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An easy guide to one of Magicโ€™s most common and confusing abilities
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Regenerate is a notoriously nuanced and counterintuitive ability in Magic: The Gathering, so donโ€™t get irritated if youโ€™re newer to the game and you donโ€™t immediately get itโ€”even seasoned players regularly get mixed up on this one. Basically, regenerate shields a creature from lethal damage or โ€œdestroyโ€ effects. Weโ€™ll cover how it works and explain all of the weird nuances.

Things You Should Know

  • Regenerate is an activated ability and a replacement effect.
  • A creature with regenerate basically gets a shield from one instance of death, but only from โ€œdestroyโ€ effects or combat damage.
  • Regenerate removes a creature from combat, so an attacker that regenerates wonโ€™t deal damage, and a blocker that regenerates wonโ€™t be assigned damage.
Section 1 of 4:

Regenerate and Regeneration Rules

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  1. Regenerate is a replacement effect, which means that when it is activated, it literally replaces another effect from occurring. For regenerate, that effect is the death of a creature in two scenarios: when the creature is the target of effects that say โ€œdestroyโ€ or when the creature is about to be dealt lethal combat damage. [1] Here are the essential rules surrounding regenerate:
    • Regenerate must be activated before combat damage occurs or before effects that say โ€œdestroyโ€ resolve.
    • To regenerate a card, pay the regenerate cost, tap the creature, and remove it from combat. You can still regenerate a creature if itโ€™s already tapped or removed from combat.
    • Regenerate only prevents one instance of lethal damage or destruction. However, you can activate multiple instances of regenerate so long as you can afford the costs.
    • Think about regenerate kind of like a bubble that covers the creature. Once that bubble is popped, the creature can be killed again.
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Section 2 of 4:

Scenarios Where Regenerate Doesnโ€™t Work

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  1. Cards that do not destroy or deal combat damage but kill creatures by lowering their toughness get around regenerate because of state-based effects. In Magic, state-based effects refer to anything that is just true about the game at a given time. One of those effects are โ€œcreatures must have a toughness higher than zero or else they go to the graveyard.โ€
    • So, as an example, Drown in Sorrow will kill a Rakasha Deathdealer even if you regenerate it. However, the Deathdealer would live if you used its other ability to give it +2/+2 to make it a 4/4 for the turn!
  2. Cards like Vapor Snag , Path to Exile , and Journey to Nowhere donโ€™t care about regenerate. If a card says โ€œreturn target permanentโ€ or โ€œexile target permanent,โ€ regenerate isnโ€™t going to prevent the cardโ€™s effect from resolving.
    • Regenerate only cares about combat damage and the word โ€œdestroy.โ€
  3. If the creature has already gone to the graveyard for whatever reason, the regenerate ability wonโ€™t do anything. This can seem kind of odd if the creature dies for a state-based reason. For example, if you cast a Walking Ballista for zero and hope to just regenerate it using something like Clockwork Gnomes , the Ballista will just die immediately.
  4. If you have nothing but a Rakasha Deathdealer on your side of the board and your opponent casts a card like Chainerโ€™s Edict that forces you to sacrifice a creature, regenerating the Deathdealer wonโ€™t do anything.
  5. Take a look at Terror . The card text explicitly states that the creature it is targeting to destroy โ€œcanโ€™t be regenerated.โ€ This โ€œcanโ€™tโ€ clause cannot be ignored, so any card that explicitly states regeneration doesnโ€™t do anything trumps regenerate effect. [2]
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Section 3 of 4:

Other Rules

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  1. A creature with a resolved regenerate ability is tapped once it is dealt lethal damage or destroyed. A creature can still be regenerated a second time after it has been tapped.
    • You can attack with a regenerated creature, but only if you untap it somehow before the declare attackers step.
  2. Deathtouch removes regenerate the way youโ€™re likely imagining. Thereโ€™s nothing unique about the interaction here. A single point of deathtouch damage will remove a regeneration shield. Once the regeneration bubble is popped, the creature that had the regeneration effect on it is no longer protected. [3]
    • Note that deathtouch does not remove the shield if the creatureโ€™s regeneration ability is activated mid-combat.
  3. Any trample damage that would spill over does so. Trample allows any โ€œleftoverโ€ damage to be assigned to the player being attacked. So, letโ€™s go back to the Deathdealer and Siege Rhino. Rakshasa Deathdealer is a 2/2 and Siege Rhino is a 4/5 with trample. Even if the Deathdealer blocks and regenerates, the Rhino will deal 2 damage the other player. [4]
    • Note that if the creature with regeneration is removed from combat by a regeneration ability, all 4 of the Siege Rhinoโ€™s damage would go through to the player!
  4. If first strike damage is lethal, regeneration is removed. So long as the creature with first strike is doing enough damage to kill the regenerated creature, it will remove the regenerated shield. Notably, regeneration removes a creature from combat, so double strike, which grants both first strike and normal combat damage, doesnโ€™t interact with regenerate. Regenerate removes a creature from combat, so once the first strike damage resolves thereโ€™s nothing to hit. [5]
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Section 4 of 4:

An Example of How Regenerate Works

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  1. Letโ€™s say youโ€™ve got a Rakshasa Deathdealer on your board. It doesnโ€™t have summoning sickness, and you decide to attack with it. You declare attackers and turn Rakshasa Deathdealer sideways to tap it. [6]
    • Rakshasa Deathdealerโ€™s regenerate ability costs one black and one green mana. If its regenerate ability required tapping itself, like a Crypt Sliver on an empty board, you wouldnโ€™t be able to activate it after attacking.
  2. Letโ€™s say your opponent has a Siege Rhino on board and they decide to block the Rakshasa Deathdealer with it. They put the 4/5 Rhino in front of your 2/2 Deathdealer and say, โ€œMove to damage?โ€ to signal that theyโ€™re done blocking and ready for damage assignment.
  3. Siege Rhino is a 4/5, so normally, it would kill the 2/2 Rakshasa Deathdealer. So, you tap one forest and one swamp to pay the mana needed to activate the regenerate ability. You announce, โ€œIโ€™ll regenerateโ€ and you move to damage.
    • Remember, activated abilities can be activated at instant speed, so you can activate the Deathdealerโ€™s regenerate ability whenever youโ€™d cast an instant.
    • Your opponent has an ability to respond to your regeneration trigger! If they cast Fatal Push before the regeneration ability resolves and youโ€™re out of mana, the Deathdealer will die.
  4. This is where people get mixed up. Regenerate removes the creature in question from combat. So, in this instance, the Deathdealer is taken out of combat and no damage takes place. The regenerate โ€œshieldโ€ is still on the creature! [7]
    • If the Rhino were the one attacking and the Deathdealer were blocking, the Rhino would still be considered blocked even though the Deathdealer was removed from combat.
  5. Okay, so now letโ€™s say your opponent is really annoyed and just wants to get rid of the Rakshasa Deathdealer more than anything in the world. They cast two copies of Heroโ€™s Downfall . Hereโ€™s what happens:
    • The regenerate ability is still protecting the Deathdealer, so the first Heroโ€™s Downfall resolves and the Deathdealer survives. It remains tapped and the โ€œshieldโ€ is removed.
    • The second Heroโ€™s Downfall resolves and the Deathdealer dies the same way it normally would.
    • Note that if you had another forest and swamp available, you could regenerate it in response to the second Heroโ€™s Downfall to protect it again.
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      Tips

      • The designers of Magic have stopped using regenerate as a core mechanic because itโ€™s just a little too confusing for newer players. It still helps to know how it works since it has been printed on so many cards, though. [8] In fact, Mark Rosewaterโ€”the lead designer of Magicโ€”has explicitly said itโ€™s never coming back in newer sets. [9]
      • Regenerate is primarily a green or black ability. Flavor-wise, itโ€™s meant to represent nature or death breathing โ€œnew lifeโ€ into something.
      • There are a lot of enchantments that grant creatures the regenerate ability, but theyโ€™re generally not considered very strong. Regenerate is a lot weaker than keywords like hexproof or indestructible, so there are usually better enchantments if youโ€™re building a creature-focused deck.
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