Regenerate

Regenerate is a former evergreen keyword action until it was removed from evergreen status after Oath of the Gatewatch.
Regeneration is a replacement effect which means: "The next time this permanent would be destroyed this turn, it isn't. Instead tap it, remove all damage from it, and remove it from combat." 
==History==
Regenerate appears mostly on black cards or green cards, though it appeared on white cards early in Magic's history and again in Planar Chaos. The primary color of regenerate was green, then secondary in black, and tertiary in white.
Regeneration was designed by Richard Garfield for Alpha. Regeneration has historically been a confusing effect. Originally, regeneration was an ability that only could be activated in the damage prevention step, which was a step right after damage was dealt, to save a creature that would otherwise go to the graveyard. It could not be activated or triggered at any other time. 
In the Sixth Edition rules changes, the damage prevention step became obsolete, and damage was no longer "assigned" before being dealt - it was simply dealt. Damage prevention, regeneration, and other spells and abilities that generated replacement effects were now played just like other instants. As such, regeneration had drifted in flavor; instead of regenerating when a creature was about to die, you set a regenerative shield that would save the creature if it otherwise would die that turn. Another strike against regenerate was the fact that "can't be regenerated" was such a ubiquitous rider at the time (152 cards that prevented regeneration against 230 cards that used regeneration) that it was often invalidated.
Oath of the Gatewatch was the last standard set in which regeneration was printed, after which it was finally retired from premier sets, as was the phrase "can't be regenerated".. Instead, in the following set Shadows over Innistrad the phrase “gains indestructible until end of turn” came into being for new but similar cards. The change came with a shift in color pie, as the flavor leaned more towards protective magic rather than a creature's innate resilience, and so green lost their regenerating creatures while white gained both instants and creatures that granted temporarily indestructible, though rarely granted to themselves. Black retained both spells that gave indestructible and creatures that protected themselves. Starting with , another replacement mechanic has been a series of black instants that grant the target creature a dies trigger that returns it to the battlefield. While more accurate in the "saving a creature after dying" sense, it is also more powerful with dies and entry triggers.
Regenerate made flavor-induced returns as one-offs in supplemental sets like Modern Horizons 2, MH3 Commander, Marvel's Wolverine, and Aetherdrift Commander.
Shield counters take some of the aspects of regeneration and rework them to a more intuitive form.
==Rules==
==Rulings==
*An effect that says something "can't be regenerated" means that the Regenerate replacement effect won't be applied to that creature even if one is active. If something "can't be regenerated", you can still cast spells and activate abilities that produce a Regenerate effect, but they just won't do anything useful.
==Examples==
==Enchantments that grant just regeneration==
Target creature
*<c>Broken Fall</c> 
*<c>Fanatical Devotion</c> 
*<c>Horror of Horrors</c> 
*<c>Molting Skin</c> 
* 
Aura (enchanted creature)
*<c>Blessing of Leeches</c> 
*<c>Fortitude</c> 
*<c>Jolrael's Favor</c> 
*<c>Soul Channeling</c> 
*<c>Strands of Undeath</c> 
*<c>Trollhide</c> 
==Trivia==
*Players must apply the regenerate effect BEFORE the permanent would die. If it's a creature in combat, the last chance to do this is during the declare blockers step, after blockers are declared and before damage. This is referred to as "giving the creature a regeneration shield". 
*Up until The Dark, a creature that could regenerate itself would say "Regenerates"
* is the only instance of the word "regeneration" appearing in the rules text.
*Both and would provide regeneration effects.
**However, the Universes Beyond card does not.
*Buried cards couldn't be regenerated.
*Four cards - <c>Soldevi Sentry</c>, <c>Debt of Loyalty</c>, <c>Skeleton Scavengers</c> and <c>Matopi Golem</c> - have secondary effects tied to their regeneration effect. Such effects were intended to only occur when regeneration occurs, and as such are the only cards with "regenerates this way". <c>Debt of Loyalty</c> is the most confusing as the rules text does not indicate that and as such reads like a three-mana <c>Mind Control</c>.
*The fear, lifelink, manifest dread, regenerate, and vigilance keywords are the only keywords with a card of the exact name (<c>Fear</c>, <c>Lifelink</c>, <c>Manifest Dread</c>, <c>Regenerate</c>, and <c>Vigilance</c> respectively).
==References==
Category:Deprecated mechanics