Defender is one of Magic: The Gathering’s oldest mechanics. It has existed since the very first set Alpha as a mechanic but wasn’t given a proper name until the 2004 Champions of Kamigawa set where defender was born. Defender is an evergreen keyword, meaning that the mechanic appears very frequently in new releases.
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Despite how long defender has been around, there aren’t a ton of cards with defender in the game compared to other mechanics of its age, largely due to the pool of defenders being kept purposefully small as, by their nature, they have much less use than other mechanics outside of Limited formats.
How Defender Works
A creature with defender means it cannot attack, it can only block. Though not always the case, creatures with defender often have low to no power and high toughness. Generally speaking, having defender is more of a downside, as the cost of losing the ability to attack often isn’t worth it for having a creature with just high toughness.
The Wall creature type is a creature type that by default, all have defender. They were what had defender before the mechanic got an official name. If a Wall does not list itself as having defender on the card itself, it was errata’d to be a creature with defender.
To balance out a creature with defender’s inherent weakness, they often have useful effects or other abilities to incentivize you to play them. For example, a creature might have deathtouch to guarantee it trades with a creature with high power, or it might have a way to deal burn damage throughout a game.
While creatures with defender cannot normally attack, some cards enable creatures with defender to attack as if they did not have the ability. This is most often on permanents, and it will often make it so they deal damage equal to their toughness rather than their power.
The ability for a creature to deal damage with its toughness instead of power has a name: backbone. Though not an official keyword ability, it was implemented and given a name on Magic: Arena in 2020. This ability often accompanies cards that allow defenders to attack.
The defender ability can be granted to other creatures. This is generally found on Auras meant to be put on your opponents’ creatures to cut them off from being able to attack. This is occasionally combined with causing the enchanted creature to lose all abilities.
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How To Make The Most Of Defender
Creatures with defender do not work well on their own. Unless you’re playing a Limited format, there is rarely a reason to put a creature with defender in your deck. That being said, you can build a formidable deck with a deck built around the mechanic itself.
Many cards support the defender creature type to allow them to create a coherent strategy. A defender deck works best in Commander, where you have the most options for a functional deck. If you’re looking for a defender commander, Arcades, the Strategist is the best choice as it lets your defenders attack and draws you cards whenever a creature with defender enters.
High Alert and Assualt Formation can both enable creatures with defender to attack and deal damage with their toughness. Towering Titan gives massive stat boosts based on toughness and everything trample if you sacrifice a creature with defender. Overgrown Battlement and Axebane Guardian both generate mana equal to the number of defenders you control, making them great mana dorks for defender decks.
If you’re building a deck with a ton of defenders, you will be able to keep your life total safe from attackers unless they have a wide battlefield. Most creatures with defender have high enough toughness that you can block any attacking creature comfortably without having to worry about it dying in combat.
Best Cards With Defender
Tree Of Perdition
Tree of Perdition is a tournament-winning card with defender, although not because you’re casting it. Instead, you’re putting it into the graveyard and exiling it with Agatha’s Soul Cauldron to give its effect to another creature for a devastating combo.
The creature is often one with toughness of only one, letting you easily make your opponent’s life total one and then just deal basic burn damage to close out the game. Alternatively, you can just attack with a creature as long as one damage can get in, and you can win the game.
Thermo-Alchemist
Thermo-Alchemist is one of the best cards for burn decks, as each burn spell can untap Thermo-Alchemist to deal extra damage. It saw a lot of usage in Pauper, and thanks to its higher-than-average toughness, it can hold its own in combat to make it stick around.
Most creatures with defender struggle with being able to make an impact on the gamestate, but not Thermo-Alchemist. When combined with other burn spells, you can deal half of someone’s life total in just one turn if the cards align perfectly.
Sunscape Familiar
Sunscape Familiar is very simple in that it discounts all green and blue spells by one. This effect is the cornerstone of the Familiars deck in the Pauper format, comboing to create infinite loops for an infinite number of tokens. It also allows you to draw a ton of cards in the process.
A benefit of Sunscape Familiar is that it is only counted as a mono white card. This means that if your deck only lets you play white and green cards, you can still play Sunscape Familiar and take advantage of the discount.
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