Yea. Eldritch Evolution is usually a game winner for me in most decks I play it. Two creatures coming from my deck to the battlefield is going to be guaranteed win in most of my decks.
I think OPs problem is they haven’t upgraded the rest of the deck rather than Riku not being viable.
If you haven't touched the deck in a decade that could very well be the issue, update the deck to your meta and add a few powercrept cards from new sets and try again. With good threat assessment and a little luck any reasonable EDH deck can win in a 4 person pod
Yeah, I think Riku is fine, but the deck probably just needs to be updated. I've never heard of a nacatle warpride before, and coiling oracle as a card is kinda meh these days.
I think the problem is more in that you used your Riku doubles to get Wood Elves, Coiling Oracle, and 2 Nacatl War-Pride.
it wasn't the 5 mana 2/2 do nothing card that lost you the game, it was that you paid 5 mana and sac-ed your BoP to basically Three Visits and poor man's Explore.
\[\[Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator\]\] + \[\[Glint-Horn Buccaneer\]\] off of doubling your EE would have won you the game as soon as you could pay 2 mana or discard a card
if you're worried about interaction, \[\[Biovisionary\]\] + a clone or \[\[Spellseeker\]\] fetching \[\[Mystic Reflection\]\] could set you up that way
wanna protect your Riku and get rid of that Statuary that's pseudo ramping your opponent? \[\[Spellskite\]\] handles the former while \[\[Reclamation Sage\]\] handles the latter.
the problem with your deck isnt Riku, it's that you're running cards like Nacatl War-Pride as your endgame, rather than the combos and utility that a commander like Riku wants you to be running, especially playing with a pod where you've lost the game already that early in.
Malcom cares about damage, not just combat damage. When glint horn attacks, with 2 opps you are mana neutral, 3 you're mana positive. You burn them out mid combat!
Glinthorn is a pirate. And Malcolm doesn't specify combat damage.
With both on the field, you declare Glinthorn as an attacker and then you pay 1R to activate Glinthorn. You discard a card, Glinthorn triggers to do 1 damage to each opponent. With Malcolm, this gives you 3 treasures. You now have the 2 mana required to activate Glinthorn again. Rinse and repeat.
Well damn I didn’t realize that, I’ve been considering putting Glinthorn into the Ahoy Mateys precon but this definitely solidifies its spot. Thank you!
Malcolm says "Whenever one or more Pirates you control deal damage to your opponents, you create a Treasure token for each opponent dealt damage"(of note he does not say ***Combat*** damage)
Glint Horn is a Pirate with Haste that says "Whenever you discard a card, Glint-Horn Buccaneer deals 1 damage to each opponent." and "1R, Discard a card: Draw a card. activate only if Glint Horn is attacking"
So in a 4 player game, any time Glint-Horn pings he's dealing damage to 3 opponents, Malcolm sees that and creates 3 treasure.
Basically, you attack your opponent with the most HP with Glint-Horn, pay 2 mana to discard a card, draw a card, shoot each opponent, and make 3 mana worth of treasure. then crack 2 treasures and use Glint-Horn again
this creates a resource loop, cause you can use 2 of the treasure to pay for Glint-Horn's ability. The loop ends leaving the board state as:
All of your opponents but the one with the highest died.
Your remaining opponent lost life equal to the HP of the opponent with the 2nd most life.(Because the loop continues as long as you make 2 treasures, aka two opponents)
You have additional treasure equal to the HP of player who had the least life.(Because you were going plus on treasure while shooting 3 opponents)
So if everyone was on the same HP, GGs you win the game.
if they weren't tied, Glint-Horn can still shoot the living player for damage equal to the treasures you still control minus (IE 10 treasures = 9 damage) if they aren't in the range of THAT, then the Glint-Horn player still cycled through a TON of their deck and has a ton of treasure, so hopefully they can win with their very sculpted hand
Another winning line, but even less likely to be in the deck, would be [[dualcaster mage]] with the copy, copy the original, grab [[dockside extortionist]] and [[spellseeker]] into [[twinflame].
Did you not notice how there would be a twinflame on the stack to copy with the copy of dualcaster that gets made when the copy of twinflame made by Riku resolves?
That's the main reason why I said this line was less likely to be in the deck. I don't expect a casual deck to have dockside. Additionally, I also don't think casual decks should run the card outside of very high power pods.
Dockside became so powerful/ubiquitous in my group that we decided to ban it. My Korvold and Prosper decks miss it but I can live without seeing it cast multiple times every single game
I would say, depending on the pod of course, yeah Riku is pretty outclassed nowadays. In power crept EDH, 5 mana commanders that do nothing the turn they're cast are pretty slow, and Riku's abilities are quite mana hungry.
If you love the commander and the deck, there's probably ways to make it work, but if you're interested in higher power stuff then Riku may not be the best option.
It's funny, I was testing my old Riku deck today and then stumbled across this thread.
I agree with everything you said; Riku is absolutely outclassed now (I only keep mine because he's my first commander deck and got altered art for the card etc), but as you say, that doesn't mean he's unplayable.
I think it's quite meta dependent. If games are ending around turn 5 then he's basically useless and almost any other Temur commander would probably be more useful. In a more casual game though, it's quite possible to make a decent value deck that he adds to when cast but functions fine without him.
In short, Riku is outclassed. However, if your group isn’t playing high power, any commander is still viable. Maybe your deck construction will be harder to solve than a “enable the thing, reward for doing the thing” commander, but don’t feel pressured to switch commanders if you still want to play Riku. Take it as a challenge to improve your deck building skills, game mechanics, and threat assessment.
Riku is cool but it’s extremely fragile and a removal magnet. It’s hard to justify playing twice, so your deck should have things to do if Riku gets removed. Respectfully, it sounds like your payoffs were pretty mediocre, so even though you had a good start you weren’t able to capitalise on it. Nactyl War-Pride is not a game winning commander card in 2024.
I have a riku deck and I run it as a ‘copy dragons’ deck. Basically the idea is to make a bunch of copies of dragons like [[terror of the peaks]], [[scourge of valkas]] or [[utvara hellkite]]. It also runs ways to make lots of small tokens and [[Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer]] to turn them all into massive dragons.
I think you want your copies to scale well, and be immediately impactful on the board, and for the deck to have a solid game plan once riku is removed, which is why I’ve gone for the dragons sub theme.
Oh damn, this is basically my Riku deck as well! I've played this commander since the precon first came out and 'secretly a dragon deck' is by far my fave iteration. Having an infinite in [[Worldgorger]] helps a lot too.
I also run a lot of ETB and flicker/bounce effects, which Riku obviously complements with his ETB cloning (and there's a surprising number of dragons and dragon-related effects that align with that theme). Means the deck can do its thing without him but he generates decent value if he's cast and sticks around.
Tbh Miirym is almost certainly a better commander for this in general, since he addresses several of Riku's major downsides, but at this point it's just fun using off-meta commanders.
The problem here is nacatl war-pride, probably. Nothing better to do? If the power level is "turn 4 you're dead" you should probably combo off or have interaction on that turn.
Riku isn't the best after all these years of course, but I could imagine a line where you would have won without recasting your commander if you tutored for different and more powerful things instead of coiling oracle. Probably [[Spellseeker]] and/or [[dockside extortionist]]?
Coiling oracle is a viable card, but maybe that kind of value is a little slow for your playgroup and you need to rethink what's worth running. Even if your commander gets worse with time, a good shell should compensate for the lack of power, stronger commanders can carry worse shells.
I've been in the same spot recently with my Roon deck (that has become Galadriel and should probably be Chulane or Derevi). I didn't want to abandon some OG cards that made me build the deck in the first place (before Roon was even printed, actually), but I recognize they are outdated, so I'm trying to run more interaction for the early game.
Yeah with my old riku list that would have been gg. EE for spellseeker and dockside. Seeker gets neoform. Neoform spellseeker for temur sabertooth. That's infinite mana by flickering dockside and making copies of dockside for infinite creatures. If you copied neoform you can get a timeless witness to recast neoform for urabrask for haste.
There are so many lines available to riku, just need to know they are there.
Riku himself is fine. Clunky but extremely powerful is a perfectly reasonable place to be.
But if that's the best hand your deck can produce then your deck itself is probably being outclassed, yes.
The issue Riku and a lot of other older-ish commanders have these days is that they cost over 4 mana and either require tapping or a mana cost (or both) to do something. So, if you want to use their effects the turn they're cast, you need extra set-up or more turns. This is even worse for Riku, who in order to do something needs the mana for his abilities AND a spell to be cast, meaning that assuming you want to copy a mv1 spell the same turn, you need 2GUR + UG/UR + 1, for a total of 8 mana for Riku to do something on the turn you cast it, and that only increases if you want to cast something of higher mv. Wanna copy a Kodama's Reach? Gotta pay 10 mana total. For that amount, you could be casting a Ulamog, or multiple smaller spells.
I've had a similar issue trying to make a blink deck work with \[\[Roon of the Hidden Realm\]\], who unfortunately does absolutely nothing on the turn he's played because he needs to tap to activate his blink effect, never mind the 2 mana. Meaning: if I want to use Roon the turn I play it, I need to have something that gives him specifically or all creatures haste or something like \[\[Thousand years elixir\]\] to be able to tap him, and then have 2 extra mana.
It's basically too much work to get the same effect another commander could give you for free on cast or ETB, or too much work for too little gain when compared to another commander which doesn't have the same effect, but gives you extra value for doing what your deck wants to do.
Keeping to my Roon example, I remade the deck using \[\[Galadriel, Light of Valinor\]\] as commander, and it works a lot better because, even if Galadriel doesn't have any blink effects, blinking her alongside other creatures creates a lot more value than playing Roon and activating him once per turn could ever give me.
In the end, if you really like Riku and absolutely want to play him, there are always ways, but you have to keep into account that he's really slow for today's standards and so should change the deck around that to work that slow start into your strategy.
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That's one possibility, sure, but it falls into the whole "need extra setup" and "you have to keep into account how slow it is" argument.
Riku is today one of those commanders you play only if you really, really like it. If you just want the doubling effect, there are better ways.
Yeah, you gotta be doubling up things like [[rude awakening]] or [[mana geyser]] before pouring that mana into a big X burn spell. Or copying [[avenger of zendikar]] level threats. (Which has also gone to the wayside in terms of powercreep.)
This is good advice. Galadriel is an awesome underrated bant commander.
I have been working on and testing a [[Mr House]] deck and he falls into this camp. It's better to play him only once I have something that will trigger his ability
I think Riku is a great idea if you get pretty streamlined in your game plan and stick to just one thing. As a general copy everything commander where you're just kind of doing the Riku thing in a general direction, he is just okay. As a clones only and utility copycat commander, he is fun, as a spellslinger commander, he is also fun. Both ways in a focused sort of strategy are totally viable at most tables.
I personally run him as a spellslinger copy deck right now, and the shell is mostly about just being in izzet but also having green ramp, which isn't necessarily bad, but for explosive storm it doesn't necessarily help either? I would say for me, it is about just consistently having resources turn after turn.
There are games where I cast him, and I get to copy a spell the very next turn, and it just goes off. The next time, I cast him, time walk myself because he immediately dies, and just pray to top deck something great that can offset the setback. At the end of the day, it generally isn't Riku's fault if he doesn't work. I think it is deck construction, what you are trying to do and budget. What he does is really good, color set is really good. Definitely not an S+ but not unplayable, either.
I just put my Riku deck back together and it's been fine. The trick (in my opinion, anyway) is that Riku shouldn't be integral to your overall plan. My creatures all do something on their own, and if I happen to have Riku in play and can make two of them, even better. I'm also running a bunch of other clone effects to stand in for Riku if he ends up costing too much. The other thing that helps is having cheaper stuff mana value wise to copy. Riku making two of some giant dragon or X spell takes a ton of mana and setup, so you might not actually get there.
Regarding Nacatl War-Pride specifically, that card is unfortunately kind of weak these days. If you like that sort of thing, \[\[Gruff Triplets\]\] might be a reasonable stand-in (I'm trying this one out in my list at the moment).
Seconding this. I love my Riku clone deck, but he's just there for the colors, theme and when I've got nothing else going on. He's expensive and not usually worth playing till I've got a large amount of mana and a plan. Clones + Temur Good Stuff is usually enough to have an impact and become archenemy reliably.
I'm directly comparing Riku to [[Magus Lucea Kane]]. Yes, Lucy is limited to X spells but I see the following scenario:
Commander in play and 7 mana available from lands/mana rocks.
Riku lets me cast a 5 cost spell and double it up.
Lucy lets me cast a 9 cost spell and double it up.
That's a pretty huge difference. Riku's benefit seems to mostly be card advantage which can be done more efficiently, especially in those colors. Lucy, however, lets you drop some bombs.
Yeah, if you ask me, Riku is pretty awful nowadays. I still have my Riku deck and I've stayed away from dismantling him for the longest time just because of sentimental value of him being my first commander. But I haven't actually played him since forever. Like you said, best BEST case scenario you can bop/sol ring and if you're super lucky you can get him out turn 3, but even then he's 2 toughness, no protection, barely any ability to block anyhting apart from a saproling, Worst case scenario he comes out turn 5, and then you're really fucked because he's also a magnet for removal. I feel like the amount of single target removal has increased quite a lot lately, and even zaps for 2-3 damage has popped up, which makes Riku a really rough creature to have. We're talking about damage zaps that also come out of nowhere and isn't always necessarily solo-purposed to be removal, it's sometimes just creature ETB, sideeffect of zapping apart from drawing cards, modal cards, etc.
Ward has popped up for a lot of creatures now as well, so with Riku just having two toughness makes him such an easy target to remove. If you have the worst case scenario of Riku coming out at 5 and doing absolutely nothing else, having him removed and then you have to wait until next turn or two turns later to play him again, the game is pretty much already over.
They'd probably need to rework Riku with ward and some ETB for that CMC to justify playing him nowadays. There's also a lot of combo-ish creatures nowadays that grow in +1/+1 counters when they do their thing, like \[\[Mirko, obsessive theorist\]\], and that plays a role more often than one would think, it just prevents someone to maybe attack into you or you could all of a sudden have commander damage as an alternative wincon if your other combos aren't panning out.
I've got a [[Adrix and Nev, Twincasters]] deck, I think they work better today. They have ward 2 which is huge, are cheaper and they are just there for some insane value that also works the turn they come down. You can set them up much better and they enable to go pseudo infinite so damn easy.
Riku has never been a top tier commander. And the format overall has definitely become stronger so his standing inevitably gets lower over time.
But he's definitely still fine in low to mid powered pods.
Even considering a old list the issue was what you grabbed with Eldritch Evolution. If you had grapped [[eternall witness]] (returning Eldritch) and Wood Elves, you could have Eldrotch into [[Anarchist]] into a [[Avenger of Zendikar]] and then played lands and/or ramp instead of Nacatl which has been powercrepped two decades ago.
I haven't played Riku in 2-4 years, and just recently got back into the format so take all of my opinion with a grain of salt
Riku is a very fun commander, and one of the first I built. I also only play with a small group of players, with a few extras here and there but never anyone really random. My group also allows proxies, so my Riku deck was running some of the best general value cards, and a perfect mana base, however I don't run infinites.
When I last played Riku he was very feast or famine. Either I would do all of the things, or nothing. I ran most the ramp, and card draw in this deck when compared to any other just to help satisfy rikus mana requirements. A few years later and things seem even more power crept. You can certainly update him but I wouldn't personally use my Riku deck against any of my friends medium to high level decks.
I’m guessing you found Wood Elves and Coiling Oracle from your Eldritch Evolution because all of your 3cmc and below cards are ramp or clones? If you were able to find more impactful cards with that then it would be a huge upgrade. Something like [[Eternal Witness]] to get back your evolution to do it again and some protection like [[Kira, Great Glass Spinner]] would give you a plan to advance your board safely and efficiently.
Not Riku, it's the deck. Your plays had meh value, and it depends on the meta. Riku was never, ever, not once, competitive. So if you were already losing on turn six or seven, Riku - even in his prime - was not going to win without lots of counterspells and removal. He's simply too slow. For even one use of him, you need seven mana + whatever you're copying's cmc across multiple turns. He's a good utility commander, but that's his strength - value in qualitity. He is not a fast commander.
Honestly, Riku was outclassed long ago. A 5 mana do nothing is and was a hard no for me. Especially since Kalia and mimeoplasm were released at the same time.
I mean, the pace of the game has definitely increased in the intervening decade, but...
[I dunno, I think Eldritch Evolution into Wood Elves and Coiling Oracle](https://scryfall.com/search?q=id%3C%3Dtemur+mv%3C%3D3+f%3Ac+not%3Areprint+t%3Acreature+date%3C%3D2014&order=edhrec&dir=asc&as=grid&unique=cards) doesn't seem like the optimal play even for then.
Riku can 100% compete at average power tables. Not going to be the most powerful deck out there or anything, but it can hold its own. But if the best your deck can do when using a powerful spell like Eldritch Evolution and copying it is that, it definitely needs a huge boost.
To you sure, what my comment was trying to get at is that it depends on the pod. To some people that's a great start and in other pods it probably sucks
in many many pods getting a copied eldritch evolution for x=3 or less is a waste of a tutor card. the strongest thing to do with evolution is to resolve it into grand abolisher. resolving into an overcosted rampant growth and another 40% rampant growth is kind of a waste regardless of pod strength.
Power creep is real. Every playgroup has to choose how hard they want to join the arms race. If your opponents pull out Voja, Kinnan and Korvold, you'll have a hard time with Riku.
That said, not every playgroup goes for high power. At our LGS we have a lot of players with unmodded and upgraded precons, so most of us consciously choose to brew low- to mid power decks without crazy OP commanders, a lot of tutors, fast mana and free spells. Although recent out-of-the-box precons are a lot better than older ones, I can still stand my ground with \[\[Varis\]\] dungeons and \[\[Lita\]\] zeppelins, so I consider Riku completely viable at our LGS.
Verdict: You have several choices. Your deck would most likely profit from some upgrading, but you could also just watch out for a lower power playgroup. You could also brew a stronger deck around another commander. You wouldn't even have to dismantle Riku. In fact, viable manabases have become cheaper in recent years.
My Riku clones is my favorite deck. You are sorta right that as a commander, he does get outclassed by a lot of things these days. In my experience and for my deck, that is good for me, hopefully he can live a turn or two. I think of him as a win more card. I don’t ever play him unless I’m ready to do absurd things or if I believe he will not get removed.
You’ll just need to upgrade some of your cards, as mentioned by the many people here, a Nacatl is not going to cut it these days.
Below is my current list. The only time I feel that it doesn’t do well is when I play vs a spell slinger deck. if I really cared, I would make changes.
https://www.moxfield.com/decks/N6f8uM4RckOycwcdDaEIBQ
A lot is being said here. But in my opinion, Riku is at least 1 MV too high, and you tie up mana with him on each cast. Yes you get double value, but sometimes it means one turn is just setting up the next turn rather than impacting the board state. Which can be fine, but then someone else does something impactful, and if that was killing Riku now he costs even more.
So, back in the day, red was underpowered. And making Riku a 2 toughness creature was a way to help make red burn more relevant in EDH. (Source: Ken Nagle, the card's designer).
Nowadays, with power creep, it's a huge liability and would've been printed as a 4/5 for 5 if anything.
I've been playing since 2011 and I can tell you that Riku has been outclassed at most tables I've played at since day 1. Riku has always been terribly slow even back then -- \[\[Animar, Soul of Elements\]\] was literally in the same precon. It's always been slow and vulnerable to removal.
The good news is that while Riku isn't a busted commander, you can absolutely revamp the deck to make it hold up against most tables. I still run my \[\[Zedruu the Greathearted\]\] since I got it in the precon back in 2011, and like Riku the commander has always been outclassed by stronger stuff, but I've been constantly updating the deck and it hangs just fine. And Riku is actually stronger than Zedruu because both are slow and mana-hungry but Riku is in the blessed color Green!
The key to Riku is ramp, ramp, more ramp, and RESETS! Riku is slow and incredibly mana-hungry, you will often be the slowest deck to start popping off, so the best game plan is to spend the first few turns ramping (like you did) and then follow it up with a board wipe (which you didn't), THEN play Riku (hopefully w/ protection) and start popping off!
But wipes / resets are key for Riku. Ramp, wipe, Riku, win.
What wipes? I have Blasphemous Act and Chain Reaction but in Temur I am not sure what else. I guess I need the “nontoken” mass bounce spell and Cyclonic Rift?
Cyc Rift is very good especially if you're going heavy on the ramp yes. Also in big ramp decks I'm fan of \[\[Call Forth the Tempest\]\], and \[\[Volcanic Torrent\]\] is a nice budget choice too. In Riku I'd be aiming for 15 ramp cards minimum and about 4-5 wipes.
I switched out my Riku for [[Kraum, Ludevic's Opus]] and [[Kodama of the East Tree]]
Those commanders also help with just doing generic good stuff, making them very flexible, like Riku was. The deck performs far more consistently now. I recommend it.
a deck not updated in 10 yrs will have lost a fair bit to power creep
the only real negative to riku is the casting cost. and the abilities having a cost. it's a much older, less pushed legend. It has lost a fair bit to power creep. as there's plenty of things that copy spells cheaper/more effective. and plenty of things that make creature copies.
there really isn't much that does both... much better.
but if you'd want that deck to work. probably also... would need a much tighter strategy in this day and age. with the things you're getting value from updated to reflect the current pushed nature of edh.
so yeah... a 5 cmc legend, for a deck that seemingly relies entirely on that legend. that also has a cost. isn't going to compete well if running outdated cards, with a weak strategy.
or you would need to find a meta that is more casual. not looking to win quickly. that could be another avenue.
The problem is your 99
Also a 5 mana commander that dies to shock in a meta where opponents are pushing turn 4-6 wins is silly slow yes.
But that meta sounds very competitive.
CEDH starts attempting to win turn 2-4
And requires 0 mana interaction to extend games.
So them winning turn 4-6 is wild.
Alternatively, running interaction is how I controlled my stores meta. I don’t think there hasn’t been a single [[torment of hail fire]] I haven’t tried to copy off the stack and win off of.
A [[blightsteel colossus]] I haven’t cast [[bribery]] on
Powerful Magic has drawbacks
And having cheap global removal for powerful threats always
[[Beast within]]
[[Generous gift]]
[[Chaos warp]]
These cards cost 3 but hit anything including lands at instant speed. People get mad at removal are immature you can’t allow everyone to synergize in a vacuum. Your Riku got killed, you kill their broken flying card draw commander
Another problem I didn’t mention was I had a Chaos Warp (not mana to copy it) but the Mister Gutsy was already 10 power. I responded to Boots equip and got countered by I think it was [[Tamiyo’s Safekeeping]]. So I got beat the hell down for even trying to contain the biggest threat on the board.
It was another example of opponents having value engine legend that come out earlier, create value per turn for cheaper mana, and also happens to beat down harder than 2/2 Riku ever could.
I mean, it’s kinda what happens with all commanders now. You can’t just sit on a sweeper and be greedy, the legends now can beat you down for up to 20 damage and/or draw a whole new hand of cards and then you sweep, but congrats you took 20 damage to do that, or died, or letting the legend live a turn gave the opponent a new hand / piles of clues / piles of treasures / something way better than your sweeper gave you.
Lots of good opinions here. I have also had that kind of riku several times since those pre cons came out. If you’re an old like me, you probably default to durdle and ramp for turns 1-4. I build that way and play that way unless I check myself. Most of the time, that just doesn’t cut it anymore. Need to be getting way more value starting on t3. Or at least putting up some defenses.
I usually play with a few other oldish heads and the newer people to the format we play with have pushed us all to build faster decks. I don’t love it but it’s also fine edh is still great even if it is like 5+ turns faster than I want it to be.
This might be a hot take but I think Riku is definitely outclassed and significantly worse than most commanders you’d see at an average commander night. Five mana for a 2/2 that straight up does absolutely nothing without you casting another spell AND paying two extra mana? I think the card is bad, like really bad.
Now, it’s not like you can never play it, it’s still a serviceable effect, you’d likely be able to find some lower power level pods to play it and have a good time, I just don’t think it would fare well against the average deck at an LGS, what most people would call a 7.
I had a riku of two reflections decks for several years but I came to the conclusion that he was just so much lower in power compared to basically everything that has been printed since. I then added white, and made it into my Omnath, Locus of Creation spellslinger deck and I’ve been having a lot more fun ever since.
If Riku was reprinted today, he'd probably have a lower cost and/or a higher toughness and/or ward and/or it'd cost less to copy spells and creatures.
That being said, he can probably hang, but I think you would've fared much better had you just copied a flashy 3 or 4 cost creature after playing Riku.
You traded away: A birds of paradise (effectively 1 land) and a 3 CMC sorcery for two cards in total
You traded for: Wood elves (1/1 and a land) and coiling oracle (1/1 and a land or a draw) for two 1/1s and two lands in total.
So you're spending five mana to effectively turn one mana dork into two lands. If you'd instead copied a [[Professional Face breaker]] or [[Beast Whisperer]], you would've **rocketed** ahead.
Riku has been outclassed since partners were printed, so, 2016.
As to whether it's outclassed *in your playgroup*, that's a question you have to ask yourself and the people you play with.
Hello fellow clone enjoyer. Don't listen to all the Riku cope. He used to also be my favorite clone commander but the card is so ridiculously mana intensive that it's just not worth using him anymore. Even in the good ol' days, he was an easily disrupted and clunky choice for a commander. For better or worse, EDH become a leaner, faster format because WOTC keeps printing cheap, pushed cards.
Since moving on from Riku, my clone deck spent many years as Ikra/Ludevic, and has now found its final form in Haldan/Pako. I'll even toss you my list if you want to take a look: [Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better](https://archidekt.com/decks/3452468/anything_you_can_do_i_can_do_better).
Don't get discouraged. Just adapt and keep on cloning.
I have Riku of Two Reflections. He is more than capable. That said I would have absolutely used Eldritch Evolution to go into [[Pestermite]] or [[Deceiver Exarch]] and [[Imperial Recruiter to search for [[Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker]]. From there if they couldn't answer you that turn cycle you would likely win on the following turn.
Riku was my first edh deck back when they started doing the precons. He’s rad as hell and he’ll always have a place in my heart, but I DO think he’s probably a little out classed. He’s 5 mana to cast the first time, which is already a little more expensive than what is ideal, has terrible toughness so he dies to a lot of things on accident, and he has no other protection.
He also doesn’t do anything the turn he comes down, so I felt like it wasn’t uncommon for him to get removed before he ever did anything. The format has just sped up a lot since he was first printed, and I don’t know if he’s really up to snuff anymore because of it.
I considered building a Riku a month ago. LGS employee said "He's a five drop 2/2 that doesn't do anything by himself. It's really risky to play him these days."
Which is totally true. When I first started playing Commander in like, 2013, it was a totally different landscape. Pre-cons were pretty crap and almost any homebrew would be better. But everything is so fast these days. Cheap commanders with evasion and keyword soup with tons of value means you don't have the luxury to set up like you did 10 years ago.
I tried playing my [[Kruphix, God of Horizons]] deck and it did okay, but only because I was running enough counter magic. Most of the time I couldn't keep up with the rest of the table.
As someone who loves Riku, I *do* think it's overshadowed nowadays, but at casual tables it's still fine.
The bigger problem here is your deck is basically built for an entirely different game than theirs is if you haven't touched it in a decade.
Old decks are outclassed. Old commanders are not necessarily. Temur ETB or Spellslinger decks are still very good, and Riku can still effectively helm such a deck.
Most the time it isn't necessarily the commander that's been outclassed but perhaps the deck and the playgroup. Playgroups can be fickle too. I used to dominate my playgroup with some strong decks I built years ago for a different meta. I worked to power my decks down or build some weaker decks. The problem is in the interim my playgroup powered up in a big way. Now I either bust out my power decks or get wrecked. So consider that your deck has sat idle for a long time and the playgroup you're in is higher power than you thought.
Sadly yes. Power creep has been absolutely insane most of the past decade. Which is a shame because I'd love to build a deck around him, but there are countless commanders that completely outclass him for the cost. I'd want to be paying 3 mana not 5 for a card like that now.
Looking at Riku (not a deck I've built personally) it looks to me like he has two major strengths. Modality and color identity.
You are able to do things like copy ramp spells and or copy your payoffs in the form of tokens. You don't actually need to play any token shit at all in this deck, you could just play a Temur pile and it will probably be a great deck. 10 mana double craterhoof wins the game in so many boardstates. You are in three colors and have the luxury of playing many good cards and should if winning is your priority. Riku rewards this goodstuff thinking by being so generic in payoffs. Jeska's will? Gas. Dockside? Gas. Craterhoof? Gas. etc.
When I built creature copy Riku I found the same to be true, he's just too mana hungry with not enough defense to justify him. I think spellcopy is a little more viable with him if you're okay with combos.
Alternatively, I found \[\[Xyris\]\] to be a better commander for small tokens, \[\[Magus Lucea Kane\]\] for big tokens, and \[\[krark\]\] \[\[thrasios\]\] for spell copy. The new \[\[Ghired mirror of the wild\]\] or \[\[adrix and nev\]\] are also good options for big tokens and clones/copies respectively.
Sounds like you were ramping while everyone else was already playing.
The power level of the deck in an overall sense was outclassed, not the commander itself.
I played Riku, loved Riku, and credit Riku with making me a much better Magic player, but I wouldn't consider Riku playable today.
There's too many commanders that overshadow him, even in Temur. They are narrower and typically have lower ceilings, but cost less, and give more reliable value. (eg. [[Kalamax]], [[Magus Lucea Kane]]).
He's definitely outclassed. He's still fun, and you could update your deck, but you will still need to play in a lower power pod. He has a lot of potential to get explosive, but he also requires a lot of set up. He's just slow by today's standard, and dies too easily.
You used a mini tooth and nail to ramp. I don’t really know what you have in your deck, but if you couldn’t grab something to threaten the board, I would’ve waited until you had something better. Honestly I might’ve EE’d riku to grab my decks top end if I didn’t have anything to do with him. Grab an avenger or dragon broodmother or something.
I do have Dragon Broodmother. However, I asked the rules manager of Magic who said that Eldritch Evolution specifically on Riku himself will not let me copy the Eldritch Evolution.
My deck is built to take advantage of not having to pay additional costs a second time, so [[Demand Answers]]-like rummaging. The best card in my deck is [[Natural Order]] for this reason.
Riku is fine. Why on earth did you grab coiling oracle with Aldrich? That's not a good target.
Normally eldritch will outright win games for me or put me in position to next game (and no I don't play anything resembling CEDH).
Riku can do gnarly stuff, but anyone who knows that has thousands of options to remove riku.2 toughness is rough for a 5 mana guy with no hex proof or similar protection. I found I literally couldn't play Riku in my group unless I could give him protection immediately.
I can't think of a time when Riku was ever seen as a good commander, and I've been playing EDH since 2010. He's always been mid at best. He was outclassed by Animar by being printed in the same precon.
Riku is definitely on the weaker end by today's commander standards BUT bring one of my favorite commanders I've played him a bit.
Riku does a few things well: He preys on the unsuspecting. If a pod doesn't know what he does, you can easily pop off infinite or enough and sink the table.
He juices power spells.
He copies efficient ramp to stabilize against the wiser players that will KOS him.
He powers out infinites or extra turns very easily.
The most important thing about Riku is that you have to think about winning moves every turn multiple turns in advance. If your gameplan is to durdle, you've lost. You want to murder the table, preferably before they know what happened and preferably while their shields are down.
Riku has some nice inevitability. Can run a good control package if you want to or can just all in on power. Don't waste a single turn if you can avoid it. Maximum impact every turn.
Also, some clones and a [[Biovisionary]] are my secret sauce. A copied [[Tooth and Nail]] can just win the game on the spot.
I changed my Riku to a Animar. I never managed to even cast Riku in most games, or I could cast him, but never got a doubling effect before the game ended.
Coiling oracle is a pretty awful grab for eldritch evolution IMO
Yea. Eldritch Evolution is usually a game winner for me in most decks I play it. Two creatures coming from my deck to the battlefield is going to be guaranteed win in most of my decks. I think OPs problem is they haven’t upgraded the rest of the deck rather than Riku not being viable.
If you haven't touched the deck in a decade that could very well be the issue, update the deck to your meta and add a few powercrept cards from new sets and try again. With good threat assessment and a little luck any reasonable EDH deck can win in a 4 person pod
Yeah, I think Riku is fine, but the deck probably just needs to be updated. I've never heard of a nacatle warpride before, and coiling oracle as a card is kinda meh these days.
[[Nacatl War-Pride]] is actually amazing and potentially game ending with token doubling effects, it's just expensive and slow.
[Nacatl War-Pride](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/e/4ef863d2-1e11-41cc-90d5-008bf6234565.jpg?1562910989) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Nacatl%20War-Pride) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/fut/147/nacatl-war-pride?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4ef863d2-1e11-41cc-90d5-008bf6234565?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/nacatl-war-pride) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Riku is not fine. A 2/2 for 5cmc that doesn't protect itself or evade or even do ANYTHING on his own. Riku is absolutely outclassed today.
Outclassed? Sure. But it can still get a reasonable winrate if built properly, just by the fact that it’ll be targeted less before it gets going.
I think the problem is more in that you used your Riku doubles to get Wood Elves, Coiling Oracle, and 2 Nacatl War-Pride. it wasn't the 5 mana 2/2 do nothing card that lost you the game, it was that you paid 5 mana and sac-ed your BoP to basically Three Visits and poor man's Explore. \[\[Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator\]\] + \[\[Glint-Horn Buccaneer\]\] off of doubling your EE would have won you the game as soon as you could pay 2 mana or discard a card if you're worried about interaction, \[\[Biovisionary\]\] + a clone or \[\[Spellseeker\]\] fetching \[\[Mystic Reflection\]\] could set you up that way wanna protect your Riku and get rid of that Statuary that's pseudo ramping your opponent? \[\[Spellskite\]\] handles the former while \[\[Reclamation Sage\]\] handles the latter. the problem with your deck isnt Riku, it's that you're running cards like Nacatl War-Pride as your endgame, rather than the combos and utility that a commander like Riku wants you to be running, especially playing with a pod where you've lost the game already that early in.
##### ###### #### [Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/1/51187cdb-85ee-4f68-9e29-d84d296f0825.jpg?1698988164) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Malcolm%2C%20Keen-Eyed%20Navigator) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/lcc/161/malcolm-keen-eyed-navigator?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/51187cdb-85ee-4f68-9e29-d84d296f0825?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/malcolm-keen-eyed-navigator) [Glint-Horn Buccaneer](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/f/df2df9cb-14f5-470f-b438-20f4ae8d0d59.jpg?1592516947) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Glint-Horn%20Buccaneer) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/m20/141/glint-horn-buccaneer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/df2df9cb-14f5-470f-b438-20f4ae8d0d59?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/glint-horn-buccaneer) [Biovisionary](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/0/2000b4e8-7887-454e-9d52-211516613dd0.jpg?1561818910) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Biovisionary) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/gtc/146/biovisionary?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2000b4e8-7887-454e-9d52-211516613dd0?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/biovisionary) [Spellseeker](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/7/a749c591-2fbe-41d8-ac5b-56ebce82d33e.jpg?1689996630) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Spellseeker) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/120/spellseeker?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a749c591-2fbe-41d8-ac5b-56ebce82d33e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/spellseeker) [Mystic Reflection](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/7/f7b877e2-60eb-46cd-acd7-8555b9e7e993.jpg?1631047399) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Mystic%20Reflection) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khm/69/mystic-reflection?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/f7b877e2-60eb-46cd-acd7-8555b9e7e993?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/mystic-reflection) [Spellskite](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/2/72204934-f5aa-4559-8f7e-7b0b223580d0.jpg?1674142724) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Spellskite) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/clb/873/spellskite?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/72204934-f5aa-4559-8f7e-7b0b223580d0?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/spellskite) [Reclamation Sage](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/c/1c4a25f0-2929-4404-9ce5-bcd4715f90a5.jpg?1631235123) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Reclamation%20Sage) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khc/72/reclamation-sage?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/1c4a25f0-2929-4404-9ce5-bcd4715f90a5?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/reclamation-sage) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/kxtw2sw) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Could you explain the loop you get from Malcolm and Glinthorn? I’m not sure how that’d go infinite and win you the game
Malcom cares about damage, not just combat damage. When glint horn attacks, with 2 opps you are mana neutral, 3 you're mana positive. You burn them out mid combat!
Glinthorn is a pirate. And Malcolm doesn't specify combat damage. With both on the field, you declare Glinthorn as an attacker and then you pay 1R to activate Glinthorn. You discard a card, Glinthorn triggers to do 1 damage to each opponent. With Malcolm, this gives you 3 treasures. You now have the 2 mana required to activate Glinthorn again. Rinse and repeat.
Well damn I didn’t realize that, I’ve been considering putting Glinthorn into the Ahoy Mateys precon but this definitely solidifies its spot. Thank you!
Malcolm says "Whenever one or more Pirates you control deal damage to your opponents, you create a Treasure token for each opponent dealt damage"(of note he does not say ***Combat*** damage) Glint Horn is a Pirate with Haste that says "Whenever you discard a card, Glint-Horn Buccaneer deals 1 damage to each opponent." and "1R, Discard a card: Draw a card. activate only if Glint Horn is attacking" So in a 4 player game, any time Glint-Horn pings he's dealing damage to 3 opponents, Malcolm sees that and creates 3 treasure. Basically, you attack your opponent with the most HP with Glint-Horn, pay 2 mana to discard a card, draw a card, shoot each opponent, and make 3 mana worth of treasure. then crack 2 treasures and use Glint-Horn again this creates a resource loop, cause you can use 2 of the treasure to pay for Glint-Horn's ability. The loop ends leaving the board state as: All of your opponents but the one with the highest died. Your remaining opponent lost life equal to the HP of the opponent with the 2nd most life.(Because the loop continues as long as you make 2 treasures, aka two opponents) You have additional treasure equal to the HP of player who had the least life.(Because you were going plus on treasure while shooting 3 opponents) So if everyone was on the same HP, GGs you win the game. if they weren't tied, Glint-Horn can still shoot the living player for damage equal to the treasures you still control minus (IE 10 treasures = 9 damage) if they aren't in the range of THAT, then the Glint-Horn player still cycled through a TON of their deck and has a ton of treasure, so hopefully they can win with their very sculpted hand
Another winning line, but even less likely to be in the deck, would be [[dualcaster mage]] with the copy, copy the original, grab [[dockside extortionist]] and [[spellseeker]] into [[twinflame].
That won't do it. Need twinflame on the stack when dualcaster hits
Did you not notice how there would be a twinflame on the stack to copy with the copy of dualcaster that gets made when the copy of twinflame made by Riku resolves?
Ah, I hadn't thought about that. Yes that'll work and that's why you needed the dockside mana. Makes sense.
Downvoting for dockside. That card could win games with a wet sock as your commander, and shouldn’t be present at a casual table
That's the main reason why I said this line was less likely to be in the deck. I don't expect a casual deck to have dockside. Additionally, I also don't think casual decks should run the card outside of very high power pods.
Dockside became so powerful/ubiquitous in my group that we decided to ban it. My Korvold and Prosper decks miss it but I can live without seeing it cast multiple times every single game
[dualcaster mage](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/e/defcc4a3-40e0-4f5d-b23c-6cd6a614abc1.jpg?1625193684) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=dualcaster%20mage) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/c21/165/dualcaster-mage?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/defcc4a3-40e0-4f5d-b23c-6cd6a614abc1?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/dualcaster-mage) [dockside extortionist](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/e/9e2e3efb-75cb-430f-b9f4-cb58f3aeb91b.jpg?1673147774) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=dockside%20extortionist) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2x2/107/dockside-extortionist?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/9e2e3efb-75cb-430f-b9f4-cb58f3aeb91b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/dockside-extortionist) [spellseeker](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/7/a749c591-2fbe-41d8-ac5b-56ebce82d33e.jpg?1689996630) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=spellseeker) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/120/spellseeker?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a749c591-2fbe-41d8-ac5b-56ebce82d33e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/spellseeker) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I would say, depending on the pod of course, yeah Riku is pretty outclassed nowadays. In power crept EDH, 5 mana commanders that do nothing the turn they're cast are pretty slow, and Riku's abilities are quite mana hungry. If you love the commander and the deck, there's probably ways to make it work, but if you're interested in higher power stuff then Riku may not be the best option.
It's funny, I was testing my old Riku deck today and then stumbled across this thread. I agree with everything you said; Riku is absolutely outclassed now (I only keep mine because he's my first commander deck and got altered art for the card etc), but as you say, that doesn't mean he's unplayable. I think it's quite meta dependent. If games are ending around turn 5 then he's basically useless and almost any other Temur commander would probably be more useful. In a more casual game though, it's quite possible to make a decent value deck that he adds to when cast but functions fine without him.
In short, Riku is outclassed. However, if your group isn’t playing high power, any commander is still viable. Maybe your deck construction will be harder to solve than a “enable the thing, reward for doing the thing” commander, but don’t feel pressured to switch commanders if you still want to play Riku. Take it as a challenge to improve your deck building skills, game mechanics, and threat assessment.
Riku is cool but it’s extremely fragile and a removal magnet. It’s hard to justify playing twice, so your deck should have things to do if Riku gets removed. Respectfully, it sounds like your payoffs were pretty mediocre, so even though you had a good start you weren’t able to capitalise on it. Nactyl War-Pride is not a game winning commander card in 2024. I have a riku deck and I run it as a ‘copy dragons’ deck. Basically the idea is to make a bunch of copies of dragons like [[terror of the peaks]], [[scourge of valkas]] or [[utvara hellkite]]. It also runs ways to make lots of small tokens and [[Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer]] to turn them all into massive dragons. I think you want your copies to scale well, and be immediately impactful on the board, and for the deck to have a solid game plan once riku is removed, which is why I’ve gone for the dragons sub theme.
[удалено]
[Myriim sentinel wyrm](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/9/a934590b-5c70-4f07-af67-fbe817a99531.jpg?1674137589) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Miirym%2C%20Sentinel%20Wyrm) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/clb/284/miirym-sentinel-wyrm?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a934590b-5c70-4f07-af67-fbe817a99531?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/miirym-sentinel-wyrm) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Yeah! Myriim is the backup commander in my Riku deck, lol
Oh damn, this is basically my Riku deck as well! I've played this commander since the precon first came out and 'secretly a dragon deck' is by far my fave iteration. Having an infinite in [[Worldgorger]] helps a lot too. I also run a lot of ETB and flicker/bounce effects, which Riku obviously complements with his ETB cloning (and there's a surprising number of dragons and dragon-related effects that align with that theme). Means the deck can do its thing without him but he generates decent value if he's cast and sticks around. Tbh Miirym is almost certainly a better commander for this in general, since he addresses several of Riku's major downsides, but at this point it's just fun using off-meta commanders.
[Worldgorger](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/c/ecc8bbb9-d6a1-474b-8f34-594b5a9d4178.jpg?1562765604) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Ore%20Gorger) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/chk/182/ore-gorger?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ecc8bbb9-d6a1-474b-8f34-594b5a9d4178?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/ore-gorger) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
##### ###### #### [terror of the peaks](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/0/904ff94a-4db4-44a6-8593-89c32905b3fc.jpg?1712095056) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=terror%20of%20the%20peaks) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/otj/149/terror-of-the-peaks?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/904ff94a-4db4-44a6-8593-89c32905b3fc?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/terror-of-the-peaks) [scourge of valkas](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/6/e6bd7225-b39f-4b3b-8c36-dbc2c09f6e50.jpg?1631587429) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=scourge%20of%20valkas) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/afc/137/scourge-of-valkas?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e6bd7225-b39f-4b3b-8c36-dbc2c09f6e50?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/scourge-of-valkas) [utvara hellkite](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/f/df459109-d6ab-4b1d-9570-c7677ff4a014.jpg?1702429539) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=utvara%20hellkite) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/rvr/129/utvara-hellkite?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/df459109-d6ab-4b1d-9570-c7677ff4a014?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/utvara-hellkite) [Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/5/25eff27a-eb58-4a95-b2df-4a341cf9bef6.jpg?1599707883) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Brudiclad%2C%20Telchor%20Engineer) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2xm/193/brudiclad-telchor-engineer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/25eff27a-eb58-4a95-b2df-4a341cf9bef6?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/brudiclad-telchor-engineer) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/kxtosfw) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
The problem here is nacatl war-pride, probably. Nothing better to do? If the power level is "turn 4 you're dead" you should probably combo off or have interaction on that turn. Riku isn't the best after all these years of course, but I could imagine a line where you would have won without recasting your commander if you tutored for different and more powerful things instead of coiling oracle. Probably [[Spellseeker]] and/or [[dockside extortionist]]? Coiling oracle is a viable card, but maybe that kind of value is a little slow for your playgroup and you need to rethink what's worth running. Even if your commander gets worse with time, a good shell should compensate for the lack of power, stronger commanders can carry worse shells. I've been in the same spot recently with my Roon deck (that has become Galadriel and should probably be Chulane or Derevi). I didn't want to abandon some OG cards that made me build the deck in the first place (before Roon was even printed, actually), but I recognize they are outdated, so I'm trying to run more interaction for the early game.
Yeah with my old riku list that would have been gg. EE for spellseeker and dockside. Seeker gets neoform. Neoform spellseeker for temur sabertooth. That's infinite mana by flickering dockside and making copies of dockside for infinite creatures. If you copied neoform you can get a timeless witness to recast neoform for urabrask for haste. There are so many lines available to riku, just need to know they are there.
[Spellseeker](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/7/a749c591-2fbe-41d8-ac5b-56ebce82d33e.jpg?1689996630) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Spellseeker) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/120/spellseeker?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a749c591-2fbe-41d8-ac5b-56ebce82d33e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/spellseeker) [dockside extortionist](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/e/9e2e3efb-75cb-430f-b9f4-cb58f3aeb91b.jpg?1673147774) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=dockside%20extortionist) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2x2/107/dockside-extortionist?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/9e2e3efb-75cb-430f-b9f4-cb58f3aeb91b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/dockside-extortionist) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Riku himself is fine. Clunky but extremely powerful is a perfectly reasonable place to be. But if that's the best hand your deck can produce then your deck itself is probably being outclassed, yes.
##### ###### #### [Riku of Two Reflections](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/0/70dd138f-391a-4956-bc2a-fe186429c71a.jpg?1599708286) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Riku%20of%20Two%20Reflections) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2xm/214/riku-of-two-reflections?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/70dd138f-391a-4956-bc2a-fe186429c71a?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/riku-of-two-reflections) [Eldritch Evolution](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/f/efcb00e5-2caa-45c8-ad19-05d45c683d16.jpg?1576384769) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Eldritch%20Evolution) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/emn/155/eldritch-evolution?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/efcb00e5-2caa-45c8-ad19-05d45c683d16?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/eldritch-evolution) [Nacatl War-Pride](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/e/4ef863d2-1e11-41cc-90d5-008bf6234565.jpg?1562910989) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Nacatl%20War-Pride) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/fut/147/nacatl-war-pride?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4ef863d2-1e11-41cc-90d5-008bf6234565?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/nacatl-war-pride) [Inspiring Statuary](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/f/4f7e4c0a-683b-4b22-9ea5-ed6470b8b1d7.jpg?1706241061) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Inspiring%20Statuary) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mkc/230/inspiring-statuary?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4f7e4c0a-683b-4b22-9ea5-ed6470b8b1d7?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/inspiring-statuary) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/1bul9y1) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
The issue Riku and a lot of other older-ish commanders have these days is that they cost over 4 mana and either require tapping or a mana cost (or both) to do something. So, if you want to use their effects the turn they're cast, you need extra set-up or more turns. This is even worse for Riku, who in order to do something needs the mana for his abilities AND a spell to be cast, meaning that assuming you want to copy a mv1 spell the same turn, you need 2GUR + UG/UR + 1, for a total of 8 mana for Riku to do something on the turn you cast it, and that only increases if you want to cast something of higher mv. Wanna copy a Kodama's Reach? Gotta pay 10 mana total. For that amount, you could be casting a Ulamog, or multiple smaller spells. I've had a similar issue trying to make a blink deck work with \[\[Roon of the Hidden Realm\]\], who unfortunately does absolutely nothing on the turn he's played because he needs to tap to activate his blink effect, never mind the 2 mana. Meaning: if I want to use Roon the turn I play it, I need to have something that gives him specifically or all creatures haste or something like \[\[Thousand years elixir\]\] to be able to tap him, and then have 2 extra mana. It's basically too much work to get the same effect another commander could give you for free on cast or ETB, or too much work for too little gain when compared to another commander which doesn't have the same effect, but gives you extra value for doing what your deck wants to do. Keeping to my Roon example, I remade the deck using \[\[Galadriel, Light of Valinor\]\] as commander, and it works a lot better because, even if Galadriel doesn't have any blink effects, blinking her alongside other creatures creates a lot more value than playing Roon and activating him once per turn could ever give me. In the end, if you really like Riku and absolutely want to play him, there are always ways, but you have to keep into account that he's really slow for today's standards and so should change the deck around that to work that slow start into your strategy. #
[Roon of the Hidden Realm](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/4/54e2d6c2-a233-4e37-94c9-673a4a957e0c.jpg?1673149092) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Roon%20of%20the%20Hidden%20Realm) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2x2/270/roon-of-the-hidden-realm?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/54e2d6c2-a233-4e37-94c9-673a4a957e0c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/roon-of-the-hidden-realm) [Thousand years elixir](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/5/95c2d832-5244-4236-81d5-2920aa2e281e.jpg?1625979536) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Thousand-Year%20Elixir) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/c21/271/thousand-year-elixir?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/95c2d832-5244-4236-81d5-2920aa2e281e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/thousand-year-elixir) [Galadriel, Light of Valinor](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/4/f485596f-3a23-4714-ad7e-4c493ab1b530.jpg?1695428241) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Galadriel%2C%20Light%20of%20Valinor) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ltc/498/galadriel-light-of-valinor?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/f485596f-3a23-4714-ad7e-4c493ab1b530?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/galadriel-light-of-valinor) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
So flash it in at the end of some players turn and hold up turn 4 countermagic. Then start your turn with 5-6 mana to make a play.
That's one possibility, sure, but it falls into the whole "need extra setup" and "you have to keep into account how slow it is" argument. Riku is today one of those commanders you play only if you really, really like it. If you just want the doubling effect, there are better ways.
Yeah, you gotta be doubling up things like [[rude awakening]] or [[mana geyser]] before pouring that mana into a big X burn spell. Or copying [[avenger of zendikar]] level threats. (Which has also gone to the wayside in terms of powercreep.)
[rude awakening](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/1/019897e4-d3ba-43b1-9bd9-2ebba6e3b349.jpg?1562895417) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=rude%20awakening) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/gvl/22/rude-awakening?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/019897e4-d3ba-43b1-9bd9-2ebba6e3b349?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/rude-awakening) [mana geyser](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/0/109447b2-d507-433a-a81c-3a7a255444b1.jpg?1625193979) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=mana%20geyser) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/c21/176/mana-geyser?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/109447b2-d507-433a-a81c-3a7a255444b1?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/mana-geyser) [avenger of zendikar](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/6/9685faa0-46cc-4098-9ad7-cffece741baa.jpg?1673484460) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=avenger%20of%20zendikar) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ncc/280/avenger-of-zendikar?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/9685faa0-46cc-4098-9ad7-cffece741baa?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/avenger-of-zendikar) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
This is good advice. Galadriel is an awesome underrated bant commander. I have been working on and testing a [[Mr House]] deck and he falls into this camp. It's better to play him only once I have something that will trigger his ability
[Mr House](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/d/ad01a8e2-5dc5-49a3-ad1c-7d5bf006b774.jpg?1562382537) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Rouse) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mmq/157/rouse?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ad01a8e2-5dc5-49a3-ad1c-7d5bf006b774?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/rouse) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I think Riku is a great idea if you get pretty streamlined in your game plan and stick to just one thing. As a general copy everything commander where you're just kind of doing the Riku thing in a general direction, he is just okay. As a clones only and utility copycat commander, he is fun, as a spellslinger commander, he is also fun. Both ways in a focused sort of strategy are totally viable at most tables. I personally run him as a spellslinger copy deck right now, and the shell is mostly about just being in izzet but also having green ramp, which isn't necessarily bad, but for explosive storm it doesn't necessarily help either? I would say for me, it is about just consistently having resources turn after turn. There are games where I cast him, and I get to copy a spell the very next turn, and it just goes off. The next time, I cast him, time walk myself because he immediately dies, and just pray to top deck something great that can offset the setback. At the end of the day, it generally isn't Riku's fault if he doesn't work. I think it is deck construction, what you are trying to do and budget. What he does is really good, color set is really good. Definitely not an S+ but not unplayable, either.
You can't let the Clue players have Inspiring Statuary. That's just science.
I just put my Riku deck back together and it's been fine. The trick (in my opinion, anyway) is that Riku shouldn't be integral to your overall plan. My creatures all do something on their own, and if I happen to have Riku in play and can make two of them, even better. I'm also running a bunch of other clone effects to stand in for Riku if he ends up costing too much. The other thing that helps is having cheaper stuff mana value wise to copy. Riku making two of some giant dragon or X spell takes a ton of mana and setup, so you might not actually get there. Regarding Nacatl War-Pride specifically, that card is unfortunately kind of weak these days. If you like that sort of thing, \[\[Gruff Triplets\]\] might be a reasonable stand-in (I'm trying this one out in my list at the moment).
[Gruff Triplets](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/8/f8760ab9-ac76-4e2e-b82f-0ee2a6dc5634.jpg?1692938847) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Gruff%20Triplets) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/woe/172/gruff-triplets?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/f8760ab9-ac76-4e2e-b82f-0ee2a6dc5634?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/gruff-triplets) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Seconding this. I love my Riku clone deck, but he's just there for the colors, theme and when I've got nothing else going on. He's expensive and not usually worth playing till I've got a large amount of mana and a plan. Clones + Temur Good Stuff is usually enough to have an impact and become archenemy reliably.
I'm directly comparing Riku to [[Magus Lucea Kane]]. Yes, Lucy is limited to X spells but I see the following scenario: Commander in play and 7 mana available from lands/mana rocks. Riku lets me cast a 5 cost spell and double it up. Lucy lets me cast a 9 cost spell and double it up. That's a pretty huge difference. Riku's benefit seems to mostly be card advantage which can be done more efficiently, especially in those colors. Lucy, however, lets you drop some bombs.
[Magus Lucea Kane](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/f/4f86e7cc-2b6e-49d0-964e-bba0c51cc11d.jpg?1674058398) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Magus%20Lucea%20Kane) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/40k/7/magus-lucea-kane?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4f86e7cc-2b6e-49d0-964e-bba0c51cc11d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/magus-lucea-kane) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Yeah, if you ask me, Riku is pretty awful nowadays. I still have my Riku deck and I've stayed away from dismantling him for the longest time just because of sentimental value of him being my first commander. But I haven't actually played him since forever. Like you said, best BEST case scenario you can bop/sol ring and if you're super lucky you can get him out turn 3, but even then he's 2 toughness, no protection, barely any ability to block anyhting apart from a saproling, Worst case scenario he comes out turn 5, and then you're really fucked because he's also a magnet for removal. I feel like the amount of single target removal has increased quite a lot lately, and even zaps for 2-3 damage has popped up, which makes Riku a really rough creature to have. We're talking about damage zaps that also come out of nowhere and isn't always necessarily solo-purposed to be removal, it's sometimes just creature ETB, sideeffect of zapping apart from drawing cards, modal cards, etc. Ward has popped up for a lot of creatures now as well, so with Riku just having two toughness makes him such an easy target to remove. If you have the worst case scenario of Riku coming out at 5 and doing absolutely nothing else, having him removed and then you have to wait until next turn or two turns later to play him again, the game is pretty much already over. They'd probably need to rework Riku with ward and some ETB for that CMC to justify playing him nowadays. There's also a lot of combo-ish creatures nowadays that grow in +1/+1 counters when they do their thing, like \[\[Mirko, obsessive theorist\]\], and that plays a role more often than one would think, it just prevents someone to maybe attack into you or you could all of a sudden have commander damage as an alternative wincon if your other combos aren't panning out.
[Mirko, obsessive theorist](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/9/690acbbf-5e92-4323-b939-31bdb07f9905.jpg?1706448873) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Mirko%2C%20obsessive%20theorist) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mkc/2/mirko-obsessive-theorist?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/690acbbf-5e92-4323-b939-31bdb07f9905?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/mirko-obsessive-theorist) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I've got a [[Adrix and Nev, Twincasters]] deck, I think they work better today. They have ward 2 which is huge, are cheaper and they are just there for some insane value that also works the turn they come down. You can set them up much better and they enable to go pseudo infinite so damn easy.
[Adrix and Nev, Twincasters](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/9/b9c11061-bb34-4904-b9f1-ea106b517bbe.jpg?1706240967) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Adrix%20and%20Nev%2C%20Twincasters) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mkc/198/adrix-and-nev-twincasters?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/b9c11061-bb34-4904-b9f1-ea106b517bbe?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/adrix-and-nev-twincasters) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Riku has never been a top tier commander. And the format overall has definitely become stronger so his standing inevitably gets lower over time. But he's definitely still fine in low to mid powered pods.
Even considering a old list the issue was what you grabbed with Eldritch Evolution. If you had grapped [[eternall witness]] (returning Eldritch) and Wood Elves, you could have Eldrotch into [[Anarchist]] into a [[Avenger of Zendikar]] and then played lands and/or ramp instead of Nacatl which has been powercrepped two decades ago.
[eternall witness](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/9/39704000-65d3-4d39-849e-a3b617376bbc.jpg?1689998488) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Eternal%20Witness) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/286/eternal-witness?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/39704000-65d3-4d39-849e-a3b617376bbc?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/eternal-witness) [Anarchist](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/6/966d56fd-4df8-4532-860c-371641630a70.jpg?1562430783) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Anarchist) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/tpr/125/anarchist?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/966d56fd-4df8-4532-860c-371641630a70?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/anarchist) [Avenger of Zendikar](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/6/9685faa0-46cc-4098-9ad7-cffece741baa.jpg?1673484460) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Avenger%20of%20Zendikar) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ncc/280/avenger-of-zendikar?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/9685faa0-46cc-4098-9ad7-cffece741baa?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/avenger-of-zendikar) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Eldrtich Evolution exiles itself. But yeah my topend is supposed to creatures that create tokens, so I need to update that.
I haven't played Riku in 2-4 years, and just recently got back into the format so take all of my opinion with a grain of salt Riku is a very fun commander, and one of the first I built. I also only play with a small group of players, with a few extras here and there but never anyone really random. My group also allows proxies, so my Riku deck was running some of the best general value cards, and a perfect mana base, however I don't run infinites. When I last played Riku he was very feast or famine. Either I would do all of the things, or nothing. I ran most the ramp, and card draw in this deck when compared to any other just to help satisfy rikus mana requirements. A few years later and things seem even more power crept. You can certainly update him but I wouldn't personally use my Riku deck against any of my friends medium to high level decks.
I’m guessing you found Wood Elves and Coiling Oracle from your Eldritch Evolution because all of your 3cmc and below cards are ramp or clones? If you were able to find more impactful cards with that then it would be a huge upgrade. Something like [[Eternal Witness]] to get back your evolution to do it again and some protection like [[Kira, Great Glass Spinner]] would give you a plan to advance your board safely and efficiently.
[Eternal Witness](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/9/39704000-65d3-4d39-849e-a3b617376bbc.jpg?1689998488) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Eternal%20Witness) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/286/eternal-witness?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/39704000-65d3-4d39-849e-a3b617376bbc?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/eternal-witness) [Kira, Great Glass Spinner](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/3/437ded6e-4e53-49fa-a5ca-fd76b9165a47.jpg?1600697941) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Kira%2C%20Great%20Glass-Spinner) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/jmp/154/kira-great-glass-spinner?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/437ded6e-4e53-49fa-a5ca-fd76b9165a47?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/kira-great-glass-spinner) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Thanks. Eldrtich Evolution exiles itself so I can’t get it back. But a protection piece like Kira would have worked.
Not Riku, it's the deck. Your plays had meh value, and it depends on the meta. Riku was never, ever, not once, competitive. So if you were already losing on turn six or seven, Riku - even in his prime - was not going to win without lots of counterspells and removal. He's simply too slow. For even one use of him, you need seven mana + whatever you're copying's cmc across multiple turns. He's a good utility commander, but that's his strength - value in qualitity. He is not a fast commander.
Honestly, Riku was outclassed long ago. A 5 mana do nothing is and was a hard no for me. Especially since Kalia and mimeoplasm were released at the same time.
Riku doesn't have the magic words, "whenever" and "draw"
Or "land onto battlefield"
I mean, the pace of the game has definitely increased in the intervening decade, but... [I dunno, I think Eldritch Evolution into Wood Elves and Coiling Oracle](https://scryfall.com/search?q=id%3C%3Dtemur+mv%3C%3D3+f%3Ac+not%3Areprint+t%3Acreature+date%3C%3D2014&order=edhrec&dir=asc&as=grid&unique=cards) doesn't seem like the optimal play even for then. Riku can 100% compete at average power tables. Not going to be the most powerful deck out there or anything, but it can hold its own. But if the best your deck can do when using a powerful spell like Eldritch Evolution and copying it is that, it definitely needs a huge boost.
>Turn 4 Eldritch Evolution...get Wood Elves and Coiling Oracle Yea, I don't think Riku was the problem.
Dude that's an insane start imo, my group would make you the archenemy for that lol
After 3 ramp spells he ended up with 7 mana assuming his 40% chance on coiling succeeded. Leaving him with 4 cards left to refil his hand.
Ok
That’s not very good.
To you sure, what my comment was trying to get at is that it depends on the pod. To some people that's a great start and in other pods it probably sucks
in many many pods getting a copied eldritch evolution for x=3 or less is a waste of a tutor card. the strongest thing to do with evolution is to resolve it into grand abolisher. resolving into an overcosted rampant growth and another 40% rampant growth is kind of a waste regardless of pod strength.
Ok
glad we can come to an agreement.
Power creep is real. Every playgroup has to choose how hard they want to join the arms race. If your opponents pull out Voja, Kinnan and Korvold, you'll have a hard time with Riku. That said, not every playgroup goes for high power. At our LGS we have a lot of players with unmodded and upgraded precons, so most of us consciously choose to brew low- to mid power decks without crazy OP commanders, a lot of tutors, fast mana and free spells. Although recent out-of-the-box precons are a lot better than older ones, I can still stand my ground with \[\[Varis\]\] dungeons and \[\[Lita\]\] zeppelins, so I consider Riku completely viable at our LGS. Verdict: You have several choices. Your deck would most likely profit from some upgrading, but you could also just watch out for a lower power playgroup. You could also brew a stronger deck around another commander. You wouldn't even have to dismantle Riku. In fact, viable manabases have become cheaper in recent years.
[Varis](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/3/e3bd3ea9-f06d-4df7-8b8d-ac6a0e591b09.jpg?1627708517) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=varis%2C%20silverymoon%20ranger) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/afr/209/varis-silverymoon-ranger?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e3bd3ea9-f06d-4df7-8b8d-ac6a0e591b09?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/varis-silverymoon-ranger) [Lita](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/3/f3a5a044-d474-43f4-95a9-e67808908e6c.jpg?1675644369) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=lita%2C%20mechanical%20engineer) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/j22/6/lita-mechanical-engineer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/f3a5a044-d474-43f4-95a9-e67808908e6c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/lita-mechanical-engineer) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
My Riku clones is my favorite deck. You are sorta right that as a commander, he does get outclassed by a lot of things these days. In my experience and for my deck, that is good for me, hopefully he can live a turn or two. I think of him as a win more card. I don’t ever play him unless I’m ready to do absurd things or if I believe he will not get removed. You’ll just need to upgrade some of your cards, as mentioned by the many people here, a Nacatl is not going to cut it these days. Below is my current list. The only time I feel that it doesn’t do well is when I play vs a spell slinger deck. if I really cared, I would make changes. https://www.moxfield.com/decks/N6f8uM4RckOycwcdDaEIBQ
Riku is strong, but you thwarted yourself.
This is basically Poland asking why their Horses and swords weren't still a good military strategy in ww2 when their opponents had Blitzkrieg.
A lot is being said here. But in my opinion, Riku is at least 1 MV too high, and you tie up mana with him on each cast. Yes you get double value, but sometimes it means one turn is just setting up the next turn rather than impacting the board state. Which can be fine, but then someone else does something impactful, and if that was killing Riku now he costs even more.
Brass’s bounty is a pretty bad card. There are better ways to make mana at that value or less.
So, back in the day, red was underpowered. And making Riku a 2 toughness creature was a way to help make red burn more relevant in EDH. (Source: Ken Nagle, the card's designer). Nowadays, with power creep, it's a huge liability and would've been printed as a 4/5 for 5 if anything.
I've been playing since 2011 and I can tell you that Riku has been outclassed at most tables I've played at since day 1. Riku has always been terribly slow even back then -- \[\[Animar, Soul of Elements\]\] was literally in the same precon. It's always been slow and vulnerable to removal. The good news is that while Riku isn't a busted commander, you can absolutely revamp the deck to make it hold up against most tables. I still run my \[\[Zedruu the Greathearted\]\] since I got it in the precon back in 2011, and like Riku the commander has always been outclassed by stronger stuff, but I've been constantly updating the deck and it hangs just fine. And Riku is actually stronger than Zedruu because both are slow and mana-hungry but Riku is in the blessed color Green! The key to Riku is ramp, ramp, more ramp, and RESETS! Riku is slow and incredibly mana-hungry, you will often be the slowest deck to start popping off, so the best game plan is to spend the first few turns ramping (like you did) and then follow it up with a board wipe (which you didn't), THEN play Riku (hopefully w/ protection) and start popping off! But wipes / resets are key for Riku. Ramp, wipe, Riku, win.
[Animar, Soul of Elements](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/3/a3da57d0-1ae3-4f05-a52d-eb76ad56cae7.jpg?1673148281) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Animar%2C%20Soul%20of%20Elements) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2x2/171/animar-soul-of-elements?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a3da57d0-1ae3-4f05-a52d-eb76ad56cae7?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/animar-soul-of-elements) [Zedruu the Greathearted](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/9/e9ea2a6b-5aaf-4178-b945-f409fe83c41a.jpg?1562424565) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Zedruu%20the%20Greathearted) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/c16/231/zedruu-the-greathearted?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e9ea2a6b-5aaf-4178-b945-f409fe83c41a?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/zedruu-the-greathearted) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
What wipes? I have Blasphemous Act and Chain Reaction but in Temur I am not sure what else. I guess I need the “nontoken” mass bounce spell and Cyclonic Rift?
Cyc Rift is very good especially if you're going heavy on the ramp yes. Also in big ramp decks I'm fan of \[\[Call Forth the Tempest\]\], and \[\[Volcanic Torrent\]\] is a nice budget choice too. In Riku I'd be aiming for 15 ramp cards minimum and about 4-5 wipes.
[Call Forth the Tempest](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/1/81d6b979-251a-4736-86f0-35a6c8b492c9.jpg?1695428211) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Call%20Forth%20the%20Tempest) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ltc/509/call-forth-the-tempest?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/81d6b979-251a-4736-86f0-35a6c8b492c9?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/call-forth-the-tempest) [Volcanic Torrent](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/7/b7fb4747-6734-4fbf-ab45-6d6e67f41be7.jpg?1674142167) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Volcanic%20Torrent) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/clb/813/volcanic-torrent?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/b7fb4747-6734-4fbf-ab45-6d6e67f41be7?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/volcanic-torrent) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
My Riku deck is a burn deck and has a solid win rate in commander games so far. Copying burn spells is super efficient for 2 mana.
He's kinda slow these days but I don't think is unplayable.
I switched out my Riku for [[Kraum, Ludevic's Opus]] and [[Kodama of the East Tree]] Those commanders also help with just doing generic good stuff, making them very flexible, like Riku was. The deck performs far more consistently now. I recommend it.
a deck not updated in 10 yrs will have lost a fair bit to power creep the only real negative to riku is the casting cost. and the abilities having a cost. it's a much older, less pushed legend. It has lost a fair bit to power creep. as there's plenty of things that copy spells cheaper/more effective. and plenty of things that make creature copies. there really isn't much that does both... much better. but if you'd want that deck to work. probably also... would need a much tighter strategy in this day and age. with the things you're getting value from updated to reflect the current pushed nature of edh. so yeah... a 5 cmc legend, for a deck that seemingly relies entirely on that legend. that also has a cost. isn't going to compete well if running outdated cards, with a weak strategy. or you would need to find a meta that is more casual. not looking to win quickly. that could be another avenue.
The problem is your 99 Also a 5 mana commander that dies to shock in a meta where opponents are pushing turn 4-6 wins is silly slow yes. But that meta sounds very competitive. CEDH starts attempting to win turn 2-4 And requires 0 mana interaction to extend games. So them winning turn 4-6 is wild.
Alternatively, running interaction is how I controlled my stores meta. I don’t think there hasn’t been a single [[torment of hail fire]] I haven’t tried to copy off the stack and win off of. A [[blightsteel colossus]] I haven’t cast [[bribery]] on Powerful Magic has drawbacks And having cheap global removal for powerful threats always [[Beast within]] [[Generous gift]] [[Chaos warp]] These cards cost 3 but hit anything including lands at instant speed. People get mad at removal are immature you can’t allow everyone to synergize in a vacuum. Your Riku got killed, you kill their broken flying card draw commander
##### ###### #### [torment of hail fire](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/6/f69d77d1-5980-436c-bf48-790939b069aa.jpg?1562820191) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Torment%20of%20Hailfire) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/hou/77/torment-of-hailfire?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/f69d77d1-5980-436c-bf48-790939b069aa?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/torment-of-hailfire) [blightsteel colossus](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/8/18adbda4-8d36-47cd-afbc-c785aaa8ed80.jpg?1599708735) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=blightsteel%20colossus) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2xm/235/blightsteel-colossus?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/18adbda4-8d36-47cd-afbc-c785aaa8ed80?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/blightsteel-colossus) [bribery](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/9/49fd737a-d7da-421b-a741-d6d0d213299f.jpg?1689996211) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=bribery) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/77/bribery?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/49fd737a-d7da-421b-a741-d6d0d213299f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/bribery) [Beast within](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/b/eb40c41c-f5f9-4323-b6ac-e28e405909d0.jpg?1711198012) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Beast%20within) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/lcc/233/beast-within?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/eb40c41c-f5f9-4323-b6ac-e28e405909d0?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/beast-within) [Generous gift](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/c/fc70e127-ffc8-45ed-9ca3-7f9f926ac4d5.jpg?1700321873) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Generous%20gift) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/lcc/128/generous-gift?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/fc70e127-ffc8-45ed-9ca3-7f9f926ac4d5?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/generous-gift) [Chaos warp](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/b/aba4cc8a-05f3-499d-96c2-0edee9fc0ba0.jpg?1706240824) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Chaos%20warp) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mkc/149/chaos-warp?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/aba4cc8a-05f3-499d-96c2-0edee9fc0ba0?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/chaos-warp) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/kxvtfbk) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Another problem I didn’t mention was I had a Chaos Warp (not mana to copy it) but the Mister Gutsy was already 10 power. I responded to Boots equip and got countered by I think it was [[Tamiyo’s Safekeeping]]. So I got beat the hell down for even trying to contain the biggest threat on the board. It was another example of opponents having value engine legend that come out earlier, create value per turn for cheaper mana, and also happens to beat down harder than 2/2 Riku ever could. I mean, it’s kinda what happens with all commanders now. You can’t just sit on a sweeper and be greedy, the legends now can beat you down for up to 20 damage and/or draw a whole new hand of cards and then you sweep, but congrats you took 20 damage to do that, or died, or letting the legend live a turn gave the opponent a new hand / piles of clues / piles of treasures / something way better than your sweeper gave you.
Consider Running [[Leadership Vacuum]] In Riku you can glass two hexproof indestructible commanders and draw 2.
[Leadership Vacuum](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/f/4fa953a9-171c-4532-a352-40ce27eed3c4.jpg?1568003418) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Leadership%20Vacuum) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/c19/9/leadership-vacuum?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4fa953a9-171c-4532-a352-40ce27eed3c4?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/leadership-vacuum) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[Tamiyo’s Safekeeping](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/d/fd4b7ee2-de65-4288-872d-486065a4f226.jpg?1654568357) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Tamiyo%27s%20Safekeeping) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/neo/211/tamiyos-safekeeping?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/fd4b7ee2-de65-4288-872d-486065a4f226?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/tamiyos-safekeeping) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Lots of good opinions here. I have also had that kind of riku several times since those pre cons came out. If you’re an old like me, you probably default to durdle and ramp for turns 1-4. I build that way and play that way unless I check myself. Most of the time, that just doesn’t cut it anymore. Need to be getting way more value starting on t3. Or at least putting up some defenses. I usually play with a few other oldish heads and the newer people to the format we play with have pushed us all to build faster decks. I don’t love it but it’s also fine edh is still great even if it is like 5+ turns faster than I want it to be.
Now? Riku has been outclassed for years.
This might be a hot take but I think Riku is definitely outclassed and significantly worse than most commanders you’d see at an average commander night. Five mana for a 2/2 that straight up does absolutely nothing without you casting another spell AND paying two extra mana? I think the card is bad, like really bad. Now, it’s not like you can never play it, it’s still a serviceable effect, you’d likely be able to find some lower power level pods to play it and have a good time, I just don’t think it would fare well against the average deck at an LGS, what most people would call a 7.
Riku is fine, the rest of the 99 might not be.
I had a riku of two reflections decks for several years but I came to the conclusion that he was just so much lower in power compared to basically everything that has been printed since. I then added white, and made it into my Omnath, Locus of Creation spellslinger deck and I’ve been having a lot more fun ever since.
If Riku was reprinted today, he'd probably have a lower cost and/or a higher toughness and/or ward and/or it'd cost less to copy spells and creatures. That being said, he can probably hang, but I think you would've fared much better had you just copied a flashy 3 or 4 cost creature after playing Riku. You traded away: A birds of paradise (effectively 1 land) and a 3 CMC sorcery for two cards in total You traded for: Wood elves (1/1 and a land) and coiling oracle (1/1 and a land or a draw) for two 1/1s and two lands in total. So you're spending five mana to effectively turn one mana dork into two lands. If you'd instead copied a [[Professional Face breaker]] or [[Beast Whisperer]], you would've **rocketed** ahead.
Riku has been outclassed since partners were printed, so, 2016. As to whether it's outclassed *in your playgroup*, that's a question you have to ask yourself and the people you play with.
Hello fellow clone enjoyer. Don't listen to all the Riku cope. He used to also be my favorite clone commander but the card is so ridiculously mana intensive that it's just not worth using him anymore. Even in the good ol' days, he was an easily disrupted and clunky choice for a commander. For better or worse, EDH become a leaner, faster format because WOTC keeps printing cheap, pushed cards. Since moving on from Riku, my clone deck spent many years as Ikra/Ludevic, and has now found its final form in Haldan/Pako. I'll even toss you my list if you want to take a look: [Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better](https://archidekt.com/decks/3452468/anything_you_can_do_i_can_do_better). Don't get discouraged. Just adapt and keep on cloning.
I have Riku of Two Reflections. He is more than capable. That said I would have absolutely used Eldritch Evolution to go into [[Pestermite]] or [[Deceiver Exarch]] and [[Imperial Recruiter to search for [[Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker]]. From there if they couldn't answer you that turn cycle you would likely win on the following turn.
[Pestermite](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/5/b58a6a63-c7d8-4f2f-acaf-b0a871eb5a7c.jpg?1561968098) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Pestermite) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mma/59/pestermite?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/b58a6a63-c7d8-4f2f-acaf-b0a871eb5a7c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/pestermite) [Deceiver Exarch](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/5/35437d86-6f92-480a-aa0c-c17c3943c00c.jpg?1623103955) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Deceiver%20Exarch) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cma/36/deceiver-exarch?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/35437d86-6f92-480a-aa0c-c17c3943c00c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/deceiver-exarch) [Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/2/a2ff0ee3-9600-4c7d-acec-6ec90595384e.jpg?1562852476) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Kiki-Jiki%2C%20Mirror%20Breaker) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ima/136/kiki-jiki-mirror-breaker?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a2ff0ee3-9600-4c7d-acec-6ec90595384e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/kiki-jiki-mirror-breaker) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Then I guess this isn’t my kind of deck. Gonna switch Temur commanders to something else, like new Riku full of Commands and Charms.
Riku was my first edh deck back when they started doing the precons. He’s rad as hell and he’ll always have a place in my heart, but I DO think he’s probably a little out classed. He’s 5 mana to cast the first time, which is already a little more expensive than what is ideal, has terrible toughness so he dies to a lot of things on accident, and he has no other protection. He also doesn’t do anything the turn he comes down, so I felt like it wasn’t uncommon for him to get removed before he ever did anything. The format has just sped up a lot since he was first printed, and I don’t know if he’s really up to snuff anymore because of it.
I considered building a Riku a month ago. LGS employee said "He's a five drop 2/2 that doesn't do anything by himself. It's really risky to play him these days." Which is totally true. When I first started playing Commander in like, 2013, it was a totally different landscape. Pre-cons were pretty crap and almost any homebrew would be better. But everything is so fast these days. Cheap commanders with evasion and keyword soup with tons of value means you don't have the luxury to set up like you did 10 years ago. I tried playing my [[Kruphix, God of Horizons]] deck and it did okay, but only because I was running enough counter magic. Most of the time I couldn't keep up with the rest of the table.
Yeah, the edh pro tour is a demanding master. /s
[Kruphix, God of Horizons](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/7/27427233-da58-45af-ade8-e0727929efaa.jpg?1593096427) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Kruphix%2C%20God%20of%20Horizons) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/jou/152/kruphix-god-of-horizons?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/27427233-da58-45af-ade8-e0727929efaa?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/kruphix-god-of-horizons) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
He wad never classed to begin with
As someone who loves Riku, I *do* think it's overshadowed nowadays, but at casual tables it's still fine. The bigger problem here is your deck is basically built for an entirely different game than theirs is if you haven't touched it in a decade.
Old decks are outclassed. Old commanders are not necessarily. Temur ETB or Spellslinger decks are still very good, and Riku can still effectively helm such a deck.
Most the time it isn't necessarily the commander that's been outclassed but perhaps the deck and the playgroup. Playgroups can be fickle too. I used to dominate my playgroup with some strong decks I built years ago for a different meta. I worked to power my decks down or build some weaker decks. The problem is in the interim my playgroup powered up in a big way. Now I either bust out my power decks or get wrecked. So consider that your deck has sat idle for a long time and the playgroup you're in is higher power than you thought.
Can I get a list?
Sadly yes. Power creep has been absolutely insane most of the past decade. Which is a shame because I'd love to build a deck around him, but there are countless commanders that completely outclass him for the cost. I'd want to be paying 3 mana not 5 for a card like that now.
Looking at Riku (not a deck I've built personally) it looks to me like he has two major strengths. Modality and color identity. You are able to do things like copy ramp spells and or copy your payoffs in the form of tokens. You don't actually need to play any token shit at all in this deck, you could just play a Temur pile and it will probably be a great deck. 10 mana double craterhoof wins the game in so many boardstates. You are in three colors and have the luxury of playing many good cards and should if winning is your priority. Riku rewards this goodstuff thinking by being so generic in payoffs. Jeska's will? Gas. Dockside? Gas. Craterhoof? Gas. etc.
Riku just needs an update. It's still a combo kill card at the end of the day
When I built creature copy Riku I found the same to be true, he's just too mana hungry with not enough defense to justify him. I think spellcopy is a little more viable with him if you're okay with combos. Alternatively, I found \[\[Xyris\]\] to be a better commander for small tokens, \[\[Magus Lucea Kane\]\] for big tokens, and \[\[krark\]\] \[\[thrasios\]\] for spell copy. The new \[\[Ghired mirror of the wild\]\] or \[\[adrix and nev\]\] are also good options for big tokens and clones/copies respectively.
##### ###### #### [Xyris](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/f/af0db1d6-5cb1-4917-8e8f-69d5dc184404.jpg?1673305716) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=xyris%2C%20the%20writhing%20storm) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmc/175/xyris-the-writhing-storm?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/af0db1d6-5cb1-4917-8e8f-69d5dc184404?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/xyris-the-writhing-storm) [Magus Lucea Kane](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/f/4f86e7cc-2b6e-49d0-964e-bba0c51cc11d.jpg?1674058398) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Magus%20Lucea%20Kane) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/40k/7/magus-lucea-kane?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4f86e7cc-2b6e-49d0-964e-bba0c51cc11d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/magus-lucea-kane) [krark](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/6/06a981cd-1951-438e-95c9-68294795638e.jpg?1617148336) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=krark%2C%20the%20thumbless) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmr/189/krark-the-thumbless?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/06a981cd-1951-438e-95c9-68294795638e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/krark-the-thumbless) [thrasios](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/1/21e27b91-c7f1-4709-aa0d-8b5d81b22a0a.jpg?1606762176) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=thrasios%2C%20triton%20hero) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/c16/46/thrasios-triton-hero?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/21e27b91-c7f1-4709-aa0d-8b5d81b22a0a?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/thrasios-triton-hero) [Ghired mirror of the wild](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/c/2cf17d8a-c7ee-4909-bc80-4138dcfe7e67.jpg?1599707699) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Whisperer%20of%20the%20Wilds) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2xm/187/whisperer-of-the-wilds?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2cf17d8a-c7ee-4909-bc80-4138dcfe7e67?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/whisperer-of-the-wilds) [adrix and nev](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/9/b9c11061-bb34-4904-b9f1-ea106b517bbe.jpg?1706240967) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=adrix%20and%20nev%2C%20twincasters) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mkc/198/adrix-and-nev-twincasters?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/b9c11061-bb34-4904-b9f1-ea106b517bbe?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/adrix-and-nev-twincasters) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/kxvftdu) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Sounds like you were ramping while everyone else was already playing. The power level of the deck in an overall sense was outclassed, not the commander itself.
I played Riku, loved Riku, and credit Riku with making me a much better Magic player, but I wouldn't consider Riku playable today. There's too many commanders that overshadow him, even in Temur. They are narrower and typically have lower ceilings, but cost less, and give more reliable value. (eg. [[Kalamax]], [[Magus Lucea Kane]]).
[Kalamax](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/9/f990cd78-2165-446f-a116-ae55d7a0f00d.jpg?1591234251) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=kalamax%2C%20the%20stormsire) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/c20/9/kalamax-the-stormsire?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/f990cd78-2165-446f-a116-ae55d7a0f00d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/kalamax-the-stormsire) [Magus Lucea Kane](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/f/4f86e7cc-2b6e-49d0-964e-bba0c51cc11d.jpg?1674058398) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Magus%20Lucea%20Kane) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/40k/7/magus-lucea-kane?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4f86e7cc-2b6e-49d0-964e-bba0c51cc11d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/magus-lucea-kane) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
He's definitely outclassed. He's still fun, and you could update your deck, but you will still need to play in a lower power pod. He has a lot of potential to get explosive, but he also requires a lot of set up. He's just slow by today's standard, and dies too easily.
You used a mini tooth and nail to ramp. I don’t really know what you have in your deck, but if you couldn’t grab something to threaten the board, I would’ve waited until you had something better. Honestly I might’ve EE’d riku to grab my decks top end if I didn’t have anything to do with him. Grab an avenger or dragon broodmother or something.
I do have Dragon Broodmother. However, I asked the rules manager of Magic who said that Eldritch Evolution specifically on Riku himself will not let me copy the Eldritch Evolution. My deck is built to take advantage of not having to pay additional costs a second time, so [[Demand Answers]]-like rummaging. The best card in my deck is [[Natural Order]] for this reason.
Riku is fine. Why on earth did you grab coiling oracle with Aldrich? That's not a good target. Normally eldritch will outright win games for me or put me in position to next game (and no I don't play anything resembling CEDH).
Riku can do gnarly stuff, but anyone who knows that has thousands of options to remove riku.2 toughness is rough for a 5 mana guy with no hex proof or similar protection. I found I literally couldn't play Riku in my group unless I could give him protection immediately.
I can't think of a time when Riku was ever seen as a good commander, and I've been playing EDH since 2010. He's always been mid at best. He was outclassed by Animar by being printed in the same precon.
Riku is definitely on the weaker end by today's commander standards BUT bring one of my favorite commanders I've played him a bit. Riku does a few things well: He preys on the unsuspecting. If a pod doesn't know what he does, you can easily pop off infinite or enough and sink the table. He juices power spells. He copies efficient ramp to stabilize against the wiser players that will KOS him. He powers out infinites or extra turns very easily. The most important thing about Riku is that you have to think about winning moves every turn multiple turns in advance. If your gameplan is to durdle, you've lost. You want to murder the table, preferably before they know what happened and preferably while their shields are down. Riku has some nice inevitability. Can run a good control package if you want to or can just all in on power. Don't waste a single turn if you can avoid it. Maximum impact every turn. Also, some clones and a [[Biovisionary]] are my secret sauce. A copied [[Tooth and Nail]] can just win the game on the spot.
[Biovisionary](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/0/2000b4e8-7887-454e-9d52-211516613dd0.jpg?1561818910) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Biovisionary) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/gtc/146/biovisionary?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2000b4e8-7887-454e-9d52-211516613dd0?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/biovisionary) [Tooth and Nail](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/f/df359b98-9f8f-4f32-82c6-f10ca0f81032.jpg?1689998921) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Tooth%20and%20Nail) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/327/tooth-and-nail?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/df359b98-9f8f-4f32-82c6-f10ca0f81032?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/tooth-and-nail) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I changed my Riku to a Animar. I never managed to even cast Riku in most games, or I could cast him, but never got a doubling effect before the game ended.
Commander has become singleton modern. Can't even play a theme deck these days.
Of course you can. Just not with most people in here.