Rune of Protection: Black
Enchantment
: The next time a black source of your choice would deal damage to you this turn, prevent that damage.
Cycling 
(, Discard this card: Draw a card.)
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Urza's Saga
- Price
- $0.18
- EDHREC rank
- #23257
Rune of Protection: Black gives you repeatable damage prevention against a specific color for two mana, with a cycling escape hatch if the matchup turns irrelevant. It's a niche piece of hate that earns its slot only when your meta is heavily black — otherwise it sits dead.
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 | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Rune of Protection: Black pulls real weight in metas saturated with black — think Nekusar, the Mindrazer wheel decks or Tergrid, God of Fright stealing your board. The activation cost is low enough to use multiple times a turn cycle, and cycling means it's never a pure dead draw. In Legacy and Vintage it's a fringe sideboard option at best, long outclassed by more flexible white protection spells. Pauper is where Rune of Protection: Black sees its most consistent play, as black removal and aggressive black creatures dominate the format and the cycling clause keeps it from rotting in hand against off-color opponents.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.18 bulk tier
At $0.18, Rune of Protection: Black is firmly bulk — you're paying postage, not card price. Bulk cycling utility pieces like this don't appreciate; buy a playset without thinking twice and don't expect the price to move.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.