Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Grakmaw, Skyclave Ravager
Grakmaw, Skyclave Ravager
Legendary Creature — Hydra Horror · {1}{B}{G} · Black/Green commander
Grakmaw enters with three +1/+1 counters on it.
Whenever another creature you control dies, if it had a +1/+1 counter on it, put a +1/+1 counter on Grakmaw.
When Grakmaw dies, create an X/X black and green Hydra creature token, where X is the number of +1/+1 counters on Grakmaw.
Build a Grakmaw, Skyclave Ravager deck →
What Grakmaw, Skyclave Ravager actually does
Read off the card by the same engine the Forge and Analyzer use — this is the mechanical classification, not a summary.
- Triggered ability · deathWhenever another creature you control dies, if it had a +1/+1 counter on it, put a +1/+1 counter on Grakmaw.
- Triggered ability · deathWhen Grakmaw dies, create an X/X black and green Hydra creature token, where X is the number of +1/+1 counters on Grakmaw.
What a Grakmaw, Skyclave Ravager deck needs
Plays as aristocrats. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.
- expendable creatures and free sacrifice outlets (its payoff is creatures dying)
- +1/+1 counter producers and payoffs (its text places or reads +1/+1 counters)
The Grakmaw, Skyclave Ravager deck plan
The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.
- 18× Put +1/+1 counters on creatures you control, or multiply the ones already there
- 8× Sacrifice a creature for no mana, repeatably
- 6× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- 10× Find the exact card the plan needs
- 2× Answer a whole board at once
- 8× Refill your hand
- 3× Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- 11× Get ahead on mana
- 10× Creatures you are happy to sacrifice — a free sac outlet on the commander is worthless with nothing to feed it
Best cards for Grakmaw, Skyclave Ravager
Ranked by an engine that reads what each card does — its real cost, its delay and how reliably it works — rather than counting how often other people play it.
Put +1/+1 counters on creatures you control, or multiply the ones already there
- Branching Evolution3 mana
- Hardened Scales1 mana
- Ozolith, the Shattered Spire2 mana
- Winding Constrictor2 mana
- Kami of Whispered Hopes3 mana
- Benevolent Hydra2 mana
- Michelangelo, Weirdness to 112 mana
- The Earth Crystal4 mana
Sacrifice a creature for no mana, repeatably
- Carrion Feeder1 mana
- Viscera Seer1 mana
- Altar of Dementia2 mana
- Spawning Pit2 mana
- Umbral Collar Zealot2 mana
- Bloodthrone Vampire2 mana
- Dark Privilege2 mana
- Ashnod's Altar3 mana
Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- Assassin's Trophy2 mana
- Defile1 mana
- Tragic Slip1 mana
- Infernal Grasp2 mana
- Fatal Push1 mana
- Beast Within3 mana
- Bitter Triumph2 mana
- Nature's Claim1 mana
Find the exact card the plan needs
- Demonic Tutor2 mana
- Diabolic Intent2 mana
- Vampiric Tutor1 mana
- Green Sun's Zenith1 mana
- Imperial Seal1 mana
- Demonic Consultation1 mana
- Nature's Rhythm2 mana
- Grim Tutor3 mana
Answer a whole board at once
- Toxic Deluge3 mana
- Damnation4 mana
- Bontu's Last Reckoning3 mana
- Sickening Dreams2 mana
- Crypt Rats3 mana
- Extinction Event4 mana
- Vicious Rivalry4 mana
- Endemic Plague4 mana
Refill your hand
- Skullclamp1 mana
- Sylvan Library2 mana
- Black Market Connections3 mana
- Braids, Arisen Nightmare3 mana
- Garruk's Uprising3 mana
- Morbid Opportunist3 mana
- Phyrexian Arena3 mana
- Beast Whisperer4 mana
Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- Innkeeper's Talent2 mana
- Guardian Augmenter3 mana
- Saryth, the Viper's Fang4 mana
- Lightning Greaves2 mana
- Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
- Asceticism5 mana
- Eldrazi Monument5 mana
- Commander's Plate1 mana
Get ahead on mana
- Sol Ring1 mana
- Golgari Signet2 mana
- Incubation Druid2 mana
- Palladium Myr3 mana
- Worn Powerstone3 mana
- Ilysian Caryatid2 mana
- Heritage Druid1 mana
- Llanowar Tribe3 mana
Creatures you are happy to sacrifice — a free sac outlet on the commander is worthless with nothing to feed it
- Nurgle's Rot1 mana
- Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal // Temple of the Dead5 mana
- Phyrexian Triniform9 mana
- Old-Growth Troll3 mana
- Exquisite Huntmaster4 mana
- Grixis Slavedriver6 mana
- Enduring Vitality3 mana
- Liliana, Heretical Healer // Liliana, Defiant Necromancer3 mana