How To Choose a Protection Spell for Commander

Protection spells come in many varieties, with nuanced differences between them. How do you choose which one is best for your deck? Kristen has some tips to share.

Ah, protection spells. The favored  tool of those who run creature heavy combat decks to protect from boardwipes, and a great option in the toolbox of combo decks too. They can protect a key enchantment or equipment, or even your whole board. Sometimes they even stop your life total changing.

Commander decks only have so many slots, though – so how do you know which are the best ones to run for your build? 

THE BEST PROTECTION SPELLS

Now, it’s very evident to any seasoned Commander player that there are some protection spells that are far and away the “best” protection spells in the format. 

Teferi’s Protection is de facto the strongest protection spell available. It phases out your stuff, stops your life total changing, and gives you protection from everything. While it won’t stop untargeted mill, and it can’t stop someone killing you with Commander damage if they somehow play a card that says “damage can’t be prevented,” it’ll stop basically everything else.

The benchmark for non-phasing board protection is Heroic Intervention (a green spell, much to white players’ chagrin). It doesn’t get much better than this for two mana. 

As far as protecting one thing – even yourself, if you for instance get targeted by Sorin Markov’s downtick setting you to 10 life – Deflecting Swat is probably the best option. It’s a free spell a lot of the time, and when it is, it is a big tempo swing.

The qualities that make these cards arguably best-in-slot are how we judge what else to pick.

Also, like, sure. Counterspells are available in blue. And they do, indeed, counter most things. Not everything, though; and they don’t provide the other benefits some protection spells grant.

Let’s have a look at some options.

PROTECTING YOUR BOARD

Dawn’s Truce is finally white’s Heroic Intervention, with a key difference. To get the indestructible, you also need to gift a card. In Commander this isn’t a big deal – you can just give it to someone else who is behind and make a deal. What makes this one better is it gives you hexproof, which depending on your local meta, might be huge. I like this one a lot.

Clever Concealment is the other “new hotness”, and it’s bringing phasing back (yeah). Clever Concealment is attractive because it can be cast for free, which is always good. It can also function in a way that leaves certain permanents in play (like Smothering Tithe, or a hatebear) while saving your tokens. Phasing is obviously how you get around -X/-X effects, too, which makes this spell a high pick.

Take this one if you’re more bothered about tokens or +1/+1 counters. It’s less useful if you don’t go wide enough, or don’t have vigilance, to use the Convoke reliably. 

Flawless Maneuver is another free spell. Free spells = always good, right? 

While not paying mana is good, you only have a few slots for these spells in your deck. This likely means another option on the list does way more for you than just granting indestructible.

Where Flawless Maneuver shines is in high power Voltron lists with Commanders that you need to keep in play. It’s also great if you plan on board wiping a lot as a tempo play.

One of the natural competition cards for the previous card is Flare of Fortitude, a new toy from MH3. Flare of Fortitude is less good in tokens decks, as you’ll have to sacrifice one of your synergy creatures (that likely make you tokens!) as a cost for using it. It’s also less good in Voltron, as you’re not going to want to sacrifice your creature to cast it.

Where it does shine is in decks that use the graveyard, especially Reanimator builds. It shines in decks that play combo or control, or hatebears. You can use this to fend off “player removal” from big attacks, while preserving your board. It’s especially good as a way to remove your own hatebear on a turn where you want to pop off and start turning the corner.

Boros Charm has fallen out of favor a little with all of the new options, and with base indestructible being less good with the re-emergence of phasing. That said, it has some great use cases that make it a solid option still. 

First up, in Voltron decks, getting double strike or making equipment indestructible are powerful modes to kill a player or get around an Austere Command. It can be used to enable a one-sided boardwipe like Flawless Maneuver, and I am in double-digits for the amount of times I’ve killed a player with the 4 damage mode. It comes up more often than you’d think. 

If you’re on a deck with a lot of EtBs, then maybe a flicker is better for you than phasing or indestructible? Especially as an until-end-of-turn flicker does largely the same thing, save for losing any auras or counters on your bodies.

Eerie Interlude is especially great because you can choose any number of creatures, meaning you can leave tokens behind – either to their fate, or as a value play.

It’s hard to hold up four mana for interaction, but if you make a lot of treasure, or you’re playing a lot of mana rocks, or you’re in green, then it’s certainly doable. Lae’zel’s Acrobatics is another Eerie Interlude that sometimes gives a double flicker, while Semester’s End is better in decks that play a lot of Planeswalkers or counters strategies.

As you can see already, there are plenty of options that can be tailored to your particular strategy.

Some expensive protection spells even function as ways to win the game. Akroma’s Will is one I really like in decks that go reasonably wide with creatures that have decent base power. It’s less good with tokens unless you’re also using anthems and counters, but still potentially viable.

The key thing to using this spell is to know when to sit on it and wait for an opportunity to win, when to use it proactively to take out even just one player, and when to use it defensively and forgo the chance to use it to try and win.

That’s why you have other wincons, and cards like Reconstruct History or Mystic Sanctuary. 

SINGLE TARGET PROTECTION

Of course, you can’t always use a full board protection spell to protect the key target on your board (and some of the time, it either is too much mana to do so, or messes up the rest of your carefully laid plans). For those occasions, single target protection is the option.

The “standard”, if you like, is Blacksmith’s Skill or Tamiyo’s Safekeeping. They both protect any permanent, and have a little bonus bit of trinket text that sometimes matters. As a play, they’re decent, especially if you’re playing at a higher power level and need to not rely on an opponent (misdirect) or can’t have summoning sickness get in the way of your creature (needing haste). Generally speaking, though, I opt for other cards first.

(Ignore this if you’re deep on enchantress, artifacts, or Planeswalkers – at this point, these cards get better). 

Tempo plays are where it’s at, and I often take Ephemerate first. This one is such a huge tempo swing for one mana that it feels illegal. It can save your creature from removal, and then on your upkeep, rebuy an EtB. For just one mana, it’s a really strong play that can just be cashed in for value too. 

Another big tempo play is Deflecting Swat’s cousin, Bolt Bend. If your deck can reliably make this a single red because your Commander has four toughness, then go for it. This thing has won me countless games due to how versatile it can be.

I don’t want to go deep on counterspells today, but Stubborn Denial fits a similar role oftentimes in aggressive blue decks, with the upside it can also just counter other things.

MODALITY MATTERS

Deck slots are precious, and so one way to make them worth more is to focus on modality in your protection.

Dawn Charm still feels underplayed. I love a good fog, and this one can also regenerate your creature or counter a spell that targets you. This one can be great if your main creatures have Ward, or if you want to fit a fog into your deck.

Modality is awesome, and there are some options I pick very highly. Collective Resistance is a new green spell that can be one or two Disenchants or Tamiyo’s Safekeeping, or all three. This feels like a high pick, as it lets you make space for other effects. 

Valorous Stance is one I pick very highly. I would often rather take this than another popular exile removal spell just because of the modality being so good. Oh, and this one time, I targeted someone’s Mirrorwing Dragon with it to save my whole board. Haha!

Blue has new tools for protecting creatures these days too. Slip Out the Back is the most expensive and one of the only efficient options right now, utilizing a single-target phasing. Sweet option. 

PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE (AND GENERATES VIRTUAL CARD ADVANTAGE)

While protection in hand is worth a lot, protection on board can be equally good – or sometimes better. Virtual Card Advantage can be generated by having a protection piece in play, and recurring them can be fantastic. They also mean you don’t have to continually hold up your mana. 

Selfless Spirit is great for triggering “power 2 or less/mana value 3 or less” card draw, and can also fly over to trigger on-damage effects. Boromir, on the other hand, stops the kind of bull**** we see from free spells, whether that’s a Deflecting Swat or an Etali. 

There are options outside of monowhite, too. Linvala is very flexible, and Legion’s Initiative is an anthem that can also be a flicker effect. Once you dig deeper, you can find niche options for your niche needs. 

END STEP

Choosing protection for your deck is a little bit more of a consideration than just slamming the “best” cards like Teferi’s Protection. A few final tips to help your deck sing:

• Remember to value the board-wide protection options first, as they can be used as single-target protection in a pinch
• Remember to get that protection effect also onto other cards, and even on lands (like Sejiri Shelter). 
• Remember that tempo is often better than a 1-for-1, especially in EDH. Return the Favor!