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Axebane Guardian

Creature — Human Druid

Defender
{T}: Add X mana in any combination of colors, where X is the number of creatures you control with defender.

CMC
3
Mana cost
{2}{G}
Color identity
G
Rarity
common
Set
Tarkir: Dragonstorm Commander
Price
$0.33
EDHREC rank
#3338
Buy on TCGplayer
Axebane Guardian card art
Axebane Guardian taps for one green mana per defender you control — in a deck built around High Alert or Arcades, the Strategist, that's routinely three or four mana off a single creature. Three mana and a defender type that pulls double duty as a blocker and a ritual is the whole deal.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Arcades, the Strategist

Arcades, the Strategist

90.7% of decks · synergy 0.84

Arcades, the Strategist runs Axebane Guardian in over 90% of builds because it does exactly two things the deck needs: it holds the ground and it converts a board full of high-toughness defenders into a mana engine that can dump the hand in one turn.

02
Felothar the Steadfast

Felothar the Steadfast

85.4% of decks · synergy 0.77

Felothar the Steadfast wants defenders stacked in play, and Axebane Guardian earns its slot by scaling mana production directly with the creature count Felothar rewards you for building.

03
The Pride of Hull Clade

The Pride of Hull Clade

61.5% of decks · synergy 0.61

The Pride of Hull Clade cares about creatures with high toughness, and Axebane Guardian fits that criterion while converting the wide board those decks develop into real mana acceleration.

04
Betor, Kin to All

Betor, Kin to All

41.8% of decks · synergy 0.33

Betor, Kin to All builds around creature type overlap, and Axebane Guardian's defender synergy gives it a functional role beyond tribal counting — it turns the critical mass of creatures Betor assembles into a mana engine.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern legal
pioneer legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper legal
oathbreaker legal

Commander is the only format where Axebane Guardian is genuinely powerful — a single game can accumulate five or six defenders, making it tap for more mana than most lands on the board. In Pauper it sees occasional play in Defender combo shells that aim to generate infinite mana through untap loops, which is the one non-Commander context where Axebane Guardian is actually a build-around rather than a role-player. Modern and Legacy are legal but irrelevant; the three-mana cost is too slow for those formats, and the payoff only materializes with a critical mass of defenders that those formats can't safely support. Standard legality is out entirely.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

1,304 decks
Staff of DominationAxebane Guardian

Staff of DominationAxebane Guardian

Infinite colored mana; Infinite lifegain triggers; Infinite lifegain; Infinite card draw; Infinite untap of creatures you control; Infinite draw triggers; Infinite mana creatures you control can produce

View on Commander Spellbook ↗
476 decks
Umbral MantleAxebane Guardian

Umbral MantleAxebane Guardian

Infinite colored mana; Infinitely large creature until end of turn; Infinite untap of creatures you control; Infinite mana creatures you control can produce

View on Commander Spellbook ↗

Price Context

Current price

$0.33 bulk tier

At $0.33, Axebane Guardian is bulk in price only — it's a near-automatic inclusion in any defender-matters deck and sees enough demand across Commander and Pauper to stay in print without ever spiking. Pick it up without a second thought; there's no scenario where this costs more than a few quarters.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

← All cards

Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.