The 23 Best Zombie Lords in Magic Ranked

Eternal Skylord | Illustration by Johan Grenier

Magic has a great many iconic fantasy creatures appearing throughout its 30+ year history, but few are as recognizable as the zombies. A creature type largely localized to black, these are some of the most classic monsters in any media.

Like any well-established creature type, zombies have plenty of support pieces and lords. In fact, there are so many zombie lords that you couldn’t possibly fit them all into a single list without unbalancing it, so I’m here to shed some moonlight on which zombie lords are the best for your next brew.

What Are Zombie Lords in MTG?

Lost Monarch of Ifnir | Illustration by Piotr Dura

Zombie lords are creatures that make all or most of your zombies stronger through abilities that provide either a stat boost, keywords, or both. The traditional definition of a typal lord would be a creature that gives the associated creature type +1/+1 or a similar anthem effect, but this list broadens the definition to include cards that give keywords since they serve a similar purpose.

These rankings are primarily for Commander and Cube.

#23. Vizier of the Scorpion

Deathtouch is a fine keyword to grant your zombie tokens; it deters attackers and makes it quite hard for your opponents to eat your tokens in combat. That said, the stats on Vizier of the Scorpion are pretty meh for its mana value.

#22. Liliana’s Devotee

Between the half-anthem and the rather pricey token production on the triggered ability, you’d be correct to call Liliana's Devotee a Limited card. But if you want to weave a zombie theme in a low-powered Cube or want to play off the beaten path, this could be a useful inclusion.

#21. Narfi, Betrayer King

Narfi, Betrayer King is only good in graveyard-heavy zombie decks. If you can reliably mill or discard it to reanimate for 3 snow mana, you get a great deal as most 3-mana zombie lords hover around a 2/2 stat line. But you never want to pay 5 mana for this; if you lack mill, discard, and other graveyard stuff, I’d steer clear of this one.

#20. Eternal Skylord

Eternal Skylord only elevates your zombie tokens, but most zombie builds are token-focused. It comes with a token the first time it enters to provide solid value, but you can grow that army larger if you flicker the Skylord.

#19. Ratadrabik of Urborg

Vigilance is a fairly weak keyword for a lord to provide without anything else, but Ratadrabik of Urborg makes up for that in the second ability. At the very least, it protects your commander, and probably a few more key pieces of your deck—many of the lords covered here are legends, after all.

#18. Tomb Tyrant

Tomb Tyrant has an interesting ability in addition to its anthem. You can easily control your graveyard with cards like Withered Wretch and Relic of Progenitus to increase the odds that you get the creature you want.

The end result gives you a decent chance to get back the stronger zombies, like Rot Hulk, but all that work hardly seems worthwhile, especially when you consider how many cheaper zombie lords exist in the game.

#17. Hancock, Ghoulish Mayor

It takes work to get Hancock, Ghoulish Mayor boosting your team, but it has a pleasantly high ceiling. I imagine that the best way to get counters on this is via equipment like Tarrian's Soulcleaver and some sacrifice outlets, unless you chuck it in a Sultai () list that dips into green counters.

#16. Zombie Master

Zombie Master is a rather interesting lord. Swampwalk can be good evasion, especially if you run Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, but I’m more interested in the regenerate ability. Black has relatively few ways to protect its creatures from board wipes, and while you probably can’t hold up 10 mana to protect your entire board each turn, it could be handy to hold up to protect your commander or similarly vital pieces.

#15. Gleaming Overseer

The menace granted by Gleaming Overseer matters much more than hexproof; any game where your random tokens eat Murders is a game you’re winning anyway. But menace pairs nicely with a wide board—if you attack with five zombies, your opponents need 10 creatures to block them. That’s a lot of resources to devote to a few tokens. It also pairs nicely with the zombie lords that grant deathtouch.

#14. Temmet, Naktamun’s Will

Temmet, Naktamun's Will doesn’t grant a consistent buff since the anthem’s tied to the number of cards you’ve drawn, but it makes up for the low floor with a high ceiling. Wheels and cards like Varina, Lich Queen that draw huge bursts of cards translate to a massive, game-ending buff.

#13. Bladestitched Skaab

Bladestitched Skaab falls behind your traditional lord since it only gives +1/+0 instead of +1/+1, but it makes up for the lack of toughness in efficiency; zombie lords don’t get cheaper than .

#12. Geralf, Visionary Stitcher

Flying is a simple keyword, but it’s one of the most effective in the game. Even though Geralf, Visionary Stitcher doesn’t make your zombies larger, it still adds plenty of pressure because it makes it far harder for your opponents to block.

#11. Death-Priest of Myrkul

Death-Priest of Myrkul works best in aristocrat-focused zombie builds that churn through tokens and cards like Relentless Dead to empower Ashnod's Altar and whatnot. Those decks regularly enable the Death-Priest’s token production ability and make use of it; if your deck doesn’t do either of those things, you can do better as there are plenty of more efficient zombie lords.

#10. Hordewing Skaab

Hordewing Skaab provides a fantastic amount of power. Flying lets you hit your opponents quite hard while the mass looting sculpts your hand. Zombies and graveyard synergies often go hand in hand; discarding cards like Master of Death and Gravecrawler only makes this look better.

#9. Geralf, the Fleshwright

Geralf, the Fleshwright is a rather unconventional zombie lord that boosts the undead with +1/+1 counters rather than a traditional anthem. It has the potential to turn games around on its own thanks to its extreme token production, which looks especially promising alongside Gravecrawler as a cheap creature to cast over and over.

Let’s take a moment to appreciate the flavor. The cascading counters and payoff for playing multiple spells in a turn are unmistakably reminiscent of the storm mechanic, which as the great lightning bolt behind Geralf in the art implies, is key to the stitcher’s arts on Innistrad. The higher your storm count, the more energy you have to convert into zombies! It’s perfect.

I can’t call this the best zombie lord since it can be a rough topdeck, but it’s certainly the most interesting.

#8. Lost Monarch of Ifnir

Afflict is an incredibly messed up ability that puts your opponents a nasty position: Either they don’t block and they take combat damage, or they block and you whittle away their life total anyway; it’s basically trample.

Lost Monarch of Ifnir provides nasty pressure to your board. It complements other lords well because they encourage your opponents to block your buffed creatures, and this minimizes their ability to chump block. Oh, and it draws cards for some reason.

#7. Lord of the Undead

Lord of the Undead provides great value in extended games that give you time to exploit the Raise Dead stapled to the card. But the anthem ensures this isn’t useless in faster games when you’re the beatdown; it’s brilliant to get such utility from a single card.

#6. Diregraf Captain

Diregraf Captain becomes a nasty threat in the late game. The anthem gives your board lots of pressure while the death trigger punishes your opponents for sweeping the board. If you have other, similar effects like Blood Artist, you can easily push your opponents into a corner where they can’t wipe your board without dying to the death triggers, but they can’t beat the horde either.

#5. Cemetery Reaper

Cemetery Reaper should be one of the first lords in any zombie deck. Not only does it buff the team, but it also grows your board with Zombie tokens and provides incidental graveyard hate. Is it the most efficient version of any of those effects? No. But it’s exceptionally useful to get them on a single synergistic card.

#4. Undead Warchief

Zombies have lots of powerful 3-mana lords, so any that cost 4+ need to do something meaningful; they can’t just be anthems. Undead Warchief provides that, with one of the most substantial anthems of any zombie lord and cost reduction thrown in. Don’t mistake this for a mere 1/1, either; this old-school design has an anthem that affects its own power and toughness.

#3. Death Baron

Death Baron throws a wide net with its lordship, including the stray skeleton with your undead horde. What does it matter if your army has flesh or not? All zombies are bones in the end. As are we.

Anyway, deathtouch is pretty neat. It proves handy on offense and defense. Nobody’s attacking their Elder Gargaroth into a random token that trades with it, and they probably won’t block with such a valuable creature, either. It’s not true evasion, but it does work.

#2. Lord of the Accursed

Menace is fabulous, especially when you pair it with a proper anthem. Lord of the Accursed is one of the best zombie lords because its abilities combine to generate obscene pressure later in the game.

#1. Gisa, the Hellraiser

Committing crimes takes very little effort, especially in black decks that love targeted removal, so Gisa, the Hellraiser becomes an absurd token engine. It’s baffling that this makes two tokens at a time.

And the anthem’s exceptionally powerful thanks to menace, which this lord extends beyond your tokens to easily dominate games.

Wrap Up

Diregraf Captain | Illustration by Slawomir Maniak

It would be terrifying enough to encounter a random zombie, but meeting one with the backing of a lord or two provides the kind of horror show you might not live to see to its conclusion. Zombies have been around long enough to garner quite the collection of lords to improve your team, and the most impressive provide some keywords in addition to an anthem.

What’s your favorite zombie lord? How do you exploit the shambling masses? Let me know in the comments below or on the Draftsim Discord!

Stay safe, and thanks for reading!