Defiant Vanguard
Creature — Human Rebel
When this creature blocks, at end of combat, destroy it and all creatures it blocked this turn.
, 
: Search your library for a Rebel permanent card with mana value 4 or less, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Nemesis
- Price
- $0.27
- EDHREC rank
- #21956
Defiant Vanguard trades itself to tutor any Rebel directly onto the battlefield, turning every combat into a tempo-positive search engine. The cost is real — three mana for a 2/1 that requires dying in combat — but the payoff is a free, uncounterable permanent.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Defiant Vanguard fits narrowly into Rebel tribal decks, where the chain-search engine turns one creature into a cascading board state over several turns. Modern and Legacy have access to the full Rebel package, but neither format has shown interest in a slow, combat-dependent tutor when faster linear strategies dominate. Vintage is technically legal but Defiant Vanguard is nowhere near the power level the format demands. It's a Commander card first, and even there it only earns a slot in dedicated Rebel builds.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.27 bulk tier
At $0.27, Defiant Vanguard is deep bulk — easy to pick up in a common box or as a throw-in. Demand is narrow enough that the price is unlikely to move unless a high-profile Rebel commander gets printed.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.