Recursion for Commander: 15 Cards You Must Know

Commander decks, like all other MTG decks, play strategic cards that change the game in your favor. Some of them win the game as soon as you play them.

Even countering a spell or ability, or preventing opponents from throwing your win condition in your graveyard with removals, could win the game for you. So, you must play some recursive cards in your lists.

In this article, we gathered 15 recursion cards for Commander lists that will grant you access to your spells even if they're in your graveyard.

As usual, to get to these 15 cards, we compared how much each of them costs in terms of mana, how versatile they are, and how popular they are.

Our goal wasn't to build a ranking of the best cards or similar, but rather to bring tips and useful cards for anyone who has just started playing MTG or is trying to upgrade their deck.

We won't cover reanimate cards this time, though. They'll get an entire article all for themselves. Let's get into it!

Recursion for Instants and Sorceries

In a format with staples like Cyclonic Rift and spells like Temporal Extortion, your deck will definitely benefit from playing recursion that brings these spells back to you. That way, they can make a difference in the game another time.

Ideally, Mizzix's Mastery will end the game when you play it. Thanks to its Overload, this spell exiles and copies all the instants and sorceries in your graveyard. You can then cast these copies without paying any mana for them.

Just like many other cards in this list, Archaeomancer and Pinnacle Monk have ETB abilities (this means they trigger when these creatures enter the board) and, as such, are great in decks centered around blink, reanimates, and even copy spells. In them, they'll trigger more than once.

Recursion for Artifacts

Returning artifacts into play can also make a difference, particularly if it's a Bolas's Citadel or even a simple Swiftfoot Boots.

The coolest thing about Buried Ruin is that it is recursion but also fills the role of a land in the decks it is in. So, depending on what you need, you can keep it to create mana or return an artifact to your hand.

Emry, Lurker of the Loch is a powerful legendary Merfolk, either in your command zone or as one of your 99 cards. Tap her, and you get to pick an artifact in your graveyard and cast it that turn.

Besides this ability, she has artifact affinity, as she costs less the more artifacts you have in play. When she enters the board, she also mills four cards from your deck, so she fills your graveyard as well.

Essentially, she'll help you access your artifacts when you don't have any in play yet.

Scrap Trawler and Myr Retriever both do something when they die. Scrap Trawler, in particular, also triggers when other artifacts enter your graveyard.

Recursion for Lands

Initially, this article had cards like Ramunap Excavator, which let you play lands from the graveyard. However, upon further review, we pivoted to cards that return multiple lands into play.

You can sacrifice Aftermath Analyst to return all the lands in your graveyard into play or just cast our favorite Bear, Lumra, Bellow of the Woods.

Besides returning lands, Lumra's power and toughness are each equal to the number of lands you control.

Recursion for Permanents

Conduit of Worlds's static ability lets you play lands from your graveyard, but what made it earn a spot on this list is that it also lets you cast a permanent from your graveyard.

This comes at a high cost: you won't be able to cast any spell in your turn after you cast that one, but it could save your game.

Sun Titan is great in mono-white decks and other decks with a mana curve lower than 3. When it enters or attacks, you may return a permanent from your graveyard to the board.

You can use it to return a Sol Ring or even a Fabled Passage you sacrificed on another turn, as well as several other cards.

Finally, we just had to add our dear Six!

During your turn, Six lets you cast the permanents in your graveyard through Retrace, an ability that lets you pay for a spell's cost and return a land in play to your hand as well. As it is green, it fits any Landfall list.

If you like this Treefolk, check out our Commander Deck Tech on Six, which includes two lists. One is very budget-friendly!

Recursion for Cards In General

Spells that return an artifact, instant, sorcery, or land into play are cool, but spells that return any card into play are even cooler.

Now, let's go over what we consider the strongest recursion cards in this article. The reason? Simple: they're the most versatile and don't cost an absurd amount of mana.

Furthermore, these ones specifically return cards to your hand only. This is relevant, considering you can use them to return nonpermanent cards.

You can use Bala Ged Recovery as recursion or as a land. Whatever you need at the time.

As for Eternal Witness and Timeless Witness, they have the same ETB effect, but Timeless Witness has Eternalize, which lets you create a copy of it when you exile the original from your graveyard.

Honorable Mention: Underworld Breach

Underworld Breach is such a unique card that it deserved an honorable mention.

This enchantment gives Escape to all the nonland cards in your graveyard.

To play them through Escape, you'll have to pay their original cost and then exile three other cards from your graveyard.

For two mana, during one turn, this card lets you play absolutely any spell from your graveyard.

Honorable Mention: Eerie Ultimatum

Eerie Ultimatum is one of the strongest Ultimatums in Commander. It can win the game for you.

It is a bit expensive, but if you pay all seven mana, it lets you return any number of permanents with different names in your graveyard and put them into play.

As Commander decks usually only play lands with the same names (except for a few rare examples, like decks with Shadowborn Apostle), you'll certainly empty your entire graveyard after you play this card.

The way it interacts with Atraxa, Grand Unifier lists, which typically play lots of permanents with ETBs, is incredible. It works really well with this commander, particularly in a Blink list or even in a Reanimate list.

By the way, if you'd like to see more about Atraxa, Grand Unifier, click here!

Even if you're not playing a sacrifice/reanimate list, recursion is a must. You don't have to play lots of it, but don't be afraid to open space in your deck for a few that will certainly help you a lot as you play.

Soon, we'll bring you an article centered around reanimates only. Keep an eye out!

What do you think? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!