Cute callback to the games aside, there are many ways you could make Ryu meaner than he first looks
Ideally, we would remove some of the fringe mechanics like Myriad and Vanishing, but it's good to know what they do, and the cards that utilize them are fairly straightforward
The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Veloci-ramp-tor Commander Deck includes 1 Red-Green-White deck of 100 Magic cards (2 Traditional Foil Legendary cards, 98 nonfoil cards), a 2-card Collector Booster Sample Pack (contains 2 alt-border cards, with 1 Traditional Foil or nonfoil card of rarity Rare or higher and 1 Traditional Foil Uncommon card), 1 foil-etched Display Commander (a thick cardstock copy of the commander card with foil etched into the cards border and art), 10 double-sided tokens, 1 deck box (can hold 100 sleeved cards), 1 Life Wheel, 1 strategy insert, and 1 reference card.
Menges Standard Not Legal Alchemy Not Legal Pioneer Not Legal Historic Not Legal Modern Not Legal Brawl Not Legal Legacy Legal Comp
Getting three counters each time you gain life is huge, and can easily spiral out of control with a lot of Lifelinkers
So you can decide between a nice flier and a good spell, but not both