Drake

Drake is a creature type used for cards that depict flying reptiles, similar to dragons but smaller and less powerful. Mechanically, Drakes are a predominately Blue-aligned tribe, though there is a smattering in all other colors save White. They always have flying, and often have greater toughness than power.

Storyline

The mind of a Drake is more similar to that of an animal than that of true dragons. It is often thought that drakes were descendants of the losers of the Elder Dragon Wars, like the wurms, but this is not true, for their ancestry can also be traced to the surviving Elder Dragons.

By and large, the difference between drakes and dragons is that dragons have wings in addition to their limbs, while drakes have one set of their limbs replaced by their wings, like birds or bats, though exceptions (such as Wind Drake and Dromar, the Banisher) exist. Drakes are especially vulnarable to æther vortexes.

Drakes have been seen on Dominaria (especially on Tolaria, the Burning Isles and Jamuraa), Rath, Mirrodin, Ravnica, Alara, and Zendikar.

Notable types of Drakes

Azure drakes

An azure drake attacked and was killed by Caliphear the Nightmare and his attendants in the Great Salt Marshes of Western Golthonor. Hakim Loreweaver had tamed one of these drakes and used it a pet and a means of traveling.

Ravnican Drakes

Torch Drakes and Drake Familiars live among the spires of the vast city of Ravnica. They are used by the Dimir and Izzet guilds. Also, the Gruul used to capture drakes to show off. Leafdrakes are an enhanced form of drake created by the Simic. Recently, among Simic krasis, there are the Drakewing Krasis, drake-lizard hybrids.

Leafdrake Roost

Spiketail drakes

These Jamuraan drakes had the ability to nullify magic.

Teferi's drakes

Created by Teferi while he was studying in the Tolarian Academy, they were used by Barrin in the defense of the University against Kerrick's forces. They had the irritating habit of disappearing into the time stream moments after being summoned.

Wyverns

Wyverns are particularly large drakes with two legs, wings, and a birdlike gait. They are known to exist in Jamuraa as well as the former plane of Rath. The cerulean wyvern of Jamuraa has sky-blue scales that allow it to surprise its prey from above on cloudless days, while Rath's sabertooth wyverns are known for their exceptionally large canine teeth. The former subtype Wyvern is now incorporated into the Drake type.

Drake tokens

2/2 Drake tokens with flying are produced by:

• Leafdrake Roost (blue and green)
• Talrand, Sky Summoner (blue)
• Talrand's Invocation (blue)

Resources

• List of all MTG Drakes.