Summon Undead

Summon Undead originated as a card in the Battle for Baldur's Gate expansion, reflecting the Dungeons & Dragons integration into the Magic: The Gathering ecosystem. It was designed to capture the flavor of necromancy within the tabletop roleplaying ruleset, allowing players to pull creature cards from their graveyard directly onto the battlefield. The mechanics were crafted to emphasize the attrition-based strategies often associated with black mana in the game's color pie.

The card was later included in The List, a curated selection of cards that Wizards of the Coast inserts into Set Boosters as a way to reintroduce players to past mechanics and thematic staples. The artwork, credited to artist Svetlin Velinov, leans into the visceral, dark aesthetic of D&D-inspired horror. It has been generally well-received by players looking for graveyard recursion options in Commander formats, where its ability to scale with the game state makes it a reliable tactical tool.