Defender is a keyword ability that prevents a creature from attacking. Defender creatures frequently compensate with high toughness, low mana costs, or useful abilities, allowing dedicated decks to turn a supposedly defensive drawback into their primary strategy.
High Alert and Assault Formation let high-toughness creatures become legitimate attackers, while Overgrown Battlement and Axebane Guardian can convert a battlefield full of Defenders into substantial amounts of mana.
