Providence
Sorcery
You may reveal this card from your opening hand. If you do, at the beginning of the first upkeep, your life total becomes 26.
Your life total becomes 26.
- CMC
- 7
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Eldritch Moon
- Price
- $0.16
- EDHREC rank
- #26354
Providence sets your life total to 26 at the start of your first turn — no mana, no setup, just a free 26 life if you reveal it from your opening hand. It's a one-time cushion with a steep opportunity cost: a dead card in every subsequent draw.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Providence is a Commander card first and almost exclusively. The free life buffer is most relevant in multiplayer, where starting at 26 instead of 40 is a downgrade on paper, but aggressive tables and fast combo decks make the padding meaningful — it buys exactly one extra turn against a Tymna the Weaver beatdown or a storm line that needs one more draw step. In Legacy and Vintage, where the game is decided before turn three, Providence does nothing useful — you're not surviving because of 26 life, you're surviving because you had a better opener. Modern and Pioneer are the same story: the card doesn't advance your board, and competitive decks there fold to a free-roll only if the deck is specifically engineered around life-total payoffs like Aetherflux Reservoir or Test of Endurance.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.16 bulk tier
At $0.16, Providence is deep bulk — you'll find it in a commons box before you find it on a singles site. That price is stable simply because demand is narrow; it won't appreciate, but it also costs almost nothing to slot into a life-matters build and test.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.