Sandskin

Defensive Auras usually pick a lane: stop a creature from attacking effectively, or stop it from dying in combat. This tries to do both, neutralizing the enchanted creature as an attacker and as a blocker at once. The result is a permanent that fully removes one creature from the combat math without removing it from the board: it cannot trade in a block, cannot push damage, cannot die to a swing. That sounds like a Pacifism variant, but it is meaningfully worse at the job. Pacifism stops the creature from attacking outright and costs less; this leaves the creature free to attack and block, it just makes those motions deal and take no damage, which can matter when the opponent wants a chump blocker neutralized or a deathtouch attacker defanged. The combat-only clause is what reins it in: anything that deals noncombat damage, or any noncombat removal, sails right past the protection it grants. The reciprocal wording (prevent damage dealt by and to) reveals the underlying intent: this is a fog locked onto a single creature rather than a clean answer to a threat. That makes it a finicky tool: useful for parking an aggressive attacker that the opponent cannot profitably ignore, less useful as the catch-all removal an Aura at this cost usually wants to be.