When you sit down to play EDH games at your local store, there’s a good chance you’re going to run into some go-wide creature decks. Whether you’re facing Token archetypes or Typal strategies, incorporating cards that prevent you from getting run over is essential.
While board wipes can definitely provide temporary reprieve, creature decks are better than ever at rebuilding. Fortunately, there’s a variety of classic Pillowfort cards that can singlehandedly keep buy you enough time to put your gameplan into action. While everyone knows about Ghostly Prison and Propaganda, there are even more MTG pillowfort cards to choose from.
MTG Island Sanctuary
Of the five colors in MTG, white definitely features the highest abundance of anti-attack cards. The presence of options like Ghostly Prison and Windborn Muse is a big part of the reason Pillowfort decks tend to be white. As strong as these cards are, though, they can still be weak to Voltron strategies focused on suiting up one creature.
This is where Island Sanctuary gets its edge. By skipping your first draw for the turn, you get to protect yourself from nearly all ground creatures. This effect is at its best when paired with Commanders that draw cards through other means. Enchantress shells with Sythis, Harvest’s Hand or Tuvasa, the Sunlit are great examples. Similarly, Zedruu the Greathearted decks are designed to generate value in the long run, making Island Sanctuary’s ability to draw out the game quite useful.
While this enchantment isn’t foolproof due to its weakness versus fliers, combining it with other Pillowfort cards like Sandwurm Convergence and Katabatic Winds can create a strong forcefield around you. The juice is certainly worth the squeeze if you can put in some work, making the card well worth its sub-$3 price tag.
Smoke
Despite not technically preventing creatures from attacking, Smoke can still be an extremely effective tool. If you can ever land Smoke after your opponents have swung all out, they won’t be able to alpha strike with their creatures anytime soon. This enchantment even has the upside of locking down opposing mana dorks, or stopping opponents from activating multiple tap-costed abilities.
By far the best home for Smoke is in Kratos, God of War Commander decks that punish your opponents for not being able to attack. Similarly, Queen Marchesa shells can make great use of Smoke to help maintain the Monarchy. Given the enchantment’s symmetrical effect, it’s also the perfect Pillowfort card to “gift” to your opponent via Blim, Comedic Genius.
Ultimately, Smoke is one of the best attack prevention effects red has to offer. The likely reason it only sees play in 19,100 decks according to EDHREC is simply that the card is old. With no tournament-legal reprints since Fifth Edition, it’s understandable that many players would be unfamiliar with the powerhouse.
Collective Restraint
Continuing the trend of old enchantments that deserve way more praise, Collective Restraint is an incredible card for multi-color Pillowfort decks to turn to. Even in just a two-color deck, Collective Restraint should function at minimum like Propaganda. This is already an incredible floor, and this enchantment only gets better the more colors you add.
As such, Collective Restraint is a top-tier option for Karona, the False-God and Go-Shintai of Life’s Origin decks. Notably, though, you will need to incorporate enough dual lands with basic land types, such as Shocklands and Triomes, in order to make this enchantment as reliable as possible. With this in mind, Collective Restraint isn’t really a budget upgrade, especially considering that it costs over $11 itself. The good news, at least, is that there are some workarounds, such as sticking Omo, Queen of Vesuva or Nylea’s Presence to enable Collective Restraint singlehandedly.
Koskun Falls
By far, the color with the narrowest range of Pillowfort options is mono-black. Luckily, black decks do have access to an enchantment with a nearly identical effect to Ghostly Prison and Propaganda. Many players just don’t know about it because it was printed back in Homelands and features no reprints due to its appearance on the Reserved List.
For the price of four mana, Koskun Falls does a great job shutting down opposing alpha strikes. This is an extremely valuable effect, especially for mono-black Commanders like Starscream, Power Hungry that lack alternatives. The only downside is that you do need to tap a creature every turn cycle to keep Koskun Falls around, but this isn’t a difficult price to pay for most decks. There are even Commanders like King Macar, the Gold-Cursed who can use this ability to their advantage.
Arboria
Among the Pillowfort options in green, Arboria is definitely the most hardcore. The upside of preventing yourself from being attacked turn after turn is huge, but the cost of not being able to play spells or lands during your turn is steep. The good news is that if you can pair Arboria with any Flash enabler like Leyline of Anticipation, you can get around Arboria’s restriction by playing spells on your opponent’s turns. As such, Arboria is a solid inclusion in Yeva, Nature’s Herald decks.
Even without a Flash-granting effect, you can still get good mileage out of Arboria if you have other ways to spend your mana besides casting spells. Kenrith, the Returned King and Go-Shintai of Life’s Origin, for instance, have activated abilities that help you advance your board at instant speed. These legends provide inevitability, while Arboria keeps you alive.
While this enchantment from Legends’ effect is ultimately a bit narrow, its budget-friendly price tag makes it even more appealing. Thanks to earning a reprint in Dominaria Remastered, players can pick up copies for $0.15. Green has no shortage of old, cheap Pillowfort enchantments, either, so if you’re looking for upgrades, consider giving Elephant Grass or Kabatatic Winds a shot as well.
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