Haunt

Haunt
Keyword Ability
Type	Triggered
Introduced	Guildpact
Last used	Guildpact
Reminder Text	Haunt (When this creature dies, exile it haunting target creature.)
Storm Scale	9
Statistics	10 cards 40% 40% Template:Bw20%
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keyword:"Haunt"

Haunt is a keyword ability associated with the Orzhov guild from the Guildpact set.

Description

Haunt works by allowing a permanent's "come into play"-ability (CIP) or a spell to go off twice. More precisely, it allows a card to be removed from a graveyard "haunting" another permanent, and when that permanent is put into a graveyard a triggered ability of the haunting card is put on the stack and allows a second usage of the card. Haunt appears only on black and/or white cards.

Head designer Mark Rosewater considers haunt a mistake and has no plans to bring it back.

Rules

From the Comprehensive Rules (June 7, 2024—Modern Horizons 3)

• 702.55. Haunt
  • 702.55a Haunt is a triggered ability. “Haunt” on a permanent means “When this permanent is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, exile it haunting target creature.” “Haunt” on an instant or sorcery spell means “When this spell is put into a graveyard during its resolution, exile it haunting target creature.”
  • 702.55b Cards that are in the exile zone as the result of a haunt ability “haunt” the creature targeted by that ability. The phrase “creature it haunts” refers to the object targeted by the haunt ability, regardless of whether or not that object is still a creature.
  • 702.55c Triggered abilities of cards with haunt that refer to the haunted creature can trigger in the exile zone.

From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (June 7, 2024—Modern Horizons 3)

Haunt

A keyword ability that exiles cards. A card exiled this way “haunts” a creature targeted by the haunt ability. See rule 702.55, “Haunt.”

Rulings

• If an instant or sorcery spell with haunt is countered, its haunt ability doesn't trigger.

• Instants and sorceries with haunt have the same effect when they're played as when the haunted creature is put into a graveyard. Creatures with haunt have the same effect when they come into play as when the haunted creature is put into a graveyard.

• You may haunt any creature in play, regardless of who controls it.

• The same creature may be haunted by multiple cards.

• The cards that are haunting a creature don't return from the removed-from-the-game zone when that creature leaves play.

• If there are no legal targets for the haunt ability, the card with haunt stays in the graveyard rather than being removed from the game.

• If a card with haunt is removed from the graveyard in response to its haunt ability triggering, the haunt ability will resolve. But since the card can't be removed from the game, it won't haunt the target creature.

• The same applies for a token creature with haunt or a copy of an instant or sorcery spell with haunt. The haunt ability will trigger and target a creature in play, but the token or spell copy will have vanished from the graveyard by the time the ability resolves. It can't be removed from the game and won't haunt the targeted creature.

• If a card that's haunting a creature leaves the exiled zone, due to Pull from Eternity, for example, the haunt effect ends.

• The source of an ability that triggers when a haunted creature is put into a graveyard is the card with haunt in the removed-from-the-game zone. The ability is controlled by the owner of that card.

• If a creature with haunt controlled by Player A but owned by Player B is put into a graveyard, Player A controls the haunt triggered ability. That player chooses the target for the haunt ability and must remove the card from the game. However, when the haunted creature is put into a graveyard, Player B will control the triggered ability of the card in the removed-from-the-game zone and will make any choices it requires.