Ritual of the Returned
Instant
Exile target creature card from your graveyard. Create a black Zombie creature token. Its power is equal to that card's power and its toughness is equal to that card's toughness.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Journey into Nyx
- Price
- $0.09
- EDHREC rank
- #28069
Ritual of the Returned puts a token onto the battlefield with power and toughness equal to the exiled creature's power and toughness — no mana cost, just exile a creature card from your graveyard as the cost. It's a niche reanimation effect that trades card advantage for speed, and it earns its slot only in decks that treat the graveyard as a resource they're already burning through.
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 |
Ritual of the Returned is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but it sees essentially zero competitive play outside Commander. In Commander, it finds a home in graveyard-centric builds — Meren of Clan Nel Toth, Karador, Ghost Chieftain, and similar commanders that stockpile creatures in the yard and want another angle of attack beyond traditional reanimation. The token loses all abilities, which is the critical limitation: you're getting a statline, not the effect, so it's a poor fit for any deck that needs its creatures to actually do something when they enter. In non-rotating constructed formats, far more efficient graveyard tools exist and Ritual of the Returned doesn't register.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.09 bulk tier
At $0.09, Ritual of the Returned is deep bulk — you'll find it in a common box or pick it up as a throw-in. Price stability is a non-issue; it has no competitive demand to drive movement, so it stays at this floor.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.