Mending Hands
Instant
Prevent the next 4 damage that would be dealt to any target this turn.
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Ninth Edition
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #28683
Mending Hands prevents up to 4 damage to you or a permanent you control — a one-time shield at instant speed for a single white mana. It's narrow lifegain with no lasting effect, and virtually every competitive format has better options at this slot.
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 |
Mending Hands is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Vintage, Pauper, and Oathbreaker, but legal doesn't mean playable. In Commander, a one-shot prevention effect that replaces nothing and generates no card advantage is too low-impact at 100-card scale — you're trading a card to delay damage that will find you again next turn. Pauper is the one format where cheap prevention spells occasionally see fringe play in defensive or lifegain-matters shells, but even there Mending Hands competes against options with broader utility. In Legacy and Vintage the card doesn't register.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Pricing data for Mending Hands isn't currently available, but as a common with minimal competitive demand it almost certainly sits at bulk — under $0.25 at most retailers. There's no compelling reason to prioritize picking it up unless you're completing a specific lifegain synergy build on the tightest possible budget.
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Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.