RakdosLegendary Creature — Phyrexian Human WarriorGreven, Predator Captain
Mana value5Rank#14,550
The Commander
Menace
Greven gets +X/+0, where X is the amount of life you've lost this turn.
Whenever Greven attacks, you may sacrifice another creature. If you do, you draw cards equal to that creature's power and you lose life equal to that creature's toughness.
Guide
Gameplan
Greven is an aggressive BR voltron/aristocrats hybrid: pump him by losing life, swing with menace for big chunks, and sacrifice creatures on attack to refill your hand while shrinking your own life total to grow Greven even larger. You want to curve into Greven, suit him with evasion and protection, and turn life loss into both card advantage and lethal damage.
Strengths
- Self-life-loss becomes a resource: every point lost grows Greven's power that turn
- Built-in card advantage from sacrificing creatures on attack, keeping the gas flowing
- Menace plus commander-level evasion makes him hard to block and able to one-shot players
- Cheap commander damage clock — a few life payments can push him into double-digit power fast
Weaknesses
- Voltron strategies fold to a single removal spell or board wipe if you over-commit
- Aggressive life loss leaves you vulnerable to burn, group-aggro, and racing
- Reliant on Greven being on the board; multiple recasts get expensive
- Limited interaction in BR — struggles against combo and resilient control shells
Key Cards
- Fervor — Gives Greven haste so he can pump and swing the turn he lands.
- Whip of Erebos — Lifelink keeps you alive through self-damage while Greven hits hard, and it recurs sacrifice fodder.
- Bolas's Citadel — Casts spells off life total, fueling Greven's power while drawing into more gas.
- Loyal Apprentice — Token generation provides cheap, expendable bodies to sacrifice on attack.
- Rogue's Passage — Makes a pumped Greven unblockable for guaranteed lethal commander damage.
- Berserkers' Onslaught — Grants double strike, instantly doubling Greven's life-loss-boosted damage for one-shot kills.
Upgrade Path
Add efficient ramp and life-loss payoffs like Bolas's Citadel, Bastion of Remembrance, and K'rrik to convert your life into damage and cards faster. Lean into reliable evasion and protection (Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, Rogue's Passage, Berserkers' Onslaught) so Greven survives and connects, and include strong recursion (Phyrexian Reclamation, Reassembling Skeleton) to keep sacrifice fodder flowing. Top-tier builds tighten the curve, add fast mana like Mana Crypt and rituals, and run instant-speed protection to dodge removal during the alpha strike.
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
- ▸One-shot opponents with a pumped, evasive Greven (often via double strike or unblockable)
- ▸Grind out value through repeated sacrifice draws, then close with a wide aggressive board
- ▸Spread commander damage across the table with menace and haste enablers
Archetypes
- Voltron — Greven cheaply scales his own power via life loss, making him a fast commander-damage threat with evasion and protection.
- Aristocrats — His attack trigger turns sacrificed creatures into cards and life loss that simultaneously buff him.
- Aggro/Sacrifice midrange — BR token and recursion engines feed the sac outlet while pressuring the table with combat damage.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (BR), by popularity.
