Animate Dead
Animate Dead: Enchantment - Aura, Secrets of Strixhaven Commander. MTG card printings, market prices, rulings, and format legality on Mana Grove.
- Mana cost
- {1}{B}
- Mana value
- 2
- Type
- Enchantment - Aura
- Colour identity
- Black (B)
- Rarity
- Uncommon
- Set
- Secrets of Strixhaven Commander (SOC)
- Released
- 2026-04-24
- Collector number
- 207
- Artist
- Bastien L. Deharme
- Keywords
- Enchant
Build around this card with Grover
About Animate Dead
Animate Dead is a Magic: The Gathering card, an uncommon black enchantment from Secrets of Strixhaven Commander (SOC), a Commander product released in April 2026. It is collector number 207 in that set, with art by Bastien L. Deharme. It costs {1}{B} (one generic and one black mana) to cast, for a mana value of 2. Its colour identity is black. It is legal in Legacy, Vintage, Premodern, Commander, Duel Commander, Oathbreaker and PreDH. It has been printed in 23 sets, from Limited Edition Alpha (1993) to Secrets of Strixhaven Commander (2026). The latest aggregated market price for this printing is $7.20 (normal finish, as of 2026-10-23).
Card text
Enchant creature card in a graveyard
When this Aura enters, if it's on the battlefield, it loses "enchant creature card in a graveyard" and gains "enchant creature put onto the battlefield with this Aura." Return enchanted creature card to the battlefield under your control and attach this Aura to it. When this Aura leaves the battlefield, that creature's controller sacrifices it.
Enchanted creature gets -1/-0.
Market price
Latest aggregated market price for the normal finish of this printing: $7.20 (as of 2026-10-23).
The figure covers this printing only; other printings carry their own price on their own page.
Format legality
Legality of Animate Dead by format. Formats in which it is not legal are not listed.
| Legacy | Legal |
|---|---|
| Vintage | Legal |
| Premodern | Legal |
| Commander | Legal |
| Duel Commander | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| PreDH | Legal |
Other printings of Animate Dead
Animate Dead has been printed in 23 sets. The 12 most recent other printings are listed here, newest first, with the rarity and release year of each.
| Printing | Rarity | Year |
|---|---|---|
| The Zeta Set (SLZ) #155 | Uncommon | 2026 |
| The Zeta Set (SLZ) #276 | Uncommon | 2026 |
| The Zeta Set (SLZ) #34 | Uncommon | 2026 |
| Secret Lair Drop (SLD) #2189 | Rare | 2025 |
| Murders at Karlov Manor Commander (MKC) #125 | Uncommon | 2024 |
| 30th Anniversary Edition (30A) #389 | Uncommon | 2022 |
| 30th Anniversary Edition (30A) #92 | Uncommon | 2022 |
| Judge Gift Cards 2022 (P22) #7 | Rare | 2022 |
| The List (PLST) #EMA-78 | Uncommon | 2021 |
| Eternal Masters (EMA) #78 | Uncommon | 2016 |
| Vintage Masters (VMA) #104 | Uncommon | 2014 |
| Premium Deck Series: Graveborn (PD3) #16 | Uncommon | 2011 |
Official rulings
Five official rulings apply to Animate Dead, newest first.
- If the creature put onto the battlefield has protection from black-or if the creature can't legally be enchanted by Animate Dead for another reason-Animate Dead won't be able to attach to it. It will be put into the graveyard as a state-based action, causing its delayed triggered ability to trigger. When the trigger resolves, if the creature's still on the battlefield, its controller will sacrifice it.
- Animate Dead is an Aura, albeit with an unusual enchant ability. You target a creature card in a graveyard when you cast it. It enters the battlefield attached to that card. Then it returns that card to the battlefield, and attaches itself to the card again (since the card is a new object on the battlefield). Animate Dead itself never moves into a graveyard during this process.
- If Animate Dead isn't on the battlefield as its triggered ability resolves, none of its effects happen. The creature card won't be returned to the battlefield.
- Once the creature is returned to the battlefield, Animate Dead can't be attached to anything other than it (unless Animate Dead somehow manages to put a different creature onto the battlefield). Attempting to move Animate Dead to another creature won't work.
- Abilities such as shroud and protection function only on the battlefield unless otherwise specified. A creature card with shroud may be targeted by Animate Dead, and Animate Dead will become attached to the creature that enters the battlefield.
Similar cards
Other enchantment cards with a black colour identity, ranked by how often they appear in Commander decks.