Reanimate MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 13 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost1
RarityUncommon
TypeSorcery

Key Takeaways

  1. Reanimate cards turn graveyards into resource pools, effectively giving players additional high-impact draws.
  2. By reviving creatures at reduced costs, players can outpace opponents with powerful board presence.
  3. Instant speed reanimation heightens flexibility, allowing for reactive plays and strategic board control.

Text of card

Put target creature card from any graveyard into play under your control. Lose life equal to that creature's total casting cost.

"You will learn to earn death." —Volrath


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Reanimating a creature from the graveyard not only brings a powerful ally back into play but also effectively counts as drawing a high-impact card. This bolsters your position on the battlefield and in the overall game, potentially swaying the tide in your favor.

Resource Acceleration: By bringing creatures back to the battlefield for less than their original casting cost, you’re able to deploy threats or key pieces much faster than normal. This form of cost reduction ensures a more efficient use of resources, providing a significant advantage in terms of board presence.

Instant Speed: The ability to reanimate at instant speed offers incredible versatility, allowing you to react to your opponent’s moves and potentially disrupt their strategy. It also enables surprise blocking or end-of-turn plays that can catch an opponent off guard and shift the game dynamics in your favor.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: The mechanics of reanimate cards often require a player to discard a card first. This can pose a strategic dilemma, particularly when hand size is crucial, or if the discarded card is of higher value to the game plan than the creature being resurrected from the graveyard.

Specific Mana Cost: Reanimate effects typically demand specific mana types, often a combination of black and additional colors or generic mana. This can limit flexibility, making them less accessible to decks not built around those mana colors or necessitating a more complex mana base to consistently cast the spell.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: While the power to bring back a potent creature from the graveyard is strong, reanimate cards often come at a high mana cost. Their effectiveness is somewhat offset by other, less mana-intensive spells that may not pack the same punch but allow for a more steady game progression.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Reanimate is a staple in decks that aim to pull powerful creatures from the graveyard directly onto the battlefield. This card can seamlessly integrate into various archetypes, from combo decks to control strategies, due to its straightforward and impactful effect.

Combo Potential: With Reanimate, the ability to resurrect key combo pieces from the graveyard offers players numerous opportunities to execute game-winning plays. Whether you are aiming to bring back a game-changing creature or to initiate an infinite loop, Reanimate can serve as the linchpin for these strategies.

Meta-Relevance: Given the recurring presence of graveyard-based strategies in the competitive scene, having Reanimate in your arsenal ensures you have a response to-and can also capitalize on-the current trends. It’s a card that continuously proves its worth as the meta evolves, solidifying its place in many players’ collections.


How to beat

The allure of bringing behemoth creatures from the graveyard to the battlefield makes Reanimate a powerful spell in MTG. Unlike other resurrection mechanisms, Reanimate has the advantage of being a low-cost, single black mana spell, allowing players to play high-value creatures early in the game. To effectively counteract this strategy, graveyard disruption is key. Cards like Scavenging Ooze or Rest in Peace exert control by eliminating the targets for Reanimate before they can be returned to play.

Moreover, spells that grant instant-speed graveyard exile, such as Tormod’s Crypt or Relic of Progenitus, can be pivotal in disrupting a Reanimate deck’s momentum. Timing is crucial; activating these effects in response to Reanimate’s casting can leave opponents with a significant life loss without the payoff. Moreover, hand disruption techniques, employing cards like Thoughtseize or Duress, facilitate proactive strategies by removing Reanimate and other key pieces from an opponent’s hand before they can become a threat.

In essence, maintaining a balance of constant pressure and strategic graveyard management can thwart the potency of Reanimate spells, securing an advantage in MTG matches against decks that rely heavily on their graveyard synergy.


BurnMana Recommendations

If you’re enthralled by the strategic depth of MTG and the power of bringing formidable creatures into play from the graveyard, Reanimate is an essential card to consider for your collection. Whether it provides card advantage, speeds up your resource deployment, or surprises your opponents with instant speed play, it’s clear that Reanimate can shift the tide of any game. Tactically navigating through its pros and cons will not only challenge your skills but also enhance your deck’s performance. For players looking to keep their strategies fresh and competitive, embracing the transformative potential of graveyard play is key. Dive deeper into the art of reanimation with us, where we unveil sophisticated plays and tech against prevailing meta strategies, guiding you towards MTG supremacy.


Cards like Reanimate

Exploring the depths of graveyard mechanics, the Reanimate card stands out in Magic: The Gathering for its ability to pull creatures from the graveyard straight into play. It’s not alone in its dark revival arts, sharing the stage with the likes of Animate Dead. While Animate Dead also brings creatures back from the grave, it does so by attaching itself as an enchantment, which can be a double-edged sword depending on removal spells your opponents might have.

Exhume is another comparison worthy of note. It allows each player to put a creature from their graveyard onto the battlefield, inevitably a more democratic option than Reanimate’s targeted approach, and potentially a risk if your opponents have potent creatures in their graveyard. Then we have the powerhouse Zombify, that operates at a higher mana cost but without the life loss associated with Reanimate—crucial in games where your life total is under threat.

Each of these cards offers nuanced advantages depending on the strategy and the state of play. Within the vast array of resurrection spells in the game, Reanimate shines with its low cost and surgical precision, making it a highly strategic tool for any graveyard-centric deck.

Animate Dead - MTG Card versions
Exhume - MTG Card versions
Zombify - MTG Card versions
Animate Dead - Limited Edition Alpha (LEA)
Exhume - Urza's Saga (USG)
Zombify - Odyssey (ODY)

Cards similar to Reanimate by color, type and mana cost

Raise Dead - MTG Card versions
Mind Twist - MTG Card versions
Contract from Below - MTG Card versions
Spoils of War - MTG Card versions
Tendrils of Despair - MTG Card versions
Bloodcurdling Scream - MTG Card versions
Organ Harvest - MTG Card versions
Duress - MTG Card versions
Bubbling Muck - MTG Card versions
Soul Strings - MTG Card versions
Cabal Therapy - MTG Card versions
Confront the Past - MTG Card versions
Stir the Grave - MTG Card versions
Cry of Contrition - MTG Card versions
Deathmark - MTG Card versions
Call to the Netherworld - MTG Card versions
Raven's Crime - MTG Card versions
Imperial Seal - MTG Card versions
Bone Splinters - MTG Card versions
Innocent Blood - MTG Card versions
Raise Dead - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
Mind Twist - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
Contract from Below - Foreign Black Border (FBB)
Spoils of War - Ice Age (ICE)
Tendrils of Despair - Weatherlight (WTH)
Bloodcurdling Scream - Portal Second Age (P02)
Organ Harvest - Unglued (UGL)
Duress - Innistrad: Double Feature (DBL)
Bubbling Muck - Urza's Destiny (UDS)
Soul Strings - Prophecy (PCY)
Cabal Therapy - Premium Deck Series: Graveborn (PD3)
Confront the Past - The List (PLST)
Stir the Grave - Betrayers of Kamigawa (BOK)
Cry of Contrition - Guildpact (GPT)
Deathmark - Coldsnap (CSP)
Call to the Netherworld - Time Spiral (TSP)
Raven's Crime - Eventide (EVE)
Imperial Seal - Double Masters 2022 (2X2)
Bone Splinters - The List (PLST)
Innocent Blood - Mystery Booster (MB1)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Reanimate MTG card by a specific set like Tempest and Battle Royale Box Set, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Reanimate and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Reanimate Magic the Gathering card was released in 13 different sets between 1997-10-14 and 2024-02-09. Illustrated by 4 different artists.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
11997-10-14TempestTMP 1511997normalblackRobert Bliss
21999-11-12Battle Royale Box SetBRB 571997normalwhiteRobert Bliss
32002-06-24Magic Online PromosPRM 360522003normalblackRobert Bliss
42004-01-01Friday Night Magic 2004F04 102003normalblackRobert Bliss
52010-06-18ArchenemyARC 212003normalblackRobert Bliss
62011-11-18Premium Deck Series: GravebornPD3 152003normalblackRobert Bliss
72014-06-16Vintage MastersVMA 1362015normalblackRobert Bliss
82015-05-06Tempest RemasteredTPR 1122015normalblackRobert Bliss
92018-12-07Ultimate MastersUMA 1102015normalblackJohann Bodin
102020-07-17JumpstartJMP 2702015normalblackJohann Bodin
112022-01-28Commander Collection: BlackCC2 52015normalblackNils Hamm
122023-06-23Tales of Middle-earth CommanderLTC 2062015normalblackSvetlin Velinov
132024-02-09Murders at Karlov Manor CommanderMKC 1372015normalblackJohann Bodin

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Reanimate has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
OathbreakerLegal
PremodernLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Reanimate card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

DateText
2018-12-07 If a card in a player's graveyard has in its mana cost, X is considered to be 0.
2018-12-07 If any abilities trigger on the creature entering the battlefield, those abilities resolve after you lose life. If losing life results in you losing the game, those abilities won't resolve.
2018-12-07 In a multiplayer game, if a player leaves the game, all cards that player owns leave as well. If you leave the game, the creature you control from Reanimate is exiled.
2018-12-07 The amount of life you lose is determined by the mana value of the card in your graveyard, not the creature once it's on the battlefield.
2018-12-07 You lose life after the creature is already on the battlefield. Any abilities it has that interact with loss of life, such as that of Platinum Emperion, apply to that loss of life.

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