Moonlit Strider
Creature — Spirit
Sacrifice this creature: Target creature you control gains protection from the color of your choice until end of turn.
Soulshift 3 (When this creature dies, you may return target Spirit card with mana value 3 or less from your graveyard to your hand.)
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Betrayers of Kamigawa
- Price
- $0.11
- EDHREC rank
- #24347
Moonlit Strider trades itself to give a target creature protection from a chosen color until end of turn — a combat trick, removal shield, and sacrifice outlet stapled onto a 1/4 body. The cost is real: you're spending a card and a creature to do it, so it belongs in decks that want creatures in the graveyard or have ways to recur it.
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 |
In Commander, Moonlit Strider earns a slot specifically in Spirit-typal decks and aristocrats builds that profit from the sacrifice, since paying three mana and a body for a protection effect is too steep in most other contexts. Pauper is where it sees the most competitive daylight — the combination of a relevant creature type, a 1/4 blocker that survives most common removal, and an activated ability that can blow out combat makes it a genuine role-player at that power level. In Legacy and Vintage, Moonlit Strider is simply too slow; those formats don't need a three-mana Spirit when faster, cheaper protection exists. Modern and Pioneer have enough efficient alternatives that it doesn't make the cut outside of very specific Spirit synergy shells.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.11 bulk tier
At $0.11, Moonlit Strider is deep bulk — you'll find it in a commons box before you bother ordering it. That price is stable; there's no pressure driving it up, and its narrow role keeps casual demand low.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.