MTG Salvation

Hey guy's I am new and am glad I found an awesome place where I can talk with people about MTG especially EDH since it is my preference. I was wondering if anyone could give me some feed back on my Riku deck. I have put a lot of work into it and want to make is better. I want to make it fast as well. Any feedback would be appreciated.
https://www.mtgsalvation.com/decks/9773-riku-of-two-reflections

A warm welcome to the cEDH forums, comrade, and welcome to MTGSalvation generally!

The first thing I'd recommend for you to do is to check out the stickied READ THIS thread at the top of the cEDH forums. That generally describes the cEDH mindset and governs the suggestions and commentary that you will experience here. Check it out here.

Ok, now that you've read the cEDH philosophy thread, I now need to ask if you're operating under a budget. I'm going to assume that you are, based on some of the card choices that you have present in your decklist. This isn't a bad thing per se, it's just important to know so that any other commentators understand what you're actually able to accomplish. If your playgroup supports proxies, then we as a community can make suggestions based strictly on power level and what works best for your deck instead of finding subpar recommendations. We all want to help your deck get better so that you start winning more!

First suggestion: streamline your ramp package. As it stands, I see only 6 pieces of hard ramp in your deck under 3 CMC with 32 lands. Quite simply, this will lead to consistent mana screw, which is probably the WORST part of MTG as a game (while also being The Great Equalizer between players). So, I'd highly recommend focusing down on which mana sources you want to include in your deck. My first suggestion is to look at the mana dorks that are ubiquitous in cEDH decks. Llanowar Elves, Elvish Mystic, Birds of Paradise, Wood Elves, Priest of Titania, Fyndhorn Elves, Coiling Oracle, Rattleclaw Mystic, and Bloom Tender are some good first suggestions because they generate mana consistently while synergizing with what your Commander does. Farseek and Nature's Lore are good options as well. Also note that every single one of these mana sources costs under 3 CMC. This will allow you to focus on ramp early and accumulate mana much faster so that you can execute your game plan faster.

My next suggestions is to find some sort of combo that you like and look to streamline that combo in your decklist. Meaning that you have a primary combo that you consistently find in order to win the game on the spot. In Temur colors, I think that the best combo from a CMC perspective is Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and Pestermite/Deceiver Exarch. Or you could do a Storm route and use cards like Bonus Round, Thousand-Year Storm, and Aetherflux Reservoir to kill the table that way. Whatever direction you choose, I highly recommend that you lean into that specific combo and/or backup combo so that you have a direction for your deck. Going straight Stompy and trying to kill your opponents fairly is simply a weakness that you can't allow in your decklist.

Lastly, once you've determined which direction you want to go for your combo, all of your supporting tutor, card draw, and removal effects should synergize with your Commander while also directly contributing towards your primary combo method. For example, if I were to choose a creature based combo, then my tutors would include cards like Green Sun's Zenith, Worldly Tutor, Chord of Calling, Survival of the Fittest, and other similar creature tutoring effects. If I wanted to do a spell-based combo route, then I would focus on cards like Mystical Tutor, Intuition, Personal Tutor, etc.

An example semi-budget decklist off the top of my head would look something like this:



Because I'm a sucker for combining two different combo elements into one decklist, I think this amalgamation of cards could work for you as a base template to work from. There are certainly some expensive cards present, but I'm confident that you can work towards something like this.

The two primary combo lines are the Pester Kiki combo (to create infinite copies of Pestermite and turn them all sideways) and to generate an obscene Storm count with Thousand-Year Storm and/or Bonus Round. Turnabout is a key card for the deck since it can untap multiple permanent types when copied. Eventually, you'll want to find either Regrowth or Recollect to start looping cards in and out of your graveyard and building the Storm count. You can then either deck your opponents with Stroke of Genius, burn them out AND/OR deck them out via the Explosion side of Expansion // Explosion, kill them with a bajillion copies of Lightning Bolt, ping them all to death via Niv-Mizzet, Parun, Death Star them all via Aetherflux Reservoir, destroy all of their permanents via Beast Within, or deck them via Reality Shift. You can also generate infinite mana via Peregrine Drake, Temur Sabertooth, and Mana Reflection so that you can draw your deck via one of the draw X spells.

My Budget depends on how effect it will be in my deck as I am the type that wants each card to have relevance so I can get use out of it in Multiple ways. But yeah if its worth getting them I'll drop the cash to get it.

Very good. I encourage you to keep experimenting and finding what works best for you and your playgroup!

Lets just say that I mostly play 1v1 against my friend and he either turn 4-5 ulamogs or some eldrazi or preator if he can. with Jodah as his commander. If this gives you any indication on why my deck is the way it is. and he still beats me 7 to 3 every time.

Got it. I would definitely recommend including more of the early ramp stuff so that you can start interacting with your friend earlier. I would also then recommend looking at some early removal. I imagine that his Jodah deck revolves fairly heavily around Jodah's discounting ability and mana rocks in order to fix his mana, is that right? If so, adding in more removal will be a decent way to attack his core strategy. You could add in Caustic Caterpillar or Krosan Grip to deal with his artifact mana and Fist of Suns. Adding in Pongify, Rapid Hybridization, Lightning Bolt, and Gilded Drake (if you can afford it) and other such cards will go a long way to making Jodah a liability for your friend and maximizing your chances of winning.

The amount of time and effort you put into this post to help a new guy out is awesome, nice work!

Thanks. I'm sincerely trying to single-handedly grow the cEDH community here on MTGSal, and I want people to realize that no matter their playskill or experience they are welcome here. While the cEDH philosophy is arguably contrary to spirit of Commander, it is still a welcoming and supportive community and I guarantee that everyone can learn something from these forums.

What would be the progression for updating this deck?

Personally I love the win turn 4 - 5 Riku decks

But if you mostly play 1-1 I suggest making a mono red deck with the same combos
kikijiki and dual caster mage it's much more a aggressive and if your playing
1-1 it's a win turn 3 on average typicaly