First off, mad props for using an obscure card like Shifty Doppelganger to get a similar effect of a more expensive card. That's what Magic is all about! Secondly, have you ever considered using Impact Tremors? I used to run Warstorm Surge, but switching to a more token-based strategy made Impact Tremors much more effective. Plus, it would complement your Purphoros! I'd also consider a way to make a lot of mana in a turn, such as Doubling Cube or Xenagos, the Reveler. Temur decks always wind up needing a lot of mana to do their thing, and I've had great results with Xenagos in particular. Just some food for thought.

Thanks, SLP_500!

I have thought about Impact Tremors. I do like that CMC a lot better than that of Warstorm Surge. The two downsides are that I don't have a ton of token producers, and that it only hits players. I'll put it in the maybeboard for now.

Doubling Cube might work well (god, Riku is mana-hungry.) I don't have one, but I do have a Gilded Lotus burning a hole in my trade binder. It's not as good, but it might do enough, since the only real challenge I've had with mana so far are those costs on Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and Mizzium Mortars, and occasionally on some of the instants I have.

I kind of feel like I don't have enough ways to keep Xenagos around for long, and my creature count here is lower than it would be in a token deck. He would be great after dropping a Hornet Queen, though. Thanks for the great suggestions! I'm putting them all on the maybeboard to mull over.

Do you think Hall of the Bandit Lord would be a good inclusion? Because if you use the mana to cast the creature spell, then that creature has haste, and then you copy that creature so they both have haste right?

Sadly, the haste wouldn't be copiable from Hall of the Bandit Lord. The token only copies what is printed on the card. For example, if I copied someone else's creature with Phantasmal Image while they had Whip of Erebos out, it wouldn't give my copy Lifelink, even though the creature it copied had lifelink as per Whip.

Hall of the Bandit Lord could be fun, but I'm already pushing the limit of the amount of colorless mana (and lands that come in tapped) I can include in here, and since I have no lifegain, I'm worried about paying too much life if I ran it with Boseiju, Who Shelters All. I also don't have quite enough things that I really need to have haste. But, I think it's a good idea for a Riku deck, just not for this Riku deck.

SLP_500: I took Warstorm Surge out for now. I was trying to chop a few higher-cost cards. Oddly enough, I replaced it with Sensei's Divining Top. I picked up a Burgeoning to add today, and was struggling to come up with a good early draw spell for when I've dumped my lands before turn 2. Then I remember I had a Top in my Avacyn deck that I just dismantled, and decided to toss it in. I think it'll do good things with Burgeoning, and Jori En, Ruin Diver.

Still mulling Impact Tremors. I think it would do pretty well in here. I'm just trying to decide what to cut.

The best suggestion I can think of is to cut Ixidron. It's a good card to slow down the game when you're in a bad spot, but it'll essentially be a dead draw during those good times where you have stuff like Deadeye Navigator and Avenger of Zendikar on the field. It's a little too situational in a format that's all about keeping your options open. I suggested Impact Tremors on the grounds of having 2 permanents in your deck that burn players instead of just one. Another good option would be Rhystic Study because it'll either slow your opponents down if they pay for every spell they cast or it'll refill your hand after dropping all those lands. I like the Sensei's Divining Top option a lot!

Yeah, Ixidron can maybe go. I haven't had it be a bad draw yet, since I don't usually drop Riku until turn 6 or 7, but it is probably not something I would want to draw into when I'm looking to end the game. I thought about Rhystic Study. I have one in another deck at the moment, but I could get another to put in here. I also want to get a second Consecrated Sphinx to go in this deck eventually (that Burgeoning tempo!) but if I'm going to be a responsible adult I'll probably have to wait until next month for that purchase.

+1! Nice Riku deck! I've built a few builds around him and he is definitely the most explosive and fun commander I have played with. Keep up the good work!

Thanks, Forceofnature1! I am still making some tweaks but I played five games with it tonight, and won three of them. Which is alright in my book. Most importantly, he is a ton of fun.

Can't say I'm overwhelmingly fond of Explore in EDH. I'd much rather be using Farseek if this were my build.

Frontier Bivouac is a great land for turn-1 that goes a long way for mana-fixing, since you mentioned you have some pretty greedy costs in here. The Theros Temples are slow, but the added fixing is nice and scrying is always welcomed in EDH.

Thanks, zandl. I've wanted to add Farseek. I have been pretty happy with Explore for its versatility in the late game (draw a card for 2 mana isn't too bad when you've already got 20 lands), but I could certainly be convinced to swap them.

I had Frontier Bivouac in here at one point but I ended up cutting it when I did the lands for this deck. I am trying to absolutely minimize my lands that come in tapped, and so far I have been fine without it. I think it would be great if you were going for a cheaper land base though, so if anyone is thinking about building Riku but wants to hold off on the shocks/fetches, I'd say starting out with Bivouac is the best way to do it.

Overall, Great Riku Deck!

Not sure how I feel about Jori En, Ruin Diver, Purphoros, God of the Forge, and Thassa, God of the Sea. This is simply because when Riku is out, you aren't able to effectively copy them because of the Legendary Rule.

Because it seems like you are going for a control build I'd replace them with something like...Glen Elendra Archmage, Huntmaster of the Fells  ^Flip, Reclamation Sage or possibly Seedborn Muse (in multiplayer... with Alchemist's Refuge, GG). Also would like to recommend Guided Passage cuz it's FUN! :)

unless he has a Mirror Gallery in play xD

Thanks, bluetigerreed!

I've actually been really happy with Jori En, Ruin Diver and Thassa, God of the Sea simply because they are low-cost ways of helping dig through the deck. Jori En puts in a ton of work drawing cards because she's never a big enough threat to blow spot removal on, and at 2/3 she's a surprisingly decent early-game blocker. Thassa is in here for the scry, and for making things unblockable (which is most often a big creature I've copied--she's given me a few big unblockable eldrazis already.)

Neither of these creatures need to be copied to be good. Likewise with Purphoros, God of the Forge, who is in here as a win con. I've only had the deck built for about two weeks, but I've already won two games at instant speed with him and Avenger of Zendikar--once with Cackling Counterpart and the other with Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker.

As for Guided Passage, I have thought about it, but I don't think it's good enough to take up a slot in a deck where cuts are already very hard calls. It puts three cards in your hand, but none of those cards are going to be what you want, unless you're in some hellishly drawn-out game and a player just wants to end it. Which does happen sometimes, but not often enough. In most cases, it's going to get you something like Forest, Wood Elves, Kodama's Reach. Not terrible in the early game, but practically a dead draw past turn 5 or 6 when I should be spending that three mana on more substantive things.

As for Seedborn Muse, I had one, but I traded it after Prophet of Kruphix was banned and it shot up to $55. Made a nice profit off of it, especially now that she's back to something slightly more reasonable. As for including her here, the risk of playing her outweighs the benefits. She gets copied/stolen so often, and without Leyline of the Void or Kruphix, God of Horizons, there's not enough I'd want to do with her to go drop the money on her. She also sits awkwardly near the top of my curve, which is troublesome for a tempo deck.

My Glen Elendra Archmage is currently in my Ezuri, Claw of Progress deck, where I run Primal Surge and don't want it getting clogged up by instants. I do use her in my MTGO version of this deck, but I'm not planning on springing for a second copy for this one, which is doing fine controlling the board without her. She'd be a good addition, but I don't feel like she's a necessity.

Reclamation Sage would be great in here (he's awesome with Conjurer's Closet, Flameshadow Conjuring, and Riku. I haven't put him in here because I was going for the split second stuff (Krosan Grip and Wipe Away). If I were to add any more artifact/enchantment removal pieces, it would probably be an exile effect to take care of things like Darksteel Forge.

As for Huntmaster of the Fells  ^Flip I'm having trouble seeing why he'd be good here. Werewolves don't flip often in EDH, and they flip back over very easily (which is fine with Huntmaster, even if you get him to flip and he flips back, the odds of him ever flipping again are extremely slim.)

Phew. Sorry for the novel. Like I said, most of these are great suggestions--they're are just either reasons why I haven't included them, or they'd be too hard to make a cut for.

Slothua: Believe it or not, I had thought about Mirror Gallery! I think it could be a lot of fun. Where it fits in my curve is a little tricky though. More often than not, it wouldn't be for my own creatures (except maybe Prime Speaker Zegana, but kicking Rite of Replication on someone's commander could be hilarious. Don't now how realistic that goal is, but it would be a fun play nonetheless.

Leyline of Anticipation, not Leyline of the Void.

NoSoyYucateco yeah lol kicking that right of replication on someone's thraximundar could be pretty silly :P and just something to end the game on flavor alone as well as damage lol

Hi NoSoyYucateco,

On second thought, I think you are right about choosing to keep in Jori En, Ruin Diver, Thassa, God of the Sea and Purphoros, God of the Forge. I also think you are right for not including Reclamation Sage and Guided Passage for the reasons you've listed. Personally, I think Seedborn Muse and Glen Elendra Archmage, although stolen frequently and expensive, are too good to pass up, but i understand your reasoning for not including them.

Also with Huntmaster of the Fells  ^Flip, I thought that since each time he flips, you can copy causing him to generate a bunch of tokens, life and dmg. After a few google searches, I found out I was wrong... (transforming does not cause a creature to etb)... so ignore that suggestion.

Came up with another interesting card that might fit in this deck Spelljack - Counter Someone's spell and copy it with Riku. Much Fun!

Acidic Slime > Reclamation Sage, FYI.

Also, a copy of Huntmaster of the Fells  ^Flip can't transform. Cards (and copies) without backsides can't transform even when prompted to do so.

Spelljack would be fun! I'll have to mull that one over. What do you think might be good to cut for it? Ideally something on the higher end of my curve.

zandl: I agree, except for on the casting cost front, but yes, a deathtoucher who can also take out lands is good. My Brutalizer Exarch is filling the Acidic Slime role here.

Uggg, cutting things in this deck is sooo hard cuz all of the cards are really good. Cards I would consider cutting:

Brutalizer Exarch: Seems slighlty underwhelming to me for the cost, but is also very useful

Any one your copying guys: The ability to copy an opponent's creature is awesome, but having 5 creatures that do it might be a bit too much...

Impulse: I'm not sure what a good number of draw spells in EDH is, so i'm not sure whether cutting this would be a good idea, but if I were to pick one draw spell to cut, i think it would be this one.

All of these cards are AMAZING, but these are the ones that I feel you may consider cutting to make room for Spelljack (or whatever else you may want to add).

No love for Biovisionary? ;)

I have to say Guided Passage has been one of my favorite cards with this deck. I know you may think "I'm not gonna get cards I want" but when your deck is as good as this will be (as it is already) you are more likely than not to get something you can use (even if it's not what you "want"). Plus they don't know what's in your hand so they can never really make a fully informed decision. And it's just hilarious torture to copy guided passage and have two people doing it at the same time.

One card I found was super bonkers with Riku is Rude Awakening- it's great copied for mana and it also works as a late game ender.

Have you considered Training Grounds? This will make your commanders abilities easier to use.