Raise Dead MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 31 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost1
RarityCommon
TypeSorcery

Key Takeaways

  1. Securing key creatures with Raise Dead can shift the game’s momentum in your favor.
  2. Though mana-specific, it’s essential for maintaining board presence in black decks.
  3. In a meta where graves extend hands, Raise Dead retains significant value.

Text of card

Return creature from your graveyard to your hand.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: The Raise Dead card is pivotal in reclaiming valuable creatures from your graveyard. This simple yet effective spell ensures you can bring back key cards that have been lost during the match, potentially turning the tide in your favor by keeping your hand stocked with important resources.

Resource Acceleration: While Raise Dead doesn’t directly accelerate resources in terms of mana, it strategically replenishes your creature lineup. The ability to recover a powerful creature can accelerate your board presence and pressure, thereby indirectly influencing your resource management and battlefield control.

Instant Speed: Raise Dead operates at sorcery speed, offering a precise timing to your strategic planning. While it can’t be used as a surprise during an opponent’s turn like an instant, its sorcery nature allows you to reclaim creatures right before your turn begins, ensuring a well-planned lineup for your phases ahead.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: The Raise Dead card doesn’t necessitate discarding, but it does require a savvy strategy to ensure you make the most of its single-target revival capability without cluttering your graveyard unnecessarily.

Specific Mana Cost: Raise Dead comes with the need for one black mana, so in multi-colored decks, this might cause slight hiccups if black mana sources aren’t readily available or if you’re stretching your mana base to accommodate a broader color palette.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: While Raise Dead’s mana cost is low, it’s imperative to consider that it takes up a whole turn’s worth of mana in the early game, which could be pivotal for developing your board presence, and in later stages, it might not be as impactful when larger, game-changing spells are in play.


Reasons to Include Raise Dead in Your Collection

Versatility: Raise Dead is a fundamental card that can be slotted into an array of black decks. It allows players to bring back crucial creatures from their graveyard, which can be vital in longer, grindier games.

Combo Potential: With the ability to recover combo pieces from the graveyard, Raise Dead has intrinsic value in decks constructed around specific creature-based combinations. This simple spell can be the difference between a failed combo attempt and a successful game-winning play.

Meta-Relevance: In a game where the graveyard is increasingly becoming an extension of a player’s hand, Raise Dead holds its weight in various meta environments. It shines particularly in games where creatures are frequently traded in combat or targeted for removal, ensuring you maintain a presence on the board.


How to beat

Raise Dead is a classic spell with straightforward mechanics that allow MTG players to return a creature from their graveyard to their hand. While seemingly simple, this card can be a subtle linchpin in a player’s strategy, particularly in decks that revolve around creature recycling and combo executions. Overcoming the advantage provided by Raise Dead requires a multifaceted approach. Control decks that can counter spells or exile cards directly from the graveyard effectively nullify Raise Dead’s impact. Strategic use of graveyard hate cards like Rest in Peace or Tormod’s Crypt can make Raise Dead obsolete, as no creatures would be available in the graveyard to return.

Timing is also key. Applying pressure early and forcing your opponent to use their mana inefficiently disrupts the opportunistic nature of Raise Dead. If you’re piloting an aggressive deck, maintain the offensive and minimize the potential targets for Raise Dead by targeting the creatures that would provide the most value if returned. Efficient removal spells or those that exile upon death, such as Path to Exile, prevent the most common follow-up plays after Raise Dead has been cast. By understanding these nuances, a well-prepared player can effectively mitigate the effects of Raise Dead on the game’s outcome.


BurnMana Recommendations

The allure of the MTG universe lies in its strategic depth, and Raise Dead exemplifies the strategic nuance of black magic, enabling you to reclaim powerful creatures lost in battle. This can be a gamechanger in close contests, subtly shifting the momentum in your favor. Whether you’re a seasoned player or new to the dark arts of MTG, Raise Dead offers valuable nuances that can be incorporated into various decks. Ready to unlock the full potential of your graveyard and craft winning strategies with Raise Dead? Join our community of champions and enhance your MTG journey with expertise on this timeless spell.


Cards like Raise Dead

In the realm of resource recovery in MTG, Raise Dead stands as a straightforward option for returning creatures from the graveyard to hand. Its simplicity is echoed in comparable cards like Disentomb, another spell with the exact same function but with a more recent print pedigree. Unlike Raise Dead, though, it comes from 2010’s Magic 2011 core set, a nod to the game’s evolutionary card design.

Gravepurge offers a twist to the Raise Dead functionality by enabling the player not only to retrieve creatures from the graveyard but also to stack their library with them, an advantage for setting up future draws. However, this comes at the cost of one additional mana. Then there’s Morbid Plunder, which takes the Raise Dead effect to the next level by allowing the player to recover two creature cards for a higher mana cost. The flexibility in these variations gives players options to tailor their strategy according to the game state.

While each of these cards share the core essence of Raise Dead in granting players another chance with their creature cards, they illustrate the breadth of choice within MTG, providing players with options to optimize their gameplay around graveyard interaction.

Disentomb - MTG Card versions
Gravepurge - MTG Card versions
Morbid Plunder - MTG Card versions
Disentomb - Magic 2010 (M10)
Gravepurge - Dark Ascension (DKA)
Morbid Plunder - Mirrodin Besieged (MBS)

Cards similar to Raise Dead by color, type and mana cost

Mind Twist - MTG Card versions
Contract from Below - MTG Card versions
Spoils of War - MTG Card versions
Tendrils of Despair - MTG Card versions
Mind Peel - MTG Card versions
Bloodcurdling Scream - MTG Card versions
Organ Harvest - MTG Card versions
Duress - MTG Card versions
Unearth - MTG Card versions
Bubbling Muck - MTG Card versions
Chorus of Woe - MTG Card versions
Reanimate - MTG Card versions
Soul Strings - MTG Card versions
Skull Fracture - MTG Card versions
Tombfire - MTG Card versions
Innocent Blood - MTG Card versions
Restless Dreams - MTG Card versions
Cabal Therapy - MTG Card versions
Confront the Past - MTG Card versions
Despise - MTG Card versions
Mind Twist - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
Contract from Below - Foreign Black Border (FBB)
Spoils of War - Ice Age (ICE)
Tendrils of Despair - Weatherlight (WTH)
Mind Peel - Stronghold (STH)
Bloodcurdling Scream - Portal Second Age (P02)
Organ Harvest - Unglued (UGL)
Duress - Dominaria Remastered (DMR)
Unearth - Historic Anthology 7 (HA7)
Bubbling Muck - Urza's Destiny (UDS)
Chorus of Woe - Starter 1999 (S99)
Reanimate - Jumpstart (JMP)
Soul Strings - Prophecy (PCY)
Skull Fracture - Odyssey (ODY)
Tombfire - Odyssey (ODY)
Innocent Blood - The List (PLST)
Restless Dreams - Torment (TOR)
Cabal Therapy - Premium Deck Series: Graveborn (PD3)
Confront the Past - Strixhaven: School of Mages Promos (PSTX)
Despise - Khans of Tarkir (KTK)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Raise Dead MTG card by a specific set like Limited Edition Alpha and Limited Edition Beta, 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 Raise Dead and other MTG cards:

Continue exploring other sealed products in Amazon
See Magic products

Printings

The Raise Dead Magic the Gathering card was released in 24 different sets between 1993-08-05 and 2022-11-28. Illustrated by 7 different artists.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
11993-08-05Limited Edition AlphaLEA 1221993normalblackJeff A. Menges
21993-10-04Limited Edition BetaLEB 1231993normalblackJeff A. Menges
31993-12-01Unlimited Edition2ED 1231993normalwhiteJeff A. Menges
41993-12-10Collectors' EditionCED 1231993normalblackJeff A. Menges
51993-12-10Intl. Collectors' EditionCEI 1231993normalblackJeff A. Menges
61994-04-01Revised Edition3ED 1241993normalwhiteJeff A. Menges
71994-04-01Foreign Black BorderFBB 1241993normalblackJeff A. Menges
81994-06-21Summer Magic / EdgarSUM 1241993normalwhiteJeff A. Menges
91995-04-01Fourth Edition4ED 1561993normalwhiteJeff A. Menges
101995-04-01Fourth Edition Foreign Black Border4BB 1561993normalblackJeff A. Menges
111996-07-01Rivals Quick Start SetRQS 211993normalwhiteJeff A. Menges
121996-12-31Introductory Two-Player SetITP 221993normalwhiteJeff A. Menges
131997-03-24Fifth Edition5ED 1911997normalwhiteDavid Seeley
141997-05-01PortalPOR 1071997normalblackCharles Gillespie
151997-05-01PortalPOR 107s1997normalblack李尤松
161998-06-24Portal Second AgeP02 861997normalblackAnson Maddocks
171999-04-21Classic Sixth Edition6ED 1521997normalwhiteCharles Gillespie
181999-07-01Starter 1999S99 851997normalwhiteCharles Gillespie
192001-04-11Seventh Edition7ED 157★1997normalblackCarl Critchlow
202001-04-11Seventh Edition7ED 157s1997normalwhiteDouglas Shuler
212001-04-11Seventh Edition7ED 157★s1997normalblackDouglas Shuler
222001-04-11Seventh Edition7ED 1571997normalwhiteCarl Critchlow
232003-07-28Eighth Edition8ED 1572003normalwhiteCarl Critchlow
242003-07-28Eighth Edition8ED 157★2003normalblackCarl Critchlow
252005-07-29Ninth Edition9ED 1562003normalwhiteCarl Critchlow
262005-07-29Ninth Edition9ED 156★2003normalblackCarl Critchlow
272016-08-26Conspiracy: Take the CrownCN2 1462015normalblackCarl Critchlow
282017-04-15Welcome Deck 2017W17 182015normalblackCarl Critchlow
292020-08-13Arena Beginner SetANB 562015normalblackCarl Critchlow
302022-11-2830th Anniversary Edition30A 1192015normalblackJeff A. Menges
312022-11-2830th Anniversary Edition30A 4161997normalblackJeff A. Menges

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Raise Dead has restrictions

FormatLegality
OldschoolLegal
HistoricbrawlLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
PaupercommanderLegal
OathbreakerLegal
GladiatorLegal
AlchemyLegal
PioneerLegal
CommanderLegal
ModernLegal
PauperLegal
PremodernLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
ExplorerLegal
PredhLegal
TimelessLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2004-10-04 The creature being brought back is chosen on announcement and not on resolution of the spell because it is targeted.
2004-10-04 You must show the card you bring out of the graveyard to your opponent.

Recent MTG decks

Continue exploring other format decks
More decks