SHMShadowmoor

River Kelpie

River Kelpie from Shadowmoor
River Kelpie from Shadowmoor

Creature — Beast   {3}{U}{U} (CMC:5)

Whenever River Kelpie or another permanent enters the battlefield from a graveyard, draw a card. Whenever a player casts a spell from a graveyard, draw a card. Persist (When this creature dies, if it had no -1/-1 counters on it, return it to the battlefield under its owner's control with a -1/-1 counter on it.)

49 SHM • ENJeff Easley

™ & © 1993—2008 Wizards of the Coast

Legal in: Modern,Lorwyn-Shadowmoor Block,Legacy,Vintage,Freeform,Prismatic,Tribal Wars Legacy,Classic,Singleton 100,Commander

Oracle Text (click to copy):
View this MTG card on Gatherer 
5/1/2008
River Kelpie doesn't give you the ability to cast spells from graveyards. Its second ability merely triggers whenever a spell is cast this way (by using Memory Plunder, for example).
5/1/2008
If River Kelpie and another permanent are each put onto the battlefield from a graveyard at the same time, River Kelpie's first ability will trigger twice. (It will see the other permanent entering the battlefield.)
5/1/2008
If you cast another artifact, creature, enchantment, or planeswalker spell from a graveyard, only the second ability triggers. That's because the card is put onto the stack, not onto the battlefield.
5/1/2008
If you cast River Kelpie itself from your graveyard (by using Yawgmoth's Will, for example), neither ability triggers. The first ability doesn't trigger because River Kelpie is put onto the stack; the second ability doesn't trigger because it works only while River Kelpie is already on the battlefield.
5/1/2008
If you play a land card from a graveyard (by using Crucible of Worlds, for example), only the first ability triggers. That's because the land (which isn't a spell) is put directly onto the battlefield from the graveyard.
6/7/2013
If a creature with persist stops being a creature, persist will still work.
6/7/2013
The persist ability triggers when the permanent is put into a graveyard. Its last known information (that is, how the creature last existed on the battlefield) is used to determine whether it had a -1/-1 counter on it.
6/7/2013
If a permanent has multiple instances of persist, they'll each trigger separately, but the redundant instances will have no effect. If one instance returns the card to the battlefield, the next to resolve will do nothing.
6/7/2013
If a token with no -1/-1 counters on it has persist, the ability will trigger when the token is put into the graveyard. However, the token will cease to exist and can't return to the battlefield.
6/7/2013
When a permanent with persist returns to the battlefield, it's a new object with no memory of or connection to its previous existence.
6/7/2013
If multiple creatures with persist are put into the graveyard at the same time (due to combat damage or a spell that destroys all creatures, for example), the active player (the player whose turn it is) puts all of his or her persist triggers on the stack in any order, then each other player in turn order does the same. The last trigger put on the stack is the first one that resolves. That means that in a two-player game, the nonactive player's persist creatures will return to the battlefield first, then the active player's persist creatures do the same. The creatures return to the battlefield one at a time.
6/7/2013
If a creature with persist that has +1/+1 counters on it receives enough -1/-1 counters to cause it to be destroyed by lethal damage or put into its owner's graveyard for having 0 or less toughness, persist won't trigger and the card won't return to the battlefield. That's because persist checks the creature's existence just before it leaves the battlefield, and it still has all those counters on it at that point.
Card River Kelpie is not on TCGPlayer.