I recently spoke about substitutions regarding Arcane Adaptation, and today I’m going to talk about something with significantly more breadth and depth, Fog.
Fog is an iconic card in Magic, and leaving a single green mana available is enough to bluff many seasoned players. There are even decks built around the mechanic as a way to stall the game in order to get something ready, such as a combo to win.
There are also one-sided effects like this, with the added benefit of getting a bonus when damage (to you) is prevented. I’m going to pause for just a moment to say that I tried to pick examples that either prevented all damage or prevented all damage from one side (rather than just from a single creature), and I still got 49 cards worth highlighting. That’s a lot of Fog. So some cards may simply be mentioned without an image. Please forgive me, or use this handy link to gatherer.
Fog isn’t only available in green. Black has a version called Darkness.
Red doesn’t have an exact match to Fog, but it does have some things worth looking into. Red is a bit more risky, but has Fighting Chance, where you flip a coin for each blocker to see if they deal damage (A great combo with Chance Encounter, btw), or red can sacrifice a Snow-covered Mountain for Glacial Crevasses to ensure prevention without flipping a coin, or you could use Impulsive Maneuvers (preferably with Krark’s Thumb) to ensure your creatures attack for double damage while your opponents’ creatures attack for 0. This only takes care of attackers, not blockers, the opposite of Fighting Chance, but can be quite effective at making attacking less appealing to your opponents, since they don’t know what will deal damage, and you do before declaring blockers.
Statecraft is basically blue’s only option for wide-range abilities like this, though Fog Banks and Gomazoas do stop damage at a one-to-one ratio.
Even colorless has an option, though basically a more expensive Glacial Crevasses. Dolmen Gate is also an option, though only preventing damage to your attacking creatures, not preventing any incoming damage when you are defending.
White is the closest behind green for options. Holy Day is a color swap, same cost, same effect, also instant, just like Darkness in Black. But white also has Pollen Lullaby, with the possible benefit of not untapping their attackers, well worth one extra mana if it works. Harmless Assault costs 4, but only works on attacking creatures, meaning it’s a good way to let an opponent leave themselves open, or to block without risking your own creatures. Sadly, it does mean that you can’t use it on the offensive, unlike Encircling Fissure, which prevents damage from creatures controlled by one opponent. Angelsong is also an option, and is a bit more flexible than some in that it has Cycling in case you need a different type of card more. There are a few more white cards worth mentioning, mostly on creatures, so that will be later in this article. Lastly, if you want to use the damage that would have been dealt to you offensively, there are options like Channel Harm, which would still trigger Selfless Squire by preventing the original damage and creating a new source... this is also kind of helpful with red’s penchant for doubling damage, as the original damage is prevented but double that much damage can be dealt to one creature.
I’m going to hold off on highlighting green, just because there is so much of it in a few varieties, and move on to multicolor options.
Energy Arc has untaps the creatures it is preventing the damage of, so can be used as an untap spell instead of just having it be a Fog. Batwing Brume prevents combat damage but may also be used to hurt someone for one point for each creature they sent your way, which can be helpful even if you don’t have white, as it may kill them before their creatures deal damage to you.
Angus Mackenzie prevents all combat damage and is a fairly nice repeatable effect, and is a Legendary Creature so could be a commander if you feel so inclined. Radiant Kavu is also a multicolor creature, though not legendary, but it does prevent damage from blue and black creatures, meaning your creatures can potentially still deal damage without taking damage.
Since I’m bringing up creatures, now seems a good time to get back to some monocolor options that aren’t exactly a match to Fog (your opponent can see most of these on the table, waiting for their abilities to be activated), but are still handy ways to prevent most potential damage. Selfless Squire was already mentioned above, but bears repeating since nearly everything else in this article can be used to pump it.
Frontline Strategist is a good combat trick, still costing only one mana like a Fog or Holy Day, but a Morphed creature is almost always met with suspicion. Kami of False Hope is a creature that only costs one white mana and can be sacrificed at instant speed, but your opponent will be able to see it on the board before you can trigger its ability, which you can only do once. Knight-Captain of Eos is a great, repeatable effect, but requires Soldiers and mana. If your opponent sees you’re out of either, they are more likely to start swinging in at full force, making the Knight great for decks which have a lot of Soldiers, and just a bit more helpful (and quite a bit more expensive) than a regular Fog.
Green has quite a few options, so we’ll start with one that reads as being possible every 3rd turn. Spore Flower can be good in a game that gives you some time to collect a few spore counters before you need fear being attacked, but if you’re being attacked each turn the Spore Flower is unlikely to hold out for long alone. A dedicated Fungus deck with something like Sporesower Thallid finds this option appealing, though, because of how readily repeatable it is, though, despite only having one toughness.
Spike Weaver can naturally be repeated 3 times, and is a bit more sturdy than Spore Flower. Green is good at adding additional +1/+1 counters to continue the Fog effects, with something like Primal Cocoon being thematically and synergistically appropriate.
Dawnstrider is a card that summoning sickness matters, as does the number of cards in your hand. But again, a repeatable effect shouldn’t be overlooked, even on a meager 1/1.
Haze Frog is a bit high on casting cost for the one time effect, but it does come with a creature, and it has Flash. Best of all, Haze Frog specifies OTHER creatures, meaning it can still be used to potentially block and kill one thing. Spore Frog is, like many we’ve mentioned, a humble 1/1. It has a non-repeatable effect, but can be used the same turn it comes out.
After talking about the creature cards this effect is on, it’s worth mentioning how many creature synergies there are cards with this effect for. There’s enough options for you to build a deck around it, so it’s basically one-sided prevention.
- Spiders.
- Wolves/Werewolves
- Tramplers
- Green creatures in general
- Red creatures (for a cost)
- Make sure you have at least 4 power
- Speaking of 4 power
- Or creatures that got a permanent pump.
Tangle and Spore Cloud both keep attackers blocked, but the Spore Cloud also taps blockers, which can be quite a helpful thing when playing in a multiplayer game, especially if you want your opponents to be open for your own attack. Clinging Mists is also helpful if you’re below 5 life, and has the added benefit of tapping the attackers, in case they have vigilance.
Druid’s Deliverance prevents combat damage to you, not to creatures, but then lets you make a copy of a token you have. Defend the Hearth and Commencement of Festivities both cost two and prevent combat damage to players, making it political in a multiplayer game, but still not protecting creatures from harm.
Terrifying Presence is noteworthy became it allows one creature to still deal combat damage, which is quite useful when combined with a Lure effect to kill off a few choice blockers. Serene Sunset can be used in much the same manner, but potentially leaving more of your creatures to deal damage (though cost can become a factor).
Revealing Wind is fairly straightforward as a 3-mana Fog in most cases, but does have the benefit of working well against Morph.
Blunt the Assault can be quite powerful, getting you life for each creature on the battlefield. Respite isn’t quite as powerful, only giving you life for each attacking creature, but this can be used to increase your life total significantly when attacking with a token deck.
Lull and Haze of Pollen both allow for the card to be cycled, which is good when you’re ahead and have little reason to prevent combat damage.
Finally, at the end, because it comes back after it was used, Moment’s Peace has Flashback, allowing it to be cast once from the graveyard.
The preceding list was made, mostly, by searching for “prevent” and “combat damage” in Gatherer. Which should totally be an app. Why isn’t Gatherer an app yet?
My opponent removes all counters from Walking Ballista and says 'hit you for 10'. I then cast Selfless Squire. My opponent then says 'no, I do it one at a time'. Is he allowed to do that?
When a player does something like activate Walking Ballista 10 times in a row, they’re not activating, holding priority, activating, etc. There is no reason to ever play this way with the exception of a few effects such as split second spells. Instead, “activate Walking Ballista 10 times” is generally understood to be a proposal of a shortcut to activate the ability, let the activation resolve, and then repeat that loop 10 times. You can respond at any point in this sequence, but unless your opponent specifically says that they’re holding priority and activating all 10 times without passing priority, then you’ll only ever be able to catch one activation with Selfless Squire.
