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Unearth

Sorcery

Return target creature card with mana value 3 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield.
Cycling {2} ({2}, Discard this card: Draw a card.)

CMC
1
Mana cost
{B}
Color identity
B
Rarity
rare
Set
Store Championships
Price
—
EDHREC rank
#934
Buy on TCGplayer
Unearth card art
Unearth returns any creature with mana value 3 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield — that's a reanimation spell for one black mana, and the ceiling is higher than it looks. Eternal Witness, Grist, Voracious Larva, and most of the best value creatures in Commander land right at that three-mana cutoff, which means Unearth routinely trades one mana for a game-warping enters-the-battlefield trigger.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01

Grist, Voracious Larva

65.8% of decks · synergy 0.61

Grist, Voracious Larva is a creature in every zone except the stack, which means Unearth can return it directly — something almost no other reanimation spell can do for a commander. That interaction alone explains the 66% inclusion rate: Grist decks treat Unearth as a one-mana commander recursion spell that also happens to fuel the graveyard engine.

02
Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger

Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger

58.7% of decks · synergy 0.54

Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger has to be escaped from the graveyard to stick, and Unearth short-circuits that requirement entirely — one black mana puts a 6/6 that strips hands and drains life directly into play. It exiles itself at end of turn under Unearth's clause, but that's one free Kroxa trigger for a single mana, and nearly 59% of Kroxa lists have decided that's worth the slot.

03
Skullbriar, the Walking Grave

Skullbriar, the Walking Grave

43.8% of decks · synergy 0.39

Skullbriar, the Walking Grave retains its counters in every zone, so Unearth brings it back loaded — whatever it accumulated before dying is still there. At 44% inclusion across over nine thousand decks, it's a staple because one mana to recover a counter-laden commander with haste is simply too efficient to pass up.

04
Inalla, Archmage Ritualist

Inalla, Archmage Ritualist

40.1% of decks · synergy 0.38

Inalla, Archmage Ritualist pays one mana to copy entering Wizards, and Unearth is one of the cheapest ways to reuse the Wizards whose ETB triggers drove that engine in a previous turn. Forty percent of Inalla lists run it because recurring a key Wizard — especially one at exactly three mana — for a single black mana is a tempo swing the deck is built to exploit.

05
Oskar, Rubbish Reclaimer

Oskar, Rubbish Reclaimer

30.9% of decks · synergy 0.27

Oskar, Rubbish Reclaimer cares about cards discarded from hand, and Unearth being a one-mana instant that's also a discard target when Oskar is in play creates a natural loop of graveyard interaction. About 31% of Oskar decks include Unearth as both a proactive recursion piece and a card that plays well with the discard-matters theme.

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, Unearth punches far above its mana cost — one black mana is a trivial ask for returning any creature at mana value 3 or less, and that range captures the majority of the format's best ETB creatures. Legacy and Vintage treat Unearth primarily as a combo enabler, snapping back key engine pieces on the opponent's end step before a kill. Pauper is where Unearth has the longest competitive history, having fueled recursive creature loops and storm-adjacent strategies for years at common rarity. Modern has enough cheap creatures and reanimation competition that Unearth sits in the middle of the pack — usable, but not dominant. Pioneer and Standard don't have access to it, which is a loss those formats can't quite compensate for at the one-mana slot.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

unknown tier

Price data for Unearth isn't currently available in our system, so check Scryfall or your preferred retailer for the current market rate. Historically it's been an affordable pickup given its age and multiple printings, but confirm before buying.

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Sources

Mentioned

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