Dawn's Truce is one of those cards players keep asking about. Here is, in plain words, what its official text says, the rulings published by Wizards of the Coast, and the combos players actually run.
Official card text
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.
Complete guide
Dawn's Truce is a versatile white instant that offers a unique choice: provide your team with a simple layer of protection or grant them total immunity by offering a gift. It utilizes the gift mechanic to upgrade its defensive capabilities from mere hexproof to full-blown indestructible.
Understanding the Gift Mechanic
When you cast Dawn's Truce, you decide whether to promise a 'gift' to an opponent. In this case, the gift is a card draw. This decision is made as you cast the spell. If you promise the gift, your chosen opponent draws a card first as the spell resolves, and then you apply the upgraded effects. If the spell is countered, the opponent does not get the gift.
Resolution Step-by-Step
First, the spell is cast and you choose to promise a card or not. Upon resolution, if the gift was promised, the opponent draws their card immediately. Next, you and permanents you control gain hexproof until end of turn. Finally, if the gift was promised, your permanents also gain indestructible until the end of turn. Note that this spell does not target, so it can protect you even if you already have shroud or hexproof.
Timing and Strategy
Because Dawn's Truce grants hexproof and indestructible only to permanents you control at the time it resolves, it won't protect permanents that enter the battlefield later in the turn. It is best used in response to mass removal or targeted exile effects. Choosing not to gift is often correct when you only need to stop a single targeted spell, whereas gifting is essential against board wipes like Shatter the Sky.
Interaction examples
Swords to PlowsharesAn opponent casts Swords to Plowshares targeting your best creature. In response, you cast Dawn's Truce without promising a gift. Dawn's Truce resolves, giving you and your permanents hexproof. When Swords to Plowshares tries to resolve, it finds its target is now illegal and is removed from the stack with no effect.
Path to ExileIf an opponent attempts to exile your creature with Path to Exile, you can cast Dawn's Truce. Even if you don't promise the gift, your creature gains hexproof. Since Path to Exile requires a target, the hexproof granted by Dawn's Truce prevents the creature from being affected, saving it from exile.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : Dawn's Truce
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
As an additional cost to cast a spell with gift, you can promise the listed gift to an opponent. That opponent is chosen as part of that additional cost. The gift isn't given at this time; rather, it's given at a later time based on whether or not the spell is a permanent spell.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #2· Wizards of the Coast
For permanent spells with gift, an ability triggers when that permanent enters if the gift was promised. When that ability resolves, the gift is given to the appropriate opponent.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #3· Wizards of the Coast
For instants and sorceries with gift, the gift is given to the appropriate opponent as part of the resolution of the spell. This happens before any of the spell's other effects would take place.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #4· Wizards of the Coast
If a spell for which the gift was promised is countered, doesn't resolve (perhaps because all of its targets are illegal), or is otherwise removed from the stack, the gift won't be given. None of its other effects will happen either.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #5· Wizards of the Coast
You can't pay a gift cost more than once.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #6· Wizards of the Coast
If you copy a spell for which the gift was promised, the gift was also promised to the same opponent for the copy. If a card or token enters as a copy of a permanent that's already on the battlefield, the gift isn't promised for that new permanent, even if it was promised for the original.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #7· Wizards of the Coast
Some instant or sorcery spells require alternative or additional targets if the gift was promised. You ignore these targeting requirements if the gifts aren't promised for those spells. On the other hand, you can promise a gift for a permanent spell even if you won't be able to choose targets for an enters ability of that permanent once the spell resolves.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #8· Wizards of the Coast
In the main set, there are four different kinds of gifts. "Gift a Food" causes the chosen opponent to create a Food token, while "Gift a Treasure" causes the chosen opponent to create a Treasure token. "Gift a card" causes them to draw a card, and "Gift a tapped Fish" causes them to create a tapped 1/1 blue Fish creature token. The Commander decks contain two more kinds of gifts: "Gift an Octopus," which causes the chosen opponent to create an 8/8 blue Octopus creature token, and "Gift an extra turn," which causes them to take an extra turn after the current turn ends.
No other card is named in this ruling.
Legal formats
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Meta decks with Dawn's Truce
No archived Top 8 deck with this card yet.