Maybeboard


This deck is a reflection of the love story between River Song and the Doctor. River Song plays from the bottom of the deck and the Doctor from the top, mirroring the relationship dynamic between the two. Even though River and the Doctor experience their romance from opposite perspectives in time, their encounters are memorable and exciting, so the deck focuses on synergy between the two sides of the library to create big, splashy plays.

River Song enables some very spicy combos with her ability to draw from the bottom of the deck, but I mainly wanted to focus on how she changes playing from the top of the library instead. Drawing from the bottom means that the top of the library is static, so effects that cheat out spells from the top of the library like Etali, Primal Storm and Neera, Wild Mage can be set up by playing Brainstorm effects to put specific cards on top. The major themes of the deck are big mana production, high CMC spells, and exciting effects with some combo synergy in the mix.

River Song knows about many of the important events the Doctor will experience before he does, and that theme appears in the deck through Brainstorm effects. Drawing from the bottom of the library and then placing cards on top with things like Brainstorm, Jace, the Mind Sculptor, and Brainstone allows the deck to choose what the top card will be for spell cheat effects like Etali, Primal Storm, Jacob Hauken, Inspector  , Neera, Wild Mage, One with the Multiverse and more without worry of drawing those high CMC spells on subsequent turns.

The Doctor returns the favor when he can with a few different cards that scry, but prioritizing putting specific cards on the top of the deck means that top deck manipulation is less desirable, since we won’t want to move those cards off the top once they’re in position most of the time. Palantir of Orthanc, Castle Vantress, Rivendell, Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Neera, Wild Mage, and Spinerock Knoll are great examples of cards that send cards to the bottom from the top that either have a very low opportunity cost for inclusion or have additional synergy with the primary game plan.

The Doctor likes to act like he's just doing things on a whim and going with the flow, but there's always a hint that he knows just a bit more than he's telling you. One with the Multiverse, Palantir of Orthanc, and The Reality Chip let us in on the Doctor’s secrets ahead of time. Effects that allow the deck to look at and play cards from the top are terrific thematic wins; in addition to providing card advantage and filtering the top deck, they embody the philosophy of the Doctor: the only way to find out what happens next is to keep going. "Do you wanna come with me? It won’t be safe, and it won’t be calm. But I’ll tell you what it will be — the trip of a lifetime."

So what is the reward for going on an adventure with River Song and the Doctor? Only the biggest, splashiest spells around! Portal to Phyrexia, Mind's Dilation, Nezahal, Primal Tide, Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur and whatever else the deck feels like including as big payoffs. Big, world ending threats and exciting adventures are exactly the types of encounters the Doctor experiences on the regular. The deck loves anything that sparks joy, so include all your favorite big Timmy cards that aren’t realistic to play in other decks.

Even though the dream is to cheat all the big spells in the deck off the top of the library, being able to play them from hand is good to plan for as well. Cards like Thran Dynamo, Mana Vault and the suite of signets and other mana rocks help the deck build up the mana to hard cast multiple high CMC cards per turn. In addition, Mana Geyser, Jeska's Will, Ancient Copper Dragon, and Dockside Extortionist can generate huge burst of mana as well for massive turns. Hand refills from the likes of Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur, Nezahal, Primal Tide, and Consecrated Sphinx etc. keep our hand full of fun things to cast each turn.

When Time Lords and time travel are involved, things that happened in the past never seem to stay there permanently. Cards like Canal Dredger, Junktroller, Conjurer's Bauble, and Transplant Theorist give the deck ways to bring back things that were already resolved, just like the show! Ah, the best jokes are the ones that hurt a little. The payoff of this graveyard recycling can be just as flavorful or oppressive as you desire, so ask yourself what the Doctor would do before looping Cyclonic Rift every turn.

Once the deck is set up with free spell engines like Etali, Primal Storm and One with the Multiverse, Timestream Navigator can loop turns until we have enough fun on the board to make things interesting. Just don't forget to come back and live in the moment to actually win- the deck doesn't try to play anything that passively kills the table through turn looping. "You know what that’s called? Being alive. Best thing there is. Being alive right now is all that counts."

The deck runs a smattering of protection effects to keep important things around. Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, and Tel-Jilad Stylus can keep important permanents safe in addition to protection spells like Arcane Denial, Deflecting Swat, Fierce Guardianship, Mana Drain, and Spell Crumple. Removal comes in the form of cards like Blasphemous Act, Cyclonic Rift, Pyroblast, Jace, the Mind Sculptor, and Chaos Warp. Canal Dredger and friends can return important control spells back to hand every turn, stretching the value of the control suite the deck plays.

There's limited support for River Song's second ability, so the deck doesn't try to force it to trigger. After all, River Song doesn’t like to spoil things for others unless they bring it up themselves. The deck includes utility cards that have synergy with the ability like Demolition Field and Field of Ruin but the ability will usually just trigger automatically throughout a game due to opponents’ actions. The ability also fits into the passive opponent disruption theme the deck has with Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur, Mind's Dilation, Palantir of Orthanc, Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant and Void Winnower.

This deck is a work in progress, but it’s finally turning into a deck that can hang with the big boys while playing splashy value pieces. River Song changes the evaluation of cards in a major way, which makes for a fun building challenge. For example, Arcane Denial coupled with a Canal Dredger means you can redraw the counter spell on the next upkeep, and Tel-Jilad Stylus can be used to recast The One Ring or Gilded Drake each turn. Drawing from the bottom of the deck means stacking the top of the library while still drawing as many cards as one pleases, which is usually an either/or choice with top deck manipulation. Strengthening the control side of the deck keeps games going long enough for the deck’s value engines to overwhelm the table, which is key. I’m constantly on the lookout for cute synergies, so let me know your favorite interactions in the comments!

Suggestions

Updates Add

Comments

Attention! Complete Comment Tutorial! This annoying message will go away once you do!

Hi! Please consider becoming a supporter of TappedOut for $3/mo. Thanks!


Important! Formatting tipsComment Tutorialmarkdown syntax

Please login to comment

76% Casual

24% Competitive

Revision 23 See all

(4 months ago)

Top Ranked
Date added 9 months
Last updated 4 months
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

22 - 0 Mythic Rares

40 - 0 Rares

16 - 0 Uncommons

12 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 3.24
Tokens Bird 2/2 U, City's Blessing, Copy Clone, Elemental 4/4 UR, Treasure
Folders abba, Commander deck, Commander, Interesting, Makeplayingcards
Votes
Ignored suggestions
Shared with
Views