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Justiciar's Portal

Instant

Exile target creature you control, then return that card to the battlefield under its owner's control. It gains first strike until end of turn.

CMC
2
Mana cost
{1}{W}
Color identity
W
Rarity
common
Set
Jumpstart 2022
Price
$0.21
EDHREC rank
#6975
Buy on TCGplayer
Justiciar's Portal card art
Justiciar's Portal blinks a creature until end of turn and grants it first strike — one mana to reset enter-the-battlefield triggers and ambush a blocker at instant speed. Any commander that wants repeated ETBs runs it, and in Abdel Adrian, Gorion's Ward // Candlekeep Sage shells specifically, it's essentially a combo piece.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Abdel Adrian, Gorion's WardCandlekeep Sage

Abdel Adrian, Gorion's Ward // Candlekeep Sage

35.2% of decks · synergy 0.34

Abdel Adrian, Gorion's Ward // Candlekeep Sage exiles your own permanents as an ETB, and Justiciar's Portal lets you retrigger that at instant speed — bouncing your board in and out to generate tokens or reset whatever you need mid-combat.

02
Abigale, Eloquent First-Year

Abigale, Eloquent First-Year

26.9% of decks · synergy 0.26

Abigale, Eloquent First-Year cares about spells cast during other players' turns, and Justiciar's Portal is exactly the kind of cheap instant you hold up on an opponent's end step to keep Abigale's bonus active while also getting an ETB rebuy.

03
Zidane, Tantalus Thief

Zidane, Tantalus Thief

23.0% of decks · synergy 0.22

Zidane, Tantalus Thief triggers on creatures connecting in combat, and the first strike Justiciar's Portal grants lets your creatures trade up or push through damage that would otherwise trade unfavorably — doubling as a combat trick with incidental ETB value.

04
Preston, the Vanisher

Preston, the Vanisher

21.0% of decks · synergy 0.20

Preston, the Vanisher creates Illusion tokens whenever a nontoken creature phases out or leaves and re-enters, so Justiciar's Portal is a one-mana token generator that also protects the creature from targeted removal.

05
Mister Negative

Mister Negative

17.4% of decks · synergy 0.16

Mister Negative flips counters between positive and negative on ETB, and Justiciar's Portal lets you reuse that trigger on demand — blinking a creature to flip its counters again at instant speed is exactly the kind of engine Mister Negative decks are looking for.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern legal
pioneer legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper legal
oathbreaker legal

Commander is where Justiciar's Portal does its real work — one mana at instant speed to rebuy an ETB or protect a key creature is the kind of efficiency that slots into dozens of strategies without demanding a dedicated shell. In Pauper, the card is legal and the floor is higher than you'd expect; flicker effects at common are scarce, and instant-speed protection at one mana is a legitimate tempo play in creature-based decks. Competitive formats like Modern and Pioneer have access to much more efficient interaction, so Justiciar's Portal doesn't make the cut there — it's not competing on raw power, and those formats rarely reward one-time ETB triggers at sorcery-adjacent timings. Legacy and Vintage can run it but never will. The card's home is squarely in Commander and, to a lesser extent, Pauper.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

1,647 decks
Preston, the VanisherFelidar GuardianJusticiar's Portal

Preston, the VanisherFelidar GuardianJusticiar's Portal

Infinite LTB; Infinite ETB; Infinite creature tokens; Infinite landfall triggers; Infinite blinking of permanents; Infinite mana lands you control that enter the battlefield untapped can produce; Exile all nonland permanents opponents control; Infinite mana lands you control can produce

View on Commander Spellbook ↗

Price Context

Current price

$0.21 bulk tier

At $0.21, Justiciar's Portal is deep bulk — you're picking it out of a bulk box or paying a dime in a bundle, not hunting it down. The price reflects its narrow competitive range rather than its Commander ceiling, which means it's consistently undercosted for what it does in the right deck.

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Sources

Mentioned

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Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.