Protection is a bit of a boogeyman in Magic: The Gathering. Surprisingly, it has been a keyword since Alpha. Shroud is spooky too, but we can usually remove a Lightning Greaves type of card or block the creature with a little deathtouch. Cards like Arcane Lighthouse can even tap and remove hexproof, and cards like Archetype of Endurance have the static ability to remove hexproof. Protection, on the other hand, has a completely different set of rules.

What is Protection?

What is Protection from a quality? There is a well-known acronym called DEBT. It means the permanent with protection cannot be Damaged by sources that it has protection from, cannot be Enchanted or equipped (or fortified) by sources that it has protection from, cannot be Blocked by creatures that it has protection from, and cannot be Targeted by spells or abilities from sources it has protection from.

Some examples are Sword of Feast and Famine, Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, and Reaver Titan. Protection has a lot of ways to protect, but these criteria are very specific and thus there are very specific ways around it.

How do we get around protection?

After scouring the internet, I've made an acronym of my own: MUSE(S) to help think of ways to get around protection when you build a deck.

Minus X

-X/-X is what led me down the road to writing this article. I was fascinated by how Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite could get around low toughness protection creatures. The trick here is that static effects don't target and don't deal damage. Cards like Massacre Wurm, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, and Ascendant Evincar are perfect because they're asymmetrical.

Toxrill, the Corrosive, has the capacity to remove all opponents' creatures but it's fairly situational. It is similar to how Cyclonic Rift might get around protection: Neither targets. Cyclonic Rift gives the other player an opportunity to replay the permanent with protection, but usually, there are so many things one tries to play after that it might not be a priority.

So yes, we're all thinking it: Toxic Deluge, Black Sun's Zenith, Bane of the Living, and The Meathook Massacre all get around creatures with protection in Commander. It allows you to pay an amount so you don't necessarily have to lose some of your bigger creatures, but it's kind of a blowout for everyone if you have low to the ground creatures.

Unavoidable Damage

"Damage is prevented" is a tough part of protection. Before you buy something like Blasphemous Act or Chandra's Ignition and Chain Reaction for something with protection from Red, hear me out! Board wipes that deal damage don't get around protection on their own. You would need to make damage unavoidable as well. Damage board wipes don't target, which is good, but all damage is prevented with protection. You need destroy or exile effects that don't target. So how do we get around protection from Red?

To get around protection in Commander, you have to make damage unavoidable. Effects that say "damage can't be prevented" like Insult // Injury, Questing Beast, Malignus, and Unstable Footing are all cards that do this. Mixing one of them with an Ezuri's Predation will lead to an asymmetrical board state in your favor.

I know what you're thinking: Does "fight" target? While fight usually uses the word "target creature," Ezuri's Predation says "Each of those tokens fights a different one of those creatures." In the ruling on the Gatherer, it states, "You choose which Beast is fighting which creature an opponent controls." Choose isn't target. Druid of Purification is another Green card that gets around protection by not targeting, but choosing.

Sacrifice or Choose

This one is a little tricky. Effects that have "target player" or "each opponent" or "each player" sacrifice a permanent don't target the protected permanent with the spell. It targets the player. This gets around the protection from a color or from the converted mana cost or from another quality. It doesn't help against a Teferi's Protection, but that's a whole other article for a whole other reason.

You get around protection in Commander with cards like Soul Shatter, which makes every player sacrifice the highest converted mana cost creature they control. Against Voltron decks where we see tons of cards like Sword of Light and Shadow, one creature is usually the issue and in the event of more creatures on their battlefield, the higher converted mana cost creatures are usually the scarier ones.

Cards like Braids, Arisen Nightmare and Torment of Hailfire are good choices because it pushes the player to sacrifice or lose life. These are slower and potentially not certain because it gives the other player a choice, and for Braids, Arisen Nightmare specifically, you must have that kind of permanent to sacrifice. They are worth noting in certain situations, however.

Promise of Loyalty is sort of a board wipe like Single Combat that gets around protection, but each player puts a vow counter on a creature and sacrifices the rest, so it doesn't target and creatures with the vow counter can't attack you. It's a very good way to try to neutralize a protection creature, even if the player decides to keep the protection creature over all else.

Everything Must Go

The last resort for creatures with protection is liquidation. You can get around protection in Commander with general board wipes like Damnation and Wrath of God because they don't deal damage or target. This is true even if the creature has protection from Black and White, respectively. Farewell can also get pesky things like enchantments or artifacts with protection. Vandalblast, overloaded, can hit artifacts with protection.

If you want creature-based or permanent-oriented removal, Bane of Progress also works for artifacts because it says "all." I don't know if it shows, but I started coming up with this article after getting completely annihilated by a Reaver Titan.

(Shay Corma)

I have a sneaky little honorable mention here: Shay Cormac. It is a very interesting card in Commander because it can activate a static effect to remove protection from all creatures. It removes keywords like ward, indestructible, and hexproof as well.

Shay Cormac is a powerhouse that makes it possible to target any creature with removal. Even when someone responds to the activation, you can pay 1 again to reapply it. It's nutty. It's really a shame that it is only a 1/1. BUT WAIT! If anyone targets a creature an opponent controls, he gets bigger. It's probably going to be my new Commander idea.

I hope this acronym helps you get around protection!