Best Reanimator Cards in Commander EDH

Why spend six mana casting a creature when you can spend one mana and some life to drag it out of the graveyard instead? That's the pitch for reanimator in Commander, and it's a compelling one. You skip the mana curve entirely, cheat out game-ending threats on turn two or three, and get to do it again when your stuff inevitably dies.

Reanimator strategies have a few moving parts: you need ways to get creatures into your graveyard, ways to bring them back, and targets worth the effort. This guide covers all of that.

The enablers: getting creatures into the graveyard

Before you can reanimate anything, you need something worth reanimating in your graveyard. These cards set the table.

Entomb

instant. One mana, any creature from your library straight to the graveyard. At instant speed. There is no faster or more efficient way to set up a reanimation target. Play this end of turn, untap, reanimate whatever you grabbed. If you're in black and running a reanimator package, Entomb is automatic.

Buried Alive

sorcery. Three creatures from your library to the graveyard. That's not just finding one target, it's loading up your entire reanimation pipeline for the next several turns. Or you can grab a combo: Karmic Guide, Reveillark, and a sacrifice outlet creature and set up a loop with a single card. Three mana for three tutored creatures is absurd.

The reanimation spells

These are the cards doing the actual heavy lifting. They bring creatures from graveyards to the battlefield, usually for far less mana than the creature's actual cost.

Reanimate

sorcery. One black mana, pay life equal to the creature's mana value, and it's yours. Yours or anyone else's graveyard, by the way. The life payment barely matters when you're putting an Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite or Razaketh, the Foulblooded onto the battlefield on turn two. This is the gold standard. If you own one copy of Reanimate, it goes in every black deck that cares about the graveyard.

Animate Dead

enchantment aura. Two mana, any creature from any graveyard comes back with a minor power reduction. The enchantment text is famously confusing (read the Oracle text, not the card), but the effect is simple: cheap reanimation that sticks around. Being an enchantment means it plays nicely with Zur the Enchanter and enchantress strategies too.

Necromancy

enchantment. Functionally similar to Animate Dead but with a huge upside: you can cast it at instant speed. If you do, you only keep the creature until end of turn, but that's often enough. Flash in a Gray Merchant of Asphodel during someone else's turn for a surprise life drain, or grab a creature with an enters-the-battlefield trigger right when you need it. The flexibility here is worth the extra mana over Animate Dead.

Persist

sorcery. Two mana, return a nonlegendary creature from your graveyard with a -1/-1 counter. The nonlegendary restriction hurts in Commander where your best targets are often commanders or legendary bombs. But for reanimating utility creatures, combo pieces, or big nonlegendary beaters, Persist is efficient and reliable.

Victimize

sorcery. Sacrifice a creature, return two creatures from your graveyard. The math here is disgusting: you trade one body (ideally a token or something with a death trigger) and get back two of your best creatures. Three mana for two reanimations is a rate nothing else in Magic can match. The sacrifice is part of the cost, so even if one target gets exiled in response, you still get the other. Run this in every reanimator deck, no exceptions.

Dread Return

sorcery with flashback (sacrifice three creatures). Four mana to reanimate from your graveyard is fine. The real power is the flashback: if Dread Return is in your graveyard, you can sacrifice three creatures to cast it for free. In token-heavy decks or after a big Buried Alive, this effectively costs zero mana. It's the backbone of several combo lines involving self-mill.

Living Death

sorcery. Every creature on the battlefield gets sacrificed, then every creature in every graveyard comes back. This is a board wipe and mass reanimation stapled together. If you've spent the game filling your graveyard while opponents played fair, Living Death flips the entire board in your favor. It's one of those cards that wins games when you build around it and merely disrupts when you don't. Worth noting: your opponents get their graveyard creatures too, so timing matters.

Creature-based reanimation

These creatures bring things back just by entering the battlefield or attacking, which means you can reanimate them to reanimate other things. Recursive loops get out of hand fast.

Karmic Guide

creature, angel spirit. When it enters, return a creature from your graveyard. It has echo, so you'll sacrifice it next upkeep unless you pay the cost again, but that's usually fine. Karmic Guide dying just means it's in your graveyard ready to be reanimated again. It combos with Reveillark for infinite enters-the-battlefield triggers and is a staple in white reanimator lists and Karador, Ghost Chieftain decks.

Phyrexian Delver

creature, Phyrexian zombie. Enters the battlefield, return a creature from your graveyard, lose life equal to that creature's mana value. It's Reanimate on a body. The life loss is real, but having a 3/2 creature that reanimates something when it enters means you can blink it, reanimate it, or sacrifice and recur it for repeated value.

Apprentice Necromancer

creature, zombie wizard. Tap and sacrifice it: return a creature from your graveyard. That creature gets haste but you sacrifice it at end of turn. Two mana, gives you one big attack or one enters-the-battlefield trigger. What makes Apprentice Necromancer special is that it's a creature, so it's easy to tutor, recur, and loop. In decks that care about creatures entering and leaving the battlefield, this does real work.

The payoff: what to reanimate

You can reanimate anything, but some targets are better than others. Here are the creatures that make the whole strategy worth building around:

The ideal reanimation target does something the moment it hits the battlefield or warps the game so hard that opponents have to answer it immediately. Archon of Cruelty drains resources on entry. Razaketh, the Foulblooded tutors repeatedly. Vilis, Broker of Blood turns all that life payment into cards. Gray Merchant of Asphodel can kill the whole table if your devotion is high enough.

Commanders that love this strategy

If you want to build a dedicated reanimator deck, these commanders were made for it:

• Meren of Clan Nel Toth brings creatures back every end step based on experience counters. Green gives you access to self-mill and ramp.
• Chainer, Dementia Master reanimates from any graveyard at instant speed for three mana and some life. Repeatable and mean.
• Karador, Ghost Chieftain lets you cast one creature from your graveyard each turn and gets cheaper the more creatures are in your graveyard.
• Muldrotha, the Gravetide isn't limited to creatures. You can replay permanents of each type from your graveyard every turn, turning the whole zone into a second hand.

Building around the graveyard

A few things to keep in mind when going all-in on reanimator:

Graveyard hate exists and people run it. Bojuka Bog, Rest in Peace, Tormod's Crypt. If someone exiles your graveyard, you need a backup plan. Don't put every egg in the graveyard basket. Run some cards that function normally from your hand too.

Redundancy matters. One Entomb and one Reanimate isn't a strategy, it's a prayer. Run multiple enablers and multiple reanimation spells so you can assemble the combo consistently.

Self-mill is your friend. Cards like Stitcher's Supplier, Satyr Wayfinder, and Grisly Salvage fill your graveyard while also putting lands in your hand or creatures on the board. They make your reanimation spells live faster.

Reanimator is one of the most satisfying archetypes in Commander. There's nothing quite like spending one mana to put a twelve-mana creature onto the battlefield while your opponents are still playing their third land. Build it right, protect your graveyard, and enjoy cheating on mana costs for the rest of the game.