Card Spotlight
Eternal Witness
A three-mana 2/1 green creature. When it enters, you may return any card from your graveyard to your hand.
Commander Spotlight
Eternal Witness ↗
A three-mana 2/1 green creature. When it enters, you may return any card from your graveyard to your hand.
See Eternal Witness's full stats and printings →
Strategies it goes well with
- Blink. Every time Witness re-enters it returns another card, so Ephemerate and Conjurer's Closet turn it into repeatable recursion.
- Creature toolbox. Survival of the Fittest can find it, and it can be discarded to Survival when a reanimation spell can bring it back later.
- Value green decks. In any green deck it replaces itself with the best card in the graveyard, which keeps the hand full through a long game.
How it does in Commander
As the commander
It isn't legendary, so it can't be a commander. It goes in the 99 of a green deck.
In the 99
A strong include in nearly any green deck. The only decks that skip it are ones with nothing worth getting back or no room for a three-mana 2/1.
Formats it's strong in
- Green blink and value decks. Each re-entry is another card back, so blink effects turn it into a card advantage engine.
- Long, grindy games. The later the game, the better the card in your graveyard tends to be.
Formats it's weak in
- Graveyard hate tables. If an opponent exiles your graveyard, Witness enters with nothing to return.
- Decks that rarely fill a graveyard. Early in the game there may be nothing better than a land to get back.
Synergistic cards
Ghostly Flicker ↗
Blinks Witness and another permanent, and Witness can return Ghostly Flicker, so you can repeat the loop for {2}{U} each time.
Conjurer's Closet ↗
Blinks a creature at each of your end steps, so Witness returns a card every turn.
Ephemerate ↗
Blinks Witness for {W}, then rebounds to do it again next upkeep, for two returned cards.
Survival of the Fittest ↗
Finds Witness on demand by discarding another creature, which Witness can then return to hand.
Is it worth the price?
Eternal Witness is inexpensive. It was printed in Fifth Dawn and has been reprinted many times since, including Time Spiral Remastered, Double Masters 2022 and Commander Masters. Buy the cheapest printing; there's no gameplay reason to pay more.
Frequently asked questions
Why is Eternal Witness a Commander staple?
It returns any card from your graveyard, including instants, sorceries and lands, and it leaves a body behind. That makes it a two-for-one in almost every green deck: get back the removal spell, the ramp spell or the creature that died, and keep a creature on the battlefield.
Is Eternal Witness a Game Changer?
No. It's legal in Commander and isn't on the Game Changers list, so it's allowed in every bracket.
What should I return with Eternal Witness?
Whatever the game needs most. Early on that is often a ramp spell or a land; later it is a removal spell, a board wipe or the combo piece an opponent answered. The flexibility is the reason to run it.