I like the idea of stealing things or copying them twice. Copying creatures is cool some times. But I think being a kick ass dual spell casting wizard of greatness has a big fun factor. That is pretty mana intensive though, so I tried to put in ways to discount or mana ramp.

Think I need more board wipe. or removal. or creatures. or something. but I already have too many cards. Gah! Still about $20 off budget.

http://manabasecrafter.com/commander/riku-of-two-reflections - For all your mana base needs.

I would make sure to run some bounce (karoo) lands, activates your commander better.

Welcome to Commander, AndrewW!

I saw your thread in the forums and am glad to see you're pulling a deck together!

A few quick thoughts:

Mana base

• I know you're still pulling cards together, but when you get settled in you'll want to play with it some more (as I type this, it looks like you'll need a lot more blue mana). The pie charts built into TappedOut are really helpful for that--you can play with adding different slow (enters tapped) and fast mana cards, and see what it does to the charts.
  
• A while back, WOTC did a preconstructed deck with Riku at the helm. You might want to check out the deck list for ideas on a fairly decent and inexpensive mana base.
  
• Also, check out the Riku page at manabasecrafter.com, for a TON of options limited only by your imagination and the retail price per card.

What other people are playing:

• In case you're not already familiar with EDHREC.com, you should totally check out their Riku page.
• I love Jason Alt's 75% deck design philosophy, and he built a 75% Riku deck a while back. It's not a budget build by any means, but it's definitely worth checking out.
• Josh Lee Kwai (from the amazing Command Zone podcast) did a guest spot in Jason's column earlier this year, with a 75% Riku/Tim deck. It has a VERY different feel than most Riku builds, but it worth checking out as well.
• Finally, there's a pretty good Riku primer over at mtgsalvation.com

Good luck, good skill, and welcome again!

Good call, Ammo37!
(I was typing and missed your comment until I posted)

Wow, some great stuff to research, thank you clayperce! People in commander seem so helpful and friendly haha love it already!

Ammo37 what is this magical site?! All this time I used gatherer to search for lands. AMAZING! There are lands listed here that I never knew existed and all are perfect!

AndrewW I just found them the other day through this site.

clayperce Thanks for the 75% articles, those were a good read!

You bet, Ammo37!

i like the deck, very good , theirs an upvote from me

The Riku deck I once built was completely different from yours, but I still want to give you my advice, since it may give you some ideas. The concept was that every creature should be able to clone itself, and then Riku of the two reflections can also clone them to make the process faster. I think that with more creatures, your deck would be better (in my timmy opinion...), it is a strategy that has work well for me in commander up to now.

Cards I liked in my retired Riku deck:

• Spawnwrithe

• Giant Adephage

• Meandering Towershell don't attack with the tokens :) use them to block, attack with the original one and spawn big butts tokens!

• Chronozoa

• Utvara Hellkite

Even if you don't want to go for that full strategy, I would suggest adding one or two of these (Giant Adephage and Utvara Hellkite are my favorite) as finishers. It's up to you! Like your deck and good luck!

Here are some comments and suggestions(not all are budget minded - and all are IMHO so just take it as that):

if you haven't yet, check out epoc's page for good EDH articles

illusionist's bracers will not work on Riku, as his abilities are triggered and not activated.

bonfire of the damned only hits one of your opponents creatures, so it gets less useful as more people are in the game.

the direct damage spell you include in this deck are not real good in edh, lightning bolt is great in every other format, but 3 damage when most creatures are bigger is not great. And even when you double it, there are many creatures that won't be able to be killed. Not saying they can't work in this deck, just saying that they are not as useful in edh as they are modern.

One time shot effects should be limited in edh unless they can change the board state in your favor dramatically. Cyclonic Rift is great in EDH, where as Separatist Voidmage is not so much.

sideboards are not usually used in EDH/commander.
shock lands such as Steam Vents are a good investment for edh decks.

fetch lands such as Wooded Foothills are good, but just shot up in price to $20+ for the khans versions. I would wait till the zendikar fetches reprint before getting them unless you find a good trade/buy.

Oracle of Mul Daya - very good ramp card, even better if you copy it late game and hit a spot of many lands in a row.

Eternal Witness - is great in EDH anyway, but is really great in this type of deck

Cackling Counterpart - a good spell to copy, just limited to your creatures is the downside

Bribery - is awesome when copied

Blatant Thievery - is great in multiplayer, and also awesome when copied

Leyline of Anticipation - it is good to do things at the end of your opponent's turn(or only in response to your opponent) so you can keep mana open for counter spells(even if you don't have one)

Capsize - with buyback and a copy is just good for control

Beast Within - is a great removal spell in edh

Song of the Dryads - another great removal spell as this color combination doesn't have many direct removal spells.

Parallel Lives - your making tokens with your commander, might as well make twice as many

Doubling Season - same concept as parallel lives

Asceticism - protect your creatures from targeted spells, and regenerate creatures from some board wipes

Sensei's Divining Top - great in EDH decks

Cryptoplasm - always have a copy of the best creature (that you can target at least)

Magus of the Future - being able to keep casting cards from top of library is good.

Steel Hellkite - when it hits, it hurts their board state

Stormsurge Kraken - who's not gonna block a 7/7? a good way to draw 2 cards (more if you made copies)

Blue Sun's Zenith - a very good draw spell for edh.

thegigibeast i like the idea of the Meandering Towershell never really thought about that card.AndrewW i would say check out my riku I'll make two of these, thank you to get some ideas to help your ramp as well as help your win-cons. my deck is mainly a landfall\make threats deck but i feel you should be able to get some ideas to help this deck out and my deck is budget. so it should stay in your pricerange.

pskinn01 I see what you are saying about the removal. It shall be fixed! Edh is such a different format.

What is better, Magus of the Future or Melek, Izzet Paragon?

Sadly I cannot afford many of the suggestions you mentioned. Doubling Season is amazing! As is Parallel Lives however I am trying to copy instants and sorceries more than creatures.

thegigibeast, as pskinn01 said, who isn't going to block a 7/7 (which btw Stormsurge Kraken gives me an evil smirk). I don't like the Giant Adephage. My opponents always seem ahead of me, and that seems like a card best used when I can catch them with their pants down. Utvara Hellkite is amazeballs but makes me want to build around more dragons. The turtle seems crazy! I like him a lot. and as for Chronozoa, that is magical...Let me get this straight. I play him - copy him. three turns later, I have four?! Even better with Deadeye Navigator cause exile removes counters yeah? So... so... with the token doubling cards that were mentioned that would be so broken. and army of blue death!

I tried to take advice, and clean the deck up a little. still need to cut 3 cards. And invest more into the mana base when I have $$$. Is Eternal Witness worth the investment? Should I cut Cast Through Time or something like it? GAH. Edh building is 500 times harder then modern. but maybe that is because its my first deck. MUST CUT THREE CARDS! But which

Some thoughts:

Yeah, cutting cards is SUPER tough. One good way to think about it in EDH is to ask "What would my Commander want?" It's fun from a flavor perspective, but it's also a good way to get as much synergy as possible from your deck. So for example, I think Riku would probably like Melek, Izzet Paragon best. Flavor-wise because he's kind of a kindred spirit, and synergy-wise because Melek allows you to play similar effects even when Riku's not on the board.

I build on a budget too, so when faced with a really hard choice in a Commander deck, I will almost always take the least expensive card. The multi-player aspect of EDH makes this MUCH more viable than in other formats. I've found the cheap card can usually do 80% or even 90% of what the expensive option can, and I can make up the difference by playing the table, not just my deck (i.e., working with other folks at the table to set up alliances, etc). I've also found its makes me cry when I drop a brand new, very powerful, and really expensive (for me) card ... which draws a TON of hate from the table and doesn't even make it back to me before it's been mort'd out.

Also, while Eternal Witness is pretty amazing, I would not purchase one at this point. The new Commander pre-constructed decks come out in early November, and though the official spoilers don't start until Monday, there's a credible rumor that EW is going to be reprinted for the set, which will drive the price down a lot.

One more thought:
Unfortunately, it (1) means more card suggestions, and (2) you won't be able to really know for sure until you build the deck and try it out on a real table ...

You may not have enough card draw. I probably run a little high in this area (I hate running out of gas in the mid-game, and being forced to rely on top-deck heroics), so may not be the best judge. But you may be a little low. If you find that to be the case, some options that may be a good fit:

• Fact or Fiction: Great in multiplayer, to either give an enemy hard choices or an ally easy ones.
• Opportunity, maybe?
• Sigiled Starfish: Cheap repeatable scry!
• Charmbreaker Devils and Mystic Retrieval, to get the good stuff back

I'm not saying get these cards now. Just that you may want to save some portion of your deck's budget for relooking the maybeboard after you take it for a spin. :-)

If you're looking for things to cut, consider running less lands. I'd recommend cutting the Simic Growth Chamber cycle, as they are not great and easy targets for land destruction. I find 36 lands to be the amount I like. Though, I hear the rule of thumb is like start with 40 lands and take one out for every 2 rocks/ramp things you have, or something like that. And speaking of rocks, consider Darksteel Ingot over Izzet Keyrune.

I don't see Awakening Zone or Propaganda being expecially good, either. Like they're good cards, but I don't think they're good enough to warrant a slot without synergy/support.

If you're finding draw to be an issue, consider Rhystic Study. It's very strong in large games.

Lastly, Prophet of Kruphix is nuts, and not too expensive.

AndrewW Keep in mind that players have 40 life in commander, taking 7 damage is often better than giving you two cards. If you played a card that said "Choose target player, that player may lose 7 life, if they don't, draw 2 cards" they will most likely lose that 7 life. Look at Griselbrand, he was banned in commander because 7 life isn't much.

@AndrewW, I just noticed your comment about Chronozoa, and how it would be very powerful with Deadeye Navigator because it would etb from exile with no counters.

A permanent that enters the battlefield from exile doesn't care where it's come from, or counters it had at some other point in the game - all it knows is that it's entering the battlefield. So, all things that have something along the lines of "When ~ enters the battlefield" will still happen. Things like Vivid Marsh, cards with Graft, Vanishing, Planeswalkers. The minsconception that exile removes counters probably stems from cards that gain counters while in play, like Ajani's Pridemate. Because it doesn't enter with counters, it will come back from exile with none.

here are some removal suggestions with my opinion of why:

you have 40 lands (38 plus the 2 sac lands), which is probably 2 too many.

Spirit Away - although a really good cards, it is too expensive for its effect, and it does not have synergy with your commander.

Custody Battle - just not a great effect in multiplayer

Clutch of Currents - Just don't like this card for edh purposes. Tempo in edh is not great, and making a land into a creature that will die when an opponent(or you) wipes the board is not good in a creature heavy deck.

Salvage Drone - is terrible if it dies and you have no cards in hand, as it just will mill the top card of your library.

Awakening Zone - is a little slow for the deck.

Thanks pskinn01, took your advice. Still need to cut 1 card and perhaps swap some cards for better "win the game" cards.

I think I can swap/remove Druid's Deliverance for something. I thought it would be awesome with Riku, but while playtesting against other decks it doesn't really come in handy.

AndrewW Unless you have repeatable damage prevention i.e. turbofog, prevention is useless. Go for reanimation / avoidance rather than fogs.