by Wizards of the Coast, and the combos players actually run.
Official card text
Kicker(You may pay an additional
Complete guide
The Eagles Are Coming! is a versatile white instant that offers both a protective escape for your creatures and a powerful offensive reinforcement. Whether you are saving a single hero or your entire army, the arrival of the Great Eagles ensures you maintain board presence for the next turn.
Saving Your Own
This spell focuses exclusively on creatures you own, regardless of who currently controls them. By paying the base cost of {1}{W}, you protect a single creature from removal or unfavorable combat. If you pay the Kicker cost of {2}{W}{W}, the spell scales massively, allowing you to target any number of creatures you own and return them to the safety of your hand.
The Resolution Process
When the spell resolves, all targeted creatures that are still legal targets are returned to your hand simultaneously. Even if you return tokens to your hand—which will subsequently cease to exist as a state-based action—the spell tracks how many were successfully moved from the battlefield to your hand. This sets up a delayed triggered ability that will go on the stack at the start of the very next upkeep.
Timing and Upkeeps
The Bird Soldier tokens are not created immediately. Instead, they arrive at the start of the next upkeep, which is usually your opponent's turn if you cast this during your own turn. Each token is a formidable 4/4 white Bird Soldier with flying, providing an immediate aerial threat or a sturdy defensive line.
Strategic Considerations
Remember that you only get tokens for creatures successfully returned to your hand. If a target is exiled or destroyed in response to this spell, that specific creature won't be counted for the final token tally. However, if the spell was kicked and at least one target remains valid, the spell will still resolve and generate tokens for the creatures that did return.
Interaction examples
The Eagles Are Coming!
Swords to PlowsharesIf an opponent casts Swords to Plowshares targeting your creature, you can cast The Eagles Are Coming! in response. The creature returns to your hand before the exile spell resolves, and you will receive a 4/4 Bird Soldier token at the start of the next upkeep.
Path to ExileWith multiple creatures on board, your opponent casts Path to Exile on your strongest unit. You cast The Eagles Are Coming! with the Kicker cost paid, targeting all your creatures. All chosen creatures return to your hand, causing Path to Exile to fizzle, and you will create multiple 4/4 Bird Soldier tokens at the next upkeep.
Bird SoldierIf you already have a Bird Soldier token on the battlefield and return it to your hand using The Eagles Are Coming!, the token is still counted toward the effect. Even though the token disappears after moving to your hand, the delayed trigger will successfully create a new 4/4 Bird Soldier token to replace it.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : The Eagles Are Coming!
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
The kicker ability doesn't let you pay a kicker cost more than once.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #2· Wizards of the Coast
Any creature tokens that were returned to your hand are counted by the delayed triggered ability. You'll get a Bird Soldier token for each of them.
Card named in this ruling
- #3· Wizards of the Coast
To determine a spell's total cost, start with the mana cost (or an alternative cost if another card's effect allows you to pay one instead), add any cost increases (such as kicker), then apply any cost reductions. The spell's mana value remains unchanged, no matter what the total cost to cast it was.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #4· Wizards of the Coast
If you copy a kicked spell on the stack, the copy is also kicked.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #5· Wizards of the Coast
If a spell's kicker cost was paid, the spell is "kicked."
No other card is named in this ruling.
Related cards and tokens
Legal formats
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Meta decks with The Eagles Are Coming!
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