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Defend the Rider

First printed in Aetherdrift (2025)

Defend the Rider

Instant

Choose one —
• Target permanent you control gains hexproof and indestructible until end of turn.
• Create a 1/1 colorless Pilot creature token with "This token saddles Mounts and crews Vehicles as though its power were 2 greater."

Lagorin would not lose another.

Illustrated by
Raph Lomotan

Legality

Prices

MTGO price: 0.003 TIX, the cheapest non-foil print (average sell price on GoatBots, 1 Nov 2026).

In Limited on MTG Arena

Win rates in Arena drafts and sealed, retrieved from 17Lands (CC BY 4.0).

Win rates of Defend the Rider in Limited
Set GIH WR vs set IWD Games
Aetherdrift (DFT), Premier Draft 55.7% +0.8 +0.3 32694
Aetherdrift (DFT), Sealed 58.5% +1.4 +0.4 1945
GIH WR
win rate of the games in which the card was in the opening hand or drawn
vs set
points above or below the average win rate of all decks in the set
IWD
improvement when drawn: GIH WR minus the win rate when the card stayed in the library
Games
games in which the card was seen

Standard In 9 of 1778 decks (0.5%), most in Green Landfall

Share of decks
0.5%
▲ 0.1 vs previous 30 days
2026-08-10: 1.2% 2026-08-17: 0.0% 2026-08-24: 0.0% 2026-08-31: 0.3% 2026-09-07: 0.0% 2026-09-14: 0.3% 2026-09-21: 0.7% 2026-09-28: 0.4% 2026-10-05: 0.4% 2026-10-12: 0.0% 2026-10-19: 0.5% 2026-10-26: 1.5%
Weekly, last 90 days
Decks
9
6 main, 5 sideboard
Avg. copies
2.0
in the main deck
Win rate
59%
0 top 8 (challenges only)

Archetypes by metagame share

Archetype Meta Play it
Green Landfall 11.5% 3%
BRG (unclassified) 8.3% 1%
WRG (unclassified) 0.3% 20%

Played together with

Card Together Lift
Ba Sing Se100%7.3
Mossborn Hydra83%7.8
Mightform Harmonizer83%7.2
Escape Tunnel83%7.1
Sazh's Chocobo83%7.1
Icetill Explorer83%7.1
Earthbender Ascension83%7.1
Fabled Passage83%6.8
Llanowar Elves83%5.4
Elven Passage67%7.9

Best win rate

DeckRecord
Green Landfall
RCMerriam in Standard Showcase Challenge
6-2
75%
WRG
CoolGuyO in Standard Championship Week Finals
5-3
63%
Green Landfall
Thief_Of_Crowns in Standard Challenge 32
4-3
57%
Green Landfall
RCMerriam in Standard Challenge 16
3-3
50%
BRG
RaiderDBaiter in Standard Challenge 32
3-3
50%

Challenges only: MTGO publishes only the 5-0 league decks.

Latest decks

DeckCopiesFinish
Green Landfall
RCMerriam,
2 main #21
of 187
6-2
Green Landfall
RCMerriam,
2 main #20
of 36
3-3
Green Landfall
Thief_Of_Crowns,
1 side #21
of 77
4-3
BRG
RaiderDBaiter,
4 main #25
of 62
3-3
Green Landfall
Thief_Of_Crowns,
1 side #24
of 36
1-2
Green Landfall
Kento Izumi,
1 main
1 side
#127
of 177
Green Landfall
temur4life,
1 main 5-0
WRG
CoolGuyO,
2 side #22
of 129
5-3

Commander In 15 of 5780 decks (0.3%), most in Brigid, Clachan's Heart

Share of decks
0.2%
▼ 0.2 vs previous 30 days
2026-08-17: 0.4% 2026-08-24: 0.4% 2026-08-31: 0.5% 2026-09-07: 0.5% 2026-09-14: 0.4% 2026-09-21: 0.5% 2026-09-28: 0.3% 2026-10-05: 0.2% 2026-10-12: 0.3% 2026-10-19: 0.4% 2026-10-26: 0.3%
Weekly, last 90 days
Decks
16
16 main, 0 sideboard
Avg. copies
1.0
in the main deck
Win rate
38%
4 top 8 (challenges only)

Archetypes by metagame share

Archetype Meta Play it
Brigid, Clachan's Heart 0.6% 3%
The Gitrog Monster 0.5% 3%
The Cabbage Merchant 0.3% 58%
Bruce Banner 0.2% 17%

Played together with

Card Together Lift
Finale of Devastation100%3.4
Crop Rotation100%2.9
Elvish Spirit Guide100%2.6
Mana Vault100%1.2
Mox Diamond100%1.2
Chrome Mox100%1.1
Lotus Petal100%1.1
Gemstone Caverns100%1.1
Sol Ring100%1.0
Legolas's Quick Reflexes94%6.0

Best win rate

DeckRecord
The Cabbage Merchant
Francesco Cammarata in Fourfold League
2-3
40%
Bruce Banner
Jörg Tebartz in 10.Rhein-Sieg Championship CEDH Tournament -Qualifier CEDH nationals Germany-
2-3
40%

Challenges only: MTGO publishes only the 5-0 league decks.

Latest decks

DeckCopiesFinish
The Cabbage Merchant
Feta.Fixer [Kevin],
1 main #27
of 32
0-3
The Gitrog Monster
Matt Ragan,
1 main #54
of 105
0-3
Brigid, Clachan's Heart
Cesc bobko,
1 main #5 (top 8)
of 24
1-1
The Cabbage Merchant
Francesco Cammarata,
1 main #6 (top 8)
of 19
2-3
The Cabbage Merchant
Gianluca Pallhuber,
1 main #24
of 31
0-3
The Cabbage Merchant
Kamal Khanboubi,
1 main #8 (top 8)
of 19
1-2
The Cabbage Merchant
Elliot Smith,
1 main #93
of 150
1-3
The Cabbage Merchant
Martin Innes,
1 main #96
of 150
0-4

Duel Commander In 3 of 111 decks (2.7%), most in Tifa Lockhart

Staple: main deck, 5% of decks (#471)

Share of decks
2.7%
▼ 0.1 vs previous 30 days
2026-08-10: 2.4% 2026-08-17: 8.1% 2026-08-24: 9.4% 2026-08-31: 0.0% 2026-09-07: 8.1% 2026-09-14: 0.0% 2026-09-21: 3.2% 2026-09-28: 0.0% 2026-10-05: 2.9% 2026-10-12: 6.5% 2026-10-19: 0.0% 2026-10-26: 0.0%
Weekly, last 90 days
Decks
3
3 main, 0 sideboard
Avg. copies
1.0
in the main deck
Win rate
–
0 top 8 (challenges only)

Archetypes by metagame share

Archetype Meta Play it
Tifa Lockhart 2.7% 100%

Played together with

Card Together Lift
Escape Tunnel100%37.0
Bant Panorama100%37.0
Hapatra's Mark100%37.0
Adventuring Gear100%37.0
Hobbit Hole100%37.0
Snakeskin Veil100%37.0
Traveling Chocobo100%37.0
Ghost Quarter100%37.0
Scale Up100%37.0
Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers100%37.0

Best win rate

No challenge results yet.

Challenges only: MTGO publishes only the 5-0 league decks.

Latest decks

DeckCopiesFinish
Tifa Lockhart
CardGameAddict,
1 main 5-0
Tifa Lockhart
TaZi,
1 main 5-0
Tifa Lockhart
Garrug,
1 main 5-0