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Moxonomy

Banon, the Returners' Leader

Legendary Creature — Human Cleric RebelRed manaWhite mana

Pray resolves a familiar recursion problem with an unusually tight clause: it only replays creatures that hit the graveyard this turn from somewhere other than the battlefield, which is a very different permission than open-ended reanimation. It will not rebuild a dead board; it rewards pitching a creature into the yard and immediately buying it back at full price, since Pray grants only the permission to cast, not the mana. You still pay the spell's cost. That distinction is the whole reason the attack trigger exists: pay one, discard a card, draw a card, and if the discarded card was a creature, Pray opens a second cast the same turn. The two abilities form a closed circuit keyed off combat, the looting engine feeding the graveyard and the graveyard feeding the recast window, but each turn's loop is a single lap, not a permanent reanimation engine. The 1/3 body states the intent plainly: this is a card-advantage hub that wants to keep swinging to keep the wheel turning, not a threat that ends games by itself. Boros has long lacked a clean way to draw cards without going wide or pointing burn at faces, so a two-mana legend that converts attacks into rummaging (and rummaging into a same-turn recast you still have to hardcast) fills a gap the color pair has always felt. The "this turn" and "from anywhere other than the battlefield" language does the balancing: you earn each recast through the discard rather than looping one threat forever.

Banon, the Returners' Leader (fic)
FIC · #165rare
Pricing
Normal: $1.25
Foil: $2.18
Oracle Text

Rules text

Pray — Once during each of your turns, you may cast a creature spell from among cards in your graveyard that were put there from anywhere other than the battlefield this turn. Whenever you attack, you may pay 1 generic mana and discard a card. If you do, draw a card.
Legalities

Format Status

Standard
N/A
Pioneer
N/A
Modern
N/A
Legacy
Legal
Vintage
Legal
Commander
Legal
Pauper
N/A
Brawl
N/A
Historic
N/A
Alchemy
N/A
Timeless
N/A
Standard Brawl
N/A
More formats
Old School
N/A
Premodern
N/A
PreDH
N/A
Pauper Commander
N/A
Oathbreaker
Legal
Gladiator
N/A
Penny Dreadful
N/A
Duel Commander
Legal
Future Standard
N/A
COMPETITIVEBRAWL
N/A
TLR
Legal
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