Legendary Creature — Lizard Warlock

Rivaz of the Claw

Mana value3EDHREC#2,952

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The Commander

Menace

{T} : Add two mana in any combination of colors. Spend this mana only to cast Dragon creature spells.

Once during each of your turns, you may cast a Dragon creature spell from your graveyard.

Whenever you cast a Dragon creature spell from your graveyard, it gains "When this creature dies, exile it."

Guide

Gameplan

Rivaz is a dedicated Dragon tribal commander that ramps into your fatties and recurs them from the graveyard. You ramp early, deploy big Dragons, and use Rivaz's tap ability plus self-mill/reanimation to keep casting threats — including replaying dead Dragons each turn — until you overwhelm the table with evasive fliers.

Strengths

Built-in two-mana ramp every turn that funds Dragon spells
Grindy graveyard recursion makes you resilient to spot removal and board wipes
Access to powerful BR Dragons and beloved tribal payoffs like Dragon Tempest and Scourge of Valkas
Cheap commander (MV3) that comes down early and immediately accelerates
Menace makes Rivaz itself a real evasive threat

Weaknesses

Heavily commander-dependent; without Rivaz the deck loses its ramp and recursion engine
Top-heavy curve can stumble if ramp is disrupted or Rivaz is repeatedly removed
Graveyard hate (Rest in Peace, Bojuka Bog) shuts down the recursion plan
No card draw or interaction built into the commander — must supply it from the 99
The 'exile when it dies' clause limits repeated reanimation of the same Dragon

Key Cards

Dragon Tempest — Turns every Dragon you deploy or recast into immediate burn or a haste-enabled finisher.
Scourge of Valkas — Each Dragon entering deals damage equal to your Dragon count, often killing the table outright.
Terror of the Peaks — Punishes the board every time a Dragon enters, including all your recurred threats.
Buried Alive — Stocks your graveyard with Dragons that Rivaz can recast directly, fueling the engine fast.
Ancient Copper Dragon — Massive ramp Dragon that snowballs your treasures into more huge spells.
Patriarch's Bidding — Mass-reanimates your milled Dragons in one explosive turn to refill after a wipe.

Upgrade Path

Tighten the curve with more cheap ramp (Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Birgi) so you reliably stick early Dragons, and add fast graveyard fillers (Faithless Looting, Entomb, Vandalblast-style value) plus reanimation to abuse the engine. Lean into the burn payoffs (Dragon Tempest, Scourge of Valkas, Terror of the Peaks) as a combo-ish kill, and add protection (Lightning Greaves, Heroic Intervention) to keep Rivaz online against removal.

Core Cards

The most-played cards for this commander, built from aggregated deck data (the Mythic Graph). Build public decks to seed it.

Win Conditions

▸Beating down with a wide board of evasive, menacing Dragons
▸Burst damage from Scourge of Valkas / Terror of the Peaks triggers as Dragons flood in
▸Dragon Tempest pinging the table on each Dragon cast
▸Recasting recurred Dragons turn after turn to grind opponents out

Archetypes

Dragon Tribal — Rivaz ramps, recurs, and rewards an all-Dragon roster better than almost any other commander.
Reanimator — His graveyard recursion plus self-mill makes filling and emptying the yard a core line.
Aristocrats — Dragons dying and re-entering pairs with ETB/death payoffs and sacrifice value engines.