Animate

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An animation effect or spell turns a non-creature into a creature, most of the time for a certain amount of time. The mechanic was first introduced in Alpha with Animate Artifact and Animate Dead.[1]

Description

Animation transforms noncreature permanents into creatures. Usually, aside from Vehicles, it will include the base power and toughness of the new object. In contrast to creating tokens, the animation does not inherently produce card advantage; destroying the newly animated object will potentially cost the player both the object and the animation spell. However, it has the advantage of generally having a form of "haste" as said permanents are often on the battlefield prior.

Examples

Animated Lands

Land is the most popular card type to be animated. Green, as the color connected most closely to lands and creatures, is the color most likely to turn lands into creatures — usually still keeping them lands. The mechanic is secondary in red and tertiary in all other colors.[2][3] As the permanent most likely for a player to have an excess of, animating lands lets them use this resource while being risky to use early in the game.

All cards with Awaken

If the land is self-animating, it is called a manland.

Animated Artifacts

Self-animating
Chimeric artifacts
Keyrune megacycle from Return to Ravnica block
Totem cycle from Time Spiral
Monument cycle from Dragons of Tarkir
Animate others

Animating artifacts (target/all non-creature artifact(s) you control becomes an artifact creature) is primary in Blue and secondary in Green.[4]

Animated creature cards in the graveyard

This category is thin due to the inability of the rules engine to handle such effects - simple intuitively, but messy when written in rules logic. Effects of this type are unlikely to be printed going forward.

Animated Enchantments

Self-animating
Sleeping enchantments
Animate others

Animating enchantments (target/all non-aura enchantment(s) you control becomes an enchantment creature) is primary in White and secondary in Blue.[4]


Animated Planeswalkers

Gideon Juras

The main design direction of Gideon is his ability to become a creature.

Animate other planeswalkers

Animation outside of Eternal

This category are all Acorn or Test card based.

Animated Instants and Sorceries

The rules do not support this category. Even in Un-logic, Magar can't have the spells be on the battlefield face up. The only other is a test card that has a ruling that acknowledges the complication and suggests players operate like it works.

Animated Library

Animated Graveyard

Animated objects

Variants

"Enchantment-ize"

Some spells or effects turn non-enchantments into enchantments.

"Artifact-ize"

Some spells or effects turn non-artifacts into artifacts.

"Magic-ize"

Some spells or effects turn non-game objects into Magic: The Gathering game objects.

References

  1. ↑ Magic Arcana (June 17, 2004). "The animating principle". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2021-04-30.
  2. ↑ Mark Rosewater (June 5, 2017). "Mechanical Color Pie 2017". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  3. ↑ Mark Rosewater (October 18, 2021). "Mechanical Color Pie 2021 Changes". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2021-10-18.
  4. ↑ a b Mark Rosewater (October 18, 2021). "Mechanical Color Pie 2021". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2021-10-18.
  5. ↑ Mark Rosewater (November 27, 2017). "Unstable Scraps, Part 1". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
 
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Other
Digital only
Miscellaneous
Playtest
Unreleased
Former
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