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Sheltering Ancient

Creature — Treefolk

Trample
Cumulative upkeep—Put a +1/+1 counter on a creature an opponent controls. (At the beginning of your upkeep, put an age counter on this permanent, then sacrifice it unless you pay its upkeep cost for each age counter on it.)

CMC
2
Mana cost
{1}{G}
Color identity
G
Rarity
uncommon
Set
Coldsnap
Price
$1.52
EDHREC rank
#10473
Buy on TCGplayer
Sheltering Ancient card art
Sheltering Ancient puts a 5/5 trampler on the board for two mana — the catch is that each upkeep, an opponent gets to stack +1/+1 counters on their creatures until they choose to stop. Gwenna, Eyes of Gaea and Kros, Defense Contractor both turn that liability into a resource, but in any other shell, you're handing your opponents a time bomb and hoping to close before it goes off.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Kros, Defense Contractor

Kros, Defense Contractor

73.9% of decks · synergy 0.73

Kros, Defense Contractor is the premier home for Sheltering Ancient because counters on opponents' creatures aren't a cost — they're the engine: Kros goad those buffed creatures, forcing them to swing at your opponents while leaving you untouched.

02
Selvala, Heart of the Wilds

Selvala, Heart of the Wilds

28.1% of decks · synergy 0.27

Selvala, Heart of the Wilds rewards the biggest creature at the table with bonus mana, and Sheltering Ancient's upkeep ability reliably makes something enormous, which Selvala happily cashes in on whether the giant creature is yours or not.

03
The Gitrog, Ravenous Ride

The Gitrog, Ravenous Ride

20.7% of decks · synergy 0.20

The Gitrog, Ravenous Ride wants a massive creature to saddle and attack with, and Sheltering Ancient delivers a 5/5 with trample on turn two — early enough that Gitrog can be riding it before opponents have stabilized their boards.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern legal
pioneer not legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

Commander is where Sheltering Ancient actually belongs — the multiplayer table spreads the counter-loading across multiple opponents, slowing the rate at which any single player profits, and the right commander converts those counters from a bug into a feature. In Legacy and Vintage, a two-mana 5/5 with trample is legitimately fast, but the mandatory upkeep trigger is a hard sell in one-on-one formats where every counter goes directly to the person trying to kill you. Sheltering Ancient sees essentially no Constructed play as a result — the tempo gain on your side and the free gift to your opponent don't balance in a duel the way they can across a four-player pod.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$1.52 cheap tier

At $1.52, Sheltering Ancient sits in the bulk-rare tier — cheap enough to slot into any green stompy or counter-synergy build without a second thought. It's a niche card with a ceiling tied entirely to Kros, Defense Contractor's popularity, so don't expect significant price movement in either direction.

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Sources

Mentioned

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Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.