The 30 Best Zombie Commanders in Magic Ranked

Last updated on February 20, 2025

Nekusar, the Mindrazer | Illustration by Mark Winters

Magic thrives in a space between creativity and reference. Among the most recognizable of its adapted fantasy races are zombies, shambling about the Gothic horror of Innistrad and carefully tending the fields of Amonkhet, with plenty of variety between.

Because this creature type is a fan favorite and has been around for a long time, we have no shortage of choices for zombies to lead our EDH decks. Some of them are typal powerhouses that care about growing an Army of the Damned while others offer unique effects.

Whatever you want to do, there’s a zombie commander for you, so let’s take a look at them!

What Are Zombie Commanders in MTG?

Mikaeus, the Unhallowed | Illustration by Chris Rahn

Zombie commanders are legendary creatures with the zombie type, not just commanders that care about zombies. Though that’s a consistent theme, we have plenty of options that care about the graveyard or are simply zombies for flavor purposes, like the God-Eternals Nicol Bolas used to invade Ravnica.

#30. Dee Kay, Finder of the Lost

The unique mechanics of Dee Kay, Finder of the Lost warranted a mention; it’s one of the few legal commanders that open attractions. Why you would want to escapes me, but it’s worth knowing about.

#29. Zul Ashur, Lich Lord

Zul Ashur, Lich Lord is the kind of commander you play because you have an interesting synergy in mind, like looping Sidisi, Undead Vizier or annoying your opponents to death by playing Fleshbag Marauder turn after turn. This is the kind of commander you build around; if you want a general zombie commander, there are better options.

#28. God-Eternal Rhonas

God-Eternal Rhonas is about as close as the mono-green player can get to Craterhoof Behemoth in the command zone. It sorely lacks trample, but green decks come by it often enough with cards like Garruk's Uprising that we can forgive it. Vigilance lets you pressure your opponents without fearing the crack-back, which is intriguing.

#27. Glissa Sunslayer

Glissa Sunslayer doesn’t look like your typical commander due to its small stature and relatively tame abilities, but it has some spice. Glissa commonly leads saga decks that use the third mode to reset cards like The Cruelty of Gix and Binding the Old Gods. The potent combination of first strike and deathtouch also leads me to wonder how Lure effects might factor into the deck.

#26. Gorex, the Tombshell

Super-delve makes Gorex, the Tombshell intriguing as it cuts into the commander tax, allowing you to keep your commander close at hand. I really like that the ability encourages you to play and sacrifice and replay Gorex, even if it’s rather tame by today’s standards.

#25. Mikaeus, the Unhallowed

Mikaeus, the Unhallowed provides a fantastic source of sacrifice fodder in the command zone, as well as easy access to about a dozen infinite combos that rely on Mikaeus to infinitely sacrifice creatures.

I really like the idea of this being an ETB commander, leveraging Mikaeus and ways to remove counters to continually get enters triggers off cards like Ravenous Chupacabra and Phyrexian Rager.

#24. Sidisi, Undead Vizier

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Sidisi, Undead Vizier lends itself well to combo shells that rely on Sidisi exploiting creatures to find cards like Ad Nauseam or Doomsday. Constructing the deck can be an interesting puzzle, though the deck itself arguably strikes a single, consistent note.

#23. Skullbriar, the Walking Grave

At the very least, Skullbriar, the Walking Grave has my respect for its fascinating ability. Golgari decks () have plenty to do with counters, and you can perform some neat tricks with a commander that retains its power like sacrificing it to Rite of Consumption and getting it back for a Rishkar's Expertise.

#22. Raul, Trouble Shooter

Raul, Trouble Shooter caught my eye when Fallout came out for its simplicity. In an era of mechanics requiring helper cards and commanders with enough text to rival a Stormlight Archives novel, a creature with such a clean text box stands out.

There’s even some power here; Displacer Kitten and other flicker effects allow you to get multiple spells off Raul, and we all know that many broken strategies begin in the graveyard. Heck, this card just says tap, draw a card!

#21. Vogar, Necropolis Tyrant

Vogar, Necropolis Tyrant looks interesting. It strikes me as a card that’s generally weak, but the right shell could make it shine. That shell probably involves cards like Malakir Rebirth and Not Dead After All.

#20. Sedris, the Traitor King

Sedris, the Traitor King looks rather slow in our modern era of Magic, but it has potential as a pretty casual reanimation commander. Nobody can claim this card’s moving too fast to be fair, nor can you argue with the results you get when you fling Archon of Cruelty and Overlord of the Boilerbilges at your opponents.

#19. Tormod, the Desecrator

Tormod, the Desecrator can be a handy partner when you have a plan for getting cards out of the graveyard. Ghost of Ramirez DePietro is a common pairing, but Ravos, Soultender and Silas Renn, Seeker Adept are other useful options.

This provides a powerful effect; removing cards from the graveyard tends to correlate to grindy games that benefit from a creature you can chuck into play that slowly accrues advantage over a long game, especially if you throw in some cards that care about zombies or tokens.

#18. Nevinyrral, Urborg Tyrant

Nevinyrral, Urborg Tyrant is a fantastic choice for a control deck; it’s both a board wipe and a payoff for running board wipes. This commander wants nothing more than to fire off a Toxic Deluge before the commander. It also plays well with sacrifice outlets to trigger Nevinyrral’s wrath and provide another means of triggering the enters ability. This commander can be unwieldy, but also fairly unique.

#17. God-Eternal Bontu

Many sacrifice commanders either reward you for sacrificing creatures or provide a consistent sacrifice outlet. God-Eternal Bontu is a little different as you get a single sacrifice trigger, but you can consume your entire board and even throw away random lands or mana rocks to mitigate flooding. I prefer this card as a support piece in a sacrifice deck, but a commander that can draw so many cards at once deserves a nod.

#16. Zahur, Glory’s Past

Zahur, Glory's Past looks like one of the most promising commanders with the complex max speed mechanic. I specifically like it because it offers an easy avenue to increase your speed: Since you can gain speed by making your opponents lose life, Blood Artist and its ilk get you there quickly.

Once you have max speed, making a horde of zombies gives you a lot of power, either literally to threaten your opponents or by effectively doubling your stock of sacrifice fodder to make your sacrifice outlets all the stronger.

#15. Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion

Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion typically zeros in on extra combats for the triggered ability. Cards like Hellkite Charger and Aggravated Assault even push that into infinite combats.

The mana production gives it a distinct Big Red strategy, as Neheb gives you the requisite mana for spells like Portal to Phyrexia and Sunbird's Invocation, with all the card filtration needed to find such impactful spells.

#14. Glissa, the Traitor

Glissa, the Traitor offers a unique artifact commander that relies on eggs-style play patterns of sacrificing cheap artifacts like Mishra's Bauble and Haywire Mite while recurring them thanks to its textbox. Golgari decks are rarely themed around artifacts, making Glissa a black sheep in the best way.

#13. God-Eternal Kefnet

God-Eternal Kefnet provides a fairly unique spellslinger commander that focuses on copying and casting big spells. There’s an immediate combo angle you can take; using a card like Jace, the Mind Sculptor to put a Time Warp or other extra turn spell on top of your library turn after turn offers infinite turns. You can also run it fairly, as a commander that provides both a mana advantage and card advantage since it effectively copies your instants and sorceries and gives you a discount.

#12. Grimgrin, Corpse-Born

One of the most fun zombie commanders, Grimgrin, Corpse-Born is the most Frankenstein of the stitched monsters littering Innistrad. It provides pressure and board control, but I’m most impressed by the entirely unregulated sacrifice ability: The best sacrifice outlets are those that you can activate whenever you like, as often as you like, which Grimgrin kindly offers.

#11. Thraximundar

An utter classic, Thraximundar often finds itself at the helm of wildly aggressive sacrifice decks that lean on Thraximundar as a vital piece of pressure. It pairs brilliantly with edicts and Fleshbag Marauder effects as they often trigger it three or four times. All this sacrificing comes with ample burn from Blood Artist and friends.

Though modern 7-drops like Atraxa, Grand Unifier and Etali, Primal Conqueror steal Thraximundar’s lunch money, this assassin still delivers powerful blows.

#10. Varina, Lich Queen

Varina, Lich Queen takes on the midrange-graveyard aspect of Esper () zombies. Filtering through your hand gives you plenty of time to find the perfect tools to handle opposing threats while the activated ability offers long-term value so you can use your mana in that extended game.

Stocking the graveyard could be mere fuel for Varina, or it could provide an avenue for fueling powerful zombies and zombie-typal cards like Hashaton, Scarab's Fist, The Scarab God, and Gisa and Geralf. Of the three Esper zombies, it’s certainly the most flexible.

#9. Neheb, the Eternal

Neheb, the Eternal matures Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion, trimming away the discard and draw to double down on mana production. And it does so in spectacular fashion, often helming mono-red storm decks that bide their time for a few turns before they obliterate the pod with a well-timed Crackle with Power.

#8. God-Eternal Oketra

God-Eternal Oketra possesses plenty of simple power. It’s a quintessential white card that rewards you for playing creatures with tokens and sends even more at your opponents. It gets wildly out of control once you factor in token doublers and cards like Whitemane Lion that churn out Zombie Warriors to overwhelm your opponents.

#7. Temmet, Naktamun’s Will

Temmet, Naktamun's Will, the face commander from the Eternal Might precon, demands an aggressive shell, one that really leverages the many lord zombies have to offer.

This power rests in the incredible buff Temmet offers your zombies. Since it counts your draw step, your zombies essential start with +2/+2, but you can easily accent that thanks to cards like Distant Melody, Varina, Lich Queen, and Kindred Discovery. With that much power flying around, how could you do anything but attack your opponents?

#6. Belbe, Corrupted Observer

If you’ve ever wondered what a Golgari group hug commander might look like, wonder no more, for we have Belbe, Corrupted Observer. It’s a very black group hug commander, almost group slug given that it rewards bold aggression.

But you can take it towards a crueler route. I’m partial to stax builds that generate huge surges of mana thanks to cards like Mardu Shadowspear and Night Market Lookout to power out disruptive tools like God-Pharaoh's Gift and Altar of Bone, which grinds the game to a standstill until you begin summoning Eldrazi from the Blind Eternities.

#5. Hashaton, Scarab’s Fist

Hashaton, Scarab’s Fist puts a fascinating spin on reanimator commanders. A source of reanimation right in the command zone makes the deck far more consistent, something that reanimation decks can struggle with since the core combo often requires three cards: a card worth reanimating, a way to put it in the graveyard, and a means of getting it back.

Hashaton, Scarab's Fist also offers some serious power since its triggered ability doesn’t make you exile the cards you copy, as effects like this often do. That allows you to build an imposing army of 4/4s while stocking the graveyard; once those eat a wrath, you still have plenty of creatures to reanimate later.

Or you can just see how many copies of Archon of Cruelty it takes to beat your pod.

#4. Ratadrabik of Urborg

Ratadrabik of Urborg seems to get stronger and stronger with every set. The focus on Commander and the need of Universes Beyond sets to capture many iconic characters means that we’re seeing more legendary creatures than ever before, and that only benefits cards that care about legendary permanents.

This commander often leads sacrifice decks that squeeze as many triggers as possible from cards like Junji, the Midnight Sky and Sidisi, Undead Vizier. The synergies come with a variety of infinite combos involving cards from Tales of Middle-earth; Ratadrabik might have benefited the most from the Ring tempts you mechanic.

#3. Nekusar, the Mindrazer

Nekusar, the Mindrazer often attracts new players due to its simplicity. You play Nekusar, throw in some wheels and Howling Mine effects, a dash of burn via Spiteful Visions and Underworld Dreams, and boom! The deck practically builds itself.

But that doesn’t mean it lacks power. Nekusar always seems to get new tools; in just the past few years, we’ve gotten Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Orcish Bowmasters, Razorkin Needlehead, and Scrawling Crawler to supplement the game plan. And the nature of Commander forces players to pack their decks with card draw, so Nekusar has no trouble dishing out huge amounts of damage.

#2. Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver

Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver is the zombie commander of choice if you want your commander to be a zombie (I think there’s a strong argument for Gisa and Geralf as the ideal choice, but I digress).

It just generates so much value, rewarding you for sacrificing zombies with more zombies and providing a solid sacrifice outlet. It also draws cards, which is a simple way to build a strong typal commander. However, the biggest appeal to me is the wrath protection: Wilhelt ensures you still have a board post-Wrath of God, negating one of the biggest weaknesses of many typal decks.

#1. Kraum, Ludevic’s Opus

Everybody knows that the first batch of partners were broken for their ubiquitous power, but Kraum, Ludevic's Opus has always been a cut above. One of the infamous Blue Farm commanders, Kraum’s power comes from its card advantage. It exists in a very similar space to Rhystic Study as a card that greatly rewards you while your opponents just play the game. Giving access to Magic’s best color tidily ties the commander together as a busted card that complements virtually any partner you like.

Best Zombie Commander Payoffs

Zombies have plenty of typal support. Though not every zombie commander cares about zombies—for example, Nekusar, the Mindrazer and Belbe, Corrupted Observer don’t care about the rest of your deck being zombies—they can all benefit from typal support cards like Accursed Duneyard and Cavern of Souls.

We have plenty of options for zombie commanders that encourage you to raise a horde large enough to make Liliana jealous. Zombies boast a variety of lords including prominent examples like Lord of the Undead for card advantage and Undead Warchief for cost reduction.

Zombies often care about the graveyard and are ripe for sacrificing since they come in great numbers, which you can easily exploit with Undead Augur and Archghoul of Thraben.

And don’t forget more general typal payoffs! Kindred Dominance and Everything Comes to Dust quickly come to mind as control pieces that double as finishers. Roaming Throne wrangles the most value from every card. Kindred Discovery and Distant Melody give you all the card draw you could want.

Commanding Conclusion

Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver | Illustration by Chris Rallis

Though many zombie commanders care about raising an undead horde, there’s a lot of depth to the legendary creature with this iconic creature type. Many of them are black and thus care about the graveyard, but there’s a zombie commander for pretty much any strategy.

Which zombie commander is your favorite? Did I miss anything spicy? Let me know in the comments below or on the Draftsim Discord!

Stay safe, and thanks for reading!