Guard Dogs
Creature — Dog
, 
: Choose a permanent you control. Prevent all combat damage target creature would deal this turn if it shares a color with that permanent.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Planeshift
- Price
- $0.18
- EDHREC rank
- #27311
Guard Dogs trades a tap and two mana to protect your most important permanent from being targeted until your next turn — a repeatable deterrent that forces opponents to reconsider removal without spending a card. The cost is real: three mana to deploy plus the activation means you're sinking resources into a blocker that only delays, not prevents, the threat.
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 |
Guard Dogs is legal in Commander, Legacy, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but realistic play is almost entirely Commander — the only format slow enough that a tap-to-protect ability has time to matter. In Legacy and Vintage, the game ends before Guard Dogs earns back its mana investment, and neither format is hunting for this effect at any price. In Commander, it finds a niche in defensive or pillowfort shells where protecting a key enchantment or planeswalker for a turn is worth the tempo. Oathbreaker could theoretically use it to shield the signature spell setup, but there are tighter options available.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.18 bulk tier
At $0.18, Guard Dogs is deep bulk — you're paying for cardboard, not demand. That price is stable because nothing is driving interest up, and the card is unlikely to lose further ground given it's already at the floor.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.