In MTG, regenerating a permanent does not bring anything back. It builds a shield that waits for the next destruction this turn, and when that destruction arrives the shield replaces it with three things: all marked damage is removed, the permanent's controller taps it, and if it is attacking or blocking it is removed from combat. The Comprehensive Rules spell it out: "The next time [permanent] would be destroyed this turn, instead remove all damage marked on it and its controller taps it. If it's an attacking or blocking creature, remove it from combat" (rule 701.19a of the Comprehensive Rules). The word "destroyed" is the whole story. Exile, sacrifice, a toughness of zero and the words "can't be regenerated" all get past a regeneration shield, because none of them destroy the permanent in the way the shield is watching for. Mana Grove, a free MTG deck builder for Commander, publishes this guide to the regenerate keyword and reads every card in it from its own card database.
This guide is part of our MTG keywords and mechanics glossary, the index of every mechanic guide on Mana Grove.
Below: the rule in both of its forms, the five effects regenerate cannot stop, why tapping and leaving combat is a real cost, and the regenerate cards Commander players run, read from our card database.
The rule, in its two forms
Regenerate is a keyword action, and the rules give it two shapes depending on where the regeneration comes from.
Rule 701.19a
If the effect of a resolving spell or ability regenerates a permanent, it creates a replacement effect that protects the permanent the next time it would be destroyed this turn. In this case, "Regenerate [permanent]" means "The next time [permanent] would be destroyed this turn, instead remove all damage marked on it and its controller taps it. If it's an attacking or blocking creature, remove it from combat."
Rule 701.19b
If the effect of a static ability regenerates a permanent, it replaces destruction with an alternate effect each time that permanent would be destroyed. In this case, "Regenerate [permanent]" means "Instead remove all damage marked on [permanent] and its controller taps it. If it's an attacking or blocking creature, remove it from combat."
The difference matters. The 701.19a version, which covers nearly every card you will meet, is a single-use shield that expires at end of turn whether or not it was used. The 701.19b version is a standing replacement that applies every time, and it is rare.
There is a third line that catches almost everyone at some point:
Rule 701.19c
Neither activating an ability that creates a regeneration shield nor casting a spell that creates a regeneration shield is the same as regenerating a permanent. Effects that say that a permanent can't be regenerated don't preclude such abilities from being activated or such spells from being cast; rather, they cause regeneration shields to not be applied.
In plain terms: you may always pay for the shield, even against a board wipe that says creatures cannot be regenerated. You just do not get anything for your mana. Check the wipe before you pay.
What the shield actually costs you
A regeneration shield is not a free save, and two of its three effects are downsides.
Your permanent gets tapped. If you regenerate a blocker, it is tapped afterwards, so it cannot block again in a later combat that turn and it cannot be tapped for an ability. If you regenerate an untapped creature during your opponent's turn, you have effectively lost it as a blocker for the rest of the turn cycle.
It leaves combat. Rule 506.4 removes a regenerating attacker or blocker from combat, and that cuts both ways. A regenerated attacker deals no combat damage that combat, provided the shield applies before the combat damage step; if it instead applies as the replacement for destruction by lethal combat damage (rule 704.5g), the damage was already dealt simultaneously (rule 510.2) and the shield only saves the creature. A regenerated blocker is the case players get wrong. The attacker stays blocked, because rule 509.1h keeps a creature blocked even when every creature blocking it has left combat, and rule 510.1c then leaves a blocked creature with no blockers nothing to assign. Trample is the exception, and it is not a small one: rule 702.19d says that when a blocked attacker with trample has no creatures blocking it as damage is assigned, its damage is assigned to the defending player as though all the blocking creatures had been assigned lethal damage, so the whole attack lands on you. Regenerating a blocker saves your creature. It does not absorb a trampler's attack.
Damage is cleared. This one is a genuine upside. A creature that survives through regeneration comes out of it with no damage marked, so a second blocker or a second burn spell has to start again.
The five things regenerate does not stop
This is where the mechanic earns its reputation for being confusing. A regeneration shield only ever replaces destruction.
- Exile. Nothing is destroyed, so nothing is replaced. Merciless Eviction exiles all creatures and a regeneration shield does not even look at it.
- Sacrifice. Sacrificing is a cost or an instruction, not destruction. Rule 701.21a says so outright: "Sacrificing a permanent doesn't destroy it, so regeneration or other effects that replace destruction can't affect this action." An edict eats a regenerating creature happily.
- Zero or less toughness. A creature whose toughness is zero or less is put into the graveyard as a state-based action rather than destroyed, and rule 704.5f closes the door in five words: "Regeneration can't replace this event." Toxic Deluge gives every creature minus X toughness, and regeneration does nothing against it.
- "Can't be regenerated". Our card database holds 153 Commander-legal cards that print those words, and the two most played wipes are among them: Wrath of God and Damnation both read "Destroy all creatures. They can't be regenerated." Per rule 701.19c you can still pay for the shield; it simply is not applied.
- Bounce, steal and anything that changes zones or control. Returning a creature to hand or taking it is not destruction either.
The cases regenerate does cover are worth knowing precisely, because they are common: lethal damage in combat, lethal damage from a burn spell, deathtouch damage, and any spell or ability that uses the word destroy without the extra clause. Rules 704.5g and 704.5h carry the damage cases between them. Rule 704.5g covers lethal damage: a creature with toughness greater than zero whose marked damage reaches its toughness has been dealt lethal damage and is destroyed. Rule 704.5h covers deathtouch separately, for a creature dealt any damage at all by a source with deathtouch. Both rules end with the same sentence, and it is the one every regeneration deck is built on: "Regeneration can replace this event."
Why modern cards rarely say regenerate
If you have started playing recently, you will have met the shield far more often as a shield counter than as regeneration. Rule 122.1c defines it: "One or more shield counters on a permanent create a single replacement effect and a single prevention effect that protect the permanent. These effects are 'If this permanent would be destroyed as the result of an effect, instead remove a shield counter from it' and 'If damage would be dealt to this permanent, prevent that damage and remove a shield counter from it'."
The two are close cousins and not the same thing. A shield counter also prevents damage outright, and it does not tap the permanent or pull it out of combat. That is why newer designs reach for shield counters: they do the useful half of regeneration without the two awkward halves. Regeneration remains on hundreds of older cards, and those cards are all still legal in Commander, so the rule is not going anywhere.
The best regenerate cards in Commander
Our card database holds 271 Commander-legal cards that regenerate something. These are the ones Commander players run most, ordered by how often they appear in Commander decks.
| Card | Cost | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Swarmyard | Land | Taps for colourless, and regenerates any Insect, Rat, Spider or Squirrel for free. A land slot for those tribes |
| Nightscape Familiar | {1}{B} | Discounts your blue and red spells and regenerates itself for {1}{B}, so it is hard to remove with damage |
| Asceticism | {3}{G}{G} | Hexproof for your whole board plus a repeatable regeneration for {1}{G} |
| Golgari Charm | {B}{G} | A two-mana instant that can regenerate your entire board in response to a wipe that allows it |
| Dawn Charm | {1}{W} | Regeneration, combat damage prevention or a narrow counterspell, chosen on resolution |
| Ezuri, Renegade Leader | {1}{G}{G} | Regenerates another Elf for a single {G}, which makes an Elf board very hard to break with damage |
| Wrap in Vigor | {1}{G} | Regenerates every creature you control for two mana at instant speed |
| Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon | {3}{B}{B} | A flying infect commander that buys haste and regeneration from the same black mana |
| Golgari Grave-Troll | {4}{G} | Arrives huge from a full graveyard and spends its own counters to regenerate |
| Welding Jar | {0} | A free artifact that sacrifices to regenerate an artifact, so it protects a key mana rock for nothing |
| Yavimaya Hollow | Land | Regenerates any creature for {G} and a tap, from a land slot |
| Goblin Chirurgeon | {R} | A one-mana Goblin that converts spare Goblins into regenerations |
The pattern is clear enough to build on: the regeneration cards worth a slot are the repeatable ones on a permanent, especially the lands, because they cost you nothing until the turn you need them. One-shot regeneration spells are a trap unless they cover your whole board, which is why Wrap in Vigor and Golgari Charm make the list and single-target instants mostly do not.
The honest comparison for a modern deck is Heroic Intervention, which grants hexproof and indestructible to everything you control for {1}{G}. Indestructible stops destruction without tapping anything or breaking combat, and hexproof stops the targeting that regeneration never addressed. If your deck can play it, it is the better card, and regeneration earns its slot when it is stapled to a land, a free artifact or a creature you were running anyway.
Want the rest of the list in your colours? Ask Scry for cards that save a creature from being destroyed, and it answers on what the card does rather than on the keyword, so indestructible, shield counters and regeneration all come back together.
Frequently asked questions
What does regenerate do in MTG?
Regenerating a permanent creates a shield. The next time that permanent would be destroyed during that turn, the destruction is replaced: all damage marked on it is removed, its controller taps it, and if it is attacking or blocking it is removed from combat (Comprehensive Rules 701.19a). The shield is used up once it applies, and any unused shield goes away at end of turn.
How long does a regeneration shield last?
Until it is used or until the turn ends, whichever comes first. A spell or ability that regenerates a permanent creates a shield that protects it "the next time it would be destroyed this turn" (701.19a), so it replaces one destruction and is then used up, and a shield that never applies ends with the turn. A static ability that regenerates is the rare exception: under rule 701.19b it replaces destruction each time the permanent would be destroyed.
Does regenerate bring a creature back from the graveyard?
No. Nothing comes back. Regeneration only ever stops a permanent from reaching the graveyard in the first place, and only for destruction. A creature already in the graveyard needs a reanimation spell, not regeneration.
Does regenerate stop exile or sacrifice?
No to both. A regeneration shield replaces destruction only. Exile, sacrifice, being put into the graveyard for having zero toughness, being returned to hand and being stolen all happen normally.
What does "can't be regenerated" mean?
It means the shield never gets applied. Rule 701.19c is explicit that such an effect does not stop you activating the ability or casting the spell; it just causes any regeneration shield to do nothing. Wrath of God and Damnation both carry the clause, and 153 Commander-legal cards in our database print it.
Does regenerating a blocking creature stop the damage to me?
Only against an attacker without trample. The attacking creature is still blocked after your blocker leaves combat (rule 509.1h), and rule 510.1c gives a blocked creature with no creatures blocking it no combat damage to assign, so an ordinary attacker deals you nothing. A trampler is the opposite: rule 702.19d assigns its damage to you as though all the blocking creatures had been assigned lethal damage, so you take the entire hit. Your creature survives either way, and ends up tapped.
Can you regenerate a creature that is already dead?
No. The shield has to be in place before the destruction happens. Once a creature has been put into the graveyard it is a new object there, and a regeneration effect has nothing to apply to.
Is regenerate better than indestructible?
Indestructible is better in almost every case. It stops every destruction rather than one, it does not tap the permanent, and it does not remove it from combat. Regeneration wins only on availability and price: it sits on lands, on free artifacts and on creatures that were already in the deck, so it costs a slot you were spending anyway.
Does regenerate remove damage?
Yes, and that is its quiet strength. Rule 701.19a removes all damage marked on the permanent when the shield applies, so a creature that regenerates in combat comes out clean and can survive a second source of damage that turn.
Does deathtouch get through regeneration?
No. Deathtouch works by causing the creature to be destroyed as a state-based action (rule 704.5h), and destruction is exactly what a regeneration shield replaces. That rule ends with the sentence that settles the question outright: "Regeneration can replace this event." A regenerated creature survives deathtouch damage, tapped and out of combat.
Can you regenerate a tapped creature?
Yes. Nothing in rule 701.19a asks for an untapped permanent. If a tapped creature with a regeneration shield would be destroyed, the shield still applies: its damage is removed and it leaves combat. The "taps it" part simply does nothing, because only untapped permanents can be tapped (701.26a) and an effect that attempts something impossible does only as much as possible (609.3).
Can you activate regenerate at instant speed?
Yes, unless the card limits it. Most of the regeneration cards in the table above use an activated ability, such as Ezuri, Renegade Leader's or Yavimaya Hollow's, and a player may activate an activated ability any time they have priority (rule 117.1b): in response to a removal spell, during combat or on an opponent's turn. The limit, when a card has one, is printed on it: an ability that reads "Activate only as a sorcery" follows the timing rules for casting a sorcery (602.5d). A regeneration spell follows its card type, so an instant such as Wrap in Vigor works the same way.
Does regenerate stop a -X/-X effect?
Not when the effect takes the creature's toughness to 0 or less. A creature with toughness 0 or less is put into its owner's graveyard as a state-based action, and rule 704.5f ends with the words "Regeneration can't replace this event." Toxic Deluge, and any other wipe that takes a creature's toughness to 0 or less, kills it through a regeneration shield. If the creature keeps toughness above 0 but its damage now equals or exceeds that toughness, that is lethal damage (704.5g), and the shield does replace it.
What does "regenerate each creature you control" do?
It gives every creature you control its own regeneration shield for the turn (701.19a): the next time each one would be destroyed this turn, that creature is tapped, its damage is removed and it leaves combat instead. Wrap in Vigor and Golgari Charm do this, which is why they are the one-shot regeneration spells worth a slot: they answer any wipe that destroys, by damage or by the word destroy, as long as it does not say "can't be regenerated".
Build a board that survives the wipe
The practical question regeneration raises is a deck-building one: how does your board survive turn seven? Most Commander decks answer it with one or two instants, and most of them pick the wrong ones.
Open a list in the deck builder and count your protection pieces, then check what each one actually stops: destruction, targeting, exile or none of the above. Grover can take a brief such as "protect my board from wipes without adding more counterspells" and propose swaps in plain language, and the Suggestions tab, powered by Tutor, scores them against the rest of your list. If you are new to the format, start with the deck builder basics and how many lands your deck needs.
Create a free Mana Grove account to build with the full deck builder and format legality checks, see plans and pricing for more time with Grover, Scry and Tutor, browse the Commander hub for more guides, and find every keyword we have explained in the MTG keywords and mechanics glossary.
Sources
- Magic: The Gathering Comprehensive Rules, effective August 7, 2026: https://magic.wizards.com/en/rules. Read on September 16, 2026. Rule 701.19 (Regenerate) including 701.19a to 701.19c, rule 122.1c (shield counters), rule 506.4 (removal from combat), rule 509.1h (a creature stays blocked), rules 510.1c and 510.2 (the combat damage step), rule 701.21a (Sacrifice), rule 702.2 (Deathtouch), rule 702.19d (Trample) and rules 704.5f, 704.5g and 704.5h (state-based actions) are quoted above. The FAQ entries added on October 25, 2026 also cite rules 117.1b (when an activated ability can be activated), 602.5d ("Activate only as a sorcery"), 609.3 (an effect that attempts something impossible) and 701.26a (tapping), read that day in the edition effective September 25, 2026.
- Mana Grove card database, MTGJSON build of September 14, 2026: the regenerate keyword, the Commander legality, the mana cost and the rules text of every card named above, the count of 271 Commander-legal cards that regenerate, and the count of 153 Commander-legal cards whose text says "can't be regenerated". Commander play frequency is the deck-inclusion popularity rank carried in the same data.
This article is updated when the Comprehensive Rules change the regenerate entry. The date at the top is the last revision.
