Not sure how Mana Geyser is worthless, especially with Reiterate in the deck as the two make for infinite red mana. Even if OP doesn't combo they could still get a good deal of mana in a 3 or 4 player game with it. Creepy Doll makes for a better blocker than Darksteel Sentinel, but sentinel can actually attack without help and can be flashed in so they both have merit though I wouldn't run either. Plagiarize and Psychic Possession have limited/narrow uses really. Coalhauler Swine and Repercussion both have massive potential for backfiring, I would consider them to be more a liability than assets. I'd go with Shattering Spree over Smash myself.
I like the idea of the LD lands for the exact reason Knautschke mentions, everyone needs to be kept honest and that's what those lands do. I don't necessarily agree with Patron of the Moon, but I do agree that you need something to do at instant speed when you're running so much hand cycling and the Patron does get there, I'm more a fan of Seismic Assault or Land's Edge myself.
It would help if you broke the deck up with tags for either card type or use so it's easier to see whats going on. Every time I think of something to suggest I have to use the find function to see if you have it already lol, I will say that so far most suggestions I've come up with you've already got so you're off to a good start.
I'd suggest something like All is Dust or Evacuation for added wraths in the deck. Every deck needs tutors and Red/Blue has some good ones such as Gamble, Mystical Tutor, and Merchant Scroll. If budget is a problem then you might want to check out the Transmute cards.
Just a quick note on the land base... I don't know how much use you'll get out of Miren, the Moaning Well in a deck like this. Cards like Vivid Creek, Vivid Crag, and Reflecting Pool are going to slow you down in a two color deck, these are cheap fixes for a 5 color deck and really aren't needed here.
I need to get my hands on the suggested cards, the Riku deck is bound to do 1 or 3 things; turn into the creature version of my Nin deck, replace Nin in the before mentioned deck, or die out lol. Play testing will be the only way to figure that out I suppose.
Alright, I've been gone for a while now and decided what better way to get back into the forums than to bring a new deck to the table? This is my take on Riku of Two Reflections, the deck is built but I haven't played it at all meaning it's more a concept at this moment.
I've never seen a Riku deck in action but I'm looking forward to trying this out with my old group tomorrow. I know the land base needs work so I don't need that pointed out lol...
The deck is something of a mix between good stuff and a sort of Riku take on my Nin, the Pain Artist deck where the goal here is to copy as much as I can while trying to take advantage of crazy cards like Birthing Pod, Wild Pair, and Doubling Season. Those who remember me know I'm not much of an agro player, so the deck will play more control/midrange than anything.
Looking for input from those with more experience piloting a deck like this than I have, any card suggestions are welcome...I can use things to pull just as much as things to add.
I've thought about Green Sun's Zenith and Chord of Calling but I'm not sure what to pull, and normally find myself looking for Concordant Crossroads more than anything, Chord would be insane with the token subtheme but with the ramp going on the convoke would all but be wasted normally.
As for Recycle, you are very correct, it's play a card not cast a spell. Recycle is extreme gas for this machine as it's play a land draw a card, cast a spell draw a card, and with a metric ton of mana and the ability to play 3+ lands a turn I've literally (between Genesis Wave, Recycle, and Horn of Greed) gone through over 40 cards in one turn.
Kumano, Master Yamabushi is a dead draw, every time (except the one time he got Bloodchief Ascension online lol), I'm actually doing nothing with him and Death Pits of Rath. The two were never even thought about in the same deck build session, I think he went in when I was originally building the deck as a mistaken Homura, Human Ascendant, strange I know but No Mercy was also in as a mistaken Death Pits of Rath so whatever lol.
Squee does make a good Skull Clamp target, he's 4 a turn for clamp, and 5 a turn for 2 damage with Lizzy...I'm leaning more towards Bloodghast, and like the interaction between that and Solemn Simulacrum when mixed with Ashnods Altar and Nim Deathmantle, 4 card combo for the win I know but they're all good by themselves so I'll go for it.
You activate starke first, and while his ability is on the stack you sac him, whatever you sacced him for will resolve first, then his ability will resolve and destroy whatever and he won't be there to change controlers.
As for thought lash you can actually look at the judges ruleing on crainial insertion and see how that works, as the zedruu combo for exileing an opponents library does work unless they recently changed the rules.
The normal plan for me and shutting someone out happens when I can kill 2 of my 3 opponents and just need the last guy to be shut down completely for a turn, Celestial Dawn is great for this since it fixes mana until I need to give it away. As for the legendary star dragons being rattle snakes I find them to be great when paired with a kicked Rite of Replication for 30 damage to all non fliers, stealing 6 creatures, or tapping down up to 30 targets and making people skip up to 6 untap steps...but that's me.
Get your deck fixed up and play it some/get us updated, would love to hear how everything works out for you.
Phyrexian Arena is a solid card, but your game plan makes it look really slow given your other options so it might be worth cutting. I have a friend that runs a red/black deck and has a line up similar to yours who runs Spiteful Visions in its place, it costs one more life a turn but has you set up for punishing everyone early on while netting the same number of cards.
Barbed Shocker was ment to be called into question earlier but I forgot lol, 4 CMC 2/2 with a decent ability but it dies to almost every removal source ever printed. It would be ok if you could land it on turn 2.
Liliana Vess is largly outclassed by just about every other tutor and discard source you're running, in my experience you get to use her once on average, twice if you're lucky. Something like Diabolic Tutor is better at times as it costs less, gets what you need when you need it, though it can't get attacked for you.
Chains of Mephistopheles usually works best when you're not drawing, or you're making your opponents draw while you take it easy. Brutal card for power and wallet lol, but it really doesn't fit here.
When I get to a computer I might expand on this, but in short I think you have some good candidates for axeing. Tagging all this sucks from my phone lol.
A few cards to go along with Mother of Runes for the protection factor/deterant are Devoted Caretaker and Eight-and-a-Half-Tails, I like them both for their ability to protect more than just creatures.
Despotic Scepter and Tel-Jilad Stylus are both great for that I can take it away just as easily as I gave it feel, and give answers for when someone messes with your plans of evil donation by zapping Zedruu. Crystal Ball is the budget Sensei's Divining top, and works better than the real deal in this deck anyway. Mistmeadow Witch and Crystal Shard offer ways to reuse any CiP abilites, take care of threats from opponents, and also work to protect you own things in a pinch.
I run a political build that focuses more on politics, choosing cards that are less threatening over some of the powerhouses you have in your deck. Cards like those listed below are bound to get you killed unless you're playing them when you're ready to strike for the kill.
[CARD]Stormtide Leviathan
Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
Iona, Shield of Emeria
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
Tidespout Tyrant
Memnarch
Artisan of Kozilek
Torpor Orb
Mindslaver[/CARD]
Some cards that might work the political side of things more, and are bound to get you some friends at the table are
You can't please everyone all the time though, so I run a mixture of rattlesnake effects to get people to back off, and when that doesn't work you have to shut them down or kill them.
As for killing people, I'm looking at your deck and am assuming you know how to do that lol (not saying you don't know how to do anything I've mentioned). Some of these cards you already have in the deck, but I figured why not mention them just in case. A fantastic place to look for some ideas are fivecolorjunk's Zedruu Primer, and I have my Zedruu build in my sig.
Good luck out there, and I hope Zedruu continues working for you, She's a challenging and very interesting general to play with.
For the record this deck is borderline unfair, it has it's weaknesses of course but still. In the time I've played it I've almost had one local shop ban Storm Cauldron, found that most 3 player games are no contest, and most 4 player games are about the same. I've done things like attack with 13 10/10's before most people were hitting the middle of their curve, and completely gone off one turn Genesis Waveing/Recycling/Horn of Greeding through close to half the deck. The thing might take the cake as my most dangerous deck.
As always I'm looking for suggestions for taking this thing to the next level. One of it's weaknesses is Mass discard/Wrath effects, the latter of the two I can usually deal with via not overextending myself which isn't always easy since that can be fun at times. Suggestions on wrath prevention/recovery would be great, not much I can really do against discard strategies which aren't too common anyway.
Always looking for ways to abuse the insane ramp this deck has to offer, and ways to protect Asuza, Lost but Seeking for the first cast of the game since the longer she sticks around the worse off everyone else is.
I'll give both Deathrender and Solemn Simulacrum a shot next time I sit down and play, still need to get my hands on Bloodghast of course, I'll let you know what I wind up pulling and how it all pans out for me.
My use for the Vortex usually involves multiple copies followed by explaining why your dead lol, if an opponent draws 10 and you cast Vortex copied twice they're drawing 2 taking 12, then drawing 2 taking 14, and drawing 2 taking 16... though I'm famous for casting it after they drew their normal draw and copying it 5+ times (3 damage +5+7+9+11+12 gets the job done all day), but my deck does run different from yours of course. What about something simple like Underworld Dreams to drive the point home. All things considered going off turn 7 isn't too shabby.
A few cards that I question the usefulness of are: Reconstruction - It gets an artifact back but it only feels slightly better than Raise Dead in a creature deck.
Death Match - You look like you're running creature light, and of your 10 creatures 7 of them can die to this.
Chains of Mephistopheles - Feels like it could potentially harm you more than your opponents, however I do see how it works out with cards like Megrim and Abyssal Nocturnus, just not much else though those may be enough for you. Also I envy the hell out of you for owning this thing lol.
Abyssal Nocturnus - just for the fact that you'd need opponents to discard big on your turn to make him relevant, but with what you can possibly do he could be worth it to you.
Everything that I keep thinking to suggest is already in the deck lol, the list looks good really, maybe Mycosynth Golem as he's insane in this deck. One thing to keep in mind is that you're going to have a hard time with any mass artifact removal, or recurrable removal, if you feel that's comming up you shouldn't be afraid of locking that person up with LD or mana denial as it looks like you're very capable of doing. Also Junk Diver and Myr Retriever could be a huge help here. Jhoira's Toolbox with Karn and a large supply of mana could save the day.
I like the idea of the LD lands for the exact reason Knautschke mentions, everyone needs to be kept honest and that's what those lands do. I don't necessarily agree with Patron of the Moon, but I do agree that you need something to do at instant speed when you're running so much hand cycling and the Patron does get there, I'm more a fan of Seismic Assault or Land's Edge myself.
It would help if you broke the deck up with tags for either card type or use so it's easier to see whats going on. Every time I think of something to suggest I have to use the find function to see if you have it already lol, I will say that so far most suggestions I've come up with you've already got so you're off to a good start.
I'd suggest something like All is Dust or Evacuation for added wraths in the deck. Every deck needs tutors and Red/Blue has some good ones such as Gamble, Mystical Tutor, and Merchant Scroll. If budget is a problem then you might want to check out the Transmute cards.
A few higher priced suggestions for the deck would be Time Spiral, Maze of Ith, Wheel of Fortune, Cryptic Command, and Sensei's Divining Top...all solid additions.
It might also be worth checking out the Nin, the Pain Artist deck in my sig.
Just a quick note on the land base... I don't know how much use you'll get out of Miren, the Moaning Well in a deck like this. Cards like Vivid Creek, Vivid Crag, and Reflecting Pool are going to slow you down in a two color deck, these are cheap fixes for a 5 color deck and really aren't needed here.
1 Riku of Two Reflections
Creatures 27
1 Acidic Slime
1 Æthersnipe
1 Anger
1 Avenger of Zendikar
1 Clone
1 Coiling Oracle
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Eternal Witness
1 Flametongue Kavu
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Goblin Welder
1 Hornet Queen
1 Inferno Titan
1 Ingot Chewer
1 Izzet Chronarch
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1 Krosan Tusker
1 Mulldrifter
1 Mystic Snake
1 Oracle of Mul Daya
1 Seedborn Muse
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1 Terastodon
1 Tradewind Rider
1 Trygon Predator
1 Voidmage Husher
1 Yavimaya Elder
1 Duplicant
1 Steel Hellkite
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Wurmcoil Engine
Instants 13
1 Capsize
1 Chord of Calling
1 Cryptic Command
1 Evacuation
1 Fact of Fiction
1 Krosan Grip
1 Momentous Fall
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Spell Crumple
1 Time Stop
1 Voidslime
1 Wild Ricochet
1 Worldly Tutor
Sorceries 5
1 Cultivate
1 Hull Breach
1 Insurrection
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Rite of Replication
Enchantments 3
1 Doubling Season
1 Sylvan Library
1 Wild Pair
Artifacts 6
1 Akroma's Memorial
1 Birthing Pod
1 Nevinyrral's Disk
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Vedalken Orrery
1 Nim Deathmantle
1 Skullclamp
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
Lands 37
1 Breeding Pool
1 Command Tower
1 Evolving Wilds
8 Forest
1 Hammerheim
7 Island
1 Misty Rainforest
5 Mountain
1 Mountain Valley
1 Novijen, Heart of Progress
1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
1 Rupture Spire
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Tower of the Magistrate
1 Vesuva
1 Vivid Crag
1 Vivid Creek
1 Vivid Grove
1 Winding Canyons
1 Yavimaya Hollow
I've never seen a Riku deck in action but I'm looking forward to trying this out with my old group tomorrow. I know the land base needs work so I don't need that pointed out lol...
The deck is something of a mix between good stuff and a sort of Riku take on my Nin, the Pain Artist deck where the goal here is to copy as much as I can while trying to take advantage of crazy cards like Birthing Pod, Wild Pair, and Doubling Season. Those who remember me know I'm not much of an agro player, so the deck will play more control/midrange than anything.
Looking for input from those with more experience piloting a deck like this than I have, any card suggestions are welcome...I can use things to pull just as much as things to add.
@davidboan: your link to the primer redirects to this very thread.
As for Recycle, you are very correct, it's play a card not cast a spell. Recycle is extreme gas for this machine as it's play a land draw a card, cast a spell draw a card, and with a metric ton of mana and the ability to play 3+ lands a turn I've literally (between Genesis Wave, Recycle, and Horn of Greed) gone through over 40 cards in one turn.
Caged Sun was thought about, along with Gauntlet of Power, Extra Planar Lens, and Mana Reflection. What it came down to is I rarely find myself running short on mana with plays involving Rude Awakening, Gaea's Cradle, and Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary...that all said Rude Awakening, Gaea's Cradle, and Storm Cauldron make for some insanity.
The mix of Forests and Snow-Covered Forests is due to a lack of the latter, hope to fix that up soon.
Thinking about the creature tutors mentioned, what would you suggest pulling to test those out?
Squee does make a good Skull Clamp target, he's 4 a turn for clamp, and 5 a turn for 2 damage with Lizzy...I'm leaning more towards Bloodghast, and like the interaction between that and Solemn Simulacrum when mixed with Ashnods Altar and Nim Deathmantle, 4 card combo for the win I know but they're all good by themselves so I'll go for it.
As for thought lash you can actually look at the judges ruleing on crainial insertion and see how that works, as the zedruu combo for exileing an opponents library does work unless they recently changed the rules.
Get your deck fixed up and play it some/get us updated, would love to hear how everything works out for you.
Barbed Shocker was ment to be called into question earlier but I forgot lol, 4 CMC 2/2 with a decent ability but it dies to almost every removal source ever printed. It would be ok if you could land it on turn 2.
Liliana Vess is largly outclassed by just about every other tutor and discard source you're running, in my experience you get to use her once on average, twice if you're lucky. Something like Diabolic Tutor is better at times as it costs less, gets what you need when you need it, though it can't get attacked for you.
Chains of Mephistopheles usually works best when you're not drawing, or you're making your opponents draw while you take it easy. Brutal card for power and wallet lol, but it really doesn't fit here.
When I get to a computer I might expand on this, but in short I think you have some good candidates for axeing. Tagging all this sucks from my phone lol.
Despotic Scepter and Tel-Jilad Stylus are both great for that I can take it away just as easily as I gave it feel, and give answers for when someone messes with your plans of evil donation by zapping Zedruu. Crystal Ball is the budget Sensei's Divining top, and works better than the real deal in this deck anyway. Mistmeadow Witch and Crystal Shard offer ways to reuse any CiP abilites, take care of threats from opponents, and also work to protect you own things in a pinch.
I run a political build that focuses more on politics, choosing cards that are less threatening over some of the powerhouses you have in your deck. Cards like those listed below are bound to get you killed unless you're playing them when you're ready to strike for the kill.
[CARD]Stormtide Leviathan
Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
Iona, Shield of Emeria
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
Tidespout Tyrant
Memnarch
Artisan of Kozilek
Torpor Orb
Mindslaver[/CARD]
Some cards that might work the political side of things more, and are bound to get you some friends at the table are
You can't please everyone all the time though, so I run a mixture of rattlesnake effects to get people to back off, and when that doesn't work you have to shut them down or kill them.
Rattlesnake effects:
Why try effects:
Shut Out Effects:
As for killing people, I'm looking at your deck and am assuming you know how to do that lol (not saying you don't know how to do anything I've mentioned). Some of these cards you already have in the deck, but I figured why not mention them just in case. A fantastic place to look for some ideas are fivecolorjunk's Zedruu Primer, and I have my Zedruu build in my sig.
Good luck out there, and I hope Zedruu continues working for you, She's a challenging and very interesting general to play with.
As always I'm looking for suggestions for taking this thing to the next level. One of it's weaknesses is Mass discard/Wrath effects, the latter of the two I can usually deal with via not overextending myself which isn't always easy since that can be fun at times. Suggestions on wrath prevention/recovery would be great, not much I can really do against discard strategies which aren't too common anyway.
Always looking for ways to abuse the insane ramp this deck has to offer, and ways to protect Asuza, Lost but Seeking for the first cast of the game since the longer she sticks around the worse off everyone else is.
Edit: Kederekt Parasite, Spiteful Visions, and Phyrexian Tyranny also get these jobs done. Just trying to think up suggestions. Was on my phone originally and just got to see you had Underworld Dreams in the deck already.
A few cards that I question the usefulness of are:
Reconstruction - It gets an artifact back but it only feels slightly better than Raise Dead in a creature deck.
Death Match - You look like you're running creature light, and of your 10 creatures 7 of them can die to this.
Chains of Mephistopheles - Feels like it could potentially harm you more than your opponents, however I do see how it works out with cards like Megrim and Abyssal Nocturnus, just not much else though those may be enough for you. Also I envy the hell out of you for owning this thing lol.
Abyssal Nocturnus - just for the fact that you'd need opponents to discard big on your turn to make him relevant, but with what you can possibly do he could be worth it to you.