Riku of Two Reflections (Seven Dwarves) (<$1 Budget) (EDH / Commander)

Last Updated 11/15/2023 (COI).

NOTE: Deck was originally created for a Discord Deckbuilding competition in 2021, with a $50 total budget stipulation (deck fit within the rules at the time of build). With new sets (New Capenna, Brother's War, etc.), and a greater interest in playing this deck more regularly, I have converted the deck to a more general "budget" deck by CQ standards, no one individual card being worth more than $1.00.

“Heigh-Ho, Heigh-Ho,
I’m off to crush my foe!
But not just me, with mirror me!
Heigh-Ho,
Our strength will e’er grow!”

Primer
Intro:
The introduction of Throne of Eldraine allowed us to build our own fairytales, and this deck is an exploration of what if the Seven Dwarves took control of the Magic Mirror and to conquer the plane. The deck was built with budget in mind, and is a Tier 5-6. I feel that the deck can compete across the spectrum, but the card choices could be changed down the road for more efficiency.

Deck Goals:
The end goal of this deck is to dominate the red zone with an ever-growing army of Seven Dwarves. You’ll win by either grinding through your opponents’ defenses by generating copies of your Dwarves turn after turn, or blasting through to one-shot the table via a combo explosion of tokens.

What Makes the Deck Fun:
• Playing a deck built around Seven Dwarves rewards you for using some spells that you don’t often see in Commander (Bifurcate, Doubling Chant, Pack Hunt, Pattern Matcher).
• You will enjoy this deck if you like making a ton of tokens and making big swings with an army of them.
• This deck is focused on getting and staying ahead of your opponents in resources. You will have fun with this deck if you enjoy ramping and setting up in the early turns and using that to springboard into an aggressive style, pressuring your opponents.

What Makes the Deck Not Fun:
• This deck has a fairly specific roadmap (develop mana -> build army -> pressure through), so drawing a bunch of the wrong cards at the wrong time can disrupt the gameplan and impact your ability to close out a game, as your windows of advantage can be short.
• Because the deck is focused on building up an army, getting “wrathed” can be devastating, especially when followed up on.

Piloting the Deck:
We can think of this deck having three main stages, or acts. Most of your early turns will be focused on developing and accelerating your mana because copying spells and creatures with Riku is so mana intensive. Once you have your mana under you, the next step is to set up for the end game, by setting up your attacking force and removing obstacles. The final part is all about expanding or enhancing your Dwarf army to attack and bring down the curtain. Riku really shines as the commander for this deck, as his abilities are useful in all stages of the game.
• Act One: Developing your mana base and digging through your deck is essential here, and should be prioritized over anything else. You can expect to take a few lumps from early aggressive decks, but you should be able to stabilize once you start developing your army. Getting Riku online early during this stage can be really helpful to get more lands and more card draw out of your early game spells, but is just a waste of a turn if he is killed immediately. Consider how much removal you expect out of your opponents before just slamming the table with Riku when you have five mana available.
• Act Two: Once you have your lands underneath you, you will need to start building up your army. This is the most complex part of the game for you, since there is so much to consider. You need to get your Seven Dwarves onto the battlefield so you are ready to push for the win, but you will also need to be aware of how your opponents are developing their own game plan and how they intend to interact with you. It is important during this stage to continue to sculpt your hand. You should be using this time to plan out how exactly you intend to finish the game.
• Act Three: The finale! This part of the game will likely go the fastest, which is why it is important to pick your spot. Because of the nature of how Seven Dwarves scales, your window of advantage may be small as your ways to buff the team (Overwhelming Stampede, Kindred Charge) are short-lived, and other decks may eventually overpower you. This is the best point in the game to make use of Riku, as his ability to act as a force multiplier peaks with these cards you use to end the game.

Notes on Card Choices:
• Bifurcate/Doubling Chant/Pack Hunt/Pattern Matcher – One of the fun aspects of this deck that drew me to building it in the first place, as they are cards you don’t normally see played in Commander. Because of how they tutor up additional copies of Seven Dwarves, I could these as card draw, which is why I have fewer slots in that space further down the decklist.
• Harrow/Unexpected Windfall/Channeled Force – Some of these cards were selected for how well they work when doubled with Riku.
• To help combat the issue of drawing cards specific to a stage in the game at the wrong time, several of the cards were selected for how they can be used for multiple purposes:
o Zndrsplt’s Judgment (clone and removal)
o Vastwood Surge (ramp and buff wincon)
o Road // Ruin (ramp and removal)
o Return of the Wildspeaker (card draw and buff wincon)
o Echoing Truth (removal and can be used as a way to save your own army in the event of a wrath)
o Surge to Victory (pseudo instant/sorcery recursion and buff wincon)

Conclusion:
Overall, Riku combines with the Seven Dwarves to make a deck that is really fun to play and is likely to spark some fun table conversation