Pointed Discussion

If you like to play big expensive spells, Timmy, you'll really love to play them twice.

UG General? Copies spells? The designers turned the douchebag meter up to 1000 with this one.

Time warp
temporal manipulation
walk the aeons
regrowth
recollect
call to mind
relearn

And many more!

Any reasonable EDH player will kill Riku expediently and enthusiastically each and every time he shows his smirking face.

Prepare for trouble!

And make it double!

Yes. Yes. Eighteen thousand times yes. I don't think I'll ever be able to look at a big, splashy sorcery or awesome enters-the-battlefield creature again without thinking about how much I'd love to copy it with Riku.

Absolutely thrilled with this guy. The fact that he can copy spells AND creatures makes his build-aroundability almost limitless but why the hell does his pre-con not include Nulltread Gargantuan or Crystal Shard!?

Cast Bribery
Copy Bribery
Search opponents' libraries for any two creatures and put them under your control
Copy each of those creatures as they enter the battlefield

Goes infinite with Palinchron.

Try him with Knowledge Pool. You can copy what goes into the pool (before it's exiled) AND what you get out of the pool (be it a creature or an instant/sorcery).

It trips up your opponents and still allows you to cast your own spells if you need to. Very fun.

This card is amazing. Giving you double of every one of your spells (except artifacts, enchantments, and planeswalkers) is so powerful. There are some very powerful things that can be done with this card:
-Mulldrifter. Paying for the evoke cost then duplicating will leave you with a 2/2 flyer that drew you four cards. FOUR CARDS. For five mana. Thats Tidings with a free 2/2 creature. Or you could just play it for seven mana to get two creatures.
-Flametongue Kavu. Now this is crazy. You're paying six mana for two 4/2 creatures and two free Fireblasts. That kills just about anything else that costs six mana and some things that cost more. That is a lot of card advantage.
-Trinket Mage. Now this interaction is amazing in the commander format. Think about a curve like this:
Begin turn five with four lands in play, then play a land and cast Riku. On your next turn, you can play a land then cast and copy a Trinket Mage to get a Sol Ring and Sensei's Divining Top. Then use your extra land to play the Sol Ring and use the Sol Ring to play and use the Top. That's a lot of consistency from two cards in a singleton format. Especially considering you have access to one of the cards all game. Oh yea, you also get two 2/2s.
-Eternal Witness. Having the ability to get back your two best cads from the graveyard can be extremely good. And with Riku out, that is like getting four spells because you will probably be able to duplicate both of them.

I could go on and on about all of the amazing creature to duplicate, but you can also duplicate instants and sorceries. I will mainly focus on large amazing spells, but keep in mind that you can duplicate any spell you want.
-Any spell that allows you to take an extra turn (or turns in the case of Time Stretch). Taking even more turns is always good, but because you have an extra turn, you might be able to give another player an extra turn for political reasons. This might not be the best use of resources, but it can save you from losing or gain you anther ally. It could also make the player less likely to counter your extra turn.
-Any card with suspend (even creatures) will benefit from this because you didn't pay mana for them that turn. I'll use Shivan Meteor as an example of a card to copy, but it's not the most spectacular (the most would be Curse of the Cabal but that is in another color and hard to resolve). Getting two meteors will kill anything so dead it should be exiled from the exiled zone.
There are too many other cards to explain them all in depth, so I'll include a list of cards that would be amazing to copy:
-Biomantic Mastery. You should be drawing a lot of cards.
-Blatant Thievery. Getting control of two permanents from every player? Sweet.
-Collective Unconscious. More card draw. This effect is also helped by Riku making more creatures.
-Conflux. Not completely in color, but being able to tutor for TEN CARDS seemed to good to leave off.
-Crush of Wurms. Six 6/6s much? Plus you get more when you flash it back.
-Death by Dragons. So everyone other that target player gets two 5/5 flyers? I'm fine casting that.
-Denying Wind. Your opponent shouldn't have many threats left in their deck after this.
-Recurring Insight. Along with other along with any other rebound spell. Casting it four times seems nice.
-Tooth and Nail. Being able to search for four creatures to put straight into play? Not a bad deal.
-Warp World. This one should be used with enter the battlefield token making effects. Then you'll get more permanents as the second resolves.
You are probably guessing (correctly) now that I was captivated by Riku when I first saw him. Since then I have been Brainstorming ways to make him amazing. I just can't wait to get my hands on an over-sized, foil version of this (and Animar). In case you were wondering my rating, it is a 4.5/5 because he does nothing to protect himself (unlike Animar which has protection from black and white).

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
RIDICULOUSNESS. THIS THING DESTROYS IF IT'S OUT LONG ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A very strong card. Personally I'd like to kill him using a Rite of Replication or Clone just to wipe that smirk off his faces.

If i remember correctly, riku means land, and the reflections in the cards picture show that one wields green while the other wields red and they connect with blue, so am I the only one seeing a different lands of the earth connected by water thing?

The above reasons are why I haven't been running him as a commander much. Yes, he is awesome and yes his potentional is high. He just never lasts for more than a couple of players turns, if at all. There is no sense in running him too often if his cost just goes up to 10+ mana to play him.

I think this thing can copy creatures with shroud. Even more awesome points.

really wanted the deck to have a copy of morphling, torchling, and thornling ^^

All we need now is Sora and Kairi.

@veteripont
What doesn't?

Ok, this creature is just F***ING ridiculous, SO much power for abuse if he manages to stay in play. He also combos VERY well with the other legend of his deck, which is just awesome in and of itself.
Now on to some the cards that should be put with this card.
Cast through Time, you basically get 4 spells for the price of one and his first ability twice, this works for ANY spell with rebound.
Combo both of his abilities with storm and cards to make your stuff cheaper, absolute brutality.
As for creatures, Doubling Season makes the second ability MORE than worthwhile.
being able to copy any of your large creature that Animar then makes cheaper, in my mind is just not right anymore.
Being able to copy burn spells is awesome and all in good fun, copying land fetches such as cultivate, kodama's reach, even harrow fetch twice the land, and finally blue control spells such as ponder, preordain, and brainstorm get you twice as many cards.
The last thing I want to say is this, with all of the ideas for combos involving this card I can think of, there are few that stand in comparison to the fun that comes from rebound and this card with Beacon of Tomorrows, Time warp, Time walk, and Time Stretch.

"*EDIT*": After thinking about the creature cloning and comes into play effects, why not play this with ALLIES, even without the ability to clone the creatures any further, you still start up a CRAZY creature base if you do this right.

You thought Venser was pretty, now its a two-for-the-price-of-one deal! :D

My favorite commander of the whole commander series, next to mimeoplasm. His abilities are obviously super powerful, so I'll just say that I also like the interesting wedge colors he falls in. There are so many interesting spells to copy in blue, red, and green respectively. He also can effectively give red appropriate board sweepers because he can copy the spell to do an instant fork whenever necessary, such as chain reaction x 2.

From the article on the wizards site about this guy, he is one mage who learned illusion mirror magic to clone himself so he could study the disciplines of elemental magic and creature summoning seperately by letting his copy learn one subject and therefore be able to devote all his time to the study of the other. In the picture you can't tell which is the illusion clone and which is the real one, just have to guess.

riku... suave...

Eternal Dominion Anyone?

and then they admitted that riku's art is just a split image. http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/741

as a graphic artist, i now read his art as, 1 art , duplicate, flip horizontally, canvas size width x2, move the duplicate, select, feather, hue/saturation, select, feather, hue/saturation, select, feather, hue/saturation,...

oh and by the way i still think izzy's reference for riku is this guy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain_%28entertainer%29

DOUBLE DRAGONS

The most broken way I've been able to use his abilities? Say hello to my little friend Bribery

How does it work with effects like kicker, evoke, etc?

Also, how does it work for spells with x in the cost or effects with x in the cost?

Putting him in with intet is just cruel... play the card you get from intet for free, then copy it for two... if that happens to be, say, a hydra omnivore... that's two 8/8's for gu...

Can you use Riku's second ability more than once on a creature (as it enters the field)? We played last night and one of the player's used the ability this way, but it didn't seem right.

Palinchron AHHHH

@ lonesouldier:

Notice the word "Whenever." This means that you can only use that ability when, and as many times, as the trigger occurs. So because a creature only enters the battlefield once (at a time) then this can only be played once at that time. I hope that makes sense.

Character Bio:
Riku of Two Reflections had two passions: the study of spellcraft and the study of life. The mage could never choose, but had no time to master both. Through an ancient illusionist's spell, he found the solution: he secretly split himself into two reflections, and each Riku trained and studied for years in its chosen field. Today Riku is hailed as a master of both disciplines, and few know his secrets. The reflections never stray far from each other, and when danger threatens, enemies face the power of both Rikus.

pretty nice with suspend.

FINALLY, Brother's Yamakazi can finally see EDH play!

(Wrong information)
I'm pretty sure Riku will gladly give a Cloud of Faeries more than just two reflections.
(In the same way, he helps you improve your Snapping skills. Then you don't need both your hands for Evacuation anymore :D)

And just imagine the huge storm effects this allows you to make, e.g. with Brain Freeze (not that you'd really need that with an infinite swarm of faeries, for that matter...)
(/Wrong information)

Storm reminds me of Storm Crow, which again reminds me of dumb fads. Which gets me to another awesome aspect Riku provides: You can cast a Rainbow Crow to get Double Rainbow Crows all the way across the sky!

If you're not a big fan of the sky, let your creatures enter in pairs through Cryptic Gateway instead.
The creature type human should come in suprisingly handy in this case. (Come in, handy - get it?)

Edit (since 7/8/2011): Duh! Silly me, first i screwed up to miss the nontoken clause (which was added just for reasons like that) after rashly thinking about what eskan said about Palinchron (where the loop works since it can bounce itself), and then i even tricked me into thinking this would work the same way with Snap, which was twice as dumb.
Sorry guys. Should try to think up my puns next time after i get my facts right at first >.<

At least Cloud of Fearies and Snap are still useful with him nonetheless, since they can be copied for free :P

What happens if I play it with primordial hydra? Do I get two hydras or does the token insta-die due to being a 0/0?

Also, doubling season. 3X of a creature.

I played a game with this guy, ended up paying 15 mana for Riku (the 2nd time that game), Intet, an avatar of furyfor RR and Riku's ability netting me another avatar.

I think...I think...this is what you get if you punch a Mirror Gallery, with Doubling Season out.

The first thing that struck me after playing with the Mirror Mastery deck was that it didn't have enough Islands. As both of Riku's abilities require blue mana, I clearly always needed at least one Island, but most of the time, I actually needed two (to copy a blue creature/spell), sometimes even three, and simply didn't have the blue. If anyone was to change the deck, this is the first change I'd make - add a couple Islands.

So... If I copied a spell with Epic, does that mean I get two instances of the spell each turn?

does any one else see an infinite grave titan combo?

drop grave titan. get two zombies. pay {g}{u}{g}{u}. make the zombies grave titans. repeat.

edit>that wouldnt work, it says non-token.
still, just imagine!!

Here's how I want to break Riku Completely EDH legal, magical Christmas Land notwithstanding. Put down a Mirror Gallery. (I'm sure most of you already see where this is going.) Then play Riku. Then Clone him. Duplicate the Clone, and have the Clone token duplicate Riku.

Now, we're going to have to take a quick rules break. You can only activate Riku's ability once per valid spell you play. So Riku on his lonesome can't pay {U}{R}{U}{R}{U}{R} to Time Stretch for 6 turns. However, if there's more than one Riku on the table, each one will have his triggered ability activate; you can pay each one, and each will duplicate the card in question. We now return to our combo.

Now that we have a Riku, a Riku Clone, and a Riku Clone token, we bounce/flicker/kill and replay the original Riku. Double him twice with your Riku clones. You now have 5 Rikus in play. If you put him back and recast him again, you can have 9 in play. And as long as we have 9, why don't we copy a few Elvish Aberrations so we can muster up the mana to play a kicked Rite of Replication, which we will copy 9 times, bringing us up to 56 copies of Riku on the table, meaning we could potentially play every creature, instant and sorcery 57 times if we have the mana.

And as long as we're at it, Doubling Season.

Of course, we could have just started off with Rite of Replication. But the Clone/Bounce method is much less practical, therefore cooler, therefore more suited to EDH. =)


Damn I wish Venser, the Sojourner fit in Riku's colors! Guess I'll have to make due with Vedalken Mastermind (duplicated, of course) and Riptide Laboratory and Erratic Portal and Crystal Shard.

How about Cloudstone Curio with evoke creatures?
Evoke your Faultgrinder, copy him with riku then the copy bounces the original back to your hand per the Curio. You get 2 cip triggers, one token body, and the original evoker lands safely back in yoour hand ready to go again. Wicked!

I can't believe no one's mentioned double Storm Crow.

Mmm, delicious removal bait. "Removing him? Alright, I cast Wild Ricochet and duplicate it."

True Story: Opponent is at 12 life
Cast Lightning bolt at opponent , Double it with Riku
Cast Reverberate on Lightning bolt at opponent, Double Reverberate with Riku, retarget Lightning bolt with Reverberate
Laugh so hard it still hurts

This + lightning greaves.

"Whenever a non-token creature enters the battlefield". Who else thinks that makes him even better/worse for all the fancy new ways to pull that off in Avacyn Restored?

Dear Riku-
Let's be friends.
-Cetavolver

Maelstrom Wanderer and Riku are gonna get along just fine together.

try using this with Reality Strobe orArc Blade! it gets out of hand pretty quickly.

Great with Peregrine Drake

So, is he two 1/1s?

Cast Snapcaster Mage. copy him. flashback 2 spells. copy them. 6 cards out of one... not bad.

I wish his P/T is 3/4 like teferi or arcanis.beefier so it will not be wiped out by small damage to all creatures. but i still love this card

Linvala, Keeper of Silence stop him from copying?

I don't think Linvala does anything. Riku's ability doesn't seem to be an activated ability of his. It's more like he passively grants you the ability to replicate spells. Can anyone confirm?

Linvala does nothing to stop Riku since his abilites are triggered and not activated.
The rules tells us how to identify the difference between the two:

602.1. Activated abilities have a cost and an effect. They are written as "(Cost): (Effect). (Activation instructions (if any))."

603.1. Triggered abilities have a trigger condition and an effect. They are written as "(Trigger condition), (effect)," and begin with the word "when," "whenever," or "at." They can also be expressed as "(When/Whenever/At) (trigger event), (effect)."

Gotta throw Tooth and Nail out there. Also basically any clone effect, and my personal favorite card to go with him: Druid's Deliverance

Copy Wolfir Silverheart for two 12/12s

I was looking through the comments for some stuff I remember reading about here, but couldn't find them so here goes. Eye of the storm.

Also if you can pull it off I have made a crazy Ally EDH deck based off of this guy. You can just look up any effects that look awesome in the forums for Rite of Replication and use them with Riku.

This guy in conjunction with the Echo Mage and Snap Caster Mage will ruin everyone's day.


Easily a 5/5 card

What a copycat.

He works nicely with Jhoira of the Ghitu, since all your mana will be open when you copy the cards that come out of suspend. The same is true for Cast through Time.

anyone else think this card looks like David Tennant?
also i gotta get an EDH deck now just because of that