Nettle Guard
Creature — Mouse Soldier
Valiant — Whenever this creature becomes the target of a spell or ability you control for the first time each turn, it gets +0/+2 until end of turn.
, Sacrifice this creature: Destroy target artifact or enchantment.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Bloomburrow
- Price
- $0.16
- EDHREC rank
- #10654
Nettle Guard is a two-mana 1/3 defender with a relevant upside — it loses defender whenever you control a legendary creature, turning a blocker into an attacker on demand. In Mabel, Heir to Cragflame decks, where a legendary is almost always in play, Nettle Guard is effectively a 1/3 with no restriction.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Mabel, Heir to Cragflame
Mabel, Heir to Cragflame is the natural home — she sits in the command zone, so Nettle Guard almost never has defender in practice, and the deck's creature-equipment synergies give a sturdy 1/3 body real work to do in combat.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Nettle Guard is a niche roleplayer that earns its slot only in legendary-heavy strategies, with Mabel, Heir to Cragflame decks as the clearest fit. Outside of that context, a 1/3 for two that sometimes has defender is well below the power floor for 100-card singleton. In Pauper, where defensive bodies matter more and every mana counts, Nettle Guard has more plausible applications in defender-tribal or stall strategies, but it still competes with more efficient options. In 60-card formats — Modern, Pioneer, Standard — it doesn't clear the bar; the conditional removal of defender makes it too unreliable for aggressive shells and too fragile for midrange.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.16 bulk tier
At $0.16, Nettle Guard is deep bulk — the kind of card you pull from a common box rather than buy. Bulk commons this format-narrow don't appreciate, so there's no reason to stock up beyond the copies you actually need.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.