The 47 Best Recursion Creatures in Magic Ranked

Last updated on June 28, 2025

Ebondeath, Dracolich | Illustration by Lucas Graciano

It’s always sad to see your creatures die, whether it happens all at once because of Damnation or the classic Murder does the deed. Wouldn’t it be great if your creatures were resistant to kill spells? Well, they can be!

Recursive creatures have a long history in Magic, providing midrange players with the grindy cards they need to win the late-game long after their opponents have emptied their hands and are limping along, just waiting to be put out of their misery. But recursion creatures have many uses beyond resisting removal.

Let’s figure out the best recursive creatures and how we can use them!

What Are Recursion Creatures in MTG?

Gravecrawler | Illustration by Dave Kendall

Recursion creatures are ones that are easy to return to play after they've died. They typically switch zones with an activated or triggered ability, though some cast themselves from the graveyard. Most of these effects come from black creatures, though every color has a recursive creature or two.

Critically, I’m only looking at creatures that can recur themselves multiple times. This condition excludes one-shot recursion effects like unearth, disturb, and persist. I’m also not considering creatures that recur other creatures like Gravedigger or Extraction Specialist.

Finally, this list looks to help Commander players. Constructed all-stars like Arclight Phoenix, one of the best win conditions for red decks in 60-card formats, deserve all the accolades and honorable mentions I have space for but are just outside my scope. I’m looking for creatures that recur themselves for the least mana and set-up possible; cards that require an immense mana investment or very specific condition to recur rank lower than efficient options. Efficiency always matters but that goes double for creatures like these that you want to cast many times throughout a game.

#47. Garland, Knight of Cornelia / Chaos, the Endless

A 2-mana 3/2 creature that lets you surveil repeatedly is solid on its own. Garland, Knight of Cornelia provides a decent early body with the upside of finding the cards you want or filling your graveyard. In the later game, you can return this card to the battlefield transformed into Chaos, the Endless. This recursion can fit well with a commander like Celes, Rune Knight, or in a graveyard deck alongside Dragon's Rage Channeler.

#46. Me, the Immortal

Me, the Immortal has a fantastic design. It’s not commander material so much as a member of the 99. I’d like this rogue more if it could get more counters on its own, though it stands as a reasonable threat for 4 mana. Having the choice of a +1/+1 counter, vigilance, first strike, or menace provides a lot of flexibility, especially with cards that could add additional ability counters.

#45. Haakon, Stromgald Scourge

You’ll basically never see Haakon, Stromgald Scourge in the command zone, but this black zombie knight offers great value to decks that reliably bin it. It even promises card advantage to the enterprising knight-typal player.

#44. Afterburner Expert

Afterburner Expert is a recursion creature that relies on a specific mechanic: exhaust. The exhaust ability can be a little mana-intensive and tricky at times, but the recursion of this card should provide enough advantage to be worth it. An aggressive exhaust deck includes this card alongside others like Draconautics Engineer and Greasewrench Goblin.

#43. Ovalchase Daredevil

Ovalchase Daredevil has been running laps in Modern with the likes of The Underworld Cookbook. There’s no reason you can’t bring that value train to EDH alongside cards like Currency Converter and anything else that rewards you for discarding cards while creating artifacts.

#42. Charred Graverobber

I doubt Charred Graverobber sees extensive play in true outlaw decks (mostly because I find the mechanic weak), but it’ll be an excellent support piece in a variety of typal decks helmed by commanders like Admiral Beckett Brass, Etrata, Deadly Fugitive, and Anowon, the Ruin Thief.

#41. Death Tyrant

Death Tyrant requires quite the mana investment to return to play, but it doesn’t have any stipulations; you can even do it on your opponent’s turn! This probably results in some blowouts when you reanimate it in combat after your opponents forget this beholder was chilling in your graveyard.

#40. Skyfire Phoenix

I really want to like Skyfire Phoenix. It feels like it has great utility with commanders like Vaevictis Asmadi, the Dire, but how often are you casting your commander in a game? You could argue that this red creature provides a boon if you’re behind and recasting your commander often, but it’s such a weak payoff that you’d be better off running protection in that slot. Creatures that return themselves to the battlefield for free are inherently powerful, so I don’t want to write this off, but not seeing a good home has me suspicious.

#39. Squee, the Immortal

Few people play Squee, the Immortal for anything but Food Chain combo, but that merits its own notation for this undying goblin. Misthollow Griffin and Eternal Scourge also deserve callouts for their utility in this niche.

#38. Helbrute

Exiling creatures from your graveyard can be a real cost for Rakdos decks, but Helbrute has impressive stats coupled with haste. Plenty of decks can use a chonky artifact creature that won’t stay dead.

#37. Squee, Goblin Nabob

My preferred utilization of Squee, Goblin Nabob involves never casting it. You can instead use its recursive ability to break the parity of cards like Liliana of the Veil or Necrogen Mists or to fuel cards like Chainer, Nightmare Adept that require discard fodder.

#36. Risen Executioner

An endless recursive zombie lord has appeal, but Risen Executioner might have the steepest recursion cost on the list. The key to leveraging this zombie warrior is to minimize your graveyard strategy. Avoid Sidisi, Brood Tyrant and Gisa and Geralf—two zombie commanders that use self-mill to fuel their strategies—in favor of those like Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver that use the graveyard lightly.

#35. Demilich

I’ve always wanted more from Demilich than it ever delivers, but I might not have found the right deck yet. is a daunting mana cost that basically restricts this blue creature to mono-blue or 2-color decks, but recasting your best instants and sorceries extends the lead cards like Time Warp and Breach the Multiverse naturally provide.

#34. Sproutback Trudge

Green doesn’t interact with lifegain much, but Sproutback Trudge looks like a compelling reason to consider cards like Weather the Storm and Essence Warden. Paying 6 mana for this fungus beast would be a fine rate and only requires gaining 3 life; anything less is a steal for such a large creature.

#33. Cauldron Familiar

One of the most irritating cards I’ve ever played against in Limited and Standard, Cauldron Familiar has a home in various Food decks. You’ll typically see this black kitten as a combo piece alongside the likes of Samwise Gamgee or Academy Manufactor (with a way to create Treasure when the cat dies à la Pitiless Plunderer) with a free sacrifice outlet.

#32. Earthquake Dragon

Fifteen mana looks like a lot, but dragon decks excel at pumping out massive creatures. One Dragonlord Atarka makes Earthquake Dragon a reasonably castable card before considering creatures like Dragonlord's Servant and Dragonspeaker Shaman that reduce the casting cost further. Sacrificing a land can be bad, but I’d expect a green deck to have plenty of spare lands by the time you’re recurring this elemental dragon. 

#31. Jaya’s Pheonix

Jaya's Phoenix requires a high density of planeswalkers, severely limiting its playability range. But! Copying loyal abilities can be powerful. The recursive element plays well with superfriends decks since they often want to play a bunch of board wipes to protect their planeswalkers. An impactful creature that survives the many Damnation variants is strong, even though it’s super narrow.

#30. Syrix, Carrier of the Flame

Syrix, Carrier of the Flame was the first legendary phoenix commander. The Rakdos color identity intrigues me. Phoenixes are almost exclusively mono-red cards, with the only exceptions being Syrix and Otharri, Suns' Glory. I think the goal of adding black was giving players access to a plethora of sacrifice effects to make use of the recurring nature of other phoenixes. 

#29. Tenacious Underdog

Everybody loves an underdog. Tenacious Underdog won’t stay down and rewards you with card draw as you keep slugging at your opponents until they’re down and out. It’s a bit of a mana investment, but this card works in a few flavors of self-mill and sacrifice. Sabin, Master Monk from Final Fantasy Commander took inspiration from the Underdog.

#28. Ebondeath, Dracolich

I’d be far more interested in Ebondeath, Dracolich if it weren’t so fragile as a 5/2. A stiff breeze knocks this zombie dragon back into the graveyard. But it’s still a large flying zombie with a negligible prerequisite to recast it. 

#27. Woe Strider

Free sacrifice outlets are the bread and butter of aristocrat decks that want to pile up as many Blood Artist and Midnight Reaper triggers as possible. Woe Strider even comes with some sacrifice fodder in the form of a Goat! Most EDH decks won’t care about the extra +1/+1 counters when this horror returns; they’ll just appreciate a recurring sacrifice outlet.

#26. The Scorpion God

All the gods from Hour of Devastation have powerful recursive abilities, but The Scorpion God falls short of the others’ glory. This isn’t a weak card, it’s just incredibly narrow compared to the others. This god is a slam-dunk if your deck supports significant -1/-1 counter synergies, but most decks won’t use this.

#25. Metalwork Colossus

I spent lots of time trying to make Metalwork Colossus perform in Standard and often fell short, but it’s an interesting colorless card for Commander. Plenty of decks can churn out a ton of artifacts with enough Treasure tokens to spare some for the activated ability.

#24. World Breaker

Creatures that kill something when they come into play are always powerful. Ok, World Breaker technically does that as a cast trigger, but you get the point. This might be costly, but green decks rarely have trouble powering out expensive spells. Exiling the target is a nice touch to deal with sticky threats like The One Ring.

#23. Dogged Detective

Self-mill decks love Dogged Detective since it surveils cards into the graveyard while being a payoff as a recursive creature. Commander decks pack so much card draw you can reliably expect to see this several times a game; you can even encourage it with forced draw effects like Faerie Mastermind and Loran of the Third Path.

#22. Scourge of Nel Toth

I never want to cast Scourge of Nel Toth from any zone but the graveyard, but it’s a steal for and two creatures. Token-heavy decks or decks with creatures like Shambling Ghast and Primal Druid that reward you for sacrificing them get lots of mileage from a 2-mana 6/6.

#21. Interceptor, Shadow’s Hound

Interceptor, Shadow's Hound lets you stay aggressive in a black deck as long as you can reliably attack with a legendary creature. Swinging with a 4/3 menace creature can put a lot of pressure on many decks, and the recursion should keep this pressure going for several turns. An evasive legendary creature like Etrata, the Silencer should ensure you can bring this card back whenever you attack and have the free mana.

#20. Poxwalkers

Poxwalkers strikes me as a secret Rakdos card as it works best with impulse draws. When I think of cards I want to pair this with, Inti, Seneschal of the Sun and Rakdos, the Muscle come to mind rather than mono-black strategies. Decks that can trigger Poxwalkers likely should play it.

#19. Skyway Robber

Skyway Robber is an excellent pun, but I appreciate the design as much as the gag. An escape creature that does something with the cards it exiles to escape probes interesting design spaces; this bird rogue's flavor elevates it beyond an amusement to an actual gem.

#18. Mosswood Dreadknight

I love Mosswood Dreadknight. The Arthurian reference is on point, and this cheap, grindy knight is everything I want out of midrange decks in the spirit of The Rock. Decks interested in sacrificing and recasting threats or simply taxing their opponent’s patience and removal will love this.

#17. Ox of Agonas

You need to constantly empty your hand or at least not mind discarding to leverage Ox of Agonas, but that’s a small ask for a recursive creature that draws a fresh grip each time you cast it. Eight cards to escape looks like a lot, but cheap interaction and fetch lands fill the bin faster than you think.

#16. Master of Death

Zombie-typal decks often flirt with sacrifice and self-mill subthemes, giving you plenty of ways to get Master of Death into your graveyard. Even if you don’t care about the creature type, this zombie wizard works well in self-mill decks since it stocks the graveyard and benefits you when milled.

#15. Recursive 2/1s

Magic design is littered with recursive 2/1s, usually 1-drops, that return themselves to play for a nominal fee plus a small prerequisite (typically another creature dying). Some classics include Gutterbones, Bloodsoaked Champion, and Forsaken Miner. If you can reliably meet whatever the extra requirement is, these are excellent in decks that need cheap sacrifice fodder.

#14. Unstoppable Slasher

It’s only fitting to have an Unstoppable Slasher in the horror-based set of Duskmourn: House of Horror. This card is a wonderful early threat that your opponents need to answer. You can constantly put pressure on opponents by attacking or using this card as a deadly defense, and you only lose some time with its recursion ability. The true value of this card is to pair it with a double life loss effect like Bloodletter of Aclazotz.

#13. Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis

Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis warped the Modern meta so hard it turned inside out. It’ll never reach those heights in EDH, but that doesn’t mean it’s worthless. A giant creature you can cast for no mana has plenty of utility alongside cards like Greater Good and The Gitrog, Ravenous Ride.

#12. God Eternal Oketra

It only takes a turn or two for God-Eternal Oketra to dominate a game. This white creature plays well with bouncy bodies like Whitemane Lion and Shepherd of the Flock that let you replay creatures.

#11. Multani, Yavimaya’s Avatar

I can’t call returning lands to your hand nothing, but I fully expect decks interested in playing Multani, Yavimaya's Avatar to either have a surplus of lands or plenty of effects like Exploration and Burgeoning to get them back in play. Bouncing lands can even be a significant upside with landfall cards or MDFCs. That’s plenty of value before considering how large Multani gets. 

#10. Gravecrawler

Gravecrawler and Phyrexian Altar go together like Deceiver Exarch and Splinter Twin. Even if you aren’t comboing off with Gravecrawler, you can get tons of mileage sacrificing it to cards like Carrion Feeder and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician over and over.

#9. Slimefoot and Squee

Part of some of Jund's best combos, Slimefoot and Squee is a great friend to bring to parties. No matter how shy Archon of Cruelty and Inferno Titan get, it knows how to pull them out of the graveyard and their shell. A powerful reanimation/recursion creature makes an excellent commander.

#8. Sephiroth, Fallen Hero

Sephiroth, Fallen Hero is a wonderful legendary creature to include in any red-white deck that can easily modify creatures; aura and equipment decks fit this idea perfectly. Sephiroth, Fallen Hero boosts the base stats of your modified creatures tremendously, turning a creature like Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh into a massive threat. This card has a wonderful recursion ability that you can activate at instant speed to create chaos during combat.

#7. Old One Eye

Old One Eye doesn’t have flashy abilities or immense combo potential. It’s just got numbers. Insanely high numbers: 11 power and toughness for 6 mana is beyond “above rate.” It’s interstellar. That’s before considering the recursive power or pairing this with Doubling Season effects. This Timmy card Timmys so hard Spike would play it.

#6. Otharri, Suns’ Glory

The word “pressure” in The Magic: The Gathering Player’s Dictionary is defined with a picture of Otharri, Suns' Glory. This Boros phoenix pounds away at opposing life totals on its own before you consider support from cards like Mondrak, Glory Dominus, Purphoros, God of the Forge, or Grateful Apparition.

#5. The Scarab God

The zombie decks needed to get one last hit in with one of their strongest commanders. The Scarab God doesn’t need to be a zombie commander; as one of the best Dimir commanders, you could also go reanimator or even mill. And this god is one of the best Dimir cards overall, so it's also fantastic in the 99. It’s just a great card as an imposing threat that doesn’t go away without an exile effect.

#4. The Locust God

Few Izzet commanders have the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it effect like The Locust God. I’ve taken a sip of my drink and lost before the cup touched the table to a flurry of furious insects spawned by Wheel of Misfortune and empowered by Balmor, Battlemage Captain.

#3. Kroxa, Titan of Death’s Hunger

Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger plays best with cards like Geth's Grimoire and Waste Not that take advantage of the discard trigger. This elder giant can still be a terrifying threat without such synergies if your deck can fill the graveyard quickly and handle a color-intensive mana cost.

#2. Bloodghast

While dredge decks in Constructed formats use Bloodghast as an aggressive creature, Commander players are more likely to use this vampire spirit as one of the best sources of sacrifice fodder in the format. It comes back basically every turn to sacrifice to whatever busted synergies you’re working with.

#1. Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath

Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath once loomed over most Constructed formats, but a handful of well-aimed strikes from the ban hammer returned it to the Underworld. One creature providing card advantage, ramp, and lifegain for stabilization makes for a horrifying threat, especially since it won’t stay dead.

Best Recursion Creature Payoffs

Recursion creatures tend to work best with sacrifice or self-mill strategies. The strategy you want depends on the conditions for recurring your creature, where it goes (the hand or battlefield), and the impact the creature has on the game.

Really cheap creatures that return to the battlefield for little to no mana without intensive conditions work best alongside sacrifice commanders and in sacrifice-heavy decks. Commanders like Zimone and Dina and Braids, Arisen Nightmare can sacrifice these cheap recursion creatures multiple times for great payoffs and synergies. Think of cards like Bloodghast, Forsaken Miner, and Gravecrawler. Because they’re so efficient and go to the battlefield, you can sacrifice them over and over to your payoffs.

Another payoff from these cheap recursion creatures is “leave the graveyard” triggers. If you’re going to recur Bloodsoaked Champion multiple times, you can gain benefits from cards like Teval's Judgment or Insidious Roots.

Creatures that are more complicated or resource-intensive work better with self-mill strategies. Ox of Agonas, Old One Eye, and Ebondeath, Dracolich require too many resources to want to regularly sacrifice to Carrion Feeder and other payoffs. They do work well in decks that can fill the bin and exploit their recursive abilities by milling them. Some self-mill examples might be Sidisi, Brood Tyrant, Grisly Salvage, or Otherworldly Gaze.

If you don’t want to rely on milling from the top of your deck, there are great entomb effects like Buried Alive and Gravebreaker Lamia that help you to fetch cards to put in your graveyard. Some other graveyard-casting reduction cards are Doc Aurlock, Grizzled Genius and Savvy Trader.

It's also important to consider that not every recursive creature needs a payoff. Just because you put Old One Eye in your deck doesn’t mean it needs a complex system to get it into the bin and profit off the discard. Any green deck benefits from a creature that won’t stay down. Recursive creatures with a major impact on the game like Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath and Otharri, Suns' Glory rarely need much support to get them into the graveyard because their abilities work for protection rather than synergy.

Is My Commander a Recursion Creature?

Pretty much. Recasting your commander from the command zone falls into the same idea as the cards on this list. A defining feature of Commander is the player’s ability to always have access to a particular card through most interaction. Since your commander can’t “die” except to cards like Imprisoned in the Moon that transform it, I’d consider it a recursive creature.

Won’t Stay Dead for Long

Otharri, Suns' Glory | Illustration by Marta Nael

Recursion exists primarily in black, but each color has its unique way to bring creatures back from the dead. This list only touches on creatures that can bring themselves back, but there are plenty of cards that bring back other creatures.

Like a Bloodghast with a fetch land, I’ll be back for more soon. Until then I’d love to hear how you use recursive creatures in the comments below or over in the Draftsim Discord.

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