Best Zombie commanders

Whenever another Zombie you control dies, Wilhelt makes a 2/2 Zombie with decayed — unless the dead Zombie had decayed itself. Every Zombie leaves a token behind, and decayed tokens attack once and are sacrificed, which feeds death triggers. At your end step you may sacrifice a Zombie to draw a card. Dimir colors: Zombie lords, counterspells and a steady stream of cards.

Best for: Players who want the strongest Zombie engine.

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At the beginning of your upkeep each opponent loses X life and you scry X, where X is the number of Zombies you control. For {2}{U}{B} The Scarab God exiles a creature card from any graveyard and makes a token copy that is a 4/4 black Zombie — your opponents’ best creatures become your Zombies. When it dies it returns to your hand. Not a Zombie itself, but the best payoff for them.

Best for: Players who like control and long games.

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Whenever you attack with Zombies, Varina draws that many cards, then you discard that many and gain that much life. Big attacks dig deep, and discarded creatures fuel reanimation. For {2} and two cards exiled from your graveyard she makes a 2/2 Zombie, so the graveyard turns into an army. A 4/4 for four in Esper colors. Every attack makes the next one better.

Best for: Players who like steady, flexible engines.

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Gisa and Geralf mill four cards when they enter, and once during each of your turns you may cast a Zombie creature spell from your graveyard. Your graveyard becomes a second hand of Zombies, and self-mill keeps it full. Removal and wipes cost you little when every dead Zombie can be cast again. A 4/4 for four in Dimir colors, simple and cheap.

Best for: Newcomers to graveyard decks.

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For {B} and a tap, Ghoulcaller Gisa sacrifices another creature and creates X 2/2 Zombies, where X is its power. A 5/5 becomes five Zombies; a stolen or reanimated giant becomes a horde. With creatures that are big but cheap, or that come back, she builds an army every turn. Mono-black, with all the reanimation and sacrifice support that color has.

Best for: Players who like simple, strong engines.

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Sauron is no Zombie. Whenever an opponent casts a spell, he amasses Orcs 1, growing an Army token; when the Army deals combat damage, the Ring tempts you, and whenever that happens you may discard your hand and draw four. In a Zombie deck, War of the Spark’s amass cards grow the same Army, which is a Zombie and an Orc at once, and the discarded creatures feed reanimation. Grixis colors.

Best for: Experienced players who like big, unusual engines.

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Whenever you attack, Temmet lets you draw a card and discard one, and whenever you draw a card, your Zombies get +1/+1 until end of turn. Each attack is at least one pump, and a few instant-speed draw spells during combat make the whole army bigger. Vigilance and menace make Temmet himself a good attacker. Esper colors. Cycling cards help on both counts.

Best for: Aggressive players who like card draw.

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Whenever you discard a creature card, you may pay {2}{U} to create a tapped token copy of it that is a 4/4 black Zombie. Discarding a creature with a strong enter ability gives you that ability plus a 4/4 body, and the card is still in your graveyard for reanimation. Looting, cycling and wheel effects become creature spells. Two mana in Esper colors.

Best for: Experienced players who enjoy discard and graveyard decks.

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Tap Zul Ashur and you may cast target Zombie creature card from your graveyard this turn. Every turn, one dead Zombie comes back, and his ward makes opponents pay 2 life to target him. Two mana and mono-black, so the deck is cheap and starts early; self-mill and sacrifice keep his targets coming. Zombies with strong enter abilities are worth casting again and again.

Best for: Newcomers and budget builders.

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Grimgrin enters tapped and doesn’t untap normally. Sacrificing another creature untaps him and gives him a +1/+1 counter, and whenever he attacks he destroys a creature the defending player controls and gets another counter. Zombie tokens are the fodder: each attack is removal, and he grows every turn. A 5/5 for five in Dimir colors. The more Zombies you make, the more he destroys.

Best for: Players who like Aristocrats-style Zombie decks.

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