Resurrection effect

Resurrect, the archetypal (and eponymous) resurrection effect

Resurrection effects are effects that summon copies of minions that have died that game.

Such effects typically phrase themselves as re-summoning or resurrecting the minion that died, but the effect is in fact achieved by summoning a separate copy of the minion.

Notes

There are two main types of resurrection effects: those that summon a specific minion when it dies (Ancestral Spirit, Redemption), and those that summon one or more minions at least partly randomly from those that have died that game (Resurrect, N'Zoth, the Corruptor). Kel'Thuzad is an exception, largely matching the second group but with its targets and summoning order based on order of death.

General

• The copies summoned are summoned in their base state, at full Health and without any enchantments the original minions had when they died.

Random target

• Random target resurrection effects summon random minions from a list of all friendly minion deaths that game, although they sometimes have additional conditions, such as minion type or ability. This includes the death of any minions which were 'friendly' when they died, included those taken control of by effects like Mind Control and Shadow Madness.
  • Technically, this is achieved through the Death Event Cache, a list that is added to each time a minion dies. Rather than checking a pool of 'dead' minions, resurrection effects check a list of all minion deaths, and select randomly from all eligible instances.
• As per the game's usual rules, only minions that die while in the battlefield are considered to have 'died'. Minions that were transformed, discarded from the hand, overdrawn, or removed from the deck or other zones are not considered to have died, and so will not be summoned.
  • Minions such as Malorne that were returned to hand or shuffled back into the deck when they died are still considered to have died, and so can be summoned by resurrection effects. Each death by any minion will also be recorded on the list separately, even if that minion already died that game.
• "Resurrecting" a minion does not remove it from the list of deaths, allowing it to be "resurrected" again later. For example, if on turn 3 you play Injured Blademaster and he then dies, on turn 4 you can play two Resurrects and get two Injured Blademasters.
  • Because of this, such effects are more likely to summon copies of a given minion if it has died multiple times that game. For example, if 2 War Golem, 1 Magma Rager and 1 Salty Dog were the friendly minions that had died that game, Resurrect would have a 50% chance of summoning a War Golem, and a 25% chance of summoning a Magma Rager or a Salty Dog.
  • If a player summons a copy of a Kel'Thuzad who died that turn, at the end of the turn that Kel'Thuzad will summon another copy of the original Kel'Thuzad, resulting in 2 x Kel'Thuzads for the player.
• Resurrection effects like N'Zoth will attempt to summon a copy of each eligible minion that died that game. If there is not room on the board to summon a copy of each, N'Zoth will randomly choose which ones to summon.

Strategy

Resurrection effects are effective in decks with powerful, high-value minions, as well as those with undesirable Battlecries, such as Injured Blademaster. Random target resurrection effects are especially effective in combination with Barnes and to a lesser extent Herald Volazj, which summon 1/1 copies of other minions: once the 1/1 minion is destroyed a copy can be 'resurrected' with full stats. In combination with resurrection effects Barnes also allows players to bring full-stat copies of high-cost minions into play far earlier than normally possible.

Cards

Name / Desc	Rarity	Type	Subtype	Class	Cost	Atk	HP	Description
Redemption	Common	Spell		Paladin	1			Secret: When a friendly minion dies, return it to life with 1 Health. I am not sure how you get demptioned the first time. It’s a mystery!
Ancestral Spirit	Rare	Spell		Shaman	2			Give a minion "Deathrattle: Resummon this minion." It was just a flesh wound.
Revenge of the Wild	Rare	Spell		Hunter	2			Summon your Beasts that died this turn. My roommates only use Revenge of the Passive Aggressive.
Witching Hour	Rare	Spell		Druid	3			Summon a random friendly Beast that died this game. The gates to the Gilnean pet cemetary MUST remain locked at all times.
Wretched Reclaimer	Rare	Minion	General	Priest	3	3	3	Battlecry: Destroy a friendly minion, then restore it to life with full Health. "Ok, here's the plan. We kill you, then bring you back." "Stronger?" "No, about the same."
Recurring Villain	Rare	Minion	General	Any	5	3	6	Deathrattle: If this minion has 4 or more Attack, resummon it. Mwahahaha! You'll never catch him this time!
Mass Resurrection	Rare	Spell		Priest	9			Summon 3 friendly minions that died this game. One's company, two's a crowd, and three's a "mass" resurrection, apparently.
Psychopomp	Epic	Minion	General	Priest	4	3	1	Battlecry: Summon a random friendly minion that died this game. Give it Reborn. "Come with me if you want to re-live."
Zerek, Master Cloner	Legendary	Minion	General	Priest	6	5	5	Deathrattle: If you've cast any spells on this minion, resummon it. His original name was Aerek. Then the first clone was Berek. They went evil around Merek.
High Inquisitor Whitemane	Legendary	Minion	General	Any	7	6	8	Battlecry: Summon all friendly minions that died this turn. No one told her that champions want to sleep in.
Kangor's Endless Army	Legendary	Spell		Paladin	7			Resurrect 3 friendly Mechs. They keep any Magnetic upgrades. "That's three, Kangor. Three isn't endless." - Countess Ashmore
Catrina Muerte	Legendary	Minion	General	Priest	8	6	8	At the end of your turn, summon a friendly minion that died this game. She always manages to lift your spirits.
Showing all 12 cards

Wild format

 This section contains information exclusive to Wild format.

Name / Desc	Rarity	Type	Subtype	Class	Cost	Atk	HP	Description
Kazakus Potion	None	Spell			1
Kazakus Potion	None	Spell			5
Kazakus Potion	None	Spell			10
Reincarnate	Common	Spell		Shaman	2			Destroy a minion, then return it to life with full Health. It's like birth, except you're an adult and you were just dead a second ago.
Desperate Stand	Rare	Spell		Paladin	2			Give a minion "Deathrattle: Return this to life with 1 Health." They're grateful for the help, but most minions would prefer not dying in the first place.
Resurrect	Rare	Spell		Priest	2			Summon a random friendly minion that died this game. I walked into the dungeon and noticed a slain adventurer. In his final moments, he had scrawled out a message in the dust on the wall beside him. Two words: "rez plz"
Twilight's Call	Rare	Spell		Priest	3			Summon 1/1 copies of 2 friendly Deathrattle minions that died this game. If you're experiencing resurrection sickness, press 1.
Eternal Servitude	Rare	Spell		Priest	4			Discover a friendly minion that died this game. Summon it. What do you mean I don't get overtime pay for this?!
Corpse Raiser	Rare	Minion	General	Any	5	3	3	Battlecry: Give a friendly minion "Deathrattle: Resummon this minion." He was just minding his business, farming corpses, when you meddling adventurers came along.
Onyx Bishop	Rare	Minion	General	Priest	5	3	4	Battlecry: Summon a friendly minion that died this game. B4 is a nice place to visit, but he wouldn't want to live there.
Cruel Dinomancer	Rare	Minion	General	Warlock	6	5	5	Deathrattle: Summon a random minion you discarded this game. As that old saying goes: "you don't get into dinomancing to make friends."
Diamond Spellstone	Rare	Spell		Priest	7			Resurrect 3 different friendly minions. (Cast 4 spells to upgrade.)
Greater Diamond Spellstone	Rare	Spell		Priest	7			Resurrect 4 different friendly minions.
Lesser Diamond Spellstone	Rare	Spell		Priest	7			Resurrect 2 different friendly minions. (Cast 4 spells to upgrade.) A diamond, white, this stone the eighth A precious jewel for those of faith A whispered prayer restores the lost But none among them know the cost.
Anyfin Can Happen	Rare	Spell		Paladin	10			Summon 7 Murlocs that died this game. Theme song by Ellie Goldfin and Blagghghlrlrl Harris.
Abominable Bowman	Epic	Minion	General	Hunter	7	6	7	Deathrattle: Summon a random friendly Beast that died this game. Frosty the Bowman... was an angry hateful soul... with a fresh hewn bow and a missing nose...
Kel'Thuzad	Legendary	Minion	General	Any	8	6	8	At the end of each turn, summon all friendly minions that died this turn. Kel'Thuzad could not resist the call of the Lich King. Even when it's just a robo-call extolling the Lich King's virtues.
Hadronox	Legendary	Minion	Beast	Druid	9	3	7	Deathrattle: Summon your Taunt minions that died this game. The viziers of Azjol-Nerub released Hadronox as a last-ditch effort to hold back the Lich King. They did so by VERY carefully scooping him up in a LARGE newspaper and releasing him.
Bloodreaver Gul'dan	Legendary	Hero card		Warlock	10			Battlecry: Summon all friendly Demons that died this game. "Still you refuse to bend your knee? None can escape death, you old fool. And in death… all will serve me…"
N'Zoth, the Corruptor	Legendary	Minion	General	Any	10	5	7	Battlecry: Summon your Deathrattle minions that died this game. Has not been able to get "Under the Sea" out of his head for like FIVE THOUSAND YEARS.
Showing all 20 cards

References

	Cards
By type	Hero card Minion Spell Weapon
By class	Druid Hunter Mage Paladin Priest Rogue Shaman Warlock Warrior
By minion type	All Beast Demon Dragon Elemental Mech Murloc Pirate Totem General
By ability	Adapt Auto-Attack Auto-cast Battlecry Can't attack Cast spell Casts When Drawn Charge Choose One Choose Twice Combo Copy Deal damage Deathrattle Destroy Discard Discover Divine Shield Draw cards Echo Elusive Enrage Equip Forgetful Freeze Gain Armor Generate Highlander Immune Inspire Invoke Joust Lifesteal Magnetic Mega-Windfury Modify cost Overkill Overload Passive Permanent Poisonous Put into battlefield Put into hand Quest Reborn Recruit Refresh Mana Remove from deck Replace Rush Restore Health Return to hand Secret Shrine Shuffle into deck Silence Sidequest Spell Damage Spend mana Start of Game Stealth Summon Taunt Take control Transform Twinspell Unlimited attacks Upgradable Windfury
By effect type	Area of effect In-deck effect In-hand effect On-discard effect On-draw effect Ongoing effect Positional effect Random effect Resurrection effect Triggered effect
By card set	Standard	Basic Classic The Witchwood The Boomsday Project Rastakhan's Rumble Rise of Shadows Saviors of Uldum Descent of Dragons
	Wild	Hall of Fame Naxxramas Goblins vs Gnomes Blackrock Mountain Grand Tournament The League of Explorers Whispers of the Old Gods One Night in Karazhan Mean Streets of Gadgetzan Journey to Un'Goro Knights of the Frozen Throne Kobolds & Catacombs
By rarity	Free Common Rare Epic Legendary