Looking Back at 2024's Returning Magic Keywords
Almost one year ago, a question was posed on Twitter by Gavin Verhey of Wizards of the Coast.
It was a simple one, but it drew more than 1,200 responses from the community at-large:
As much fun as it is to discuss new things, it's equally fun to talk about old things making a return. Maybe even more so, since new things are scary; in fact, talking about old things has kind of become my niche around here.
So when Gavin asks this sort of question, I pay attention. For one, I love seeing everyone who replied to this tweet advocate for their favorite keyword mechanic. All of them, regardless of how obscure or objectively difficult to use, have their fans. But we should also mention that when someone like Gavin asks this sort of question, it's not simply an open-ended social media engagement generator. It's likely that at the time he posed this question, he already knew many of 2024's returning keyword mechanics. I don't presume to know what goes on in Gavin's head, but I know that if I were in his position, I'd be asking this to the community on social media to see how many people are going to end up happy by year's end.
And speaking of which, "year's end" is now, actually. So who was happy?
"Of course the law's on my side. I wrote it."
First off, I should mention that there are a lot of keyword mechanics in Magic. Like, a ton. So when we ask ourselves which we'd like to see make a return in 2024, we have a pretty comprehensive list from which to choose. Ironically, the first time the term "keyword" was used on a card itself was thanks in large part to Gavin's Mystery Booster playtest cards, specifically on Pithing Spyglass and Inspirational Antelope.
In total, there are 176 recognized keywords in the game of Magic. Quick, can you name them all?
Of course not. I've been playing since 1997 and I could probably name half, if I'm lucky. Consider just the cards that have been released in the past few years; how quickly can your mind conjure up "More Than Meets the Eye" or "Space Sculptor"?
Yeah, these are cherry-picked examples, but they're still official keywords that have their own entries in the Comprehensive Rules of the game.
So, addressing Gavin's question, we first have to rule out all "evergreen" keywords, because their status as evergreen in itself precludes them from "returning," exactly, since they technically never go anywhere. And what, you may be asking, are "evergreen" keywords? Well, I'll tell you in the only way I know how, by quoting Mark Rosewater from a decade-old "Making Magic" article:
"Magic is a game of flux, but there are some things that stay constant. One of these things is our evergreen keywords abilities and keyword actions which we use (almost) every set."
There are plenty of evergreen keywords, some of which you might not even realize are considered as such. Further, the concept of "evergreen" goes beyond simply "abilities" in the strict sense, but extend to actions as well. Here are the current evergreen keyword actions:
- Activate
- Attach
- Cast
- Counter
- Create
- Destroy
- Discard
- Exchange
- Exile
- Fight
- Mill
- Play
- Reveal
- Sacrifice
- Scry
- Search
- Shuffle
- Tap/Untap
If you've played Magic for any length of time, you undoubtedly know what each of those words refers to, but you might not have known they're considered "evergreen." Some are just so inherent to the game, like Tap/Untap, that categorizing this basic action among things like "Attach" or "Scry" seems odd. But it's true. Oh, and the actions in the above list that are in a bolded font are ones that were both first used and first "keyworded" in Alpha.
That means the rest were either added to the game later, or existed in a nameless state before a subsequent release gave it one, or "keyworded" it, in other words. "Mill," for example, existed as a concept since Antiquities's Millstone, but the act of putting the top card of a library into a graveyard didn't officially become known as "mill" until Core Set 2021. That's 9,618 days, but who's counting.
So referring back to Gavin's question, none of these evergreen actions can be considered. But there are several more evergreen keywords we still have to eliminate from contention:
- Deathtouch
- Defender
- Double Strike
- Enchant
- Equip
- First Strike
- Flash
- Flying
- Goad (multiplayer products only)
- Haste
- Hexproof
- Indestructible
- Lifelink
- Menace
- Protection
- Reach
- Trample
- Vigilance
- Ward
Obviously some of these have been around for awhile: "enchant", "first strike", "flying", "protection", and "trample" are all OG keywords straight from Alpha. And further, "defender", "haste", "indestructible", "reach", and "vigilance" were all born in Alpha as well, but weren't given official keywords until Betrayers of Kamigawa, Sixth Edition, Darksteel, Future Sight and Champions of Kamigawa, respectively.
So we have to toss all these out, as well, since by their very nature, they can't "return" to a place they never left. Of course, maybe one day they'll be in a position to come back, but that would require them to be retired as evergreen; a situation that has definitely occurred in the past. Banding, fear, shroud, intimidate, landwalk, and prowess were all once considered evergreen, but no longer are.
"Hold on a minute," you might be saying. "We just saw prowess in Modern Horizons 3." Yes, that's true, disembodied literary device. Prowess is considered "deciduous."
Like evergreen trees remain foliated year-round, deciduous trees drop their leaves, only for them to return again. That's the same in the context of Magic keywords; some might go away for awhile but are earmarked for an eventual return. Something like protection has actually been in both camps, first existing as an evergreen mechanic before dropping down to deciduous before hopping back up to evergreen with Core Set 2020. The most recent abilities to ascend to the status of deciduous were surveil and Landfall, which did so in 2022, and as a result, cards like Consider that essentially featured those abilities in more words saw an update to their rules text in subsequent printings:
When Gavin asks which keywords should return, he's not really asking which leaves ought to grow back on the tree of Magic, because deciduous trees always grow their leaves back eventually. That's how nature works. No, Gavin's asking about rarer keywords than that. So let's get to that, then.
"Only an amateur crushes their enemies with a cold rock."
So which keywords did return in 2024?
Remember, the parameters for what can be considered a returning keyword require that they not be evergreen or deciduous, and they could not have appeared on a card in 2022 or 2023, which are too recent to possibly be missed, nor could they have debuted in 2024.
Afterlife
Only two cards with afterlife appeared in 2024; the one above, via the Ravnica: Clue Edition set, as well as Indebted Spirit from Modern Horizons 3. Until this year, we hadn't seen the keyword since it debuted on the Orzhov-themed cards in 2019's Ravnica Allegiance, like Seraph of the Scales. That's five years, but like its inspiration in Haunt, no one was really clamoring for its return.
Bestow
Speaking of Indebted Spirit, we saw a significant influx of new bestow cards: in total, eight of them. So sure, that's not a ton, but those eight are the first since Kestia, the Cultivator from Commander 2018.
And before Kestia, bestow was locked inside the original Theros block, appearing in all three sets between 2013 and 2014. With the new cards this year, there are now 43 bestow cards, but no, Chromanticore still can't be your commander, if you're wondering.
Delirium
Something about the word "delirium" just doesn't sit right with me, and seeing it appear on so many cards this year thanks to Duskmourn: House of Horror hasn't helped my brain remember how to spell it any better. Regardless, the keyword was featured heavily in the spooky haunted house set as well as its Commander decks, but it was also on a lone card, Shifting Woodland, in Modern Horizons 3.
Before that, Delirium was seen on a few cards in MH2 from 2021, probably most famously on Dragon's Rage Channeler. It first appeared as a featured set keyword from 2016's Shadows Over Innistrad, and something tells me we're going to see it again very soon, in a "remastered" form.
Devoid
We first saw devoid in 2016's Oath of the Gatewatch, a set very firmly about Eldrazi, so it makes sense that it made its return with the significantly spaghettified Modern Horizons 3 and associated Commander release. Devoid, until this year, only existed in Oath, and it appeared on 25 cards. Via MH3, that total more than doubled, with this year seeing an additional 35 cards with Devoid printed. This year also gave us the first legendary creature with devoid, Ulalek, Fused Atrocity, as well as the first non-Aura enchantments Kozilek's Unsealing and Path of Annihilation
Dredge
MH3's The Necrobloom is the only card in the last five years featuring the word "dredge" in the rules text. Before that was 2019's Shenanigans from MH1, and before that, it was Dakmor Salvage from 2007's Future Sight. Dredge as a keyword is a Ravnican native, appearing originally in Ravnica: City of Guilds way back in 2005.
Enlist
Remember enlist? Someone designing the Fallout Commander decks sure did, bringing it back for a singular card in 2024 after a two-year hiatus. Until Aradesh up there, enlist existed solely as a one-set draft mechanic in Dominaria United. Surely, it returned because the word "enlist" and the concept of the ability suits Aradesh as a character, but rules are rules, so it's on this list too.
Escalate
Before Collective Resistance popped up in MH3, the keyword only existed in 2016's Eldritch Moon. There isn't much to say about it other than that, as outside of Collective Brutality, the keyword never really saw much traction in formats outside of Limited.
Fabricate
Two cards featured fabricate this year, the above Cayth as well as Marionette Apprentice, with the latter probably the better of the two. The Apprentice is also a direct reference to Marionette Master, my favorite card in 2016's Kaladesh, which, until this year, was the only set with fabricate to date.
Grandeur
Lonely Skoa, the common legend from MH3, is the only instance of the keyword Grandeur appearing on a Magic card in 2024, and it's only the sixth card ever with the keyword overall, with the other five being a cycle of legendary creatures from Future Sight. The best of those, if you're wondering, is my boy Korlash, Heir to Blackblade. If you only play Commander, you can be forgiven for never knowing Grandeur existed.
Gravestorm
Regular, non-cemetery Storm made a big splash in 2024, but we can't consider it a returning keyword since it appeared on several cards in 2023 as well. We can, however, talk about gravestorm, the necromantic derivative. Follow the Bodies came to us via Murders at Karlov Manor Commander, and yes, has gravestorm. That's surprising because until that card was printed, gravestorm only existed on a singular card in the history of Magic: Future Sight's Bitter Ordeal, from 2007.
Now that we have two, how many more before people get mad that Wizards of the Coast is taking the fun out of deckbuilding?
Magecraft
Another solo example, and one that if I were being a real stickler about wouldn't even make the list. Technically, and this is technically with a capital T, the keyword Magecraft appeared on a sticker card from Unfinity in 2022, which would preclude it from the parameters. But I won't do that, mainly because I love Ashling just as a character and card and I want to see it in an article.
Other than that sticker card, Magecraft first (and until Ashling, only) appeared in Strixhaven, from 2021.
Modular
From one Modern Horizons set to another, with a brief Transformers-themed pitstop between the two. Modular returned this year on one card, the metal bird we see above. Before that, another singular entry (which I won't count), via Blaster, Combat DJ in 2022, before we got a ton of it as a featured mechanic in MH2. In fact, the keyword's been in every MH set to date, with the first one featuring Scrapyard Recombiner.
Originally, modular came about from Darksteel in 2004, so the big glut of modular cards we got from MH2 was a much bigger deal than the robot condor we got this year.
Revolt
Just a single card this year, courtesy once again of MH3. Would you have guessed that Revolt first came to us via Aether Revolt, the set (not the card, which is linked above). 2017's Aether Revolt was the only place the keyword Revolt had appeared until Aether Revolt. You get it.
Tempting Offer
In 2024 we had two options with which to entice our opponents; bunnies, or mayhem. I know which one I'd prefer, but I won't say. Before everyone was opting for Rabbit tokens thanks to Bloomburrow Commander, or the circus life in MH3 Commander, we didn't have any way to tempt opponents since Commander 2013. That set had a cycle of Tempting offer cards, with Tempt with Discovery being the objectively best one, but not the most fun one.
Umbra Armor
Formerly known as Totem Armor, Umbra Armor rejoins Magic after a few stops, most recently as singular Treefolk Umbra in Modern Horizons. Before that, the keyword was featured on two cards in Commander 2018 and two cards from Planechase 2012. Originally, the keyword came to us from Rise of the Eldrazi way back in 2010. The name change appeared officially in print with the two cards printed this year in MH3, and if you're curious as to why the keyword was reworded, you can read a very brief and not very helpful Wizards article here. In short, Totem Armor as a keyword was changed to Umbra Armor in 2023 out of respect for those who might consider the use of the word "totem" to be offensive.
Oh, and you may be wondering why energy is not on this list, well, it's not a keyword, technically speaking. It's categorized as a miscellaneous mechanic, in the vein of coin-flipping, monarch, and committing crimes.
"Where it treads, plants wither."
There you have it, the comprehensive list of possible answers to Gavin's question (assuming I didn't miss any).
Did you respond to Gavin in January with one of these keywords? Did you recommend one that didn't make a comeback in 2024?
And not to steal Gavin's thunder, but are there any keywords you're hoping to see in 2025?