Hello EDH and graveyard fans! Today I've got something special! I want to give you my favorite Reanimator Commanders in the format overall!!! As a reminder, I make my list myself, and then refer later to other places like EDHREC.com or other places. Sometimes I'll add a dork or two from them, but this and the order is mine. Ready?

Number Sixteen

Hello awesome Rakdos fans! Let's kick this party off with a flying, hasty Hill Giant! This has a once a turn trigger during your end step if any dorks left your graveyard that let's shoot any target for damage equal to the highest power among your Phoenixes. That should be 3 at the very least given Syrix's power is 3. Then when another Phoenix dies, you can cast this from your graveyard, so it self-recurs like other Phoenixes! The first ability to manipulate your graveyard and shoot stuff for three is where you build around reanimation. That'll count for battlefield (Zombify), hand (Raise Dead), exile, or library recursion. Nasty, but that once/turn limit drops it to the bottom of the list.

Number Fifteen

This just printed 2-drop 8/8 Dimir colored dork is next! It's oversized, but you cannot swing or block without the right size graveyard. Then you can spend four mana over and over again, to Loot a card and have a foe or you mill equal to the discarded card's cost, so that'll fill your graveyard up quickly with discards and mills so you have reanimation fodder. You need permanents for it to attack/block, like lands. Don't skimp on lands here or with Modals Spell // Lands since they count as spells, like Malakir Rebirth // Malakir Mire. Get your graveyard fill on with the Looting for that nasty reanimation fun times!

Number Fourteen

This 5-drop rarely seen non-black and uncommon 2/4 is next! Like the Phoenix, he has a leaves play trigger from your graveyard, this time he won't ting for three damage but instead make a 3/2. This is better in a few ways. Firstly? It doesn't have a once/turn thing. Secondly? This works for any cards that leave your graveyard, not just critters. Also, this is great leading Spirits or tossing them in here and there in his colors (like Commander Classic Karmic Guide) since he pumps their power, making 4/2's on the battlefield. Love him! But he's the rare entry that doesn't have black, which drops the reanimation options here. It'll just be White like Resurrection instead of Zombify.

Number Thirteen

Back to Black, and, in fact, all of the colors with this Mono-White cost 5-drop with one activated ability for each color! This gives you every color of thing to Reanimate or to drop in your graveyard or recur too. His 5th five-mana Black ability will Zombify something key back! Then you can mana sink his other abilities to draw, pump, give your team haste and trample, or gain 5 life. All of those are solid additions. He's awesome in your next graveyard brew!

Number Twelve

Welcome Grixis fans! This is our first, but not last, Grixis dork! As you can see, your six mana gives you a good sized, hard to answer on curve 7/6 dork with hard ward with sacrifices of legendary stuff only, like your Commander. Then when your foe casts a spell, you amass 1, when an Army you control deals combat damage to a foe, you are tempted, and when you tempted, you can discard your entire hand to draw four. That's nasty to set up graveyard abuse like Reanimate or flashback like Faithless Looting or Deep Analysis. Love this guy's potential loads!

Number Eleven

When this rougher casting 7-drop Rakdos Zombie Dragon with flying and a smaller 4/4 size was printed, this was the first Commander legendary dork with a Reanimation theme. When it ETBs, you Zombify a free Dragon from your graveyard to the battlefield for no more mana. Then your pump for Rakdos mana will work on both at the same time, plus other Dragons. Then you could also recur Bladewing's Thrall too from your graveyard for free and give it flying. Sure, it's just Dragons it recurs, but that's the most played kindred creature type in casual, so you have loads of options, plus the first Bladewing too in Red and Kokusho, the Evening Star in Black. Sure, it's a bit pricey, but arriving with a free Dragon really breaks the game in those decks, since your seven mana will net you a 4/4 here and then a 6/5 or 7/7 Dragon too free! Nasty stuff!

Number Ten

Hello Grixis fans again! Welcome to our Top Ten and highest charting card! This pricey 8-drop, but beefy 9/9 body has a cast trigger to amass 5, mill five, then Zombify for free. Then he has trample and then a death trigger for an opposing Commander to be Ring tempted. 8 mana is rough, but this is a cast trigger, not ETB, so it cannot be traditionally countered with Counterspell and friends. You need a card to counter abilities, like Voidslime, but then you'd also need another counter for the beefy body which is also a win con. Adding in free milling and Army making here is awesome too. Love it loads!

Number Nine

If Bladewing was here, could we not also include everyone's favorite Zombie Reanimators? This Dimir colored 4-drop duo is on curve with a 4/4 size and then rocks an ETB ability to mill four is next! They will let you cast Zombies from your graveyard to the battlefield on your turn only. Note there is no once/per turn here. The free mill is great at making the right tribe rock the block. Love this sibling pair loads, so do you!

Number Eight

Hello lovers of X cost flexible Commanders based on the time of game! This has power and toughness equal to your graveyard dork count, base two and that could be quite nasty. This Horror also has an ETB to mill until you mill X dorks, so that'll fill out your graveyard with dorks and the rest'll head to the bottom of your library. That's ideal for a few reasons, first, if a reanimation spell like Animate Dead was milled, you can now draw it after shuffling or Demonic Tutor. It only put things there for growth here in size and reanimation. I love this turn four after a 3rd turn Buried Alive to be a 5/5.

Number Seven

Our 7th hitting lord is this fun Demon/Sphinx creature type in Esper colors. Like Old Stickfingers above, he is great at filling out graveyard, but more reliably and swaps Green for Blue and White! Let's look. For three mana you get a 1/4 blocky body with flying to block and ward 1 to protect a bit. Then you have an attack trigger, to have one target attacker connive equal to attacker count. That will draw, discard, and put +1/+1 counters there for each spell discarded. That's reliable card flow with your discards since you'll draw, it's not just a one/turn or arrival, and the creatures grow over time to become more and more of a threat. Raffine is so great to skate! Reanimation is the 2nd biggest archetype with him after Wheels.

Number Six

After Bladewing, the Risen was printed, Teneb was the next legal as Commander reanimator dork printed, and he's in the right colors for reanimation with Karmic Guide, Animate Dead and Regrowth. You also have tons of then good reanimation targets like Akroma, Angel of Wrath or Scion of Darkness and Spirit of the Night. I debuted my Commander Cube with both, and people loved each! This beefy on curve 6/6 flying body with a three-mana activation if you smashed face to Zombify, but from any graveyard, not just yours. This thing was generally considered the best of the new Planar Chaos Dragon cycle like Rith was the best from the first Invasion cycle. It was heavily played in Commander and multiplayer then, and still leads 721 decks today! He's awesome then and now! Run him, love him!

Number Five

Welcome to the Top 5! This is our highest scoring Esper Commander! Costing three for a 2/3, this has two triggers. The first is that when a dork ETBs your graveyard from anywhere you'll venture into a dungeon! Just once/turn though. When you complete a dungeon, you get a free Zombify! So, you are in black, so if you drop Merfolk Looter et all on turn two, this turn three, tap discard dork, venture, and then on turn four you can Buried Alive, venture! On another turn, Entomb, venture. On another turn, tap use your Merfolk Looter, venture. That's four by turn five with no mana used yet, you might have already completed one, Zombify! And all of that dungeoncraft happening will give you a few things here and there, like making tokens. Then you can also toss in venture stuff too, like lands or dorks, or discard dorks like cycling like channel with effects. Sefris is pretty impressive!

Number Four

Your four mana Rakdos nets you a 3/2 with a discard activated ability to let you cast a critter from your graveyard once/turn. Then he has a trigger when a nontoken dork ETBs that wasn't cast from my hand it gains haste to swing now. The discarding will let you fill up your graveyard to reanimate, you can cast, but not get them free, so you cannot go as big as fast as other stuff just leaning on Chainer, but you can run them as backup. Then you can give everything from your graveyard haste, to swing faster, as well as from exile casts to Command Zone ones. It's so good! Discard? Recursion built in? Haste enabler? All on one legendary leader for the Rakdos colors! I got 'cha! This is our highest scoring Red card.

Number Three

Welcome to the Top 3! This is our highest charting white card! But all of the rest have Green and Black. Also, in Teneb's colors this made for Commander broke the format for a while. This costs eight but can be as cheap as three with five or more dorks in your graveyard, likely. That cost reduction for colorless will also work for Commander Tax too. Then you get a 3/4 body, but you can cast one critter from your graveyard each turn like Chainer above, but you don't have to discard anything. Although that could be better with discarding something to recur. Again, you are spending that mana, but this time you are in the color of ramp in Green.

Number Two

Now let's turn to my favorite Reanimator Commander, and the highest one not printed for the format but made for Standard legal sets. You swap White for Blue, and have six mana cost for an on curve 6/6. During your turn only, you can drop a land from your graveyard and cast permanent spells of each type...that's so good! Like Loot, the Key to Everything just printed, you want to split up your permanents to maximize that recasting. I built around her long ago for a Budget Commander! You can find it here - Budget Commander #42: Muldrotha's Fun Times | Article by Abe Sargent (coolstuffinc.com). See my cheaper take on her! She's one higher than Karador because you can cast more than dorks, and just once/turn too.

Number One

Ah yes, the broken experience counter 4-drop Golgari colored lady. If answered, she'll be just as strong on replay from your Command Zone. Meren has the ability to get them when stuff you control dies and note there are no once/turn or nontoken breaks there! You'll break her with sacrifice bodies like Spore Frog to sac and prevent damage and then recurring your end step for free to the battlefield if the dork's mana value is equal to or less than your experience counter count, otherwise it'll head to your hand! Getting free stuff while also casting your stuff and doing things is just so nasty good. No one else could be here! Enjoy the power of the Reanimation Queen!

I hope you enjoyed today's look at the best of the best for this key archetype! What did I miss? Just let me know!