Fortress Kin-Guard
Creature — Dog Soldier
When this creature enters, it endures 1. (Put a +1/+1 counter on it or create a 1/1 white Spirit creature token.)
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Tarkir: Dragonstorm
- Price
- $0.15
- EDHREC rank
- #16417
Fortress Kin-Guard lands as a 4/4 with vigilance and lifelink for four mana — a clean, above-rate body that pulls double duty in combat. It's not exciting, but the stat line is honest and the keyword combination is genuinely useful in go-wide or lifegain strategies.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Fortress Kin-Guard occupies the crowded space of four-mana vigilance-lifelink creatures, where competition from more synergistic options is stiff — you're running it because your commander rewards the keywords, not because the card stands alone. In Standard and Pioneer, a 4/4 for four with two relevant keywords is a legitimate mid-range threat that can stabilize a board and gain incremental life, though it lacks the enter-the-battlefield effect that pushes similar cards into staple territory. Pauper is where Fortress Kin-Guard is most at home: the stat-to-cost ratio is strong at common, and vigilance plus lifelink on a single body is harder to replicate there than in eternal formats.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.15 bulk tier
At $0.15, Fortress Kin-Guard is deep bulk — acquire it from a bulk bin rather than paying shipping on a single copy. It won't appreciate; this is a card you pick up incidentally and slot in when the deck calls for it.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.