| Recover | |
|---|---|
| Keyword Ability | |
| Type | Triggered |
| Introduced | Coldsnap |
| Last used | Coldsnap |
| Reminder Text | Recover [cost] (When a creature is put into your graveyard from the battlefield, you may pay [cost]. If you do, return this card from your graveyard to your hand. Otherwise, exile this card.) |
| Storm Scale | 7[1] |
| Statistics |
7 cards  14.3%  14.3%  42.9%  14.3%  14.3% |
| Scryfall Search | |
| keyword:"Recover" | |
Recover is a keyword ability that debuted in Coldsnap.[2][3] It allows a player to return cards with the ability to their hand by paying the card's Recover cost when a creature next goes into their graveyard from the battlefield. However, if they do not pay the Recover cost then the card is instead exiled.
Description
The ability was inspired by the "graveyard order" card Death Spark from Ice Age and its gameplay tension of trying to prevent the recursion ability. However, as graveyard-ordering matters is no longer supported in newer formats, it was changed slightly to be easier to track.
Recover mostly appears on instants and sorceries, but also appears on the creature card Garza's Assassin. As with Ice Age 's graveyard order cards, a key aspect of playing with and against Recover cards is timing when to play them and when to destroy creatures in order to maximize their effectiveness. As each except for the aforementioned Assassin cost mana to Recover, the play pattern becomes a question as to how to attack a mana-intensive creature-based card advantage engine.
Rules
From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (November 14, 2025—[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]])
- Recover
- A keyword ability that lets a player return a card from their graveyard to their hand. See rule 702.59, “Recover.”
From the Comprehensive Rules (November 14, 2025—[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]])
- 702.59. Recover
- 702.59a Recover is a triggered ability that functions only while the card with recover is in a player’s graveyard. “Recover [cost]” means “When a creature is put into your graveyard from the battlefield, you may pay [cost]. If you do, return this card from your graveyard to your hand. Otherwise, exile this card.”
Rulings
- You get only one chance to use a card's recover ability. After a card with recover is put into your graveyard, any creature put into your graveyard from the battlefield causes the recover ability to trigger. When the ability resolves, either you pay the recover cost and return the card to your hand, or you don't pay and the card is exiled.
- If a creature with recover is put into your graveyard from the battlefield, it doesn't cause its own recover ability to trigger. Similarly, if another creature is put into your graveyard from the battlefield at the same time that a card with recover is put there, it won't cause that recover ability to trigger.
- If multiple creatures are put into your graveyard from the battlefield at the same time, the recover ability of a card already in your graveyard triggers that many times. Only the first one to resolve will cause the card to move somewhere. By the time any of the other triggers resolve, the card won't be in your graveyard anymore. You can still pay the recover cost, but nothing else will happen.
Examples
Example
Grim Harvest 
Instant
Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand.
Recover 
(When a creature is put into your graveyard from the battlefield, you may pay . If you do, return this card from your graveyard to your hand. Otherwise, exile this card.)
References
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (2013-02-20). "What are the chances of seeing the Recover mechanic return?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Aaron Forsythe (June 30, 2006). "Coldsnap: A Fine Recovery". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Aaron Forsythe (July 7, 2006). "A Walk Through the Cold". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.