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Ephemerate

Instant

Exile target creature you control, then return it to the battlefield under its owner's control.
Rebound (If you cast this spell from your hand, exile it as it resolves. At the beginning of your next upkeep, you may cast this card from exile without paying its mana cost.)

CMC
1
Mana cost
{W}
Color identity
W
Rarity
common
Set
The List
Price
$6.22
EDHREC rank
#445
Buy on TCGplayer
Ephemerate card art
Ephemerate blinks a creature you control for one white mana, triggers every enters-the-battlefield ability it has, and then does it again for free at the start of your next upkeep — all on an instant you can cast at the end of an opponent's turn. Commanders like Preston, the Vanisher and Abigale, Eloquent First-Year run it precisely because that rebound clause doubles the value before you ever spend a second card.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Abigale, Eloquent First-Year

Abigale, Eloquent First-Year

82.7% of decks · synergy 0.75

Abigale, Eloquent First-Year cares about spells you cast and creatures entering the battlefield, so Ephemerate delivers both triggers on cast and then hands you a free rebound trigger on upkeep — two activations from a single one-mana investment.

02
Shiko, Paragon of the Way

Shiko, Paragon of the Way

78.9% of decks · synergy 0.74

Shiko, Paragon of the Way rewards repeated ETB and combat-step manipulation, and Ephemerate's built-in rebound means every key creature in the deck can fire its enter effect twice without spending extra cards or mana.

03
Preston, the Vanisher

Preston, the Vanisher

86.1% of decks · synergy 0.73

Preston, the Vanisher creates a token every time a nontoken creature phases in or enters under your control, so Ephemerate's two blink events — once on cast, once on rebound — each create a fresh Illusion token off the same creature.

04
Mister Negative

Mister Negative

78.5% of decks · synergy 0.71

Mister Negative stacks counters on creatures as they enter the battlefield, and Ephemerate's rebound means the target creature accumulates a second round of those counters the following upkeep with no additional cost.

05
Niko, Light of Hope

Niko, Light of Hope

83.9% of decks · synergy 0.69

Niko, Light of Hope is built around Shard tokens and flicker synergies, and Ephemerate is one of the cheapest ways to blink a creature twice in two days — instant speed plus rebound makes it one of the most efficient pieces in the shell.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern legal
pioneer not legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper legal
oathbreaker legal

In Commander, Ephemerate is a staple in any white deck with creatures worth blinking — one mana for two ETB triggers across two turns is an absurd rate, and instant speed means it doubles as pseudo-protection against targeted removal. In Legacy and Vintage, it anchors Yorion and Stoneforge Mystic shells where the rebound generates compounding advantage off an already-powerful board. Modern sees it in blink-value strategies and as a protection piece for fragile combo creatures; it's one of the few one-mana spells that replaces itself through raw effect density. Pauper is arguably where Ephemerate is most broken — at common, it fuels some of the format's most oppressive loops, and there have been ongoing format discussions about whether it warrants restriction.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

18,234 decks
Preston, the VanisherFelidar GuardianEphemerate

Preston, the VanisherFelidar GuardianEphemerate

Infinite ETB; Infinite LTB; Infinite creature tokens; Infinite landfall triggers; Infinite blinking of permanents; Infinite mana lands you control that enter the battlefield untapped can produce; Exile all nonland permanents opponents control; Infinite mana lands you control can produce

View on Commander Spellbook ↗

Budget Alternatives

Cheaper options that do most of the same work

Cloudshift and Flicker of Fate are the closest sub-$1 alternatives — both blink a creature for one or two white mana at instant speed, hitting the same ETB trigger without the rebound. The trade-off is real: you lose the free second activation that makes Ephemerate so efficient, which means you need to spend additional cards or mana to get the same volume of triggers that Ephemerate packages into one spell.

Price Context

Current price

$6.22 mid tier

At $6.22, Ephemerate sits in the mid tier — noticeable for a common-rarity card, but the price reflects its cross-format playability in Commander, Modern, Legacy, and Pauper simultaneously. It's a card you buy once and move between decks; the price is stable because demand is broad and consistent.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

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Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.