Scintillating Encore

About Scintillating Encore

Scintillating Encore, Instant, designed by Justine Cruz first released in May, 2026 in the set Alchemy: Secrets of Strixhaven.

**Scintillating Encore** would fit best in an Orzhov (white/black) sacrifice or aristocrats-style deck that wants creatures to die for value—especially ones with strong death triggers (e.g., Blood Artist–type effects) or ETB abilities you can reuse. The +2/+0 makes it a decent combat trick, and the “dies then return tapped” clause lets you safely attack, block, or sacrifice a creature while still keeping it, effectively doubling up on death triggers in the same turn. However, it competes with stronger, more efficient options like **Feign Death**, **Malakir Rebirth**, and **Undying Malice**, which cost only one mana and often return the creature untapped or with an added bonus, making them more flexible and mana-efficient. Because of that, while Scintillating Encore is playable in synergy-heavy decks that want redundancy, it’s generally outclassed in competitive formats and would mostly see play in limited environments or niche aristocrats builds rather than top-tier constructed decks.