Indestructible is a static ability that does exactly one thing: the permanent cannot be destroyed. The Comprehensive Rules put it in one sentence: "A permanent with indestructible can't be destroyed. Such permanents aren't destroyed by lethal damage, and they ignore the state-based action that checks for lethal damage" (rule 702.12b). That covers two kinds of removal, effects that use the word "destroy" and damage, including deathtouch damage. It covers nothing else. An indestructible creature can still be exiled, sacrificed, bounced, stolen, shrunk to toughness 0 or lost to the legend rule, because none of those is a destruction. If you are reading this because an indestructible creature is beating you right now, start with the next section: it is the list of everything that still works.
This guide is part of our MTG keywords and mechanics glossary, the index of every mechanic guide on Mana Grove.
Below: what still removes an indestructible permanent, what indestructible actually stops, the rule line by line with the fine print players miss, the indestructible cards Commander players run most, the cards that grant it, and the answers to it, all read from our card database.
What still removes an indestructible creature
Rule 701.8b is the key to the whole keyword: "The only ways a permanent can be destroyed are as a result of an effect that uses the word 'destroy' or as a result of the state-based actions that check for lethal damage or damage from a source with deathtouch. If a permanent is put into its owner's graveyard for any other reason, it hasn't been 'destroyed.'" Everything in this table moves the creature without destroying it, so indestructible never sees it happen.
| Route | Why it works | Rule | Cards that do it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exile | Exile moves the object to the exile zone. It never destroys anything | 701.13a | Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Anguished Unmaking, Deadly Rollick, Farewell |
| Sacrifice | "Sacrificing a permanent doesn't destroy it" | 701.21a | Fleshbag Marauder, Sheoldred's Edict, Grave Pact, Liliana of the Veil |
| Toughness 0 or less | A creature with toughness 0 or less is put into its owner's graveyard by a state-based action that has nothing to do with damage | 704.5f | Toxic Deluge, Black Sun's Zenith, The Meathook Massacre, Massacre Wurm, Dismember |
| Bounce and tuck | Returning it to a hand or putting it into a library is a zone change, not a destruction | 701.8b | Cyclonic Rift, Aetherize, Chaos Warp, Terminus |
| Taking control | Indestructible protects the object, not its owner's control of it | 702.12b | Control Magic |
| The legend rule | The extra copies are "put into their owners' graveyards", not destroyed. It only bites when one player controls two legendary permanents with the same name, so it is mostly a risk the indestructible legend's own controller runs with clones | 704.5j | Any clone effect that copies a legendary indestructible creature its controller already has |
| Removing the ability | A permanent that loses all abilities loses indestructible with them, and a plain destroy spell works again | 702.12a | Kenrith's Transformation, Imprisoned in the Moon, Humility, Shadowspear |
The route that surprises people most is toughness. Damage is not the only way to shrink a creature: Toxic Deluge gives every creature minus X toughness, and a creature with toughness 0 or less is simply "put into its owner's graveyard" (704.5f). No destruction happens, so indestructible has nothing to say. This is why black's board wipes are the natural answer to a board of Theros gods, and why Dismember kills an indestructible 5/5 that a plain "destroy target creature" cannot touch.
Two special cases are worth knowing. Darksteel Mutation does not remove the creature at all: it turns it into a 0/1 Insect that keeps indestructible and loses everything else, which is often the best possible answer to an indestructible commander, since the creature stays on the battlefield and never goes back to the command zone. And Shadowspear strips indestructible and hexproof from every permanent your opponents control until end of turn for {1}, at which point your ordinary removal is ordinary removal again.
What indestructible actually stops
Two things, and both come up constantly.
Destroy effects. Anything that uses the word "destroy" does nothing to an indestructible permanent: Murder, Go for the Throat, Beast Within, Generous Gift, Wrath of God and Damnation. The "They can't be regenerated" clause on the last two adds nothing here. Indestructible is not regeneration (701.19 and 702.12 are different rules), so a wipe that forbids regeneration still cannot destroy an indestructible creature.
Lethal damage, including deathtouch damage. Rules 704.5g and 704.5h are the two state-based actions that destroy a creature for damage. Rule 702.12b switches off only the first, the lethal-damage check in 704.5g; the deathtouch check in 704.5h still runs, but what it orders is a destruction, and a permanent with indestructible cannot be destroyed, so nothing happens. Blasphemous Act deals 13 damage to each creature and an indestructible creature shrugs all 13 off. A 1/1 with deathtouch kills everything else it touches and bounces off an indestructible attacker. Lightning Bolt still resolves and still deals its damage, it just never adds up to a death.
The rule, line by line
Rule 702.12a
Indestructible is a static ability.
Rule 702.12b
A permanent with indestructible can't be destroyed. Such permanents aren't destroyed by lethal damage, and they ignore the state-based action that checks for lethal damage (see rule 704.5g).
Rule 702.12c
Multiple instances of indestructible on the same permanent are redundant.
Six pieces of fine print follow from those three lines.
- It only works on the battlefield. The rule says "a permanent". A spell on the stack is not a permanent, so an indestructible creature spell can be countered like any other, and the keyword does nothing in a graveyard, a hand or exile.
- Damage still happens, and it stays marked. Rule 120.6: damage marked on a creature remains until the cleanup step. An indestructible 5/5 that has been dealt 5 damage is still a 5/5 with 5 damage on it, alive because the destruction never happens. Brash Taunter and Stuffy Doll are built on exactly this: they want to be dealt damage, and they never die from it.
- It is not evasion and it is not hexproof. An indestructible creature can be targeted, tapped, blocked, enchanted and stolen. It blocks and is blocked like any other creature.
- It is an ability, not a designation. Effects that grant it "until end of turn" leave the creature ordinary the moment the turn ends, and anything that removes all abilities removes it.
- Regenerate is not indestructible. A regeneration shield replaces one destruction this turn, and the price is that the creature is tapped and removed from combat (701.19a). Indestructible has no shield, no tapping and no limit. The regenerate guide covers the older keyword in full.
- Two instances are redundant (702.12c). Putting Darksteel Plate on a creature that already has indestructible adds nothing to that creature. Stacking sources still has a point when they protect different things, but never on one body.
Here is how indestructible sits against the other protective keywords players confuse it with.
| Keyword | Rule | Stops "destroy" | Stops death by damage | Stops exile, sacrifice, toughness 0 | Stops targeting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indestructible | 702.12b | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Regenerate | 701.19a | Once per shield, and the creature taps | Once per shield, and the creature taps | No | No |
| Hexproof | 702.11b | Only the targeted ones | Only from targeted sources | Only the targeted ones | Yes, against opponents |
| Ward | 702.21a | Only the targeted ones, unless the cost is paid | Only from targeted sources, unless the cost is paid | Only the targeted ones, unless the cost is paid | It taxes it |
Hexproof and ward protect against being chosen. Indestructible protects against one specific outcome after being chosen. The combination is why cards that grant both at once, such as Heroic Intervention, read so much stronger than either half alone. Protection from a colour or quality is a fourth thing again: it stops damage, targeting, enchanting and blocking from sources with that quality, and nothing from anything else.
The best indestructible cards in Commander
Our card database holds 112 Commander-legal cards with indestructible printed on them as a keyword, 75 of them creatures, plus 405 more that grant it, add indestructible counters or take it away. These are the ones Commander players run most, ordered by how often they appear in Commander decks, with the mana cost as printed.
| Card | Cost | Type | What it is doing in the deck |
|---|---|---|---|
| The One Ring | {4} | Legendary Artifact | Protection from everything until your next turn, then a growing draw engine. Indestructible means the only clean answers are exile and bounce |
| Mithril Coat | {3} | Legendary Equipment | Flashes in, attaches to a legendary creature, and the Coat and the creature are both indestructible |
| Toski, Bearer of Secrets | {3}{G} | Legendary Creature | Cannot be countered, cannot be destroyed, must attack, and draws a card whenever any of your creatures connects |
| Purphoros, God of the Forge | {3}{R} | Legendary Enchantment Creature | An indestructible enchantment that deals 2 damage to each opponent whenever another creature you control enters. The Theros gods are the classic indestructible engines |
| Avacyn, Angel of Hope | {5}{W}{W}{W} | Legendary Creature | An 8/8 flying vigilance body, and every other permanent you control is indestructible |
| Brash Taunter | {4}{R} | Creature | Wants to be dealt damage and never dies from it. Each point becomes damage to an opponent, and it can pick fights on demand |
| Darksteel Plate | {3} | Equipment | Indestructible itself, and grants indestructible to the equipped creature for an equip cost of {2} |
| Heliod, Sun-Crowned | {2}{W} | Legendary Enchantment Creature | A two-mana indestructible engine that puts a +1/+1 counter on something every time you gain life |
| Blightsteel Colossus | {12} | Artifact Creature | 11/11 trample infect indestructible. It shuffles itself into its library instead of hitting the graveyard, so sacrifice and toughness tricks fail too |
| Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger | {10} | Legendary Creature | Exiles two permanents on cast and twenty cards per attack, and neither damage nor destruction can stop it |
| Zetalpa, Primal Dawn | {6}{W}{W} | Legendary Creature | Flying, double strike, vigilance, trample and indestructible on a 4/8 |
| Darksteel Colossus | {11} | Artifact Creature | The original indestructible finisher, with the same shuffle-back clause as Blightsteel |
| Stuffy Doll | {5} | Artifact Creature | Names a player as it enters, can tap to deal 1 damage to itself, and passes every point of damage it takes to that player |
Notice how many of these are not creatures at all. Indestructible is at its best on an engine that opponents must answer and cannot answer with the removal they actually run: an artifact, an enchantment creature that is not even a creature most of the time, or a commander. Notice too that Blightsteel and Darksteel Colossus close the two biggest holes themselves, since anything that would put them in a graveyard shuffles them away instead. Against those two, exile is the whole answer.
The cards that grant indestructible
The other half of the keyword is the instant that turns a board wipe into a blowout. Ordered the same way, with the cost as printed.
| Card | Cost | What it grants |
|---|---|---|
| Heroic Intervention | {1}{G} | Permanents you control gain hexproof and indestructible until end of turn |
| Boros Charm | {R}{W} | One of three modes: permanents you control gain indestructible until end of turn |
| Flawless Maneuver | {2}{W} | Free if you control a commander. Creatures you control gain indestructible until end of turn |
| Akroma's Will | {3}{W} | With a commander, both modes: your creatures gain lifelink, indestructible and protection from each colour, plus flying, vigilance and double strike |
| Tamiyo's Safekeeping | {G} | One permanent gains hexproof and indestructible until end of turn, and you gain 2 life |
| Unbreakable Formation | {2}{W} | Creatures you control gain indestructible, and a counter plus vigilance if cast in your main phase |
| Selfless Spirit | {1}{W} | Sacrifice it: creatures you control gain indestructible until end of turn, with no spell to counter |
| Bastion Protector | {2}{W} | Your commanders get +2/+2 and have indestructible, permanently |
| Hammer of Nazahn | {4} | Equipped creature gets +2/+0 and has indestructible, and every Equipment you play attaches itself for free |
| Darksteel Forge | {9} | Artifacts you control have indestructible |
Read the temporary ones against the table at the top of this page before you rely on them. Heroic Intervention beats Wrath of God and Blasphemous Act cleanly. It does nothing against Farewell, which exiles, or against Toxic Deluge, which shrinks, because neither one destroys and neither one targets. The permanent sources (Avacyn, Bastion Protector, Darksteel Plate) have the same blind spot, they just have it every turn.
Want the full list rather than the top of it? Ask Scry for creatures that survive board wipes, or for removal that exiles instead of destroying, and it will search on what the card does rather than on the word indestructible, so the sacrifice and minus-toughness answers surface next to the exile ones.
Using indestructible in a deck
Three lines of advice, one for each side of the table.
- If you build around it: one instant-speed "gain indestructible until end of turn" effect in a creature deck answers the most common wipes, and two is plenty. Do not lean on them alone, because the wipes that exile or shrink walk straight through them. A permanent source on your commander, such as Bastion Protector or Darksteel Plate, is worth more than a third instant.
- If you play against it: count your removal. If every spell says "destroy", swap at least two for an exile spell, an edict or a minus-toughness wipe. Every Commander deck should be able to answer an indestructible commander without a specific card for it.
- If you are an indestructible commander's owner: the answers that actually come for you are Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, edicts and Darksteel Mutation. Hexproof or ward covers the targeted ones. Nothing covers the edicts except having a worse creature to sacrifice.
Related keywords
- Regenerate: the older, conditional answer to destruction, and why modern cards say indestructible instead.
- Ward: a tax on targeting, which is the protection indestructible does not provide.
- Hexproof and protection: the two keywords that stop the targeted exile spells indestructible cannot.
- Every MTG keyword and mechanic, explained: the full glossary.
Frequently asked questions
Can an indestructible creature die?
Yes, in every way except destruction. "Dies" means "is put into a graveyard from the battlefield" (rule 700.4), and sacrifice, toughness 0 or less and the legend rule all do that without destroying anything. Exile does not count as dying, but it removes the creature just the same.
Does deathtouch kill an indestructible creature?
No. Deathtouch destroys through a state-based action (702.2b and 704.5h), and 702.12b says the permanent cannot be destroyed. The damage is still dealt and still marked, and nothing happens.
Can an indestructible creature be countered?
Yes. Indestructible works on a permanent, and a spell on the stack is not a permanent. Toski, Bearer of Secrets needs a separate line of text to say it cannot be countered.
Does indestructible remove damage?
No. Damage stays marked until the cleanup step (120.6), even on an indestructible creature. It just never leads to a destruction. Brash Taunter and Stuffy Doll are built to hold that damage all turn.
Is indestructible better than regenerate?
Almost always. Regeneration protects against one destruction per shield, taps the creature and removes it from combat (701.19a); indestructible protects against every destruction with no cost. Both are useless against exile, sacrifice and toughness 0. The regenerate guide has the full comparison.
Answer it in your own deck
Open your list in the deck builder and read the removal. Count how many spells actually say "destroy", and how many say "exile", "sacrifice" or give minus toughness. If the first number is the whole pile, Grover can suggest swaps in plain language, and the Suggestions tab, powered by Tutor, scores each one against the rest of your list. New to the format? Start with the deck builder basics and how many lands your deck needs.
Create a free Mana Grove account to build with the full deck builder and format legality checks, see plans and pricing for more time with Grover, Scry and Tutor, browse the card database for the printed text of every card named above, and visit the Commander hub for more guides.
Sources
- Magic: The Gathering Comprehensive Rules, effective August 7, 2026: https://magic.wizards.com/en/rules. Read on September 20, 2026. Rule 702.12 (Indestructible), 701.8 (Destroy), 701.13 (Exile), 701.21 (Sacrifice), 701.19 (Regenerate), 704.5f, 704.5g, 704.5h and 704.5j (state-based actions), 120.6 (damage), 700.4 (dies), 702.2 (Deathtouch), 702.11 (Hexproof) and 702.21 (Ward) are quoted above.
- Mana Grove card database, MTGJSON build of September 14, 2026: the indestructible keyword, the Commander legality, the mana cost and the rules text of every card named above, the count of 112 Commander-legal cards with indestructible printed on them (75 creatures; each card name counted once and a double-faced card by its front face) and of 405 cards that grant, count or remove it. Commander play frequency is the deck-inclusion popularity rank carried in the same data.
This article is updated when the Comprehensive Rules change the indestructible entry or when a set adds an indestructible card worth listing. The date at the top is the last revision.