The cards that return a creature from a graveyard to the battlefield are mostly black and white: one-mana Reanimate and two-mana Animate Dead are the cheapest, Sun Titan and Sheoldred, Whispering One do it every turn, and commanders such as Meren of Clan Nel Toth build a whole deck around it. Below are 20 of these reanimation or resurrection cards, grouped by colour and split into one-shot spells and permanents that repeat the effect, with the exact mana cost, card type and a one-line summary of what each does. Colour identity is noted wherever it differs from the cost, because in Commander that is what decides whether the card fits your deck.
Two words on scope. "Return to the battlefield" is the whole question here: cards that return a creature to your hand, like Eternal Witness, are a different list, and so are cards that let you cast creatures from your graveyard. Every card in the tables below puts the creature card directly onto the battlefield, and the cards that do the same for enchantments and lands have their own section after the tables.
Resurrection cards for Commander
In Commander, the resurrection cards your deck can run are the ones inside your commander's colour identity (rule 903.5c), so start there rather than with the strongest card. Black has the most: seven one-shot spells and three permanents that repeat the effect, in the first two tables below. White has five, from Resurrection itself to Sun Titan; the four multicolour cards each need a commander whose colour identity includes all of their colours (two for Meren and Debtors' Knell, three for Teneb and Alesha); and Nim Deathmantle fits any deck.
Black: the one-shot spells
Black owns reanimation. These are the spells you cast once, usually after discarding or milling the creature you want.
| Card | Cost | Type | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reanimate | {B} | Sorcery | Puts target creature card from any graveyard onto the battlefield under your control. You lose life equal to its mana value. |
| Animate Dead | {1}{B} | Enchantment, Aura | Returns the enchanted creature card from any graveyard under your control. It gets -1/-0, and if the Aura leaves, the creature is sacrificed. |
| Necromancy | {2}{B} | Enchantment | Puts target creature card from any graveyard onto the battlefield under your control, and you may cast it as though it had flash (cast it at instant speed and the creature is sacrificed at the next cleanup step). |
| Exhume | {1}{B} | Sorcery | Each player puts a creature card from their graveyard onto the battlefield. Cheap, and symmetrical. |
| Persist | {1}{B} | Sorcery | Returns target nonlegendary creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield with a -1/-1 counter on it. |
| Zombify | {3}{B} | Sorcery | Returns target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. No strings attached. |
| Dread Return | {2}{B}{B} | Sorcery | Same effect as Zombify, with flashback: sacrifice three creatures to cast it again from your graveyard. |
Black: the permanents that do it again
| Card | Cost | Type | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sheoldred, Whispering One | {5}{B}{B} | Legendary Creature, Phyrexian Praetor | At the beginning of your upkeep, returns target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. Each opponent sacrifices a creature on their upkeep. |
| Chainer, Dementia Master | {3}{B}{B} | Legendary Creature, Human Minion | {B}{B}{B} and 3 life: puts target creature card from any graveyard onto the battlefield under your control as a Nightmare. If Chainer leaves, all Nightmares are exiled. |
| Coffin Queen | {2}{B} | Creature, Zombie Wizard | {2}{B} and tap: puts target creature card from any graveyard onto the battlefield under your control. The creature is exiled when Coffin Queen untaps, so you may choose not to untap her. |
Two black cards give you the creature on loan rather than for keeps: Whip of Erebos ({2}{B}{B}) returns a creature with haste and exiles it at the next end step, and Apprentice Necromancer ({1}{B}) does the same once by sacrificing himself. Both are excellent with creatures that have an enters-the-battlefield ability.
White: the fair reanimation
White returns creatures too, usually with a condition attached, and it does it on creatures that keep giving.
| Card | Cost | Type | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sun Titan | {4}{W}{W} | Creature, Giant | Whenever it enters or attacks, you may return target permanent card with mana value 3 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield. Creatures, but also lands, artifacts and enchantments. |
| Karmic Guide | {3}{W}{W} | Creature, Angel Spirit | When it enters, returns target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. Flying, protection from black, and echo {3}{W}{W}. |
| Reveillark | {4}{W} | Creature, Elemental | When it leaves the battlefield, returns up to two target creature cards with power 2 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield. Evoke {5}{W} triggers it right away. |
| Reya Dawnbringer | {6}{W}{W}{W} | Legendary Creature, Angel | At the beginning of your upkeep, you may return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. Expensive, and relentless once it lands. |
| Resurrection | {2}{W}{W} | Sorcery | Returns target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. The plain white version of Zombify. |
Multicolour: commanders and gold cards
| Card | Cost | Colour identity | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meren of Clan Nel Toth | {2}{B}{G} | Black, green | You get an experience counter whenever another creature you control dies. At your end step, returns target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield if its mana value is at most your experience counters; otherwise to your hand. |
| Teneb, the Harvester | {3}{W}{B}{G} | White, black, green | Whenever it deals combat damage to a player, you may pay {2}{B} to put target creature card from any graveyard onto the battlefield under your control. |
| Alesha, Who Smiles at Death | {2}{R} | Black, red, white | Whenever Alesha attacks, you may pay {W/B}{W/B} to return target creature card with power 2 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped and attacking. The hybrid symbols put black and white in her identity. |
| Debtors' Knell | {4}{W/B}{W/B}{W/B} | White, black | At the beginning of your upkeep, puts target creature card from any graveyard onto the battlefield under your control. Hybrid symbols count as both colours for identity, so it needs a commander that is both white and black. |
Unburial Rites ({4}{B}, flashback {3}{W}) is the one-shot gold option: it returns a creature card from your graveyard, then does it again from the graveyard for the flashback cost. Its colour identity is black and white because of that flashback cost, so it does not go in a mono-black deck.
Colourless: for any commander
| Card | Cost | Type | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nim Deathmantle | {2} | Artifact, Equipment | Whenever a nontoken creature is put into your graveyard from the battlefield, you may pay {4} to return that card to the battlefield with the Equipment attached. Works in every colour identity. |
Which cards return enchantments or lands from the graveyard?
Sun Titan, from the white table above, already does both: it returns any permanent card with mana value 3 or less, and a land has no mana cost (Comprehensive Rules 202.1b), so its mana value is 0 (rule 202.3a). For enchantments, Replenish ({3}{W}) returns every enchantment card from your graveyard to the battlefield at once, and Starfield of Nyx ({4}{W}) can return one at the beginning of each of your upkeeps. For lands, Splendid Reclamation ({3}{G}) returns all of them tapped, and World Shaper ({3}{G}) does the same when it dies. They belong in enchantment and lands decks rather than in a reanimator, which is why they sit outside the 20 above. Thirteen cards that return enchantments from your graveyard, to the battlefield or to your hand, have their own guide: cards that return enchantments from the graveyard, with exact costs and how each one plays in Commander.
One-shot or repeatable: which does your deck want?
- One-shot spells (Reanimate, Animate Dead, Necromancy, Exhume, Persist, Zombify, Dread Return, Resurrection) are the fastest and cheapest way to cheat one enormous creature into play early. They want a way to put that creature in the graveyard first: discard, self-mill, or a creature that dies on purpose.
- Repeatable permanents (Sheoldred, Chainer, Coffin Queen, Sun Titan, Reya Dawnbringer, Debtors' Knell, Nim Deathmantle) turn every creature that dies into a resource. They are slower and easier to answer, and they win the long game that most Commander tables play.
- Commanders (Meren, Teneb, Alesha) give you the effect from the command zone every game, so the rest of the 99 can be creatures worth returning and ways to make them die.
A typical build wants both: two or three cheap one-shot spells to threaten an early Sun Titan or Sheoldred, plus a couple of engines for the grind. If your commander is black, Sheoldred is the engine to build around; if it is white, Sun Titan; if it is both, Debtors' Knell is the one card every graveyard deck in those colours can run.
Find more of them with a search that understands the effect
You can find the next twenty the same way: by describing the effect instead of guessing names. Type "return target creature card from my graveyard to the battlefield" into Scry, our AI-powered card search, on the card catalog or inside the deck editor. Scry matches meaning rather than exact words, and results are ranked by how well each card's actual behaviour matches the description.
When we ran that exact search on September 11, 2026, the top of the list was creatures that do the job, several of which are not in the tables above: Doomed Necromancer ({2}{B}: pay {B}, tap and sacrifice it to return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield), Alesha, Who Smiles at Death, Sister Hospitaller ({4}{W}{B}: when it enters, return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield and gain life equal to its mana value), Driver of the Dead ({3}{B}: when it dies, return target creature card with mana value 2 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield), Hell's Caretaker ({3}{B}: during your upkeep, tap it and sacrifice a creature to return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield) and Champion of Stray Souls ({4}{B}{B}: pay {3}{B}{B}, tap it and sacrifice X other creatures to return X target creature cards from your graveyard to the battlefield). Because the query names a creature card, the results lean toward creatures; the filter sidebar narrows by card type, colour identity or mana value when you want the spells instead. A thumbs-down Not relevant on any miss improves the ranking for everyone.
Then narrow with the filter sidebar: your commander's colour identity, a mana value ceiling, or "creature" only if you want engines rather than spells. Getting Better Search Results covers the search and the filters; for the whole build, from brief to legality check, see how to build a Commander deck with an AI assistant.
Frequently asked questions
Which card is the cheapest way to return a creature from the graveyard to the battlefield?
Reanimate, at {B}. It takes a creature card from any graveyard, yours or an opponent's, and the cost is life equal to the creature's mana value, which is a bargain for a six-drop and a real cost for a nine-drop. Animate Dead at {1}{B} costs no life but leaves the creature vulnerable to enchantment removal.
Can I return a creature from an opponent's graveyard?
Only with cards that say "from a graveyard" rather than "from your graveyard": Reanimate, Animate Dead, Necromancy, Chainer, Coffin Queen, Teneb and Debtors' Knell all do. Zombify, Dread Return, Sun Titan, Sheoldred and Reya Dawnbringer only look at your own.
What counts as a creature's colour identity for these cards in Commander?
Every mana symbol printed on the card, in its cost and in its rules text (Comprehensive Rules 903.4), and every card in the deck must fit inside the commander's identity (rule 903.5c). That is why Alesha, Who Smiles at Death (cost {2}{R}) has a black, red and white identity, and why Unburial Rites (cost {4}{B}, flashback {3}{W}) needs a commander with both black and white. The deck builder's Validation tab flags any card outside your commander's identity.
Does a reanimated creature keep its enters-the-battlefield ability?
Yes. Returning a creature card to the battlefield makes it enter the battlefield, so abilities that trigger when it enters trigger again (Comprehensive Rules 603.6a). That is the whole reason Karmic Guide, Reveillark and the loan effects on Whip of Erebos and Apprentice Necromancer are as strong as they are.
Build the deck around them
Put your reanimation package into a Commander deck in the Mana Grove deck builder and let the legality checks watch colour identity for you. Create a free account to start; every plan includes the full deck builder, and plans and pricing shows what the paid plans add.
