Defossilize
- Mana cost
- {4}{B}
- Type
- Sorcery
- Set
- The Lost Caverns of Ixalan #103 (uncommon)
- Price
- $0.20 USD
Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. That creature explores, then it explores again. (Reveal the top card of your library. Put that card into your hand if it's a land. Otherwise, put a +1/+1 counter on that creature, then put the card back or put it into your graveyard. Then repeat this process.)
Defossilize has 1 printing, first in The Lost Caverns of Ixalan (2023). EDHREC ranks it #13,934 among Commander cards. It appears most in Hidetsugu and Kairi decks (371 on EDHREC). It has 6 official rulings.
Legality
- commander: legal
- legacy: legal
- vintage: legal
- pauper: not legal
- modern: legal
- pioneer: legal
- standard: legal
- brawl: legal
Commanders that run Defossilize most
Deck counts from EDHREC.
- Hidetsugu and Kairi: 371 decks
- Ultimate Green Goblin: 312 decks
- The Ancient One: 218 decks
- Akawalli, the Seething Tower: 99 decks
- Francisco, Fowl Marauder: 7 decks
- Vohar, Vodalian Desecrator
Often played with Defossilize
Cards that show up in the same decks on EDHREC.
Rulings
- : Once an ability that causes a creature to explore begins to resolve, no player may take any other actions until it's done. Notably, opponents can't try to remove the exploring creature after you reveal a nonland card but before it receives a counter.
- : In some unusual cases, noncreature permanents may explore. For example, if the creature card returned by Defossilize is somehow not a creature once it's on the battlefield, it can still explore. You'll take all the same actions, and you may end up putting a +1/+1 counter on the permanent. (Note that some effects target a creature, and those effects would still require a legal target to have it explore.)
- : If an ability instructs a creature to explore, its controller reveals the top card of their library. If it's a land card, they'll put it into their hand. Otherwise, they'll put a +1/+1 counter on that creature, then choose to either leave that card on top of their library or put it into their graveyard.
- : If no card is revealed, most likely because that player's library is empty, the exploring creature receives a +1/+1 counter.
- : If a resolving spell or ability instructs a specific creature to explore but that creature has left the battlefield, the creature still explores. If you reveal a nonland card this way, you won't put a +1/+1 counter on anything, but you may put the revealed card into your graveyard. Effects that trigger "whenever a creature explores" trigger as appropriate.
- : Some spells or abilities might cause a creature to explore multiple times in a row. If you reveal a nonland card when a creature explores and leave it on top of your library, then the creature explores again immediately afterwards, you'll reveal the same card again.