Commander's a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Magic: The Gathering format where a single spell can upend an entire game. One moment every player has 20 permanents in play, engines are whirring, life totals are plummeting, and yet the game's a single Farewell or Cyclonic Rift away from coming to a sudden crawl.
Boardwipes are a near-necessity in a multiplayer format, but that doesn't mean you have to get swept up in every wrath that comes your way, and you don't have to shell out money to keep your boardstate safe. Teferi's Protection, Heroic Intervention, and Clever Concealment are top-tier protection spells, but they're expensive. You can spend mere quarters for cards with similar effects. They're a notch below the heavy hitters, but at a fraction of the price.
Prices listed in this article are taken from at the time of writing. As always, card prices may fluctuate and are subjecඣt to ch🐻ange.
10 ಞ Bolt B𒈔end - $1.28
Bolt Bend might be 'Deflecting Swat at home,' but there's no denying it's substantially cheaper. You could purchase 20 copies of Bolt Bend for the price of a single Deflecting Swat.
Controlling a 4+ power creature is an easy bar to meet, after which Bolt Bend can redirect a targeted spell or ability for just a single mana. Shifting a Swords to Plowshares from your creature to an opponent's is a huge swing, making Bolt Bend a consideration for any deck with a commander large enough to turn it online.
9 Lae'zel's Acrobatics - $0.66
Eerie Interlude is a notable mass-blink effect that can save your board from a sweeper, but it's been slowly creeping up in price despite numerous reprints. Ghostway, though worse, is even more expensive due to limited printings. Enter Lae'zel's Acrobatics, a d20 die-rolling riff on this category of cards.
It has a 55% chance to spike a double-blink effect, where it protects your creatures and essentially retriggers their ETB abilities a second time in the process. Most protecti🌱on spellsᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ gives you insurance from sweepers, but Acrobatics often leaves you in even better shape than you were before.
8 Lazotep Pla♎ting - $0.46
Protection spells excel when they also protect you the player, not just your creatures. That's what allows Teferi's Protection to plant its flag as best protection spell of all time. If you want a taste of what that's like with only a dollar in your pocket, Lazotep Plating does a fine enough impression.
Plating blanks incoming spells or abilities for a turn, anything from removal targeting your commander to a lethal Crackle With Power aimed directly at your face. It even 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:leaves behind a small army, 💙which has implications for token- and zombie-themed deck🐠s alike.
7 Rootborn Defense - $0.28 ꦕ
There's a standard blueprint for a wide variety of protection spells: three mana for an instant that gives all your creatures indestructible plus a small additional bonus. That added text on Rootborn Defense ranges from completely meaningless to highly synergistic depending on your creature token density.
168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Highly dedicated token decks are already weak to boardwipes, so spotting you a free populate on top of an effect you're already interested in is a perfect recipe to keep your board intact. It's an example of a mass protection spell that leaves you in a better position post-boardwipe.
6 ♑ Golgari Charm - $0.92
Golgari Charm was once a premiere protection spell in Commander, but times have changed and the prevalence of exile-based sweepers has made it less reliable. It's still a contender for players on a budget, and the other modes bolster its viability.
You'll have mixed results depending on the match-up. Charm stacks up poorly against format-defining boardwipes like Cyclonic Rift, Sunfall or Farewell, and it's annoyingly soft to Wrath of God and Damnation, though those two are past their peak of popularity. Mass-regeneration does stack up well against 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:damaged-based sweepers like Ezuri's Predation and Blasphemous Act.
5 🐻 Lorehold Command - $0.16
The problem wi💦th a 5-mana protection spell is that you can easily waste your mana if you hold it up but never find the right opportunity to cast it. The modality on Lorehold Command help💜s tip the scales a bit.
It's best evaluated as flexible interaction that incidentally saves your board if need be. It plays to the battlefield just as easily, creating a surprise body or a Lightning Helix depending on the circumstances. It's a mana commitment, but gives you other modes to sink that mana into if the protection's not needed.
4 ও Your Temple Is Under Attaဣck - $0.22
Your Temple Is Under Attack is the political protection spell of choice. It has the formulaic "everything gains indestructible" mode that puts the card on the map, but the alternative Strike a Deal mode plays into 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the social elements of Commander.
Alliances form frequently in multiplayer formats. Your Temple gives you and an 'ally' four extra cards between the two of you to find answers to the biggest threat at the table. Not a bad secondary mode on a spell that's primary use is keeping your creatures alive.
3 March of Swirling Mist𒀰 - $1.65 💜
Phasing is arguably the best form ൲of protection in Magic; phased out creatures dodge destruction, exile, bounce, and just about anything else you can think of. It even preserves auras and equipment attached to those ꧃creatures. Just watch out for Disciple of Caelus Nin.
March of Swirling Mist lets you choose which creatures phase out, and you can even exile a few cards from your hand to amplify the effect in a pinch. You can proactively phase out opposing creatures if you're on offense or use it as a mini-fog if you just need a turn to breath.
2 Temur Sabert🎀ooth - $1.33
Temur Sabertooth sticks out like a sore fang when compared to other protection spells. It's a creature with a highly telegraphed activated ability, so it misses out on the "gotcha!" moment often associated with instant-speed protection.
That doesn't stop Sabertooth from excelling at what it does. It bounces back any creatures in danger of dying while giving itself indestructible in the process. The threat of activation always exists as long as the Sabertooth's controller keeps mana open, even if the opponents can see it coming.
1 Disorder In The Court - $0.52 💖
Attention! Attention! Disorder in the Court! Low-hanging fruit for a joke, but a perfect lead into this unique take on board protection. At face value, Disorder allows you to selectively blink targets out of harms way, and even spots you some slow card advantage with Clue tokens. It's like a strange mix between Eerie Interlude and Sphinx's Revelation.
Disorder's even a little more flexible than it seems, since it can target opposing creatures as well. You can clear blockers out of the way, eliminate creature tokens, or strike a deal and save someone else's creature from removal.