Animate

This article or section may require cleanup to meet quality standards.

Cleanup This article or section may require cleanup to meet quality standards. Please consider discussing this issue on the corresponding talk page or, if possible, improve this page. Unlimited potential needs only a spark of ambition.

Animate
Mechanic
Introduced	Alpha
Last used	Avatar: the Last Airbender
Scryfall Statistics
591 cards 22% 11.7% 13.7% 6.6% 7.3% 20.5% 18.3%

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.

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.

By card type

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. 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.

• Awaken
• Earthbend
• Manlands

Animated Artifacts

Artifacts are the next-most prolific object to be animated. While there used to be a deckbuilding cost, the advent of predefined tokens being mostly artifacts and an increase of filter artifacts that are card neutral, effects like Zoetic Glyph have much less risk both in having a target and being in play. It is primary in Blue and secondary in Green. Tezzeret's signature ability is animating artifacts, though some are interpreted as token generation.

Self-animating

Vehicles are the largest category of noncreature artifacts that can become creatures. Spacecraft are also in this category. Three cycles of mana stones that can be animated for a turn, analogous to manlands: the Totems of Time Spiral, the Keyrunes of Return to Ravnica block, and the Monuments of Dragons of Tarkir.

Animated creature cards in the graveyard

This category — returning a creature from a graveyard to the battlefield that is contingent on being enchanted by an Aura — 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 as opposed to conventional reanimation.

• Animate Dead
• Dance of the Dead
• Necromancy

Animated Enchantments

Enchantments are not common to animate, as they are often entire cards of themselves, making it risky to expend a resource to do so. Animating enchantments (target/all non-aura enchantment(s) you control becomes an enchantment creature) is primary in White and secondary in Blue.

Self-animating

A recurring resign is having an enchantment that rewards achieving a goal by becoming a creature. While artifacts can also serve this space (Eye of Malcator), R&D prefers artifacts animating through activated abilities while enchantments animate through triggers.

Sleeping enchantments

Sleeping enchantments are enchantments that do nothing ("sleep") until triggered ("wake"). "Sleeping" enchantments were printed in the Urza's block. Each sleeping enchantment that required your opponent to cast a spell originally read "successfully casts"; these were retemplated to read as just "casts", so they work even if the spell is countered. When sleeping enchantments turn into creatures, they are no longer enchantments.

Rulings

• Most of these enchantments have a triggered ability that, when it resolves, causes the enchantment to become a creature. Some have an activated ability that does that. The ability specifies the power, toughness, creature type(s), and additional abilities of the creature.
• Once the ability resolves, the permanent is no longer an enchantment. The card type "creature" overwrites the card type "enchantment."
• Everything else about the permanent remains the same. For example, Opal Gargoyle turns into a white creature that's still named Opal Gargoyle. Its mana cost is still . If it has any counters on it, or has been affected by any spells or abilities, they continue to affect it.
• The ability's effect has no duration. The permanent remains a creature until the game ends, it leaves the battlefield, or some other effect causes it to become another card type. Similarly, it retains each of its new characteristics until the game ends, it leaves the battlefield, it ceases to be a creature, or some other effect changes any or all of those characteristics.
• When an enchantment becomes a creature, that doesn't count as having a creature enter the battlefield. The permanent was already on the battlefield; it only changed its types. Abilities that trigger whenever a creature enters the battlefield won't trigger.
• A "sleeping enchantment" that turns into a creature may be affected by the "summoning sickness" rule: It can attack, and its activated abilities with in the cost can be activated, only if its controller has continuously controlled that permanent since the beginning of his or her most recent turn. Note that summoning sickness cares about when that permanent came under that player's control, not when it became a creature.
• Some "sleeping enchantments" have abilities that trigger when an opponent casts a spell of a certain kind. For example, Opal Gargoyle's ability triggers when an opponent casts a creature spell. If an opponent casts a spell that meets the criteria, these abilities trigger and resolve (causing the "sleeping enchantment" to become a creature) before that spell resolves.
• Some "sleeping enchantments" have abilities that trigger when an opponent plays a land of a certain kind. If an opponent plays a land that meets the criteria, these abilities trigger and resolve (causing the "sleeping enchantment" to become a creature) after the land enters the battlefield. If that land has an "enters the battlefield" ability with a target, the "sleeping enchantment" will not yet be a creature at the time the target is chosen.
• Each triggered ability that animates a "sleeping enchantment" has an "intervening 'if' clause" that checks to see if it's still an enchantment. That means (1) the ability won't trigger at all unless the permanent is still an enchantment at the time the trigger event happens, and (2) the ability will do nothing if the permanent has somehow ceased to be an enchantment by the time the ability resolves. (So even though each of these permanents retains its triggered ability even after becoming a creature, they won't trigger again while those permanents are creatures.

Animated Planeswalkers

Some planeswalkers become creatures as reflecting a front-line, proactive personality.

• Arlinn, the Moon's Fury
• Grand Master of Flowers
• Kaito, Bane of Nightmares
• Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
• Sarkhan the Masterless
• Oko, the Trickster
• Oko, the Ringleader

Gideon Juras

The signature design premise of Gideon Jura is his ability to become a creature.

• Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
• Gideon, Battle-Forged
• Gideon Blackblade
• Gideon, Champion of Justice
• Gideon Jura
• Gideon, Martial Paragon
• Gideon of the Trials
• Gideon, the Oathsworn

Animate other planeswalkers

Typically, animating other planeswalkers is a story-specific occurrence.

• Luxior, Giada's Gift
• Spark Rupture
• Sarkhan the Masterless
• Sparkshaper Visionary

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.

• Animate Spell
• Magar of the Magic Strings

Animated Library

• Animate Library

Animated Graveyard

• Animate Graveyard

Animated objects

• Animate Object

Variants

"Enchantment-ize"

Some spells or effects turn non-enchantments into enchantments. Most are forms of removal that stops them being creatures entirely and gives them another type as to avoid a typeless permanent.

• Enchantmentize
• Housemeld
• Kami of Transmutation
• One With the Stars
• Soul Sculptor

"Artifact-ize"

Some spells or effects turn non-artifacts into artifacts.

• Applied Aeronautics (Contraption)
• Argent Mutation
• Ashnod's Transmogrant
• Auto-Key (Contraption)
• Kami of Transmutation
• In Too Deep
• Liquimetal Coating
• Liquimetal Torque
• Memnarch
• Minimus Containment
• Mycosynth Lattice
• Myr Landshaper
• Neurok Transmuter
• Optical Optimizer (Contraption)
• Phyrexian Scriptures
• Saheeli, Sublime Artificer
• Silverskin Armor
• Swift Reconfiguration
• Thran Forge
• Transmogrifying Licid
• Tread Mill (Contraption)
• True Polymorph
• Xathrid Gorgon

"Magic-ize"

Some spells or effects turn non-game objects into Magic: The Gathering game objects. These are all acorn effects.

• Animate Object (inanimate objects)
• Applejack (toys)
• Handy Dandy Clone Machine (fingers and hands)
• Pippa, Duchess of Dice (dice)