Aztec · No. 021

Mountain Lightning Falcon

A MYTHENOR creation — Theme: An original MYTHENOR creation on the theme of a “storm bird of the sierras.” It matches no specific mythical being.

Mountain Lightning Falcon
It dives so fast the thunder arrives later.
Rarity
Common
Category
Monster
ATK
1250
DEF
950
Level
4
Type
Bird
Element
Thunder
Constellations
Wisp · Crown

The myth

There is no “lightning falcon” in Nahua myth. The card joins two real features of the Mesoamerican world. The first is birds of prey, which the Mexica watched closely: the Florentine Codex, in its book on animals, describes falcons and hawks, their speed and their way of hunting. The second is the storms over the mountains ringing the Valley of Mexico, attributed to Tláloc and the tlaloque, who lived on the peaks. The game imagines a bird so fast it arrives before the thunder itself.

Why it has this power

A Level 4 Common with 1250 ATK and 950 DEF: a hard dive and little armor, like a predator that lives on speed. Thunder is the bolt that follows it; Wisp is the sudden flash of lightning, and Crown the mountain summit where it reigns. It gains from Dance of the Plumes and the Quetzal-Feather Headdress.

Did you know

Book XI of the Florentine Codex is a true encyclopedia of Mexico’s animals and plants, written in Nahuatl with the help of Indigenous scholars.

Connections

  • In Tepin, Veteran of the Flower War's deck
  • In Itzel, Guardian of the Fifth Sun's deck

Where to get it

  • Comes in every duelist's starter deck.
  • Daily Offering: 0% per pack (Common 64% per card)
  • Welcome Pack: 0.97% per pack (Common 70% per card)
  • Traveler's Pack: 0.88% per pack · 5.2% in the themed pack (Common 64% per card)
  • Bronze Reliquary: 0.86% per pack · 5.1% in the themed pack (Common 62% per card)
  • Silver Reliquary: 0.67% per pack · 4% in the themed pack (Common 49% per card)
  • Golden Reliquary: 0.46% per pack · 2.7% in the themed pack (Common 33% per card)
  • Daily Showcase: Shows up on about 0.69% of days · 150 gold
  • Craft with card dust: 40 dust
  • Crossing of Myths: Can be offered as a reward during a crossing (the card stays in the crossing deck).

Sources

  1. Digital Florentine Codex (Historia general de las cosas de Nueva España) — Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators; Getty Research Institute
  2. Tlaloc — World History Encyclopedia — Mark Cartwright