The dead walk! Machines are raised from junkyards! Let's talk about Unearth.

Mechanics of Magic: Unearth

Dawn of the Dead

Unearth is a keyword ability which has a number of facets:

• It returns a Permanent from the Graveyard to the Battlefield
• It grants Haste
• It is Exiled at end of turn (or whenever it would leave the Battlefield)

So, with the card with Unearth in the 'yard, you pay the Unearth cost, return it to the 'field with Haste (so it can attack that turn), then whenever it leaves (most likely at the beginning of the next End Step), it Exiles. It can only be brought back as a Sorcery, so you can't Unearth something to serve as a blocker.

World War Z

Unearth was introduced in Shards of Alara, and was used in all three blocks of Alara. It was exclusive to Grixis except for one card, Etherium Abomination, which was an Artifact Creature so from Esper despite only being Dimir colors.

It went on to be in Modern Horizons, Warhammer, and The Brothers' War, then again in Modern Horizons 3 and the Commander decks connected to MH3. Depending on when you asked, it has a storm scale rating of 3, 4, or 5, but each time, Mark Rosewater has said he believes it will come back.

It was influenced by Flashback, a similar one-more-use-from-the-'yard ability, though Flashback was on Instants and Sorceries, while Unearth only appears on Permanent cards. Encore is similar, except Unearth uses the actual card (doesn't create a Token) and doesn't require the Unearthed card to attack.

28 Days Later

Let's look at the actual rule and the rulings around it.

"Unearth is an activated ability that functions while the card with unearth is in a graveyard. "Unearth [cost]" means "[Cost]: Return this card from your graveyard to the battlefield. It gains haste. Exile it at the beginning of the next end step. If it would leave the battlefield, exile it instead of putting it anywhere else. Activate only as a sorcery." (Comp. rules 702.844a)

Many of the Unearth cards have an Enters or Leaves ability, so Unearth gives you a second shot with that. There are a few things to keep in mind, though.

• It doesn't matter how your card with Unearth got into the 'yard. You may activate it as long as it's in the Graveyard.
• If you activate Unearth and someone Exiles the card from your 'yard in response, Unearth will resolve but do nothing.
• Unearth is not the same as casting the Creature. It's an activated ability. Because of that, spells which counter only Creature spells will not counter Unearth, but ways to counter activated abilities will.
• The card with Unearth gets Exiled at the beginning of the next End Step. It's called a "delayed triggered ability" - a triggered ability which waits for a specific set of circumstances.
• The card also can't go anywhere but Exile if it leaves the 'field. This is a "replacement effect" - something which changes the normal functioning of the game.
• This has a couple of effects:

  • You can counter or otherwise avoid the delayed triggered ability with Stifle or something which stops a triggered ability, or Sundial of the Infinite or another way to avoid the next End Step. The trigger won't happen and the card with Unearth will remain on the Battlefield.
  • However, the next time it would leave the Battlefield, it will be Exiled, thanks to the replacement effect. Nothing you can do about that.

• Unearth grants Haste, but not the Exile replacement effect - in other words, the fact the card with Unearth will be Exiled the next time it leaves is not an "ability", so it can't be removed. Something which removes abilities from a Creature will remove the Haste, but the card will still get Exiled the next time it leaves.
• Finally, the card returned to the 'field with Unearth will Exile if it leaves, unless the effect removing it is trying to Exile it. In that case, the effect attempting to Exile the card with Unearth will Exile it instead of the card with Unearth doing it itself.

  • That's complicated, but think of it this way: If you blink an Unearthed Creature with something like Blur (which Exiles a Creature you control then returns it to the 'field), Blur will resolve and the Unearthed card will return to the 'field.
  • Should that happen, the card is new, so it's no longer been Unearthed! That means it loses Haste, but it does not have the replacement effect to be Exiled if it leaves, and won't be Exiled at the end of turn. Sweet!

Zombieland

There are a few cards which grant Unearth to other things.

• Mishra, Tamer of Mak Fawa grants it to Artifacts
• Ghost Ark gives it to Artifact Creatures
• Solemn Doomguide grants it to a Party (Clerics, Rogues, Warriors, and Wizards)
• Dregscape Sliver gives it to Slivers
• Sedris, the Traitor King grants it to every Creature in your 'yard
• Grixis is a Planechase card which gives Unearth to Creatures cards in the Grixis color identity

Night of the Living Dead

The playtest name of Unearth was "Flashdance," since it was based on "Flashback" and caused the card to do something similar to the card "Corpse Dance." There are also some cards which almost grant Unearth like Whip of Erebos. Puppeteer Clique does it from an opponent's graveyard.

Anathemancer can be very strong in the right Commander shell, because so many players use lots of nonbasic Lands. Even something like Combat Courier can be solid, granting a blocker, attacker, and a good bit of card draw for not much mana.

Kederekt Leviathan is also quite a powerful effect, and can be quite the surprise to the rest of the table.

Thanks for reading.