Harbinger of Spring
Creature — Spirit
Protection from non-Spirit creatures
Soulshift 4 (When this creature dies, you may return target Spirit card with mana value 4 or less from your graveyard to your hand.)
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- G
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Betrayers of Kamigawa
- Price
- $0.08
- EDHREC rank
- #22357
Harbinger of Spring gives all non-Human creatures you control protection from Humans — a blanket defensive effect that arrives on a three-mana 1/1 body. That body is the cost: you're paying a full slot for an effect that only matters when Humans are the threat, which makes it a meta call rather than a staple.
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 | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Harbinger of Spring is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Vintage, Pauper, and Oathbreaker. In Commander it sees niche play in non-Human tribal decks — Elves, Spirits, or Slivers — where protecting a board from a Human typal opponent is a realistic scenario, but the effect is narrow enough that most decks skip it. In Pauper it's a common that rarely sees competitive play; the format's threats aren't Human-centric enough to make the protection clause consistently relevant. Legacy and Vintage have no interest in a 1/1 for three with a conditional defensive ability.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.08 bulk tier
At $0.08, Harbinger of Spring is deep bulk — you'll find it in a commons box, not on a buylist. There's no price floor to protect here; it holds bulk value and nothing more.
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Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.