Overview:

This Rivaz of the Claw Dragon tribal deck focuses on explosive Dragon deployments through cost reduction, graveyard recursion, and cheating mechanics. The strategy leverages Rivaz's mana acceleration and reanimation abilities to overwhelm opponents with flying threats enhanced by damage multipliers like Fiery Emancipation and Gratuitous Violence. Key strengths include strong recursion packages and multiple Dragon synergies, though it lacks infinite combos and has vulnerability to common disruption vectors.

Primer:

Core Strategy:

1. Early Setup: Use mana rocks (Ruby Medallion, Orb of Dragonkind) and cost reducers (Dragonlord's Servant) to accelerate into Rivaz by turn 3.
2. Midgame Engine: Cast high-impact Dragons like Ancient Copper Dragon using Rivaz's ability or Sneak Attack, then recur them from graveyard with Reanimate/Living Death.
3. Win Conditions:
   • Combat overkill with damage doublers and anthem effects (Crucible of Fire, Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury)
   • Burn via ETB triggers (Terror of the Peaks, Scourge of Valkas)
   • Treasure-fueled Crackle With Power lines (enabled by Ancient Copper Dragon/Goldspan Dragon)

Key Synergies:

• Molten Echoes + Utvara Hellkite creates exponential Dragon tokens
• Wrathful Red Dragon converts board wipes into player damage
• Sarkhan, Fireblood enables both ramp and game-ending ultimates

Mulligan Priorities:

• Keep hands with 3 lands + 2 accelerants (e.g., Ruby Medallion + Dragonlord's Servant)
• Prioritize graveyard enablers (Entomb, Buried Alive) in removal-heavy metas

Critical Plays:

• Turn 4 Rivaz into Goldspan Dragon generates 3 treasures for immediate follow-up
• Living Death after filling graveyard creates instant lethal board states

Weaknesses:

Critical:

• Graveyard hate (Rest in Peace) shuts down core recursion strategy
• No protection for key damage multipliers (Fiery Emancipation)

Moderate:

• Slow recovery from board wipes despite recursion
• Limited card draw beyond looting effects

Minor:

• Mana base vulnerable to Blood Moon effects
• High average CMC (4.12) creates clunky hands

Most Important Cards:

• Fiery Emancipation
• Terror of the Peaks
• Sneak Attack
• Ancient Copper Dragon
• Buried Alive
• Entomb
• Gratuitous Violence
• Goldspan Dragon
• Dragon Tempest
• Scourge of Valkas

Attribute Ratings:

Speed: 6/10

• Capable of T5 wins with ideal curves (T1 Ritual → T3 Rivaz → T4 Utvara Hellkite + Sneak Attack), but average goldfish kill at T7-8

Resilience: 5/10

• 3+ graveyard recursion sources mitigate single removal, but folds to repeated interaction
• Limited protection for key pieces beyond Bolt Bend

Consistency: 6/10

• 7 tutors for Dragons/graveyard setup (Sarkhan's Triumph, Unmarked Grave)
• Redundant damage multipliers (3x effects)

Interaction: 4/10

• Spot removal (Terminate, Deadly Rollick) but lacks counterspells
• Deflecting Swat is only free interaction

Rating Justification:

This deck exceeds precon-level consistency with redundant Dragon tutors and damage engines (5.0-5.5 traits), but lacks the fast mana and compact combos of high-power builds. Its T7-8 average kill speed and moderate resilience place it between "Optimized Casual" (5.0) and "High-Power Casual" (5.5). The absence of infinite combos and vulnerability to common hate pieces prevent it from reaching 6.0.

Power level: 5.0 - 5.5