Protection Magic
Instant
Put a shield counter on each of up to three target creatures. (If a creature with a shield counter would be dealt damage or destroyed, remove a shield counter from it instead.)
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Final Fantasy Commander
- Price
- $0.94
- EDHREC rank
- #4827
Protection Magic saves a creature from a targeted spell or ability for one white mana at instant speed — efficient, clean, and repeatable in the right shell. Tidus, Yuna's Guardian runs it in nearly three-quarters of decks for good reason: one mana to keep a key attacker alive through removal is exactly the kind of tempo preservation that wins combat-focused games.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Tidus, Yuna's Guardian
Tidus, Yuna's Guardian is the natural home — Protection Magic appears in 74% of his decks because keeping his creatures alive through targeted removal is the difference between a functional combat engine and a board that folds to a single removal spell.
Yuna, Grand Summoner
Yuna, Grand Summoner leans on Protection Magic to protect her summon targets mid-chain; losing a creature to a removal spell before it can be sacrificed or reused collapses the whole sequence, and one white mana stops that cold.
Kros, Defense Contractor
Kros, Defense Contractor distributes counters as a political tool, and Protection Magic ensures the creatures wearing those counters survive long enough to matter — especially when opponents decide to remove the creatures you've gifted.
Sephiroth, Fallen Hero
Sephiroth, Fallen Hero accrues power through combat damage and death triggers, so Protection Magic pulls double duty: it stops clean removal from eating a key attacker before Sephiroth can capitalize on the trigger.
Yuna, Hope of Spira
Yuna, Hope of Spira cares about keeping her best creatures on the battlefield through multiple turns, and Protection Magic provides the cheapest available insurance against spot removal that would otherwise derail her value engine.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Protection Magic actually lives — it's a staple in creature-forward decks that need cheap, instant-speed protection without the mana commitment of countermagic. In Vintage and Legacy, it's legal but competes with a crowded field of better protection options, and the powered environments make one-mana creature protection rarely worth a slot. Oathbreaker follows the same logic as Commander: it shows up in aggressive creature strategies where the planeswalker and signature spell already occupy the flex slots, leaving Protection Magic as a clean, low-cost answer to targeted removal.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.94 bulk tier
At $0.94, Protection Magic sits at the top of bulk — inexpensive enough to slot into any budget build without hesitation. Demand from the Final Fantasy Commander precons keeps it from bottoming out completely, but don't expect the price to move significantly unless a new printing changes the supply picture.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.