Enchantment - Aura, 1B (2) Enchant creature card in a graveyard When Animate Dead comes into play, if it's in play, it loses "enchant creature card in a graveyard" and gains "enchant creature put into play with Animate Dead." Return enchanted creature card to play under your control and attach Animate Dead to it. When Animate Dead leaves play, that creature's controller sacrifices it. Enchanted creature gets -1/-0.1
Illus. Anson Maddocks
It follows all the rules for Aura (Enchant Creature) cards. [WotC Rules Team 1997/03/14] For example, it counts for abilities that interact with creature enchantments, such as Rabid Wombat. [Aahz 1997/06/06]
You can Animate a creature which was discarded from a hand and therefore was never in play. [D'Angelo 1994/04/01]
The creature comes out as if it were just played. Any X in the mana cost is zero (see Rule G24.1). So animating a Rock Hydra gives you a hydra with zero heads. [Mirage, Page 31]
When putting a card into play that requires a definition for its value, such as with Minion of the Wastes, you do what is needed to define the value. [WotC Rules Team 1998/02/02] In the case of Minion of the Wastes, you pay life to define its values.
The animated creature comes into play with summoning sickness (see Rule G19.39), so it cannot attack until it begins one of its controller's turns in play. [D'Angelo 1998/02/03]
This is a targeted ability. Note that cards in the graveyard do not have Protection from Color abilities (see Rule 402.8). [D'Angelo 2002/12/19]
If the creature card put into play has Protection from Black (or a similar effect that prevents Animate Dead from legally being attached), then it will fail to become attached and it as per Rule 212.4k, which states that an Aura trying to move onto an illegal permanent will stay where it is. Then the Animate Dead will go to the graveyard as an Aura that is not enchanting anything. This will sacrifice the creature as well, as stated by the card text. [D'Angelo 2007/10/20]
If the creature phases out (see Rule 502.15) without the Animate Dead because Animate Dead has been affected by Spatial Binding, the Animate Dead is put into the graveyard but the creature is not. The creature will phase in perfectly normal since the Animate Dead ability did not destroy it. [Aahz 1997/02/16]
It cannot move to a different creature using Aura moving effects. [D'Angelo 2007/09/08]
Note - This card was of type "Enchantment" until Oracle 2007/09/01 when it became "Enchantment - Aura".
Note - The Limited Edition, Unlimited Edition, Revised Edition, and Fourth Edition versions had this card as an Enchant Dead Creature. [D'Angelo 1997/04/11]
Fifth Edition
(Uncommon)