Vanguard's Shield
Artifact — Equipment
Equipped creature gets +0/+3 and can block an additional creature each combat.
Equip 
(: Attach to target creature you control. Equip only as a sorcery.)
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- C
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Avacyn Restored
- Price
- $0.12
- EDHREC rank
- #18601
Vanguard's Shield gives a creature +0/+3 and vigilance for three mana — a stat bump that trades combat presence for pure durability at a cost that's simply too high. There are better ways to protect a creature in every format this card is legal in, and this one rarely makes the cut.
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 |
Vanguard's Shield is a bulk common that never finds a home worth talking about. In Commander, the effect is too small — three mana for a one-creature buff with no enters-the-battlefield value and no recursive upside is a liability in a 100-card singleton format where every slot competes hard. In Pauper, commons live and die by efficiency, and this one fails that test against nearly every equipment or aura at the same cost. Legacy and Vintage are non-starters — the card doesn't interact with anything those formats care about.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.12 bulk tier
At $0.12, Vanguard's Shield is deep bulk — you'll find it in a common box long before you'd buy a single copy. There's no pressure on that price, and nothing in its design suggests demand will ever move it.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.