Emeritus of Ideation // Ancestral Recall

Card text

Flying, ward {2}

This creature enters prepared.

Whenever this creature attacks, you may exile eight cards from your graveyard. If you do, this creature becomes prepared.

Market price

Latest aggregated market price for the normal finish of this printing: $6.60 (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 Emeritus of Ideation // Ancestral Recall by format. Formats in which it is not legal are not listed.

Other printings of Emeritus of Ideation // Ancestral Recall

Emeritus of Ideation // Ancestral Recall has been printed in 2 sets. The other printings are listed newest first, with the rarity and release year of each.

Official rulings

The 8 most recent official rulings for Emeritus of Ideation // Ancestral Recall, newest first.

• 2026-03-20 A creature without a prepare spell can't become prepared.
• 2026-03-20 Creating a copy of a creature's prepare spell in exile ignores copy exceptions applied to that creature that would affect the copiable values of that spell. For example, say a player casts Croaking Counterpart (a sorcery that says "Create a token that's a copy of target non-Frog creature, except it's a 1/1 green Frog.") targeting Goblin Glasswright. The token copy of Goblin Glasswright will enter prepared as a 1/1 green Frog creature, but the copy of Craft with Pride in exile will still be a red sorcery. The copy of Craft with Pride won't be green, a creature, or a Frog, and it won't have power or toughness.
• 2026-03-20 If a prepare spell with one or more targets has no legal targets when it tries to resolve, it won't resolve and none of its effects will happen. Since the spell was cast, the associated permanent will still not be prepared.
• 2026-03-20 If a prepared creature stops being a creature, it will still be prepared, and the copy of its prepare spell will remain in exile. That permanent's controller will still be able to cast it. The same is true if a prepared creature becomes a copy of something else, even if it's then a permanent without a prepare spell.
• 2026-03-20 If a prepared creature loses all abilities, it won't stop being prepared, and nothing will happen to its alternative characteristics or to the copy of its prepare spell in exile.
• 2026-03-20 A preparation card is a creature card in every zone. For example, while it's in your graveyard, Emeritus of Ideation is a blue creature whose mana value is 5. It can't be the target of Zealous Lorecaster's triggered ability ("When this creature enters, return target instant or sorcery card from your graveyard to your hand.").
• 2026-03-20 As an effect causes a creature with a prepare spell to become prepared (including effects that state that a creature "enters prepared"), that creature's controller creates a copy of that creature's prepare spell in exile. That copy remains in exile for as long as that permanent is on the battlefield and is prepared. That creature's controller may cast that copy as long as it remains in exile. As they cast it, that creature stops being prepared.
• 2026-03-20 While copies of spells in zones other than the stack cease to exist when state-based actions are checked, this does not apply to copies of prepare spells in exile that were created as a creature became prepared.

Similar cards

Other creature cards with a blue colour identity, ranked by how often they appear in Commander decks.

• Archmage Emeritus
• Hullbreaker Horror
• Faerie Mastermind
• Spark Double
• Thassa's Oracle