RakdosLegendary Creature — Weasel MercenaryThe Infamous Cruelclaw
Mana value3Rank#4,844
The Commander
Menace
Whenever The Infamous Cruelclaw deals combat damage to a player, exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card. You may cast that card by discarding a card rather than paying its mana cost.
Guide
Gameplan
Suit up Cruelclaw, connect for combat damage via menace, and chain free spells off the top of your library by discarding a card. The deck wants to enable consistent connection (evasion, haste, protection) and load the library with high-impact nonland cards, turning each hit into explosive tempo and card advantage.
Strengths
- Generates massive card advantage and free spells every combat hit, snowballing fast
- Menace makes the commander naturally evasive and hard to block profitably
- Three-mana, cheap-to-recast commander that comes online early
- Rakdos gives access to elite removal, sacrifice synergies, and aggressive enablers
Weaknesses
- Effect is combat-dependent and does nothing if the commander is blocked or removed
- Discard cost can leave you hellbent, and a flooded top can whiff into lands
- Needs evasion/protection support to connect reliably against go-wide boards
- Vulnerable to fogs, single-target removal, and Propaganda-style taxers
Key Cards
- Rogue's Passage — Guarantees Cruelclaw connects for an unblockable trigger when menace isn't enough.
- Fervor — Gives haste so Cruelclaw can attack the turn it lands and immediately start chaining spells.
- Reconnaissance — Lets you attack freely, trigger combat damage, and pull Cruelclaw back before blocks resolve.
- Sword of Fire and Ice — Adds protection, evasion-enabling stats, and extra value while pushing damage through.
- Bolas's Citadel — Doubles down on top-of-library payoffs and lets you cast off the top alongside Cruelclaw's trigger.
Upgrade Path
Prioritize cheap, reliable evasion and protection (Rogue's Passage, Lightning Greaves, Whispersilk Cloak) plus a haste enabler so Cruelclaw connects every turn. Stack the deck with high-value nonland cards and graveyard payoffs to make discards meaningful, and add fast mana like Sol Ring and signets to recast the commander and deploy threats early. Top-end engines such as Bolas's Citadel and reanimation targets push the ceiling toward explosive, game-ending turns.
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
- ▸Chaining free bombs and removal off repeated hits to overwhelm the table
- ▸Voltron commander damage with evasion and equipment
- ▸Reanimating or free-casting a haymaker that closes the game
- ▸Aristocrats drain and recursion grinding opponents out
Archetypes
- Voltron — Equipment and auras let Cruelclaw connect repeatedly to maximize the cast-from-exile trigger.
- Aristocrats — Discarded and sacrificed cards plus death triggers turn the discard cost into value.
- Reanimator — Discarding fatties to Cruelclaw's cost fuels graveyard recursion and big reanimation payoffs.
- Spellslinger/Tempo — Free expensive spells off combat damage fuel an aggressive, value-driven game plan.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (BR), by popularity.
