Opal Guardian
Enchantment
When an opponent casts a creature spell, if this permanent is an enchantment, this enchantment becomes a 3/4 Gargoyle creature with flying and protection from red.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Time Spiral
- Price
- $0.23
- EDHREC rank
- #29575
Opal Guardian sits in play as a 3/4 flying protection creature the moment an opponent casts a creature spell — no mana required, just patience. The condition is narrow enough that it whiffs in non-creature-heavy metas, but when it triggers, a 3/4 flier with protection from enchantments is a legitimate blocker and attacker for zero investment.
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 | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Opal Guardian is a free threat in disguise — it rewards you for doing nothing while opponents develop their boards, and almost every Commander table is creature-dense enough to guarantee the trigger by turn two. Legacy and Vintage have the raw power to render a 3/4 flier irrelevant, and neither format is looking for conditional free creatures that don't interact on the stack. Modern is technically legal but Opal Guardian has never carved out a role there; the format moves too fast for a do-nothing enchantment waiting on an opponent's creature spell. Commander is the only realistic home, and even there it occupies a niche role in decks that want resilient flying bodies without spending mana.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.23 bulk tier
At $0.23, Opal Guardian is firmly bulk — easy to pick up, easy to cut without regret. Demand is too narrow to push the price anywhere meaningful, so treat it as a throw-in rather than a spec.
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Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.