Rise from the Grave

Reanimation as a clean, color-fair effect: five mana, no discount mechanic, no graveyard-stocking enabler, no drawback rider. Where the dedicated reanimator spells of black's history paid a premium to cheat enormous creatures in early (the Animate Dead and Reanimate lineage trading life or recursion limits for speed), this one asks the full retail price and gives you the whole thing in return: the creature comes back under your control, permanently, with no upkeep tax or sacrifice clause. The cost is paid entirely in tempo. By the time five mana is available, the body it pulls back has to justify the turn, which keeps it pinned to midrange value duty rather than combo abuse. The Zombie-typing rider is the quiet design choice worth noting: stapling a black Zombie type onto whatever you raise turns the spell into a tribal payoff as much as a reanimation spell, feeding anthem effects and lord-style bonuses that wouldn't otherwise touch a stolen Wurm or Angel. It also pointedly does not care whose graveyard you target, which folds graveyard predation into the same card. The effect is the unglamorous, evergreen-feeling version of a mechanic black has been refining since its earliest sets: not the fastest way to do it, but the one with the fewest strings attached.