Live Play Data

The Reaver Cleaver

· Legendary Artifact — Equipment · Dominaria United Commander (DMC)

Live Inclusion

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Times Brought

687

Decks Running

386

Median Cast Turn

5.0

Drawn → Played

70%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

41% of games where The Reaver Cleaver resolved ended in a win for the caster, a +16.2 percentage-point lift over the 25% baseline when the card stays in the library.

The Reaver Cleaver converts trample damage into Treasure tokens, turning every unblocked hit into a mana engine. Across 652 tracked multiplayer Commander games on Playgroup Live, decks running it win at 41% when the card resolves, compared to 25% when it never leaves the library. That +16.2 percentage-point gap has a lower confidence bound above zero, making it one of the stronger positive signals in the dataset so far.

The card sits in 386 of the 7287 distinct tracked decks, an 5% inclusion rate that reflects its niche focus on combat-heavy, red-identity strategies. When a copy does reach a player's hand, 70% of those copies are cast before the game ends. Median first cast lands on turn 5.0, consistent with its total mana investment of 3 to cast plus 3 to equip. Players typically hold it for two turns after drawing before finding the right moment to deploy it.

The commander distribution is notably spread. Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER leads the pack among tracked decks, but the data covers 332 distinct players, with the single heaviest contributor accounting for just 2% of all tracked instances. That breadth lends confidence to the directional trends here, even within Playgroup Live's growing dataset.

At a glance

5% of tracked Commander decks include The Reaver Cleaver
70% of drawn copies are cast before the game ends
T5.0 median first-cast turn
41% win rate when this Equipment resolves onto the battlefield
76% battlefield stickiness once cast
++16.2 percentage-point win-rate lift over the library baseline

First-cast turn

n=116

12%

19%

17%

40%

T6-9

T10+

Median 5.0 P25 4 · P75 7 · max 14

On curve 17% (14 / 116 cast on T3) Cast same turn as drawn 26%

The "good card" funnel

687 brought · 332 players

Brought to game

687

Ever drawn

166

Reached battlefield

116

Still on board at game end

70%

Of 687 copies brought to games, 166 were drawn, 116 of those were cast, and 76% of resolved copies remained on the battlefield through the end of the game.

≥ +7.3pp

Players who cast this card win 41% of the time (n=112) , vs 25% when it never left the library (n=451).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 22% (n=46) — about the same as leaving it in the library. Those players survived long enough to draw it, so the gap above is about the card resolving, not just about surviving.

Observed gap +16.2pp; 95% confidence interval +7.3pp to +25.1pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

181 instances

2.8%

Library

48.6%

Battlefield

22.1%

Graveyard

7.7%

Exile

Most tracked instances of The Reaver Cleaver end games on the battlefield, a strong sign the Equipment sticks once it lands. The library bucket is small because the card is actively observed in the majority of participations where it is brought.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

1 Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER 33 decks
2 Tony Stark // The Invincible Iron Man 20 decks
3 Sonic the Hedgehog 16 decks
4 Captain America, First Avenger 14 decks
5 Jaws, Relentless Predator 13 decks
6 Lightning, Army of One 12 decks
7 Sauron, the Dark Lord 12 decks
8 Shadow the Hedgehog 11 decks
9 Smaug the Magnificent 11 decks
10 Kratos, God of War 10 decks

Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER tops the list in raw deck count, but the spread across 332 distinct players confirms this card is not a single-archetype outlier. Wide-open Equipment slots in red-heavy combat decks are the common thread.

Frequently Asked

How often is The Reaver Cleaver drawn in a Commander game?

In 652 tracked multiplayer games where The Reaver Cleaver was in the deck, it was drawn 24% of the time. That is expected for a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of the 166 copies that reached a hand, 70% were cast before the game ended. The remainder were mostly a game-length effect: copies drawn late may not find a window before the pod concludes.

What turn does The Reaver Cleaver typically get cast?

The median first-cast turn is 5.0, with the interquartile range running from turn 4 to turn 7. That reflects a real cost: 3 mana to cast, then 3 more to equip, means players need a developed board before the card does meaningful work. The mode of the distribution sits at turn 4, so many players prioritize getting it down the moment mana allows.

Does casting The Reaver Cleaver actually improve your chances of winning?

The data shows a +16.2 percentage-point lift in win rate when the card is cast versus when it stays in the library. The cast bucket has 112 observations and the library bucket has 451, both large enough that the lower bound of the confidence interval clears zero. Treat it as a strong directional signal rather than a proven ceiling: confounding factors like deck quality always play a role.

Which commanders run The Reaver Cleaver most often?

Among tracked multiplayer decks, Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER leads in raw deck count, followed by Tony Stark // The Invincible Iron Man and Captain America, First Avenger. The spread is wide across 332 unique players. That breadth means the numbers are not inflated by a single archetype. Any commander that wants to attack for large amounts of damage and convert that damage into mana is a natural home for this Equipment.

Is The Reaver Cleaver legal in Commander?

Yes. The Reaver Cleaver is legal in Commander, Legacy, Vintage, Oathbreaker, and the Two-player Commander (Duel Commander) format. It is not legal in Standard, Pioneer, Modern, Historic, Alchemy, Pauper, or Brawl. As a rare from Dominaria United Commander, it was designed with the Commander format specifically in mind.

How sticky is The Reaver Cleaver once it hits the battlefield?

76% of cast copies remain on the battlefield through the end of the game in which they were cast. Artifacts without built-in protection rely on the battlefield state being favorable, but the Treasure generation The Reaver Cleaver provides tends to snowball quickly enough that opponents prioritize removing the equipped creature rather than the Equipment itself. The graveyard accounts for the bulk of non-battlefield final zones.