Shelter
Instant
Target creature you control gains protection from the color of your choice until end of turn.
Draw a card.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Secret Lair Drop
- Price
- $4.50
- EDHREC rank
- #3302
Shelter protects a creature from removal and replaces itself with a card draw for two mana — that combination of protection and card advantage on a single instant is the whole story. Outside of Feather, the Redeemed decks that recur it every turn, it's a fine role-player; inside one, it's an engine piece.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Feather, the Redeemed
Feather, the Redeemed returns Shelter to your hand at end of turn, meaning you pay two mana each cycle for a free card draw and a protection window — it's one of the cleanest repeat-value loops in the deck.
Zethi, Arcane Blademaster
Zethi, Arcane Blademaster imprints instants and reuses them, making Shelter a recurring draw spell and protection effect that the deck can fire for free off Zethi's ability.
Killian, Ink Duelist
Killian, Ink Duelist reduces the cost of spells that target creatures, bringing Shelter down to a single white mana — at that rate, the cantrip alone justifies the slot.
Elsha, Threefold Master
Elsha, Threefold Master rewards casting noncreature spells and can play instants off the top, so Shelter slots in as a reactive cantrip that also keeps a key creature safe during a combat step.
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, Shelter earns its slot almost exclusively in spell-slinger decks that either recur it or reduce its cost — outside those shells it competes with cheaper protection spells that don't cost two mana. In Pauper, the common-legal card pool makes the cantrip more meaningful and it sees occasional play in white aggro or aura strategies that need cheap protection. Legacy and Vintage have access to so many efficient cantrips and protection spells that Shelter rarely makes the cut, though the effect is legal and technically playable. It's not legal in Pioneer or Standard, so those conversations end there.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$4.50 cheap tier
At $4.50, Shelter sits at the high end of what you'd expect for a common-rarity cantrip, driven almost entirely by demand from Feather, the Redeemed Commander builds. It holds that price as long as spell-slinger commanders stay popular, but there's no scarcity argument here — budget copies exist in older printings if you shop around.
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Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.