Animate Dead, what does it do?
Asked by JabberJ3T 2 years ago
So the card Animate Dead is a card and I keep reading it over and over and it doesn't make any sense. This seems dumb because I can read most beta cards and understand what they do but this Theros card doesn't make sense. I think what Animate Dead does is reanimate a creature but that can't be right cause then it would be a 2 mana reanimated that has a downside of one less power? Other than that I don't know what else this card would do?
Ok thanks for clearing that up Omniscience_is_life, idk how its only an uncommon but I will definitely use this when needing a reanimated spell. Thank You
October 13, 2021 11:32 a.m.
Named_Tawyny says... #3
JabberJ3T, the reason it's 'only an uncommon' is because Wizards weren't very good at figuring out the power level of spells back in the early days of Magic. ;)
(Also, it's not a Theros card - it's from Alpha)
October 13, 2021 11:51 p.m.
Oh yeah I guess it was originally printed in Alpha you're right Named_Tawyny.
October 14, 2021 2:07 p.m.
Yeah, this is one of those cards that had a very simple idea that turns into a wall of rules text. The simple version is that you enchant a dead creature and bring it back to life (slightly weaker), and it dies if it loses Animate Dead.
The current printing, by the way, is Eternal Masters (an all-reprint set full of old cards), though it does look like Theros. Masters sets have different rarity scaling since they contain a far higher power level than a normal set, so you'll see crazy effects like this with the uncommon symbol.
Omniscience_is_life says... Accepted answer #1
Animate Dead is indeed a reanimating spell for just 2 mana--it is considered to be the best reanimation spell behind Reanimate.
How the card functions is this: you enchant a creature card in a graveyard. Animate Dead returns it to play, but since it previously had the text "enchant card in graveyard", and the card is no longer in the graveyard, that has to change. So it rewrites its text to say basically just say "enchant creature".
But if someone destroys Animate Dead, then it kills its former host along with it.
Oh, and it gives it one less power as you said ;)
October 13, 2021 1:55 a.m.