What it does
Haunt is an old triggered-ability keyword from the Guildpact set. When a creature with Haunt dies, instead of going straight to the graveyard, it gets exiled "haunting" a target creature. The Haunt ability then triggers again later—when that haunted creature dies. So you effectively get two uses out of the same effect: once when the Haunt creature itself dies, and once when its host dies.
The common misunderstanding is the timing: the actual effect (like dealing damage or gaining life) triggers on death, but the creature only becomes a "haunting" exile afterward. People also forget you must target a creature when it dies—if no legal target exists, it just goes to exile without haunting anything, losing the second trigger.
In Commander, Haunt is rare and mostly a budget/casual curiosity. It rewards sacrifice and aristocrats strategies by squeezing extra value from creature deaths, but it's slow and clunky compared to modern death-trigger payoffs.
Iconic cards with Haunt
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