Price$3.87 – $13.95
Buy on TCGplayerFlare of Fortitude
Instant
LegalRank #730
You may sacrifice a nontoken white creature rather than pay this spell's mana cost.
Until end of turn, your life total can't change, and permanents you control gain hexproof and indestructible.
Why is this card good?
Flare of Fortitude is one of the best protection spells white has gotten in years, largely because of its alternative cost. Sacrificing a single nontoken white creature lets you cast it for free at instant speed, turning a chump into a full-board shield right when an opponent fires off a Blasphemous Act, Cyclonic Rift, or targeted removal at your commander.
The "life total can't change" clause is a sneaky bonus — it blanks combat damage, life-loss combos, and infect during that turn, so it doubles as a defensive fog against burn or aggressive swings.
Who wants it: Any white deck that runs creatures, but it shines in token-light, value-creature builds and aristocrats decks that already sac creatures freely. Voltron and go-wide commanders love protecting their investment for free.
When to skip it: Pure token decks (no nontoken white creatures to sac means you're paying full four mana) and colorless/artifact-creature shells. If your board rarely has white bodies, the discount evaporates and it's just an overcosted protection spell.
Related cards
Teferi's Protection
Premier protection instant phasing out your board and locking life total.
Flawless Maneuver
Free white protection spell granting indestructible to creatures.
Heroic Intervention
Cheap blanket hexproof and indestructible for your permanents.
Akroma's Will
Grants whole team protection or hexproof/indestructible flexibly.
Clever Concealment
Free phasing protection for your nonland permanents.
Unbreakable Formation
Mass indestructible for your creatures, similar protective effect.
Eerie Interlude
Flickers your creatures to dodge wraths and targeted removal.
Printings (4)
Combos (1)
- Ad Nauseam + Flare of Fortitude
→ Infinite card draw
Rulings (9)
- 2024-06-07
Spells and abilities that would normally cause you to gain or lose life still resolve while your life total can't change, but the life-gain or life-loss part simply has no effect.
- 2024-06-07
If a cost would include causing you to gain life, that cost can't be paid. Similarly, you can't pay a cost that includes the payment of any amount of life other than 0 life. However, you can choose to be dealt damage, even though that damage won't result in your life total changing.
- 2024-06-07
The effect of Flare of Fortitude doesn't prevent damage. Rather, it changes the results of that damage. For example, if a creature with lifelink deals damage to you, you won't lose any life, but its controller will still gain that much life. Similarly, if a creature you control with lifelink deals damage to another player, that player will lose life but you won't gain any life.
- 2024-06-07
Abilities that trigger whenever damage is dealt to you will still trigger because that damage is still dealt, even though your life total doesn't change as a result.
- 2024-06-07
Effects that would replace having you gain life with some other event won't be able to be applied because it's impossible for you to gain life.
- 2024-06-07
Effects that replace an event with having you gain life (like Words of Worship's effect does) or having you lose life will end up replacing the event with nothing.
- 2024-06-07
If an effect says to set your life total to a certain number, that part of the effect won't do anything.
- 2024-06-07
If an effect would cause you to exchange life totals with another player, the exchange won't happen. Neither player's life total changes.
- 2024-06-07
In a Commander game, the damage dealt to you by commanders will still be counted, even if that damage doesn't cause you to lose life.