The Battlefield

Animate Dead

$8.01

Leonin Relic-Warder

$0.34

AI DraftFeb 26, 2026

Animate Dead + Leonin Relic-Warder

Overview

Cast Animate Dead targeting Leonin Relic-Warder in a graveyard. Animate Dead enters and its “When this Aura enters … Return enchanted creature card to the battlefield … and attach this Aura to it.” trigger resolves first, returning Leonin Relic-Warder to the battlefield attached to Animate Dead . Leonin Relic-Warder’s ETB trigger then may target and exile Animate Dead; if it does, Animate Dead’s “When this Aura leaves the battlefield, that creature's controller sacrifices it.” trigger will then cause Leonin Relic-Warder to be sacrificed, leaving Animate Dead exiled and Leonin Relic-Warder in the graveyard .

Step 1

You cast Animate Dead targeting Leonin Relic-Warder in a graveyard; when the Aura resolves it follows the two-step resolution for Auras described in rule .

Step 2

After Animate Dead is put onto the battlefield, its triggered text “When this Aura enters … Return enchanted creature card to the battlefield … and attach this Aura to it.” triggers and will be put on the stack; when that trigger resolves it returns the targeted Leonin Relic-Warder card from the graveyard to the battlefield and attaches Animate Dead to it (this is the effect described on the card and occurs as the triggered ability from the Aura entering resolves) .

Step 3

When Leonin Relic-Warder is put onto the battlefield by Animate Dead, Leonin’s enter-the-battlefield triggered ability triggers (it is a separate triggered ability put on the stack after the creature enters) and will be put on the stack under normal timing rules .

Step 4

If Leonin’s ETB ability resolves and its controller chooses to exile target Animate Dead (a legal target because Animate Dead is an enchantment on the battlefield), Leonin’s ability moves the Animate Dead card from the battlefield to exile.

Step 5

Animate Dead leaving the battlefield causes its own “When this Aura leaves the battlefield, that creature’s controller sacrifices it.” triggered ability to be put on the stack; when that trigger resolves it instructs the creature’s controller to sacrifice Leonin Relic-Warder, moving Leonin to the graveyard .

Step 6

End result (assuming Leonin targeted Animate Dead and no other effects intervened): Animate Dead is in exile and Leonin Relic-Warder is sacrificed and in its owner’s graveyard.

Resolution

If you cast Animate Dead targeting Leonin Relic-Warder’s card in a graveyard and you choose to have Leonin’s ETB exile the Animate Dead, the final result is Animate Dead in exile and Leonin Relic-Warder sacrificed and put into its owner’s graveyard. The order is: Animate Dead resolves as an Aura and its enter-the-battlefield trigger returns Leonin to the battlefield attached to Animate Dead ; Leonin’s ETB trigger (which occurs when it entered) resolves and exiles Animate Dead; Animate Dead’s leaves-the-battlefield trigger then resolves and causes Leonin’s controller to sacrifice Leonin .

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