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Cavalier of Dawn

Creature — Elemental Knight

Vigilance
When this creature enters, destroy up to one target nonland permanent. Its controller creates a 3/3 colorless Golem artifact creature token.
When this creature dies, return target artifact or enchantment card from your graveyard to your hand.

CMC
5
Mana cost
{2}{W}{W}{W}
Color identity
W
Rarity
mythic
Set
Core Set 2020
Price
$14.42
EDHREC rank
#5434
Buy on TCGplayer
Cavalier of Dawn card art
Cavalier of Dawn enters and immediately threatens any artifact or enchantment on the board, then leaves a 3/3 token behind when it dies — that's two separate board impacts for one card slot. The triple-white cost is real, but in Knights tribal or any shell running Knights' Charge and Sidar Jabari of Zhalfir, the curve support and on-death recursion loop make it the cleanest threat-plus-answer in the archetype.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Sidar Jabari of Zhalfir

Sidar Jabari of Zhalfir

37.6% of decks · synergy 0.36

Sidar Jabari of Zhalfir runs Cavalier of Dawn as a recursive engine piece — Jabari's ability to return a Knight from the graveyard each combat means Cavalier keeps coming back to destroy artifacts and enchantments, generating a fresh 3/3 token every time it loops through.

02

Dion, Bahamut's Dominant

32.5% of decks · synergy 0.31

Dion, Bahamut's Dominant wants high-power creatures to cheat into play, and Cavalier of Dawn's 4/3 body plus immediate removal trigger rewards any free-cast effect Dion can produce.

03
Ashling, the Limitless

Ashling, the Limitless

24.1% of decks · synergy 0.23

Ashling, the Limitless copies creatures, and a second Cavalier of Dawn trigger on entry doubles the artifact or enchantment removal while stacking additional token-generating death triggers.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern legal
pioneer legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

In Commander, Cavalier of Dawn earns its slot as a removal piece with a built-in fail-safe — the 3/3 token on death means board wipes don't strand you empty-handed. It's best in white-heavy Knights builds where the triple-white pip is trivial and the on-death trigger feeds recursive loops. In Modern and Pioneer it's fringe at best — five mana is too slow without a dedicated Knights shell to justify the tempo loss against faster strategies. Legacy has far more efficient options at every point on the curve, so Cavalier of Dawn doesn't crack serious lists there either. Oathbreaker is the one other format where it's genuinely playable, particularly as a value piece in white planeswalker shells that can protect it.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

235 decks
Knights' ChargeCavalier of DawnPhyrexian Altar

Knights' ChargeCavalier of DawnPhyrexian Altar

Infinite LTB; Infinite ETB; Infinite colored mana; Infinite sacrifice triggers; Infinite death triggers; Infinite storm count; Infinite recursion of Knights you control

View on Commander Spellbook ↗

Budget Alternatives

Cheaper options that do most of the same work

Conclave Tribunal covers the removal angle for well under a dollar and can hit any nonland permanent, though it leaves no death trigger and depends on convoke fodder. Banisher Priest effects like Skyclave Apparition come closer to Cavalier of Dawn's permanent removal with a body, trading the token-on-death upside for a lower mana cost and a wider range of targets.

Price Context

Current price

$14.42 mid tier

At $14.42, Cavalier of Dawn sits in the mid tier — expensive enough to warrant a slot only in dedicated builds, not as generic white removal. Demand is driven almost entirely by Knights tribal, so the price tracks closely with that archetype's popularity rather than broad Commander adoption.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

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Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.