Over the years, as is the case with any game of its nature, Magic has grown and evolved in ways that’ve made the individual cards much more impactful than they’d been in days of yore - it’s experienced power creep, if you will. With newer cards having more of a board impact for lower mana values, drawbacks have to be built into them from the get-go to keep them from being overpowered.
Some drawbacks cause the caster of the spell or owner of the permanent to lose life or sacrifice permanents when the effect goes off, whereas others have the clause of “this ability triggers only once each turn.” While not an explicitly newer detail, the “once each turn” clause has seen a lot of use as of late - most notably in Outlaws of Thunder Junction to keep the Crime mechanic in check - and it’s only becoming more and more common as stronger cards get released. I’m personally not a huge fan of this, as it seems like a somewhat halfhearted way to make abilities more “fair,” when there are countless other creative ways cards can be kept in line.
However, it seems like it’s here to stay, and with that in mind it might be worth looking into some other cards that can help to break this clause - or at the very least facilitate some of these powerful effects more than once per turn. Some of these picks are more consistent than others, but all should be considered if you’re trying to get some extra Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant or Morbid Opportunist triggers.
It should come as no surprise that the most popular way to get multiple once-each-turn triggers is to simply “flicker” (effects that exile the creature and immediately return them to the battlefield) your creatures. At its core, every recommendation here boils down to ways to either introduce clones of your “once each turn” creatures, or have them leave the battlefield and re-enter as a fresh game piece, letting you trigger their abilities again - flickering is simply the easiest and most straightforward way to do this.
If you’re just looking for one additional trigger, say you control Kambal, Profiteering Mayor and want to copy a certain token you normally wouldn’t be able to, look no further than Cloudshift and Ephemerate. It may seem obvious, but it shouldn’t be understated how powerful getting one of these triggers, or just utilizing any other powerful ETB effect available, can be for just one white mana. Hell, with Ephemerate you can get the best of both worlds - a flicker of your “once each turn” creature when you want it and a convenient relevant ETB trigger on your next upkeep - all for the low low price of $3 - or just $0.50 in Cloudshift’s case.
If you want a bit of a more repeatable effect, then might I recommend Displacer Kitten, a personal favorite. I've mentioned this card before, but for this purpose it bears repeating the benefits of this four-mana Cat Beast. Every time you cast a noncreature spell you get to flicker a creature, giving you multiple opportunities to use their ability or trigger for no additional cost beyond the initial spell’s casting cost. And if whatever engine you have set up to take advantage of said creature can be activated at instant speed, then you're in luck, because with Cloudshift and Ephemerate and this, things can escalate quickly. While it recently saw a reprint in Mystery Booster 2, this didn’t do much to affect its price, and Displacer Kitten does have the distinction of being from a Dungeons & Dragons set (Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate), so I doubt it will show up in any in-universe set any time soon.
Then, of course, there’s the classic Commander menace that is Deadeye Navigator, an old staple from Avacyn Restored that’s somewhat fallen out of favor, despite its undeniable strength. Admittedly it can be a bit pricey to set up - six mana just for the Deadeye, and then two additional mana to flicker whatever is Souldbonded to it - but if you’re playing a slower or mid-range Commander deck and already have an engine set up, this can ultimately become a negligent cost. As Wizards prints more and more powerful “once each turn” and ETB effects (along with the possibility of a Primeval Titan unban on the horizon), Deadeye’s potential only increases with age. And while easily worth a pickup at $9, it might be worth it to wait until its upcoming reprint in Innistrad Remastered bottoms out the price.
A bit more budget friendly at half the price, though more color-restrictive, is Emiel the Blessed. Emiel exists in completely different colors than Deadeye Navigator, and depending on the deck, can be just as strong, if not stronger. She costs two fewer mana than Deadeye, and though she flickers for one mana more, it's all colorless - this enables infinite flickers with such mana combos as Basalt Monolith and Rings of Brighthearth that Deadeye could not. It also doesn’t hurt that her art, particularly the Martina Pilcerova Extended Art Variant from Double Masters 2022, is downright beautiful. It’s also worth mentioning that the $0.15 uncommon Lilyspash Mentor from Bloomburrow accomplishes much the same effect that Emiel does, albeit in slightly different colors, at sorcery speed, and for colored mana in its activation cost… still not a bad choice if budget is a factor.
Other Means
Flickering is the most consistent way to get multiple once-each-turn triggers, but there are still other routes one can go if they’re considering utilizing these abilities. The most apparent choice of these is to simply clone (to create a copy) whatever creature has the ability you want to copy. Cheap clones like Phantasmal Image or Flesh Duplicate are great for these circumstances, while clone effects that circumvent legendary rules, such as Irenicus's Vile Duplication or Spark Double, are also worth a look if said creature is your commander or is legendary.
Beyond that, if you’re in red, you always have the option of creating token copies that die at the end of turn. They may not seem that flashy on paper compared to previous picks mentioned, but if you’re not splashing blue or white and truly need another once-each-turn trigger, they get the job done. Molten Duplication, which has sat at a steady $8 since its release in Outlaws of Thunder Junction: The Big Score, is the cheapest way to get a quick copy in red, and is arguably undervalued at the moment considering Heat Shimmer, which has the exact same effect for an additional colorless mana, is going for the same price. There are other ways to create similar tokens in this color, but these are the most straightforward ones, and if you don’t have access to Cloudshift or Ephemerate and need that one-and-done, you could do worse than these.
After this is where things start to get more convoluted. These potentially run the gamut of putting stuff like Snap under Isochron Scepter so you can recast your relevant creature, to utilizing Undying or Persist effects with sacrifice outlets and other combo pieces - the options are plentiful, you just have to get creative.
In Conclusion
Cards that have abilities that trigger only once in a turn can seem limiting, especially when so many are being printed with that clause after years where it was confined to such a small number of cards. All that means is that as deck builders we either need to embrace them, or get clever in our ways to take advantage of such abilities as many times as possible. After all, who doesn’t like to find creative new ways to play cards differently than intended?
Further Reading:
Power Creep and The One Ring
