Livaan, Cultist of Tiamat
Legendary Creature — Dragon Shaman
Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, target creature gets +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is that spell's mana value.
Choose a Background (You can have a Background as a second commander.)
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate
- Price
- $0.18
- EDHREC rank
- #9459
Livaan, Cultist of Tiamat turns every noncreature spell into a temporary pump effect, giving a target creature +X/+0 until end of turn where X is that spell's mana value — free reach stapled onto your normal game plan. The cost is real: the boost is ephemeral, the creature still has to connect, and Livaan herself is a 2/3 for three mana that does nothing without spells flowing, which makes her a liability in slower hands but a payoff engine alongside something like Vadrik, Astral Archmage where high-CMC instants routinely spike the bonus into double digits.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Vadrik, Astral Archmage
Vadrik, Astral Archmage is the premier home for Livaan, Cultist of Tiamat because Vadrik's cost-reduction scales up the effective mana value of instants you're already casting, which directly inflates the +X/+0 Livaan distributes — a late-game instant that costs twelve to cast before reduction still carries twelve worth of pump.
Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might
Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might wants every red source hitting for as much as possible, and Livaan, Cultist of Tiamat converts instants and sorceries into combat damage spikes that Ojer can redirect — any creature Livaan buffs swings for a mana-value-sized hit that Ojer's replacement effect can then route to players instead.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Livaan, Cultist of Tiamat does her best work: the format's high average mana values mean spells routinely clock in at four, five, or six CMC, and a single end-of-turn swing from a buffed creature can close out a damaged opponent cleanly. In spell-slinger decks the trigger fires constantly without any additional setup, which is rare efficiency for a three-mana creature. Legacy and Vintage are legal on paper but practically irrelevant — those formats are decided before the kind of mid-combat pump Livaan provides ever matters. Oathbreaker is a reasonable secondary home if you're pairing her with a planeswalker that casts high-CMC signature spells.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.18 bulk tier
At $0.18, Livaan, Cultist of Tiamat is pure bulk — the kind of card you pick up as a throw-in without thinking twice. Bulk rares with narrow Commander applications rarely climb unless a breakout deck pushes them into the spotlight, so treat the price as a floor that reflects honest demand rather than overlooked potential.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Vadrik, Astral Archmage
- Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.