Wind ShearHow it works & interactions with other cards

What It Does

Wind Shear affects all attacking creatures that currently have flying. It applies two specific effects: those creatures get -2/-2 and they lose the flying keyword until the end of the turn. This can lead to small flyers being destroyed outright due to having zero or less toughness, or larger flyers being grounded and weakened.

How It Resolves Step by Step

First, the spell checks for all creatures currently declared as attackers that possess the flying ability. Second, it applies a continuous effect that reduces their power and toughness by 2. Finally, it removes the flying keyword from those specific creatures. These effects are locked in at the moment of resolution; creatures that gain flying or start attacking later in the turn are not affected.

Common Mistakes

A frequent error is assuming this affects your own flyers or your opponent's blockers. Wind Shear only targets creatures that are currently attacking. Additionally, the -2/-2 effect is not permanent; like the loss of flying, it expires during the cleanup step at the end of the turn.

When to Play It

The ideal timing is during the Declare Attackers step after your opponent has committed their forces. By casting it then, you can potentially clear the board of small tokens or set up favorable blocks now that the survivors no longer have evasion.

Interaction examples

Managing the Battlefield

Beast Within

If you use Beast Within to destroy an opponent's permanent, they receive a 3/3 Beast token. If they later give that token flying and attack with it, Wind Shear will reduce it to a 1/1 and remove its flying, making it much easier to block or ignore.

Survival Against Evasion

Heroic Intervention

If your opponent attacks with a fleet of flyers, you can cast Wind Shear to weaken them. If you also control creatures, you might cast Heroic Intervention afterward to ensure your blockers survive the ensuing combat while the opponent's now-grounded attackers are significantly debuffed.