You And Me, Time And Space

Commander / EDH Battlecruiser Creature Cheat Primer Theme/Gimmick Top Deck Matters UR (Izzet)

Rocketman988

Land (34)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Cascade Bluffs
• 1x Castle Vantress
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Demolition Field
• 1x Desolate Lighthouse
• 1x Ferrous Lake
• 1x Field of Ruin
• 1x Fiery Islet
• 1x Halimar Depths
• 6x Island
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 2x Mountain
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1x Otawara, Soaring City
• 1x Plaza of Heroes
• 1x Rivendell
• 1x Riverglide Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Shivan Reef
• 1x Spinerock Knoll
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Stormcarved Coast
• 1x Sulfur Falls
• 1x Temple of Epiphany
• 1x Training Center
• 1x Volcanic Island

Enchantment (8)

• 1x Confounding Conundrum
• 1x Curiosity
• 1x Fortune Teller's Talent
• 1x Mind's Dilation
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x One with the Multiverse
• 1x Ophidian Eye
• 1x Rhystic Study

Creature (19)

• 1x Ancient Copper Dragon
• 1x Canal Dredger
• 1x Consecrated Sphinx
• 1x Etali, Primal Storm
• 1x Gilded Drake
• 1x Jacob Hauken, Inspector  ^Flip
• 1x Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
• 1x Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant
• 1x Junktroller
• 1x Neera, Wild Mage
• 1x Neheb, the Eternal
• 1x Nezahal, Primal Tide
• 1x Niv-Mizzet, Parun
• 1x Plargg and Nassari
• 1x Tandem Lookout
• 1x Timestream Navigator
• 1x Transplant Theorist
• 1x Void Winnower
• 1x Wandering Archaic  ^Flip

Instant (12)

• 1x An Offer You Can't Refuse
• 1x Arcane Denial
• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Deflecting Swat
• 1x Fierce Guardianship
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Resculpt
• 1x Seething Song
• 1x Spell Crumple
• 1x Three Steps Ahead

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Commander (1)

Artifact (18)

• 1x Agatha's Soul Cauldron
• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Brainstone
• 1x Conjurer's Bauble
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x Izzet Signet
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Portal to Phyrexia
• 1x Scroll Rack
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x TARDIS
• 1x Talisman of Creativity
• 1x Tel-Jilad Stylus
• 1x The Key to the Vault
• 1x The One Ring
• 1x Thran Dynamo

Sorcery (7)

• 1x Blasphemous Act
• 1x Jeska's Will
• 1x Mana Geyser
• 1x Ponder
• 1x Preordain
• 1x Sea Gate Restoration  ^Flip
• 1x Vandalblast

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Maybeboard

Creature (26)

• 1x Ancient Silver Dragon
• 1x Arbiter of the Ideal
• 1x Cogwork Archivist
• 1x Displacer Kitten
• 1x Djinn of Wishes
• 1x Emrakul, the Promised End
• 1x Epitaph Golem
• 1x Hullbreaker Horror
• 1x Jin-Gitaxias  ^Flip
• 1x Kozilek, the Great Distortion
• 1x Magus of the Future
• 1x Master of Predicaments
• 1x Mizzix, Replica Rider
• 1x Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
• 1x Noble Benefactor
• 1x Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
• 1x Reito Sentinel
• 1x Riverwise Augur
• 1x Thassa, God of the Sea
• 1x The Reality Chip
• 1x The Tenth Doctor
• 1x Thryx, the Sudden Storm
• 1x Tidespout Tyrant
• 1x Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
• 1x Vesuvan Drifter
• 1x Vhal, Candlekeep Researcher

Artifact (13)

• 1x Cloak and Dagger
• 1x Grim Monolith
• 1x Howling Mine
• 1x Midnight Clock
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Mirage Mirror
• 1x Mox Amber
• 1x Nyx Lotus
• 1x Palantir of Orthanc
• 1x Reito Lantern
• 1x Soldevi Digger
• 1x Voltaic Key
• 1x Worn Powerstone

Sorcery (10)

• 1x Aminatou's Augury
• 1x Cleansing Wildfire
• 1x Dream Cache
• 1x From the Ashes
• 1x Gamble
• 1x Geomancer's Gambit
• 1x Ingenious Mastery
• 1x Research the Deep
• 1x River's Rebuke
• 1x Temporal Trespass

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Teferi, Master of Time

Enchantment (12)

• 1x Clout of the Dominus
• 1x Extravagant Replication
• 1x Future Sight
• 1x Hive Mind
• 1x Mind Unbound
• 1x Omniscience
• 1x Storm of Saruman
• 1x Sunbird's Invocation
• 1x Thought Reflection
• 1x Uncivil Unrest
• 1x Vanishing
• 1x Wild Evocation

Instant (8)

• 1x Long-Term Plans
• 1x Mystic Confluence
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Pyroblast
• 1x Red Elemental Blast
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Telling Time
• 1x Time Lord Regeneration

Land (5)

• 1x Ghost Quarter
• 1x Mystic Sanctuary
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Urza's Saga

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You'll See Me Again. You've Got All Of That To Come. You And Me, Time And Space. You Watch Us Run!

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.

Hello, Sweetie.

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.

Do What I Do. Hold Tight And Pretend It’s A 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."

There’s No Point In Being A Grown-Up If You Can’t Be Childish Sometimes.

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.

A Straight Line May Be The Shortest Distance Between Two Points, But It Is By No Means The Most Interesting.

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 Neheb, the Eternal 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.

Wibbly Wobbly… Time-y Wimey… Stuff.

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."

When You Love The Doctor, It's Like Loving The Stars Themselves. You Don’t Expect A Sunset To Admire You Back.

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.

No Spoilers!

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.

I’m River Song, Check Your Records Again.

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!

Top Ranked	Achieved #4 position overall 1 year ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Casual 1 year ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Creature Cheat 1 year ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Theme/Gimmick 1 year ago
Date added	1 year
Last updated	3 months
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	19 - 0 Mythic Rares 43 - 0 Rares 16 - 0 Uncommons 14 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.50
Tokens	City's Blessing, Copy Clone, Elemental 4/4 UR, Treasure
Folders	abba, Commander deck, Commander, Interesting, Makeplayingcards