Reconnaissance is one of those cards players keep asking about. Here is, in plain words, what its official text says, the rulings published by Wizards of the Coast, and the combos players actually run.
Official card text
: Remove target attacking creature you control from combat and untap it. (If you activate during end of combat, the creature will untap after it deals combat damage.)
Complete guide
Reconnaissance lets you pull your attacking creatures out of combat for no mana and untap them. Its most useful timing trick is waiting until the end of combat: your creatures can deal combat damage first, then untap before combat ends.
What Reconnaissance Does
Reconnaissance costs {W} and has an activated ability costing {0}: remove target attacking creature you control from combat and untap it. Each activation targets one creature, but you can activate the ability multiple times whenever you have priority and a legal target. The target must be an attacking creature you control; it does not have to be tapped. Reconnaissance cannot untap your blockers or creatures that are no longer attacking. Removing a creature from combat does not return it to your hand—it stays on the battlefield.
How It Resolves: Two Step-by-Step Examples
To use Reconnaissance, activate its ability when you have priority and choose an attacking creature you control. Players may respond. When the ability resolves, if its target is still legal, that creature is removed from combat and untapped. Example 1 — Withdraw a Construct before damage: 1. After Urza's Saga's chapter II ability has resolved, use its granted {2}, {T} ability to create a Construct token. 2. On a later turn, when the Construct is eligible to attack, attack with it while you control Reconnaissance. 3. After blockers are declared, if the Construct is facing an unfavorable block, activate Reconnaissance targeting it. 4. If the ability resolves before combat damage, the Construct leaves combat and untaps. It neither deals nor receives combat damage in that combat. The creature that blocked it remains a blocking creature, but with no creature left for it to deal combat damage to, it assigns none. Example 2 — Deal damage, then untap: 1. Attack with an eligible Construct token created by Urza's Saga. 2. Let combat damage happen. The Construct must survive for this sequence to work. 3. During the end of combat step, it is still an attacking creature. Activate Reconnaissance targeting it. 4. The ability removes it from combat and untaps it. Damage already dealt is unaffected, and the untapped Construct can potentially block on an opponent's turn.
Common Mistakes
Do not wait until your postcombat main phase. Creatures stop being attacking creatures as the end of combat step ends, so Reconnaissance can no longer target them then. Do not expect it to rescue a creature after lethal combat damage. State-based actions happen before you receive priority after damage; a creature destroyed by lethal damage is already gone when you could activate the ability. Removing a creature from combat does not undo abilities that triggered when attackers or blockers were declared. Those triggers are not canceled by the creature's removal from combat, as the official ruling confirms. Finally, activating Reconnaissance is not the same as resolving it. Opponents can respond, and if the target is no longer a legal attacking creature you control when the ability would resolve, the ability does not resolve.
When to Use It
Cast Reconnaissance during your main phase while the stack is empty, ideally before the combat where you want its ability available. During combat, the key decision is whether to withdraw a creature before damage or let it fight and untap it afterward. Use it after blockers are declared to withdraw from unfavorable combat, or during the end of combat step to untap surviving attackers after they have dealt damage. This is not literally vigilance—your creatures still tap to attack unless another rule or effect says otherwise—but it can leave those survivors untapped for defense.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : Reconnaissance
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
Does not undo any effects which triggered on declaration of attackers or blockers.
No other card is named in this ruling.
Popular combos
Real combos played by the community, sorted by popularity.
Satya, Aetherflux Genius + Reconnaissance + Bloodthirster
- 1Declare Satya as an attacker.
- 2Satya triggers, creating a token copy of Bloodthirster that is tapped and attacking and causing you to get
. - 3Deal combat damage using the Bloodthirster token.
- 4The Bloodthirster token triggers, untapping it and causing you to get an additional combat phase after this one.
- 5Before the combat phase ends, activate Reconnaissance by paying , untapping Satya and removing it from combat.
- 6Repeat each combat phase.
Cephalid Illusionist + Reconnaissance
- 1Declare Cephalid Illusionist as an attacker.
- 2Holding priority, activate Reconnaissance by paying , targeting Cephalid Illusionist.
- 3Cephalid Illusionist triggers, causing you to mill three cards.
- 4Repeat from step 2.
- 5Resolve all Reconnaissance abilities.
Cephalid Aristocrat + Reconnaissance
- 1Attack with Cephalid Aristocrat.
- 2Pay to Reconnaissance targeting Cephalid Aristocrat.
- 3Mill 2.
- 4With the trigger on the stack, repeat.
Legal formats
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Meta decks with Reconnaissance
No archived Top 8 deck with this card yet.