Animate Dead — Magic: The Gathering card

Animate Dead

{1}{B}
Enchantment — Aura

Enchant creature card in a graveyard<br>When Animate Dead enters, if it's on the battlefield, it loses "enchant creature card in a graveyard" and gains "enchant creature put onto the battlefield with Animate Dead." Return enchanted creature card to the battlefield under your control and attach Animate Dead to it. When Animate Dead leaves the battlefield, that creature's controller sacrifices it.<br>Enchanted creature gets -1/-0.

Set Revised Edition
Rarity Uncommon
Artist Anson Maddocks

Why Play Animate Dead

Reanimation spells offer incredible mana efficiency by putting expensive threats into play ahead of schedule, and Animate Dead excels at this role for just two mana. The card shines in graveyard-focused strategies where you can reliably stock your yard with high-value targets through self-mill, discard effects, or wheel spells. Deploy it early to pressure opponents with fatties like Griselbrand or Jin-Gitaxias, or use it reactively to steal powerful creatures from opponents' graveyards. The -1/-0 drawback rarely matters when you're cheating 6+ mana creatures into play.

Format Notes

Animate Dead sees significant play in Legacy Reanimator decks and remains a Commander staple across countless graveyard strategies. In Legacy, it enables explosive turn-one or turn-two plays when combined with fast mana and discard outlets like Entomb. Commander players value its versatility and low mana cost, making it an auto-include in most black-based reanimator builds. The card has never faced banning due to its vulnerability to enchantment removal and the setup required to use it effectively.

Combos & Synergies

Entomb creates the perfect setup by tutoring any creature directly to your graveyard for immediate reanimation. Worldgorger Dragon forms an infinite mana combo with Animate Dead, repeatedly entering and leaving the battlefield to generate unlimited resources. Cards like Buried Alive and Faithless Looting help stock your graveyard with multiple reanimation targets, while protection spells like Silence ensure your combo resolves safely against interaction.

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Enchantment