Recurring Nightmare
Recurring Nightmare: Enchantment, Exodus. MTG card details, printings, market prices, official rulings, and format legality, all in one place on Mana Grove.
- Mana cost
- {2}{B}
- Mana value
- 3
- Type
- Enchantment
- Colour identity
- Black (B)
- Rarity
- Rare
- Set
- Exodus (EXO)
- Released
- 1998-06-15
- Collector number
- 72
- Artist
- Jeff Laubenstein
- Reserved List
- Yes
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About Recurring Nightmare
Recurring Nightmare is a Magic: The Gathering card, a rare black enchantment from Exodus (EXO), an expansion set released in June 1998. It is collector number 72 in that set, with art by Jeff Laubenstein. It costs {2}{B} (two generic and one black mana) to cast, for a mana value of 3. Its colour identity is black. It is legal in Legacy, Vintage, Premodern, Duel Commander and Oathbreaker. It is banned in Commander and PreDH. It has been printed in 4 sets, from Exodus (1998) to Tempest Remastered (2015). It is on the Reserved List. The latest aggregated market price for this printing is $67.69 (normal finish, as of 2026-11-03).
Card text
Sacrifice a creature, Return this enchantment to its owner's hand: Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. Activate only as a sorcery.
"I am confined by sleep and defined by nightmare." -Crovax
Market price
Latest aggregated market price for the normal finish of this printing: $67.69 (as of 2026-11-03).
The figure covers this printing only; other printings carry their own price on their own page.
Format legality
Legality of Recurring Nightmare by format. Formats in which it is not legal are not listed.
| Legacy | Legal |
|---|---|
| Vintage | Legal |
| Premodern | Legal |
| Commander | Banned |
| Duel Commander | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| PreDH | Banned |
Other printings of Recurring Nightmare
Recurring Nightmare has been printed in 4 sets. The other printings are listed newest first, with the rarity and release year of each.
| Printing | Rarity | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Tempest Remastered (TPR) #113 | Mythic | 2015 |
| Vintage Masters (VMA) #137 | Rare | 2014 |
| World Championship Decks 1998 (WC98) #bs72 | Rare | 1998 |
Official rulings
One official ruling applies to Recurring Nightmare.
- If you cast this as normal during your main phase, it will enter the battlefield and you’ll receive priority. If no abilities trigger because of this, you can activate its ability immediately, before any other player has a chance to remove it from the battlefield.
Similar cards
Other enchantment cards with a black colour identity, ranked by how often they appear in Commander decks.
Mentioned in these guides
These guides mention Recurring Nightmare.