Animate Dead is an Aura, albeit with an unusual enchant ability. You target a creature card in a graveyard when you cast it. It enters the battlefield attached to that card. Then it returns that card to the battlefield, and attaches itself to the card again (since the card is a new object on the battlefield). Animate Dead itself never moves into a graveyard during this process.
Abilities such as shroud and protection function only on the battlefield unless otherwise specified. A creature card with shroud may be targeted by Animate Dead, and Animate Dead will become attached to the creature that enters the battlefield.
Once the creature is returned to the battlefield, Animate Dead can't be attached to anything other than it (unless Animate Dead somehow manages to put a different creature onto the battlefield). Attempting to move Animate Dead to another creature won't work.
Last observed on Scryfall 2 months ago at $9.05. Over the trailing 90 days the price moved between $3.00 and $13.99 across 257 observations. Cross-checked across TCGplayer, eBay sold, Cardmarket EU, and Star City.
This printing is one of 2 catalogued treatments from 5ED — the lineup includes Nonfoil alongside the standard finish. Across our catalog the Rarix library tracks every variant in the same family so collectors can compare price, scarcity and demand inside a single lineage.
Card #140 of *Fifth Edition*, the set that shipped alongside the March 1997 Fifth Edition release.
Card type: Enchantment — Aura, color identity black, printed at uncommon. Uncommons fill the middle-tier slots in a standard booster configuration. Mana cost: {1}{B} (2 converted). Keyword abilities: Enchant.
Legal in Legacy, Vintage, and Commander.
EDHrec ranks this card #224 in Commander, putting it in the popular-include tier of the format's playable pool.
Illustrated by Anson Maddocks. Rarix catalogs 716 other cards credited to this artist.
Magic: The Gathering · ™ & © Wizards of the Coast · Illus. Anson Maddocks
Card data via Scryfall. Rarix is fan-made; not endorsed by the rights holders.
If Animate Dead isn't on the battlefield as its triggered ability resolves, none of its effects happen. The creature card won't be returned to the battlefield.
If the creature put onto the battlefield has protection from black—or if the creature can't legally be enchanted by Animate Dead for another reason—Animate Dead won't be able to attach to it. It will be put into the graveyard as a state-based action, causing its delayed triggered ability to trigger. When the trigger resolves, if the creature's still on the battlefield, its controller will sacrifice it.
