I'd say mechanically Shu Yun, The Silent Tempest would be similar to Riven and the colors match her story (Self Realization, Emotion, and Justice). There are great builds available. Glissa the Traitor's storyline is the closest I can think of for Riven. She left and protected her people, but was seen as a Traitor and later was corrupted.
Most of the changes were for budget reasons, but I did make some changes for personal taste / tweaking. Corpse Churn has been amazing, so I know Grapple with the Past will be also.
I did some pretty hardcore testing on Tabletop Simulator before finally ordering the cards for the deck. It plays really well in all but the most elite settings. It's definitely not a duel deck though.
Trample (using the Commander Behemoth for budget atm)
Additional Tutor (Jarad's Orders)
Right now I'm running a very similar list to his competitive deck without the old dual-lands and Gaea's Cradle. River of Tears is just such a cool card, I had to use it.
Grapple with the Past (1G - Instant, mill 3 return creature or land from gy to hand) is probably just going to replace Mulch. However, I may try swapping it for Sudden Reclamation to lower the curve a little bit.
I use Mindwrack Demon atm, but will replace it with Gisa and Geralf for a little redundancy with Havengul Lich (Although he's better) and self-mill feature. I'm running the combo variant, but it is nice to possibly catch some of your buffers or a utility zombie like Sidisi.
Sidisi, Brood Tyrant just helps out the zombie strategy in so many ways and can be a reliable threat in herself including easy infinite combos (Sidisi + Self-Untap + Mesmeric Orb]. You could throw in a basalt monolith if you like. An unanswered Venser = combo pieces the turn after you play him.
Sidisi offers a way more interesting playstyle than most other commanders. I absolutely hated commander before giving her a try. My first attempt was a Marchesa deck, but didn't really enjoy it. Sidisi accomplishes what I wanted from that concept. Life from the Loam really just makes this type of deck that much better.
Most of the changes were for budget reasons, but I did make some changes for personal taste / tweaking. Corpse Churn has been amazing, so I know Grapple with the Past will be also.
I did some pretty hardcore testing on Tabletop Simulator before finally ordering the cards for the deck. It plays really well in all but the most elite settings. It's definitely not a duel deck though.
Right now I'm running a very similar list to his competitive deck without the old dual-lands and Gaea's Cradle. River of Tears is just such a cool card, I had to use it.
Grapple with the Past (1G - Instant, mill 3 return creature or land from gy to hand) is probably just going to replace Mulch. However, I may try swapping it for Sudden Reclamation to lower the curve a little bit.
I use Mindwrack Demon atm, but will replace it with Gisa and Geralf for a little redundancy with Havengul Lich (Although he's better) and self-mill feature. I'm running the combo variant, but it is nice to possibly catch some of your buffers or a utility zombie like Sidisi.
Sidisi, Brood Tyrant just helps out the zombie strategy in so many ways and can be a reliable threat in herself including easy infinite combos (Sidisi + Self-Untap + Mesmeric Orb]. You could throw in a basalt monolith if you like. An unanswered Venser = combo pieces the turn after you play him.
Sidisi offers a way more interesting playstyle than most other commanders. I absolutely hated commander before giving her a try. My first attempt was a Marchesa deck, but didn't really enjoy it. Sidisi accomplishes what I wanted from that concept. Life from the Loam really just makes this type of deck that much better.
edit: Decklist - http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/sidisi-july-build/