Emeria, the Sky Ruin
Land
This land enters tapped.
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you control seven or more Plains, you may return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield.
: Add 
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- CMC
- 0
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Commander 2014
- Price
- $21.62
- EDHREC rank
- #1077
Emeria, the Sky Ruin reanimates a creature from your graveyard every upkeep once you control seven or more Plains — free recursion stapled to a land slot with no mana investment beyond the setup. The catch is the threshold: non-white decks can't get there, and even dedicated white builds need a few turns to assemble the Plains count, making Quintorius, History Chaser and similar graveyard-hungry commanders the natural home.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Quintorius, History Chaser
Quintorius, History Chaser runs a graveyard-centric engine that turns every recurred creature into additional value, and Emeria, the Sky Ruin provides repeatable free recursion that keeps the yard churning every upkeep without spending a card or a mana.
Karametra, God of Harvests
Karametra, God of Harvests fetches Plains directly onto the battlefield whenever you cast a creature, which means Emeria, the Sky Ruin reaches its seven-Plains threshold faster here than in almost any other shell — often by mid-game without deliberate land-counting.
Giada, Font of Hope
Giada, Font of Hope runs a dense Angel tribal package, and Emeria, the Sky Ruin slots in as a no-cost way to recycle high-value Angels that trade or get removed, keeping the board pressure consistent across a long game.
Sigarda, Font of Blessings
Sigarda, Font of Blessings cares about Angels and Humans, and Emeria, the Sky Ruin provides a backstop for any key creature that gets answered, letting the deck rebuild threats turn after turn without dedicating card slots to dedicated recursion.
Preston, the Vanisher
Preston, the Vanisher creates token copies of nontoken creatures entering, which means each creature Emeria, the Sky Ruin returns from the yard triggers Preston again — a built-in loop that compounds value every upkeep at no additional cost.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Emeria, the Sky Ruin actually gets to fire: games go long enough to hit seven Plains, white creature decks are everywhere, and free repeatable recursion on a land is the kind of card-advantage that compound-interests over the course of a 40-life multiplayer game. In Legacy and Vintage it's legal but essentially unplayed — those formats move too fast for a land that does nothing until turn seven-plus, and white's toolbox has faster engines. Modern is the only non-rotating 60-card format where it sees fringe use, usually in dedicated Plains-heavy white control shells that can realistically hit threshold, though even there it's a one- or two-of at best. Oathbreaker mirrors the Commander dynamic on a smaller scale: white planeswalker decks with enough Plains density can leverage it, but the compressed game length makes the payoff less reliable.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
Heirloom Mirror and Agadeem's Awakening handle selective recursion at a fraction of the price, but neither is free to activate turn after turn the way Emeria, the Sky Ruin is once the Plains threshold is met. The closest budget analogue is Sun Titan — it recurs permanents with mana value three or less every attack for six mana total, which is slower and more conditional, but it doesn't ask you to count Plains and costs under $1.
Price Context
Current price
$21.62 premium tier
At $21.62, Emeria, the Sky Ruin sits in the premium tier for a nonbasic land — justified by its unique effect, since no other land provides unconditional repeatable reanimation. The price has held steady for years given its narrow but devoted audience in white creature Commander builds, so it's a stable buy if the deck calls for it.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Quintorius, History Chaser
- Karametra, God of Harvests
- Giada, Font of Hope
- Sigarda, Font of Blessings
- Preston, the Vanisher
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.