First printed in Shadows over Innistrad (2016)
Startled Awake 
Sorcery
Target opponent mills thirteen cards.
: Put this card from your graveyard onto the battlefield transformed. Activate only as a sorcery.
"It seemed so real!"
Persistent Nightmare
Creature — Nightmare
Skulk (This creature can't be blocked by creatures with greater power.)
When this creature deals combat damage to a player, return it to its owner's hand.
1/1
- Illustrated by
- Sean Sevestre
Legality
- Legal in
- Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Historic, Timeless, Penny Dreadful, Gladiator, Commander, Duel Commander, Oathbreaker, Brawl, Competitive Brawl
- Not legal in
- Standard, Pauper, Future Standard, Alchemy, Premodern, Old School 93/94, Pauper Commander, PreDH, Tiny Leaders, Standard Brawl
Rulings (3)
- A sorcery can't be put onto the battlefield and a permanent can't transform into a sorcery. If an effect exiles Persistent Nightmare and then instructs you to return it to the battlefield, it remains face up in exile (unless that effect instructs you to put it onto the battlefield transformed, in which case it returns as Persistent Nightmare). If an effect instructs you to transform Persistent Nightmare, the instruction is ignored.
- If you cause a creature to have 0 power or less, use the actual value (which may be negative) to determine whether it can block or be blocked. A creature with skulk and 0 or less power most likely won't be blocked, but it won't deal combat damage and won't trigger any abilities that trigger when combat damage is dealt.
- Skulk matters only as blockers are chosen. Modifying either creature's power after blockers are chosen won't cause the attacking creature to become unblocked.
Prices
Paper price: €0.65 / $0.93 , the cheapest non-foil print (Cardmarket and TCGplayer through MTGJSON, 2 Nov 2026).
MTGO price: 0.006 TIX, the cheapest non-foil print (average sell price on GoatBots, 2 Nov 2026).