Price$13.22
Buy on TCGplayerMalakir Rebirth // Malakir Mire
Instant // Land
LegalRank #249
Choose target creature. You lose 2 life. Until end of turn, that creature gains "When this creature dies, return it to the battlefield tapped under its owner's control."
This land enters tapped.
: Add 
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Why is this card good?
Why it's great: This is the gold standard of modal double-faced "spell lands" — flexibility with zero deckbuilding cost. Early game it's a tapped Swamp that fixes your mana; later it's a 1-mana protection spell. Because it can always be a land, it effectively lowers your land count without lowering it, smoothing draws while adding a relevant instant.
Who wants it: Any black deck running a key commander or value creature you want to protect from spot removal or board wipes. It shines in:
- Aristocrats — re-triggers ETBs/death payoffs (it counts as a death, then a return).
- Reanimator/value decks protecting a hard-to-recast bomb.
- cEDH as cheap commander insurance and a free land slot.
Note it brings the creature back tapped, so it doesn't save attackers mid-combat well, and it won't dodge exile or sacrifice effects.
When to skip it: Token swarms or go-wide decks that don't care about one creature dying, and ultra-low-curve decks where an always-tapped land hurts tempo too much.
Related cards
Undying Malice
Cheap instant giving a creature a death-return effect like Rebirth's front side.
Supernatural Stamina
One-mana instant protecting a creature by returning it when it dies.
Feign Death
Two-mana instant returning a dying creature, identical protective role.
Not Dead After All
Cheap black instant returning a creature when it dies that turn.
Tortured Existence
Black recursion-protection option in the same protective vein.
Bala Ged Recovery // Bala Ged Sanctuary
Same modal land cycle offering spell-or-land flexibility.
Kazandu Mammoth // Kazandu Valley
Another Zendikar Rising MDFC land used to smooth land counts.