While Reanimator has always been one of Magic’s defining archetypes, it shines brightest in Commander. The archetype has so many powerful legends, however, that picking one to lead your deck can be a tricky endeavor. To help address that issue, we’ve put together our picks for the best Reanimator Commanders in MTG.
Honorable Mention | Teval, The Balanced Scale
As Reanimator Commanders go, Teval, the Balanced Scale delivers on setup better than most. Every attack fills your graveyard, which helps put your juicy targets like Valgavoth, Terror Eater where you need them. It also often ramps you at the same time, helping you hard cast your big threats if you run out of recursion.
On top of this, Teval’s token-making ability is an excellent extra incentive to reanimate. This helps the deck go wide when needed, shoring up one of Reanimator’s traditional weaknesses nicely. This ability also lends itself very well to combos, unlocking infinite enters/dies lines with cards like Tortured Existence and Phyrexian Altar, for example.
While it’s undoubtedly a good Commander for the archetype, Teval is only an honorable mention here because it’s really more of a support piece. It doesn’t do anything to help you reanimate your creatures, which is generally the most important piece of the puzzle. That said, its popularity and place on this list are more than earned, as it remains an efficient foundation to build a Reanimator strategy upon.
5 | Betor, Ancestors’ Voice
Betor is fairly unique as a Commander in that it actually encourages you to lose life to make best use of it. It’s not too hard to get value here, either, as simply fetching up a Shockland will let you bring back utility creatures like Reclamation Sage. Add in some big life spenders like Doom Whisperer and Reanimate, however, and you can grab everything up to heaters like Avacyn, Angel of Hope.
To sustain this playstyle, you can run lifegain cards like Soul Warden and Children of Korlis to balance the scales. This also lets you tap into the other half of Betor’s ability, and stack up some +1/+1 counters before you reanimate. While it’s not super-exciting, this is still a nice incidental way to buff creatures like Esper Sentinel, and let Betor hit harder to gain more life next turn.
Though it takes a good bit of support to get going, once it does Betor is one of the best repeatable reanimation sources out there. You can also double-dip on both abilities with trigger doublers like Roaming Throne, creating terrifying value swings that can easily snowball you to victory.
4 | Slimefoot And Squee
Bucking the typical trend, Slimefoot and Squee is a Commander that you actually want to get removed. From the graveyard, this devious duo essentially acts as a repeatable Zombify, bringing back your big creatures at a very reasonable price. While it does need a steady supply of Saprolings to do so, cards like Saproling Cluster and Korozda Guildmage can deliver that while also supporting the deck’s core plan.
Having reliable access to repeatable reanimation makes Slimefoot and Squee hugely flexible, letting you recur utility creatures like Eternal Witness, and beaters like Etali, Primal Conqueror, in the same turn. Throw in sacrifice outlets like Goblin Bombardment, and you can even manually set up both your Commander and your preferred target to ‘loop’ them each turn.
Slimefoot and Squee is also notable for its outstanding combo potential, owing to the lack of limits on its ability. With cards like Warren Soultrader and Pitiless Plunderer, it’s trivial to create lethal loops with this Commander and any token-making creature like Sprouting Thrinax. Having explosive plays like this in your back pocket is fantastic, giving this pair an edge among the many Reanimator Commanders in MTG.
3 | Terra, Herald Of Hope
Terra, Herald of Hope really is an all-in-one Reanimator package, providing both the setup and the payoff the archetype needs. Easily milling two cards a turn is a nice boost, stocking your graveyard with potential reanimation targets at no cost. It also turns topdeck tutors like Scheming Symmetry into valuable Entomb effects, letting you pick out the best creatures for each situation.
Once it’s built up your ‘yard, there are tons of great targets for Terra’s reanimation ability, from utility creatures like Loran of the Third Path to beaters like Aurelia, the Warleader. You can also grab low-power reanimation creatures, like Karmic Guide and Priest of Fell Rites, and use them as stepping stones to bigger threats.
While having to pay mana for Terra’s reanimation ability isn’t ideal, cards like Ashnod’s Altar can help a ton in that regard. You can also use cards like Genji Glove to nab extra combats and give Terra Double Strike for more uses each turn. All in all, Terra is undoubtedly one of the best Reanimator Commanders in all of MTG.
2 | Meren Of Clan Nel Toth
Meren is a true-blue Reanimator classic, serving as one of the best Commanders for the archetype since 2015. Since it accrues experience counters for all of your creature deaths, even tokens, it’s trivial to build it up with generators like Bitterblossom and Tendershoot Dryad. Proliferate cards, like Cankerbloom and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, help a ton here too, giving you even more experience to work with.
After a little setup, Meren should be in a position to reanimate any creature you want each turn. At this point, you can start dropping huge threats like Sheoldred, Whispering One, safe in the knowledge that you can just bring them back again next turn if they’re removed. Meren itself is remarkably resilient to removal, too, since its experience counters persist even after death.
While it’s certainly simple, Meren is undeniably very effective as a Reanimator Commander. Its reliable nature even lets you dabble in some unusual play patterns, like stalling out the game with cards like Spore Frog, without having to devote any resources to them.
1 | Muldrotha, The Gravetide
Unsurprisingly, Muldrotha is undoubtedly the best Reanimator Commander MTG has to offer. Providing direct access to your graveyard each turn, Muldrotha, The Gravetide is unrivaled in the sheer amount of Reanimation it offers. While you do have to pay for the cards you cast, you can still always cheat things out with traditional reanimation effects.
Muldrotha can even supercharge some of these effects too, since it can Reanimate enchantments like Animate Dead and Necromancy. Similarly, creatures like Phyrexian Delver are great options here too, giving you access to your premium reanimator targets without having to pay their hefty mana costs.
As if all that wasn’t enough, Muldrotha also packs some tasty incidental combo lines. You can take infinite turns with Second Chance, for instance, or make infinite mana with Displacer Kitten and Lotus Petal. Plays like this give your Reanimator deck a plan B if it gets hit with graveyard hate, making Muldrotha an excellent all-weather Commander for the archetype.
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