Loyal Retainers

The reanimation here is gated in a way most graveyard recursion is not: the body has to die for the ability to fire, the timing window slams shut once attackers are declared, and the target must be legendary. That last clause is the whole proposition. Plenty of cards bring something back from the graveyard; this one only does it for the marquee names, which turns a fragile 1/1 into a single-use slingshot for whatever oversized commander or legend you've parked in the bin. The before-attackers restriction is the part players forget at their peril: this is not an instant-speed ambush or an end-step value play, so the legend you cheat into play arrives summoning-sick on your own turn, expected to do its work next turn rather than this one. That tempo cost is what pays for skipping the mana. As a recursion engine it sits in a different lineage from broad reanimators like Reanimate or Animate Dead, which care about converted mana cost and not at all about a creature's name; the legendary clause makes this a build-around rather than a generically efficient effect, rewarding a deck stacked with high-impact legends and a way to fill the graveyard. The sacrifice in the cost is also pure value if you have a death trigger waiting, since the Retainer's own demise is what powers the ability, not a downside bolted onto it.