The Battlefield

Abdel Adrian, Gorion's Ward

$0.15

Animate Dead

$8.01

AI DraftFeb 26, 2026

Abdel Adrian, Gorion's Ward + Animate Dead

Overview

When Abdel Adrian’s enter-the-battlefield ability exiles your nonland permanents, it can exile an Animate Dead Aura and/or the creature that Animate Dead reanimated. If both the Aura and the reanimated creature are exiled together, the creature will return to the battlefield when Abdel leaves but Animate Dead will remain in exile because it can’t enter as an Aura that enchants a creature card in a graveyard when there is no such card to enchant . If you only exile the Animate Dead Aura (leaving the creature on the battlefield), Animate Dead’s “When this Aura leaves the battlefield” trigger can force that creature to be sacrificed; if that puts the creature card into a graveyard before Abdel later leaves, then when Abdel leaves both the creature card and Animate Dead can return and Animate Dead’s enter trigger can reanimate and attach to it .

Step 1

Starting position: Animate Dead is an Aura attached to a creature on the battlefield (the creature is a nonland permanent you control). Abdel Adrian enters the battlefield and its triggered ability goes on the stack to exile any number of other nonland permanents you control until Abdel leaves .

Step 2

Abdel’s ETB ability resolves and you choose which permanents to exile. You may choose the Animate Dead Aura, the reanimated creature, both, or neither. The chosen permanents are moved to exile and remain exiled while Abdel stays on the battlefield.

Step 3

When Animate Dead (the Aura) is exiled from the battlefield, its text includes a triggered ability, “When this Aura leaves the battlefield, that creature’s controller sacrifices it.” That trigger is created and put on the stack (it will try to resolve later) because Animate Dead left the battlefield to exile.

Step 4

If you exiled only the Animate Dead Aura and left the creature on the battlefield, when the Animate Dead LTB trigger resolves it will cause the creature’s controller to sacrifice that creature (sacrifice affects permanents on the battlefield). That moves the creature card to the graveyard, which may later make Animate Dead able to re-enter when Abdel leaves .

Step 5

If you exiled both the Aura and the reanimated creature, the ltb trigger from Animate Dead will exist on the stack but will do nothing to the creature while the creature is in exile (sacrificing applies only to permanents on the battlefield).

Step 6

Later, when Abdel leaves the battlefield, the ‘until Abdel leaves’ continuous effect ends and the exiled permanents are returned to the battlefield simultaneously under their owners’ control.

Step 7

At that simultaneous return: the reanimated creature card (if it was exiled) is being put onto the battlefield as a creature permanent. Animate Dead is an Aura being put onto the battlefield from exile by an effect rather than as a spell. As it attempts to enter, its current enchant ability (the printed ability on the card) is “enchant creature card in a graveyard,” so the controller must choose a legal object in that zone to enchant as it enters .

Step 8

If there is no applicable creature card in a graveyard to enchant at that moment (for example, because the creature card is entering the battlefield simultaneously or remained in exile), the Aura cannot enter and instead remains in exile as described by .

Step 9

If, however, the creature card is in a graveyard at that time (for example because the creature was sacrificed earlier by Animate Dead’s leave-the-battlefield trigger), then Animate Dead can re-enter the battlefield. When it enters, its own ETB text will trigger and, if it’s on the battlefield, it will lose its “enchant creature card in a graveyard” and gain “enchant creature put onto the battlefield with this Aura,” then return the enchanted creature card and attach itself to that creature as intended .

Resolution

If Abdel exiles both Animate Dead (the Aura) and the creature it animated, the creature will return when Abdel leaves but Animate Dead won’t be able to enter because, as it attempts to enter, it has the printed enchant ability “enchant creature card in a graveyard” and there is no legal creature card in a graveyard to enchant, so the Aura remains in exile . If Abdel exiles only the Animate Dead Aura (not the creature), the Aura’s leave-the-battlefield trigger will trigger and, when it resolves, will cause the creature’s controller to sacrifice the creature (if it’s still on the battlefield); if that sacrifice puts the creature card into a graveyard before Abdel later leaves, then when Abdel leaves both the creature card and Animate Dead can return and Animate Dead’s enter-the-battlefield triggered ability can return the creature and attach the Aura .

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