Protection from Everything in MTG: Rules, History, and Best Cards

Vexilus Praetor | Illustration by Zezhou Chen

Protection is a mechanic from MTG’s past that’s hard to grasp, and it’s rarely used these days. It does a lot of counter-intuitive stuff; simpler mechanics like hexproof or indestructible can often replace it, and sometimes it hates on a random color just for the sake of it. But Commander players often have to deal with its evolved version: protection from everything.

Today, we investigate what exactly “everything” means in this context, what the few exceptions to these rules are, and most importantly, how we pass through that pesky The One Ring player or Teferi's Protection player.

Let’s dive in!

How Does Protection from Everything Work?

Hexdrinker | Illustration by Forrest Imel

In MTG, creatures and players can have protection from everything. The rules are practically the same. For example, a player or a creature that has protection from everything can’t be the target of a Lightning Bolt or a Fireball. Similarly, these creatures and players won’t be damaged by a card like Earthquake. And both won’t take any combat damage at all.

Protection from everything means that all the rules regarding protection apply at the same time, but aren’t restricted to a specific color or a certain creature type. Let’s quickly recap what protection does, and extrapolate that to everything:

• All damage that would be dealt to you by any player’s spell or creature is prevented;
• You can’t be the target of any spell controlled by any player, including you;
• You can’t be targeted or enchanted by any player, and all auras you currently have fall off, even if they're yours;
• Protection also affects blocks. A creature that has protection from everything can’t be blocked.

It’s important to note that effects that say “each player” don’t target, so even if a player has protection from everything, cards that say “each player sacrifices a creature” or “each player loses 5 life” will still work.

The History of Protection from Everything in MTG

Progenitus was the first card to have protection from everything. And since mythic rarity was new back then, it made a lot of sense to have a big creature with this ability. Some years later, when Commander started to get traction, WotC printed True-Name Nemesis, a card that has protection from a certain player. While it’s okay in Commander since other players can interact with it, in 1v1 formats, it’s like the card has protection from everything.

Supplemental sets kept exploring protection from everything, not only on creatures, but on players, too. Modern Horizons gave us Hexdrinker, while other cards like The One Ring and Teferi's Protection are staple cards that can give a player protection from everything for a turn. Even Standard-legal sets like The Brothers’ War printed cards like The Stasis Coffin. It’s more likely that we see protection from time to time, usually as a one-shot effect in supplemental Commander sets, because it’s harder to balance the power level of a creature with protection from everything, and the rules get more complicated, too.

Does Protection from Everything Stop Board Wipes?

It doesn’t. A player who has protection from everything can still have their board wiped with cards like Day of Judgment or Wrath of God, and it’s one of the best ways to get rid of cards like Progenitus. A targeted effect, like “target player sacrifices all creatures they control”, won’t work on a player that has protection from everything.

Can I Be Attacked if I Have Protection from Everything?

You can be attacked. However, all damage that would be dealt to you is prevented. Unless you’re being attacked by a card like Questing Beast, which ignores damage prevention. An interesting case is if you currently have protection from everything, and I attack you with Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger. You won’t receive combat damage, but you’ll still exile 20 cards, because nothing prevents the attack trigger from happening.

Can a Spell with Protection from Everything be Countered?

It can. Protection from everything only matters if the spell resolves, so on the stack, the spell can be countered naturally or returned to the caster’s hand via Remand or Unsubstantiate.

How Do You Beat Protection from Everything?

It’s hard but not impossible. That’s why Progenitus was a strong Natural Order target for a long time in various formats. If a creature has protection from everything, you can use sweepers. If they only have Progenitus in play, for example, a card like Diabolic Edict will work. You can force your opponent to sacrifice all their creatures. You can overload spells like Cyclonic Rift, because they don’t target. Protection from everything on players usually only lasts for a turn, so you can wait for the protection to wear off. Council's Judgement is a special case of a spot removal card that doesn’t target.

Some cards, like Skullcrack or Questing Beast, explicitly say that damage can’t be prevented, and this will override the damage prevention effect from protection. The same applies to a burn spell like Banefire, when X>5. If a player has protection from everything, you can make them lose life with effects like Exsanguinate or use cards like Infectious Inquiry that gives each player a poison counter.

What Does It Mean for a Player to Have Protection from Everything?

Protection is a complicated effect, so let’s break it down. A player who has protection from everything:

• Can’t be targeted by any spell or enchanted by any aura. Any aura that's enchanting the player, like a curse, falls off.
• Can’t target themselves with any spell.
• Can be attacked, but all combat damage is prevented.
• All damage from any source is prevented, but that won’t work against life loss effects like Exsanguinate.
• Still can lose the game via effects like Glorious End.

An important aspect is that if a player has protection from everything, their creatures don’t, so they can be targeted and blocked as usual.

Furthermore, a card like Teferi's Protection states that, until your next turn, your life total can’t change, and you gain protection from everything. So, we can see that Teferi's Protection will work even against life loss. But you can still lose the game, and your opponent can still win the game if they have a card that says so (like Thassa's Oracle).

How Is Protection from Everything Different from Protection from a Player?

Protection from everything protects you from damage coming from any source, even those that aren’t targeted, like Earthquake. So, if you have a card like Absolute Virtue in play that gives you protection from opponents, you won’t prevent that kind of damage, while if you had protection from everything, you would.

Another difference is when we consider cards like True-Name Nemesis, which have protection from one specific player. It can still be affected by what other players are doing, in a Commander game or Two-Headed Giant game. So, if player A’s True-Name Nemesis has protection from player B, players C and D can still target it, block it, and the like.

Gallery and List of Protection from Everything Cards

• Hexdrinker
• Perch Protection
• Progenitus
• Teferi's Protection
• The One Ring
• The Stasis Coffin
• Vexilus Praetor

Best Protection from Everything Cards

The Stasis Coffin

The Stasis Coffin’s best feature is that you can leave it on the table as a bargaining chip, and players know you have that protection effect at your disposal. And you can use it to attack someone and even kill them if you have a strong board. That said, it’s a one-shot effect that everyone can see coming unless you have ways to flash it in.

Vexilus Praetor

Vexilus Praetor is a particular way to not only protect your commanders from harm, but also to let them attack with impunity. It sees some Commander play in white decks that need their commander to be alive for synergy reasons, or as a Voltron way to grant unblockable damage while protecting your equipped or enchanted commander.

Perch Protection

Perch Protection can be a more expensive and powerful version of Teferi's Protection, but you have to gift someone an extra turn. It’s basically a way to make a lot of bird tokens for 6 mana in its default version, and if you’re playing any deck that revolves around birds or fliers, it’s a strong card on its own. It can save your bacon in the same way Teferi's Protection can, but 6 mana is a lot higher than 3.

Progenitus

Progenitus is very strong, and we usually expect this from cards that cost 10 mana in five colors. It’s even legal in Standard, but it’s not very good since it can’t be reanimated. Players usually cheat this card out with Fist of Suns or Jodah, Archmage Eternal, or with Natural Order by sacrificing a green creature. It’s also close to an instant win if you have cards that grant Progenitus haste and a double strike buff.

Hexdrinker

Hexdrinker is interesting because it’s a nice little 1-drop that’s easy to slot into green decks, but that can become a game-winning bomb later in the game as a 6/6 with protection from everything. Granted, you need to invest some mana, but green decks are interested in a 2/1 that has “monstrous ” that can be paid in small installments.

The One Ring

The One Ring is a staple card across all formats where it’s legal, and it’s a very potent card draw engine. The fact that it gives you protection from everything helps you offset that tempo loss, where you paid 4 mana and didn’t affect the board. Things are definitely going your way when you can draw a card in a turn, then two, then three, and so on. And although it’s legendary, in the formats where you can play more, it’s good to cast the second copy. It resets the burden counters when you bin the older copy, so you can draw cards in a safer way, besides getting one more turn of protection.

Teferi’s Protection

It’s a good fight between Teferi's Protection and The One Ring, and both are Game Changers in Commander. But I’m ranking Teferi's Protection higher because it can do so much work. Prevent your life total from changing or save all your creatures from a wrath or a Farewell effect, and it’s strong at instant speed for 3 mana. You get so far ahead when everyone’s getting their board wiped except you.

Wrap Up

Perch Protection | Illustration by Edgar Sanchez Hidalgo

Protection from everything is a complicated mechanic, both in rules text and in ways to interact. As such, MTG rarely resorts to that nowadays, preferring mechanics like ward or hexproof/indestructible. That said, it’s a flashy ability to have on a rare or mythic rare, often designed for Commander games. And having protection from everything for a turn doesn’t hurt as a panic card you’ll fire off if you’d lose a game on the spot.

What do you think about protection from everything? Do you guys frequently have rules problems in your playgroup? Let me know in the comments below, or let’s discuss it over in the Draftsim Discord.

Thanks for reading, and let me know if a specific rule just slipped through the cracks.