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Return the Past
Enchantment
rare
During your turn, each instant and sorcery card in your graveyard has flashback. Its flashback cost is equal to its mana cost.
Semantic Tags
A keyword ability that lets a player cast a card from their graveyard. See rule 702.34, “Flashback.”
Exiles cards from graveyards or prevents graveyard interaction. Shuts down recursion, flashback, and graveyard-matters strategies.
Cares about cards in the graveyard, puts cards into the graveyard, or benefits from things dying.
A card or token on the battlefield. See rule 110, “Permanents.”
Format Legality
Price history
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Printings (4)
| Set | Rarity | TCGplayer | Card Kingdom | Cardmarket |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Doctor Who#697 | rare | · | · | · |
| Doctor Who#92 | rare | · | · | · |
| Doctor Who#388 | rare | · | · | · |
| Doctor Who#979 | rare | · | · | · |
Related Rules
If an ability would produce one or more mana of an undefined type, it produces no mana instead.
Some abilities produce mana based on the type of mana another permanent or permanents “could produce.” The type of mana a permanent could produce at any time includes any type of mana that an ability of that permanent would produce if the ability were to resolve at that time, taking into account any applicable replacement effects in any possible order. Ignore whether any costs of the ability could or could not be paid. If that permanent wouldn’t produce any mana under these conditions, or no type of mana can be defined this way, there’s no type of mana it could produce.
To “tap [a permanent] for mana” is to activate a mana ability of that permanent that includes the {T} symbol in its activation cost. See rule 605, “Mana Abilities.”
An ability that triggers whenever a permanent “is tapped for mana” or is tapped for mana of a specified type triggers whenever such a mana ability resolves and produces mana or the specified type of mana.
A replacement effect that applies if a permanent “is tapped for mana” or tapped for mana of a specific type and/or amount modifies the mana production event while such an ability is resolving and producing mana or the specified type and/or amount of mana.
If an object’s enters-the-battlefield triggered ability or replacement effect refers to X, and the spell that became that object as it resolved had a value of X chosen for any of its costs, the value of X for that ability is the same as the value of X for that spell, although the value of X for that permanent is 0. This is an exception to rule 107.3i.
The tap symbol is {T}. The tap symbol in an activation cost means “Tap this permanent.” A permanent that’s already tapped can’t be tapped again to pay the cost. A creature’s activated ability with the tap symbol in its activation cost can’t be activated unless the creature has been under its controller’s control continuously since their most recent turn began. See rule 302.6.
The untap symbol is {Q}. The untap symbol in an activation cost means “Untap this permanent.” A permanent that’s already untapped can’t be untapped again to pay the cost. A creature’s activated ability with the untap symbol in its activation cost can’t be activated unless the creature has been under its controller’s control continuously since their most recent turn began. See rule 302.6.
Rulings
If a card with no mana cost gains flashback, it has no flashback cost. It can't be cast this way.
A spell cast using flashback will always be exiled afterward, whether it resolves, is countered, or leaves the stack in some other way.
If a split card gains flashback, you pay only the cost of the half you're casting.
You must still follow any timing restrictions and permissions, including those based on the card's type. For instance, you can cast a sorcery using flashback only when you could normally cast a sorcery.
If a card has multiple instances of flashback, you may choose any of its flashback costs to pay.
You can cast a spell using flashback even if it was somehow put into your graveyard without having been cast.
If you cast a spell with flashback, you can't pay any alternative costs such as overload costs. You can pay additional costs such as kicker costs. If the spell has any mandatory additional costs, you must pay those to cast the spell with flashback.
"Flashback [cost]" means "You may cast this card from your graveyard by paying [cost] rather than paying its mana cost" and "If the flashback cost was paid, exile this card instead of putting it anywhere else any time it would leave the stack."
If a card is put into your graveyard during your turn, you can cast it with flashback if it's legal to do so before any other player can take any actions.
To determine the total cost of a spell, start with the mana cost or alternative cost (such as a flashback cost) you're paying, add any cost increases, then apply any cost reductions. The mana value of the spell is determined only by its mana cost, no matter what the total cost to cast the spell was.
If you cast an instant or sorcery with {X} in its mana cost this way, you still choose the value of X as part of casting the spell and pay that cost.