MTG Indestructible & Protection Rules Guide
"You can't kill my creature — it's indestructible."
Every Commander player has heard that sentence, and every experienced Commander player knows how often it is wrong. Indestructible and protection are the two strongest defensive keywords in Magic: The Gathering — and also the two most overestimated, because each one stops a very specific list of things and nothing else.
Indestructible creatures still get removed constantly. Protected creatures get removed constantly. Knowing exactly what gets through each ability is the difference between building around them correctly and losing your "unkillable" creature to the first board wipe of the game.
This is the seventh and final article in our complete series on MTG keyword abilities. You can find the full series at the end of this article.
What Is Indestructible in MTG?
Indestructible (CR 702.12) is a static ability: a permanent with indestructible can't be destroyed.
The word "destroyed" is doing all the work in that sentence, because in Magic, "destroy" is a specific game term — not a synonym for "removed". Exactly two things destroy permanents:
- Lethal damage. A creature with damage marked on it equal to or greater than its toughness is destroyed as a state-based action. Indestructible creatures ignore this check entirely.
- Effects that use the word "destroy". "Destroy target creature", "destroy all creatures" — indestructible ignores all of them.
That is the complete list. A creature like Blightsteel Colossus shrugs off every removal spell that says "destroy", blocks anything without dying, and survives every damage-based board wipe ever printed. Against those specific tools, it genuinely is unkillable.
What Still Removes an Indestructible Creature
Everything that removes a permanent without destroying it works exactly as normal:
- Exile. "Exile target creature" does not destroy — the creature is simply gone. Exile is the standard answer to indestructible threats in Commander.
- Sacrifice. Edict effects ("each player sacrifices a creature") bypass indestructible completely. Sacrificing is not destruction.
- -X/-X and toughness reduction. A creature whose toughness is 0 or less is put into the graveyard as a state-based action — not destroyed, just dead. Indestructible does nothing against it.
- Bounce and tuck. Returning the creature to its owner's hand or shuffling it into a library removes it without destruction.
- The legend rule. If one player controls two or more legendary permanents with the same name, that player chooses one and puts the rest into their owners' graveyards as a state-based action — indestructible or not.
The Edge Case Almost Nobody Knows: Marked Damage
Indestructible does not prevent damage — it only ignores the "destroy on lethal damage" check. The damage is still marked on the creature and stays there until it is removed during the cleanup step at the end of the turn. Two consequences follow, and the second one wins games:
First: that marked damage counts for trample maths and other effects that care about damage dealt, exactly as we covered in the first strike, double strike and trample guide.
Second: if a creature with lethal damage marked on it loses indestructible, it is destroyed immediately — the next time state-based actions are checked. Block a 10/10 attacker with your indestructible 2/2, let it absorb the damage, then remove its indestructible with an effect after combat? That 2/2 dies on the spot, with the old combat damage still sitting on it. In reverse, effects that remove indestructible from opposing creatures turn every point of previously marked damage into a delayed kill.
What Is Protection in MTG?
Protection (CR 702.16) is written "protection from [quality]" — protection from a colour, from a card type, from everything, from a specific player. Whatever the quality, protection always grants exactly the same four benefits, memorised by generations of players with the acronym DEBT:
- D — Damage. All damage from sources with the stated quality is prevented.
- E — Enchant/Equip. The permanent can't be enchanted by Auras, equipped by Equipment, or fortified by Fortifications with the stated quality. Anything with that quality already attached falls off as a state-based action.
- B — Blocked. The creature can't be blocked by creatures with the stated quality.
- T — Targeted. The permanent can't be targeted by spells with the stated quality, or by abilities from sources with the stated quality.
A creature with protection from red cannot be burned, cannot be blocked by red creatures, cannot be targeted by red spells, and cannot carry a red aura. Against a mono-red opponent, that creature is close to untouchable — while remaining completely vulnerable to every other colour at the table.
What Protection Does NOT Stop
The same golden rule from our hexproof, ward and shroud guide applies here: effects that do not target, damage, block, or attach simply ignore protection.
- Board wipes. "Destroy all creatures" from a white spell kills a creature with protection from white. The spell does not target and does not deal damage — protection has nothing to grab onto.
- Sacrifice effects. Edicts do not target. Protection from black does not save your creature from a black edict.
- Global -X/-X effects. No target, no damage — no protection.
Case Study: Emrakul and "Protection From Colored Spells"
No card teaches protection better than Emrakul, the Aeons Torn — a 15/15 flyer with protection from colored spells that new players believe is unremovable, and experienced players remove all the time.
The key word is spells. A card is only a spell while it is on the stack. The moment it resolves and becomes a permanent, it is not a spell any more — and Emrakul's protection stops caring about it. Three consequences that surprise players constantly:
Abilities go right through. Protection from colored spells says nothing about abilities. A creature's activated ability that taps or exiles Emrakul works normally, no matter how coloured its source is. The removal enchantments that exile a creature with a triggered ability when they enter the battlefield also work: the enchantment targets with its ability after it has resolved — when it is a permanent, not a spell.
Board wipes kill it. A white "destroy all creatures" spell is very much a colored spell — but it does not target Emrakul and does not deal damage to it. None of the four DEBT letters applies, so the biggest creature in the game dies to the game's oldest removal spell.
Colorless removal ignores the protection entirely. The protection only covers colored spells. Colorless spells target and affect Emrakul with no restriction at all.
The lesson generalises to every protection ability in the game: read the stated quality literally, and remember DEBT covers only those four things. Protection is a precise legal contract, not a force field.
Indestructible vs Protection: What Answers What
| Removal type | Indestructible creature | Creature with protection (matching quality) |
|---|---|---|
| "Destroy target creature" | Survives | Can't be targeted — spell can't be cast at it |
| Damage / burn spells | Survives (damage marked, no destruction) | Damage prevented entirely |
| "Destroy all creatures" | Survives | Dies — no targeting, no damage |
| Exile (targeted) | Dies (exile isn't destruction) | Survives if the source has the stated quality |
| Exile all / mass exile | Dies | Dies — doesn't target |
| Sacrifice / edicts | Dies | Dies — doesn't target |
| -X/-X to 0 toughness | Dies (not destruction) | Dies if the effect doesn't target; survives targeted versions from the stated quality |
| Bounce to hand | Removed — returns to hand, not destroyed | Cannot be targeted by bounce from the stated quality |
| Combat damage | Survives everything | Prevented from sources with the stated quality |
Read together, the table shows why the two abilities are complementary rather than redundant: indestructible beats destruction and damage, protection beats targeting and blocking from its stated quality — and neither one beats sacrifice or non-targeting mass exile. The most reliable answers to "unkillable" creatures in Commander are edicts, mass exile, and exile effects that can legally target them.
Why These Abilities Define Commander Games
Indestructible is the board wipe insurance policy. Commander is a format of mass removal — every table expects multiple "destroy all creatures" effects per game. A board protected by Avacyn, Angel of Hope — who grants indestructible to all your permanents — simply does not care. Your creatures survive the wipe that clears everyone else's board, and the next attack step usually ends the game. This asymmetry after mass removal is one of the strongest effects available in white.
Indestructible finishers demand specific answers. Creatures like Blightsteel Colossus ignore every destroy effect and every point of damage at the table. An opponent without exile, sacrifice, bounce, or toughness-reduction effects has no clean answer — and knowing which opponents are out of answers is exactly the kind of information that decides when to commit these threats.
Protection wins combats and races. Because protection prevents damage from the stated quality, a creature with protection from a colour blocks that colour's biggest attacker and takes zero damage — or attacks past its entire board unblockable. Granted at instant speed as a combat trick, protection blanks removal, blanks blockers, and blanks damage all at once, in the priority windows we covered in the haste and flash guide.
You can find these staples and more in our full catalogue, or import your decklist directly with our decklist search tool.
Frequently Asked Questions About Indestructible and Protection
What kills an indestructible creature?
Anything that removes it without destroying it: exile, sacrifice, bounce to hand, shuffling into the library, reducing its toughness to 0 or less, and the legend rule. Indestructible only stops the two forms of destruction — lethal damage and effects that use the word "destroy".
Does an indestructible creature survive a board wipe?
It depends on the wording. "Destroy all creatures" — yes, it survives. "Exile all creatures", "each player sacrifices all creatures", or "all creatures get -X/-X" — no. Read the exact verb on the board wipe; only "destroy" is stopped.
Does deathtouch kill an indestructible creature?
No. Deathtouch makes any amount of damage lethal, but lethal damage destroys — and indestructible creatures can't be destroyed. The damage is marked but nothing happens. We covered this interaction in detail in our deathtouch guide.
What happens if a creature with damage on it loses indestructible?
If the marked damage is lethal — equal to or greater than its toughness — the creature is destroyed the next time state-based actions are checked, which is immediately. Damage marked earlier in the turn does not disappear when indestructible does. This is why removing indestructible mid-turn is a genuine removal strategy.
What does "protection from white" actually stop?
The four DEBT benefits against white specifically: white damage is prevented, white Auras and Equipment can't be attached, white creatures can't block it, and white spells and abilities from white sources can't target it. It does nothing against non-white cards, and nothing against white effects that don't target, damage, block, or attach — a white "destroy all creatures" kills it normally.
Does protection remove Auras that are already attached?
Yes. If a creature gains protection from a quality, any Aura with that quality attached to it is put into its owner's graveyard as a state-based action, and any matching Equipment becomes unattached. Giving your own creature protection in response to nothing can strip an opponent's aura off it — a legitimate trick.
Can a creature with protection from everything be blocked?
Not by any creature — blocking is the B in DEBT and every blocker has some quality. But it can still be sacrificed to an edict, caught in mass exile, or shrunk by a global -X/-X effect, because none of those target, damage, block, or attach. Even "protection from everything" is only ever those four benefits.
Which is better: indestructible or hexproof?
They stop different things and pair well together. Indestructible beats destruction (removal spells that destroy, damage, board wipes that destroy) but not targeting — the creature can still be exiled or bounced by targeted spells. Hexproof beats opponents' targeting but not destruction — the creature dies to every board wipe. A creature with both is only removed by non-targeted, non-destroy effects: edicts and mass exile. That combination is as close to unkillable as Magic gets.
The complete keyword abilities series:
- Deathtouch: Rules and Every Interaction Explained
- Haste & Flash: Timing Rules Explained
- First Strike, Double Strike & Trample: Combat Damage Explained
- Hexproof, Ward & Shroud: What's the Difference?
- Vigilance, Lifelink, Reach & Defender: Combat Basics
- Flying & Menace: Evasion Abilities Explained
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