Over time, WotC has introduced many different ways to protect the permanents you cast -- shroud, hexproof, indestructible, ward, protection, regenerate, scam effects, true reanimation, phasing, and so on. Which do you use to protect your board, and which prove to be most effective for you?
#(3-11-24) What are your favorite forms of protection and why?
gilded grail
unique delta
Equipment i think. They are reusable and easy includes .
gilded grail
I've found that neither hexproof nor indestructible quite go as far as they used to
There's a lot of powerful board wipes and exile, these days
Phasing answers those (and Cyc Rift), but is a bad idea to protect stax pieces in particular
I've leaned towards phasing, hexproof+indestructible (relatively little touches both at the same time), and scam effects / other reanimation
manic dock
Honestly, my most effective is aristocrat pieces.
Are you sure you wanna target my board when I'll just sacrifice it in response?
It just really helps protect small/medium things thG probably shouldn't be allowed to live
royal stump
whats good cheap protection in blue i have confirm suspicions, cancel, ice out, to counter target spell scatter ray counter creature or artifact, negate counter noncreature and essence scatter to counter creature, turn to mist and shielding plax
north heart
Instant speed pro-color has put in a ton of work for me. Stuff like [[Brave the elements]]
void pikeBOT
north heart
In my boros voltron deck I like to have something similar in hand before I start building.
lyric comet
Playing Mardu, I'm using the Teferis mainly for Farewell/board wipes while most targeted effects I actually prefer using ward. Ward feel better to use than hexproof with it effecting your opponents mana pools(mostly). With ward not preventing spells from being casted like hexproof it causes spells to fizzle.
Outside of that playing white [[Yalkmira, Protector's Shield]] is kinda broken. It adds ward which is nice but it's prevent 1 damage prevents your creatures from dying while blocking tramplers.
void pikeBOT
lyric comet
[[Valkmira, Protector's Shield]]
void pikeBOT
Legendary Creature — God
Flying, vigilance
Snow lands your opponents control enter the battlefield tapped.
Noncreature spells your opponents cast with mana value 4 or greater cost 
more to cast.
2/3
Valkmira, Protector's Shield 
Legendary Artifact
If a source an opponent controls would deal damage to you or a permanent you control, prevent 1 of that damage.
Whenever you or another permanent you control becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, counter that spell or ability unless its controller pays 
.
fresh knoll
[[selfless spirit]] is my favorite. Gets in for damage and still protects my board
void pikeBOT
dusty frigate
Outside of that playing white [[Yalkmira, Protector's Shield]] is kinda broken. ...
fyi your opponents can just assign one more damage to your creatures before trampling over
lyric comet
702.19b The controller of an attacking creature with trample first assigns damage to the creature(s) blocking it. Once all those blocking creatures are assigned lethal damage, any excess damage is assigned as its controller chooses among those blocking creatures and the player, planeswalker, or battle the creature is attacking. When checking for assigned lethal damage, take into account damage already marked on the creature and damage from other creatures that’s being assigned during the same combat damage step, but not any abilities or effects that might change the amount of damage that’s actually dealt. The attacking creature’s controller need not assign lethal damage to all those blocking creatures but in that case can’t assign any damage to the player or planeswalker it’s attacking.
It doesn't take into account abilities that effect damage
So they can only hit an 8 for 8 which would get reduced to 7
dusty frigate
702.19b The controller of an attacking creature with trample first assigns damag...
702.19b The controller of an attacking creature with trample first assigns damage to the creature(s) blocking it. Once all those blocking creatures are assigned lethal damage, any excess damage is assigned as its controller chooses among those blocking creatures and the player, planeswalker, or battle the creature is attacking. When checking for assigned lethal damage, take into account damage already marked on the creature and damage from other creatures that’s being assigned during the same combat damage step, but not any abilities or effects that might change the amount of damage that’s actually dealt. The attacking creature’s controller need not assign lethal damage to all those blocking creatures but in that case can’t assign any damage to the player or planeswalker it’s attacking.
if your storm crow blocks a colossal dreadmaw, the attacking player can have the maw deal 5 damage to the crow and 1 to you
lyric comet
But it can only assign lethal without taking into account damage reduction, the excess is then placed on other creatures/targets on the stack not the same target
north heart
But it can only assign lethal without taking into account damage reduction, the ...
any excess damage is assigned as its controller chooses among those blocking creatures and the player, planeswalker, or battle the creature is attacking.
dusty frigate
“lethal damage” is the MINIMUM amount of damage an attacking creature has to assign to the blocker in order to trample over onto the player
north heart
You don't Have to trample
dusty frigate
The attacking creature’s controller need not assign lethal damage to all those blocking creatures but in that case can’t assign any damage to the player or planeswalker it’s attacking.
exotic island
But it can only assign lethal without taking into account damage reduction, the ...
Creatures with trample can assign more than lethal damage.
If your 9/9 trample dude gets blocked by a 6/6, you just assign 7 damage to the 6/6 and have the rest go to the defending player or permanent.
lyric comet
that seems a little borked but ok
I'm still going to use it since it'll remove two damage ticks off trample hits then and the ward
Well technically x damage ticks since x would be equivalent to the amount of targets the trampler hits
exotic island
<:blobthinkglare:773945331934298172> that seems a little borked but ok
Not really. That's just how trample works.
It just deals more with excess damage than many people realize.
lyric comet
More meant how spiteful it feels being able to overkill as much as you want kinda borked
mossy goblet
My favorite form of protection is deleting threats to my board.