RakdosLegendary Creature — Human ClericExava, Rakdos Blood Witch
Mana value4Rank#16,375
The Commander
First strike, haste
Unleash (You may have this creature enter with a +1/+1 counter on it. It can't block as long as it has a +1/+1 counter on it.)
Each other creature you control with a +1/+1 counter on it has haste.
Guide
Gameplan
Exava wants to flood the board with +1/+1 counters and turn every creature into a hasty first-striker that attacks the turn it lands. You curve aggressive creatures, pile counters via Unleash and +1/+1 synergies, and swing wide for fast, repeated damage before opponents stabilize. Treat it as a midrange aggro deck that punishes durdling.
Strengths
- Grants haste to your whole counter-laden board, enabling explosive surprise attacks and reanimated/flickered threats that hit immediately
- Cheap 4-mana body with first strike and haste that pressures the table early
- Rakdos colors give premium removal, burn reach, and recursion to grind through blockers
- Counter synergies double as sacrifice/aristocrat fuel and combat-trick payoffs
Weaknesses
- Aggressive, low-to-the-ground plan struggles against go-wide blockers, fog effects, and lifegain
- Counters can't block while Unleashed, leaving you exposed to crackback
- Highly commander- and board-dependent; a single wrath stalls the whole deck
- Limited card advantage compared to dedicated value decks, so it can run out of gas
Key Cards
- Hardened Scales — Amplifies every +1/+1 counter you place, accelerating the haste-granting board state.
- The Ozolith — Banks counters off dying creatures so your aggression survives board wipes and removal.
- Cathars' Crusade — Snowballs counters across your entire team every time a creature enters, turning each into a hasty attacker.
- Reyhan, Last of the Abzan — Recycles counters from dying creatures, though only the BR-legal payoff matters—use as inspiration for counter-recursion effects.
- Goblin Bombardment — Sacrifice outlet that converts your hasty, counter-heavy attackers into direct damage as a finisher.
- Skullclamp — Premier card advantage in a counters deck, drawing two off any 1-toughness or sacrificed token.
Upgrade Path
Lean into counter doublers (Hardened Scales, Branching Evolution) and persistent storage like The Ozolith and Vigor Mortis to resist wraths. Add sacrifice outlets and aristocrat drains (Bastion of Remembrance, Mayhem Devil) so your hasty board converts to damage even through blockers, and tighten the mana with fast rocks and on-color duals to land Exava and threats ahead of curve.
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
- ▸Wide hasty alpha strikes with first strike overwhelming blockers
- ▸Sacrifice-outlet damage (Goblin Bombardment) flinging counter-pumped creatures
- ▸Aristocrat drain from repeated sacrifices and recursion
- ▸Voltron-lite beats from a single oversized, hasty counter creature
Archetypes
- +1/+1 Counters Aggro — Exava rewards loading counters by giving every counter-bearing creature haste for immediate pressure.
- Aristocrats — Counters from dying creatures plus sacrifice outlets fuel drain and value while keeping the board hasty.
- Reanimator/Cheat-into-play — Haste makes reanimated or flickered fatties with counters attack the turn they arrive.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (BR), by popularity.
