Yuma, Proud Protector
Legendary Creature — Human Ranger
This spell costs 
less to cast for each land card in your graveyard.
Whenever Yuma enters or attacks, you may sacrifice a land. If you do, draw a card.
Whenever a Desert card is put into your graveyard from anywhere, create a 4/2 green Plant Warrior creature token with reach.
- CMC
- 8
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- GRW
- Rarity
- mythic
- Set
- Outlaws of Thunder Junction Commander
- Price
- $0.43
- EDHREC rank
- #8147
Yuma, Proud Protector turns every land that hits your graveyard into a 1/1 Desert token, meaning a single fetchland or cycled Drifting Meadow becomes a creature — and each token reduces Yuma's cost by one, so a stocked graveyard can make him nearly free to cast. Hazezon, Shaper of Sand runs him for exactly this reason: the two commanders stack triggers so aggressively that a Desert-heavy land base starts producing an army by itself.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Hazezon, Shaper of Sand
Hazezon, Shaper of Sand is in the same colors, cares about the same Desert subtype, and generates Sand tokens at end of turn — Yuma, Proud Protector's land-from-graveyard triggers stack on top of Hazezon's own token generation, meaning a single game loop can produce a dozen creatures before anyone attacks.
Kirri, Talented Sprout
Kirri, Talented Sprout rewards landfall and gives your plant tokens a steady buff, which makes Yuma, Proud Protector's stream of 1/1s a reliable creature engine rather than a one-shot spike — Kirri turns each incremental token into board presence that compounds turn over turn.
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 | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Yuma, Proud Protector is a Commander card in every meaningful sense: the self-reduction mechanic, the token generation, and the Desert synergy all scale with 40-life multiplayer pacing and graveyard-dense land bases that Commander actively encourages. In Legacy and Vintage, he's technically legal but a five-mana 4/4 without immediate board impact doesn't compete with the raw efficiency those formats demand. Oathbreaker is the only other venue worth mentioning, and there he functions as a signature spell target rather than a planeswalker — workable in a Desert-focused shell but a narrower fit than in Commander.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.43 bulk tier
At $0.43, Yuma, Proud Protector is bulk — the price of a card that's widely available but hasn't yet caught a spike from a breakout deck. That price is stable for now, but it's the kind of card that jumps to $3–5 the moment a popular precon or high-profile commander list puts a spotlight on Desert synergies.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Hazezon, Shaper of Sand
- Kirri, Talented Sprout
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.