Dawn's Truce — Magic: The Gathering card

Dawn's Truce

{1}{W}
Instant

Gift a card (You may promise an opponent a gift as you cast this spell. If you do, they draw a card before its other effects.)

You and permanents you control gain hexproof until end of turn. If the gift was promised, permanents you control also gain indestructible until end of turn.

Set Bloomburrow
Rarity Rare
Mana Value 2
Artist Justin Gerard
Collector # 9
Scryfall

Why Play Dawn's Truce

Protection spells become significantly more powerful when they defend both you and your board state simultaneously. Dawn's Truce shines in creature-heavy strategies and combo decks that need to protect their win conditions from both targeted removal and board wipes. The gift mechanic creates an interesting political decision—offering your opponent a card to upgrade hexproof into full indestructibility can be worth it when facing sweepers like Wrath of God or Damnation.

Format Notes

Commander sees the most play for Dawn's Truce, where the political aspect of the gift mechanic adds an extra layer of negotiation and the protection effect scales well with larger board states. In competitive formats like Modern and Pioneer, it finds niche roles in creature combo decks and strategies built around protecting valuable permanents. Standard applications depend heavily on the removal suite in the current metagame, performing best when targeted removal is prevalent.

Combos & Synergies

Teferi's Protection offers a comparison point, but Dawn's Truce fills a different role by potentially protecting against both targeted and mass removal in one efficient package. Cards like Heroic Intervention provide similar board protection, making Dawn's Truce appealing in decks that want redundancy for this effect. The card pairs exceptionally well with win conditions like Craterhoof Behemoth or other game-ending threats that need to survive a turn cycle to close out games.

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Instant Hexproof Indestructible Cantrip