Return Upon the Tide
Sorcery
Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. If it's an Elf, create two 1/1 green Elf Warrior creature tokens.
Foretell 
(During your turn, you may pay 
and exile this card from your hand face down. Cast it on a later turn for its foretell cost.)
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Kaldheim
- Price
- $0.25
- EDHREC rank
- #10825
Return Upon the Tide puts a creature back into play and loads the graveyard in a single five-mana action — the Scholar of the Ages loop is the headline, returning any two instants or sorceries alongside it for an immediate value chain. The cost is real: five mana at sorcery speed is slow, and decks that can't exploit the graveyard fill or the Abomination of Llanowar stat boost will find cheaper reanimation elsewhere.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Abomination of Llanowar
Abomination of Llanowar scales on Elves in the graveyard, and Return Upon the Tide fills that graveyard while simultaneously returning a creature — each cast pushes the Abomination's power and toughness higher while rebuilding your board.
Lathril, Blade of the Elves
Lathril, Blade of the Elves wants a critical mass of Elves at all times, and Return Upon the Tide recovers a key piece that got answered while milling three more bodies into the graveyard to set up future loops or fuel death-trigger payoffs.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Return Upon the Tide is a Commander card through and through — the graveyard synergy, the incidental self-mill, and the sheer value ceiling all scale best in the 100-card singleton format where tribal Elf decks and reanimator engines have room to breathe. In competitive formats like Modern or Legacy it's strictly outclassed: five mana at sorcery speed for a single reanimation target doesn't compete with Persist, Goryo's Vengeance, or Reanimate. Pioneer and Oathbreaker are legal but offer no compelling reason to play it over faster, cheaper options. Stick to Commander, and specifically to decks that care about either the graveyard fill or the Elf tribal tag.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Scholar of the AgesSacrificeReturn Upon the Tide
Infinite black mana; Infinite death triggers; Infinite ETB; Infinite LTB; Infinite magecraft triggers; Infinite sacrifice triggers; Infinite storm count; Return all instant and sorcery cards from your graveyard to your hand
View on Commander Spellbook ↗
Scholar of the AgesBurnt OfferingReturn Upon the Tide
Infinite black mana; Infinite death triggers; Infinite ETB; Infinite LTB; Infinite magecraft triggers; Infinite red mana; Infinite storm count; Return all instant and sorcery cards from your graveyard to your hand
View on Commander Spellbook ↗Price Context
Current price
$0.25 bulk tier
At $0.25, Return Upon the Tide sits firmly in bulk territory — pick it up without a second thought if an Elf graveyard deck wants it. Bulk rares at this price point don't hold value long-term, so treat it as an easy inclusion, not an acquisition.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Scholar of the Ages
- Abomination of Llanowar
- Lathril, Blade of the Elves
- Sacrifice
- Burnt Offering
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.