The 30 Best Enchantment Recursion Cards in Magic Ranked

Last updated on March 5, 2024

Dance of the Manse | Illustration by Yeong Hao Han

These days, a great deal of the card advantage decks can get comes from interacting with graveyards, like by getting back cards that were put there from the battlefield or from the library. Another common interaction is to cheat cards into play from the graveyard, something often called reanimation. Today’s list gives you the best ways to get the most out doing this with your enchantments.

I’ll cover the best ways to put enchantments from the graveyard directly into the battlefield, obtaining tempo and card advantage this way. I’ll also cover what sorts of cards you’ll want to recur the most. Oh, and there’s a bunch of commanders that can be built in order to benefit from this strategy the most.

With that in mind, let’s see what you can do with enchantments that lie in our graveyards (or your opponents’)!

What Are Enchantment Recursion Cards in MTG?

Archon of Falling Stars | Illustration by Victor Adame Minguez

Enchantment recursion is the ability to recover enchantment cards from your graveyard, either to your hand or straight to the battlefield. In MTG, interacting with the graveyard has some rules associated with the color pie. While black usually recovers creatures from graveyards, red deals with artifacts, and white with enchantments. More recently, white has also been flavored to recover permanents with a mana value of 3 or less.

White and green are the colors most aligned with enchantments. Green has some recursion in the Eternal Witness effect, returning cards from the graveyard to the hand, enchantments included. Still, white is the king of enchantment recursion, and most cards from this list are white or white plus another color.

To keep this list smaller, I’m setting some rules here. I want to grab enchantments with any mana cost, so selective cards like Sun Titan are out. And I’m only putting cards on the list that return enchantments from your graveyard straight to the battlefield. These decks should include some amount of graveyard protection. The list would be much more extensive if I considered cards that return enchantments to your hand, and those cards are usually worse than the ones on this list since you need to recast the card.

Honorable Mentions

Cards like Muldrotha, the Gravetide and Eerie Ultimatum are powerful ways to recur enchantments. However, they also work for all kinds of permanents, so I've decided to exclude them from this list. For the same reason, cards like Invoke Justice, which see play in the current Standard format, are left off.

#30. Archon of Falling Stars

Archon of Falling Stars is a passable card in Limited that may get you an extra enchantment when it dies. You’re probably not playing it elsewhere.

#29. Nomad Mythmaker

Nomad Mythmaker is a card that requires a lot of setup to be good. If you can activate its ability every turn and retrieve powerful auras from any graveyard, then it’s a nice one. You can’t use negative auras on your opponents’ creatures, and until you can profitably use the ability, this card is only a 2/2 for 3 mana.  

#28. Iridescent Drake

Moving on, Iridescent Drake can be very good if you have a nice aura in your graveyard, particularly those that draw cards when they ETB or make an opponent discard.

#27. Boonweaver’s Giant

In Boonweaver Giant, we have a Limited build-around card that plays well with good auras. The aura can be in your graveyard, but it can also come from your hand or library. The giant helps mitigate some of the card disadvantage associated with auras.

#26. Silent Sentinel

Here we’re getting into intro deck rares. Silent Sentinel is a nice-sized creature as a 4/6 flier, and once it starts attacking, the recursion train gets moving. This card is usually reprinted in decks with enchanted-related themes.

#25. Rise to Glory

Rise to Glory was an archetype-defining card in Theros Beyond Death limited as a double reanimation spell and/or aura reanimation spell. In black, you could get removal spells like Mire's Grasp as well as a creature. If your deck is grindy and has good auras, this is a fine spell.

#24. Repair and Recharge

This card marks an evolution of the enchantment recursion since you can also get a planeswalker or artifact and create a Powerstone token. Repair and Recharge’s playability is heavily in Limited territory still, and you have to at least have nice targets to want to play this card.

#23. Retether

Retether is a mass reanimation spell for auras only. I wonder if all kinds of enchantments would be too strong. Either way, the ceiling for this spell is the number of good auras you have in your graveyard at a given time.

#22. Mantle of the Ancients

Mantle of the Ancients is similar to Retether except that all auras go to the same creature. As with all auras, if the creature dies when the spell is resolving, you won’t get anything, so be sure you have a hexproof creature or protection ready. Mantle of the Ancients is excellent for aura decks that just got their board wiped to start rebuilding. Creatures like Champion of the Flame or Kor Spiritdancer are prime targets for this spell for the added benefit you’ll get.

#21. Harnessed Snubhorn

Harnessed Snubhorn is a weird case. It’s clearly made for Limited purposes, but in a set that didn’t have an official Limited format (March of the Machine: The Aftermath). I guess you can add it to your enchantment-based EDH decks since it’s a nice body and once enchanted with an aura that gives trample or flying, this card can frequently go to town and get value.

#20. Cleansing Meditation

Cleansing Meditation is an enchantment sweeper, and if you have threshold, you’ll get to return all your destroyed enchantments to the battlefield. You’ll only recover the enchantments destroyed this way, so don’t think of this card as a Replenish variant.

#19. Crime // Punishment

This split card gets most of its rate for the Punishment side because it’s a selective board wipe that can get creatures, artifacts, and enchantments. Crime is one of the only cards here that gets the enchantment from your opponents’ graveyards though, so there’s that.

#18. Norika Yamazaki, the Poet

Norika Yamazaki, the Poet requires only that you attack alone with a samurai in order to cast an enchantment from your graveyard. Most of the cards from this list return the card straight to the battlefield without any cost, so it’s good that it's easy to activate Norika’s ability. It works best with smaller enchantments with good ETB abilities and auras because you can’t cheat the card into play.

#17. Danitha, New Benalia’s Light

Danitha, New Benalia's Light is somewhat better than Norika Yamazaki, the Poet because you can get the effect without doing anything. You’ll still need to pay the cost and it’s limited to aura and equipment, but it reduces the card disadvantage risk from the aura strategy. Danitha’s body is also very well suited for a Voltron-style deck since it has vigilance, trample, and lifelink.

#16. Danitha, Benalia’s Hope

Danitha, Benalia's Hope comes with an aura or equipment attached to it. That works very well with auras that are in your graveyard or expensive equipment (Colossus Hammer comes to mind). The only caveat is that the equipment can’t be already on the battlefield, or else Danitha’s ability won’t work.

#15. Storm Herald

Red isn’t the color that has the most affinity with enchantments, so Storm Herald makes a little color pie bend to give you aura recursion only until the end of the turn. You’ll get to set a strong attack, and since it’s red it goes well with commanders that care about auras like Valduk, Keeper of the Flame and Chishiro, the Shattered Blade. Extra attack steps are another interesting direction since you’ll get to use your auras twice.

#14. Gerrard’s Hourglass Pendant

Gerrard's Hourglass Pendant is a very weird card. It's a 1-mana extra turn hater, and its activated ability saves you from a sweeper. It’s recursion in a sense, and if you had a lot of enchantments that just got destroyed via Austere Command, you’ll get them back. I’d say it’s an interesting card to play in artifact or enchantment-heavy decks. This card also undoes effects from cards like Cataclysm or Akroma's Vengeance, but just for you.

#13. Bruna, Light of Alabaster

Bruna, Light of Alabaster is a big angel as a 5/5 flier with vigilance, but the main part of the card is that whenever it blocks or attacks, you’ll get to put any auras on the battlefield, in the graveyard, and even in your hand. In its Standard format, this card was used to cheat Eldrazi Conscription into play, and that has devastating effects. Bruna is a nice Voltron commander, and you can play all sort of cards that tutor strong auras or cards that get better with multiples auras like All That Glitters.

#12. Campus Renovation

Campus Renovation gives you an enchantment or artifact recursion and up to two cards, and it has seen play in Standard in some Boros or Jeskai decks. It’s also at home in EDH decks that want a little recursion or more card advantage.  

#11. Estrid, the Masked

Estrid, the Masked is a Bant planeswalker that’s a nice fit for enchantment decks and that can also be your commander. Its middle ability is a strong one for aura-based decks since it gives totem armor to a certain permanent, but it’s the ultimate that we’re interested in today. It takes two turns to load the ultimate, and once it’s fired, you’ll mill 7 cards and return all enchantments in the graveyard back to the battlefield.

#10. Triumphant Reckoning

Nine mana is very expensive, but Triumphant Reckoning gets the job done. Not only will it reanimate all your enchantments, but it also works for artifacts and planeswalkers, and only for your cards.

#9. Resurgent Belief

In Resurgent Belief we get a Replenish effect that has suspend 2 for only 2 mana. The front side is already nice, and we know that these free cards with suspend can be abused with cascade or cards like As Foretold to be cast for free without the need to wait for two turns.

#8. Ghen, Arcanum Weaver

Here we have a Mardu commander that’s also a Tinker for enchantments. You’ll fill your decks with self-mill components and cheap enchantments like Spirited Companion. Once you start activating Ghen, Arcanum Weaver, the big hitters enter the scene from your graveyard. In this deck, a card like Gravebreaker Lamia can set up the next reanimation target, and you can also sacrifice sagas in their final chapter or enchantments that make you lose the game like Demonic Pact.

#7. Go-Shintai of Life’s Origin

Go-Shintai of Life’s Origin is a 5-color commander that works best with shrines. You’ll get a 1/1 Shrine token each time a shrine enters the battlefield, and shrines work well in multiples, so you’re setting up a nice engine. Once you get mana, you’ll get to recover the enchantments you lost along the way. You’ll have lots of enchantments at once on the battlefield, so cards that work well with multiple enchantments like Sphere of Safety and Sanctum Weaver are key in this deck, as are all the enchantress variants and constellation cards.

#6. Starfield of Nyx

Starfield of Nyx gives you a free enchantment recursion every turn. In a deck filled with nice enchantments and enchantment creatures, your opponents’ won’t have an easy way out of this. If they destroy your enchantments, you’ll get them back, aside from something like Farewell. It’s nice to play this card in prison enchantment decks to allow you to attack with your enchantments once you’re in a safe spot.

#5. Second Sunrise

Second Sunrise can be a powerful recursion spell, but it requires you to sacrifice your permanents or have them destroyed. You’ll usually pair it with sacrifice outlets or with cards that can be sacrificed for value like the Mirrodin Spellbombs or cards like Omen of the Sea. It’s an instant, so you can cast it after a board wipe hits the table. Like Open the Vaults, it works for every player, so if you're casting it, you’ll try to find the perfect window to get the most rewards.

#4. Open the Vaults

Open the Vaults works as a massive artifact and enchantment reanimation spell. It works for other players too, so the trick is to get the most benefit for yourself. Usually, when you play this kind of card, your deck will be built to set a nice Open the Vaults scenario for you.

#3. Replenish

I could rate Replenish as the second or best card in this list, but it’s in third place simply because it sees play in fewer formats. You’ll play Replenish in enchantress decks in EDH and you’ll get all enchantments back from your graveyard to the battlefield. It’s simple, effective, and very powerful.

#2. Brilliant Restoration

Brilliant Restoration sees some Standard play here and there, and it’s a less flexible Dance of the Manse. It’s like an Open the Vaults that only works for you.

#1. Dance of the Manse

Dance of the Manse is a mass resurrection spell that brings artifacts and enchantments back. And if X is bigger than 6, you’ll even get enough creatures to win the game from there. It was a nice pair with Doom Foretold in Throne of Eldraine Standard, and it works best with cheap enchantments that have good ETB effects. It’s also playable in Azorius EDH decks that have an enchantment theme.

Best Enchantment Recursion Payoffs

Here are a few ways to get the most out of your enchantment recursion cards:

Let’s start with expensive enchantments, like City on Fire, Omniscience, Legion Loyalty, Eldrazi Conscription, One with the Multiverse. Once you cheat one of these into play, you’ll get a huge benefit.

Looting effects allow you to get your expensive enchantments into the graveyard. Be it Faithful Mending in Standard or something like Cathartic Reunion across formats, you’ll usually need to have consistent ways to dig through your deck and to discard a good piece of enchantment.

Enchantment creatures are a way to fill your deck with creatures and use enchantment recursion to reanimate creatures. There are a few good and expensive ones, like Nyxborn Behemoth, Arvinox the Mind Flail, and Athreos, Shroud-Veiled.

Enchantments that have a good spell-based effect when they ETB, like Omen of the Sea, Treacherous Blessing, or even The Kami War, are perfect to get the most out of your enchantment recursion cards. Sagas fit this bill perfectly because they have powerful effects while in play, and they go to the graveyard naturally just waiting for the recursion.

Wrap Up

Triumphant Reckoning | Illustration by Svetlin Velinov

Anyway, that’s all from me on enchantment recursion. It’s very fun when it works, and enchantments are hard to remove since most removal and sweepers deal naturally with creatures. Many decks are designed with this component in mind, and in EDH we can build powerful enchantress-based decks that benefit from playing lots of enchantments.

And if you’re already playing them, throw in some good recursion cards, will you? What cards didn’t make the list? Any notable omissions? Let me know in the comments section below or let’s discuss it in our Draftsim Discord.

Thanks for reading folks, and I’ll see you around.