Razor Barrier
Instant
Target permanent you control gains protection from artifacts or from the color of your choice until end of turn.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Duel Decks: Elspeth vs. Tezzeret
- Price
- $0.30
- EDHREC rank
- #23822
Razor Barrier saves a permanent from targeted removal or grants protection from a chosen color until end of turn — for two mana at instant speed. It's a fine combat trick in Limited and a passable emergency button in Commander, but two mana to react to one spell rarely makes the cut when counterspells and hexproof enablers do the same job more efficiently.
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, Razor Barrier competes in a crowded slot against cards that either protect permanently or stop multiple threats at once — it rarely makes the 99. Pauper is its most natural home, where card quality is constrained and a two-mana protection spell that can save a key creature or dodge a combat trick is genuinely playable. Legacy and Vintage have no interest in Razor Barrier; the formats move too fast and the protection effect doesn't interact with the game's axis of broken permanents and free spells. Oathbreaker shares Commander's logic: protecting your planeswalker for two mana at instant speed has marginal appeal, but your spell slot is still better spent elsewhere.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.30 bulk tier
Razor Barrier sits at $0.30, squarely in bulk territory. Supply is high and demand is low enough that the price is unlikely to move — pick it up if a specific budget build calls for it, but don't expect it to appreciate.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.