Defense of the Heart
Enchantment
At the beginning of your upkeep, if an opponent controls three or more creatures, sacrifice this enchantment, search your library for up to two creature cards, put those cards onto the battlefield, then shuffle.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- G
- Rarity
- mythic
- Set
- Wilds of Eldraine: Enchanting Tales
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #1319
Defense of the Heart puts two creatures directly into play — no mana cost, no limits on what you can grab — the moment an opponent controls three or more creatures, which happens by turn three in most pods. Four mana to set the trap is cheap for an effect that routinely fetches a combo pair or two game-ending threats at once; Mayael the Anima decks run it as a second copy of their core plan.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Mayael the Anima
Mayael the Anima already wants the largest creatures in the format, and Defense of the Heart fetches any two of them — no power-5 restriction, no activation cost — so it operates as a faster, unconditional version of Mayael's own ability.
Phelddagrif
Phelddagrif decks give opponents tokens and life to buy goodwill, and those gifted tokens mean Defense of the Heart's three-creature threshold is met almost immediately, letting the pilot slam two finishers while everyone else is still playing politics.
Sigarda, Font of Blessings
Sigarda, Font of Blessings helms Angel and Human tribal shells that run expensive top-end creatures, and Defense of the Heart bypasses all that mana by pulling two of them directly onto the battlefield the moment any opponent's board fills up.
Oviya, Automech Artisan
Oviya, Automech Artisan builds wide with artifact creatures, but Defense of the Heart gives the deck a way to cheat its largest constructs into play without paying retail — converting any opponent's populated board into an immediate two-creature deployment.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Defense of the Heart is a Commander card through and through — the multiplayer environment means someone at the table almost always controls three creatures by turn three or four, so the enchantment rarely sits dormant long after it resolves. Legacy and Vintage legality is technically on the books, but the card is too slow and conditional for those formats; no competitive 60-card shell wants a four-mana enchantment that requires the opponent's cooperation to trigger. Oathbreaker is the one non-Commander format where it sees occasional play, again because the multiplayer nature of the game makes the threshold trivially achievable.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Pricing data isn't available at the moment — check Scryfall or your preferred retailer for a current number. Defense of the Heart has historically commanded a premium as a Reserved List enchantment with real competitive applications in Commander, so expect the market price to reflect that demand.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Mayael the Anima
- Phelddagrif
- Sigarda, Font of Blessings
- Oviya, Automech Artisan
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.