Buyback – MTG Keywords Explained

Card KingdomStrategy

Do you ever wish you could cast your favorite cards over and over again? Then buyback may be right for you!

What is Buyback?

Buyback is an optional, additional cost that appears on some instant and sorcery cards. It’s pretty self-explanatory: If you pay the buyback cost, the spell goes back to your hand after it resolves instead of going to your graveyard.

As long as you can keep paying buyback’s cost, you can cast a card as many times as you want. You can return your opponents’ cards to their hands with Capsize, copy spells with Reiterate, and bring your creatures back from the dead with Corpse Dance. Definitely worth the investment!

A few notes on buyback:

  • A spell with buyback must resolve in order for the card to go back to your hand. If the spell gets countered, it will just go to the graveyard as normal.
  • Buyback doesn’t increase a spell’s mana value. The mana value of a spell will always be what’s printed in the top right corner of the card.
  • If you manage to cast a spell with buyback with flashback (using Snapcaster Mage, for example), you can pay the buyback cost, but the spell will still get exiled instead of going back to your hand. Flashback rules win that battle.

Buyback is a flexible mechanic that allows you to get more out of your spells. Check out all the cards with buyback in our catalog, and consider adding some to your decks!