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River Song

River Song

Legendary Creature — Human Time Lord Rogue · {1}{U}{R} · Red/Blue commander

Meet in Reverse — You draw cards from the bottom of your library rather than the top. Spoilers — Whenever an opponent scries, surveils, or searches their library, put a +1/+1 counter on River Song. Then River Song deals damage to that player equal to its power.
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What River Song actually does

Read off the card by the same engine the Forge and Analyzer use — this is the mechanical classification, not a summary.

What a River Song deck needs

Plays as punisher. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.

The River Song deck plan

The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.

Best cards for River Song

Ranked by an engine that reads what each card does — its real cost, its delay and how reliably it works — rather than counting how often other people play it.

Put +1/+1 counters on creatures you control, or multiply the ones already there

  1. Thrummingbird2 mana
  2. Vexing Radgull2 mana
  3. Cacophony Scamp1 mana
  4. Kid Loki1 mana
  5. Dreamtide Whale3 mana
  6. Flux Channeler3 mana
  7. Glistening Sphere3 mana
  8. Walking Ballista0 mana

Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it

  1. Reality Shift2 mana
  2. Wild Magic Surge2 mana
  3. Pongify1 mana
  4. Rapid Hybridization1 mana
  5. Resculpt2 mana
  6. Crush1 mana
  7. Umezawa's Jitte2 mana
  8. Jilt2 mana

Find the exact card the plan needs

  1. Reshape2 mana
  2. Mask of the Mimic1 mana
  3. Long-Term Plans3 mana
  4. Whir of Invention3 mana
  5. Merchant Scroll2 mana
  6. Mystical Tutor1 mana
  7. Muddle the Mixture2 mana
  8. Personal Tutor1 mana

Answer a spell or ability before it resolves

  1. Mindbreak Trap4 mana
  2. Fierce Guardianship3 mana
  3. Force of Negation3 mana
  4. Force of Will5 mana
  5. Flare of Denial3 mana
  6. Pact of Negation0 mana
  7. An Offer You Can't Refuse1 mana
  8. Arcane Denial2 mana

Answer a whole board at once

  1. Blasphemous Act9 mana
  2. Chain Reaction4 mana
  3. Street Spasm1 mana
  4. Desynchronization4 mana
  5. Wave Goodbye4 mana
  6. Whelming Wave4 mana
  7. Consuming Tide4 mana
  8. Selective Obliteration5 mana

Refill your hand

  1. Mystic Remora1 mana
  2. Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer1 mana
  3. Skullclamp1 mana
  4. Curiosity1 mana
  5. Wizard Class1 mana
  6. Professional Face-Breaker3 mana
  7. Rhystic Study3 mana
  8. Faerie Mastermind2 mana

Keep a permanent you control alive through removal

  1. Hexing Squelcher2 mana
  2. Lost in the Maze2 mana
  3. Lightning Greaves2 mana
  4. Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
  5. Eldrazi Monument5 mana
  6. Commander's Plate1 mana
  7. Mithril Coat3 mana
  8. Akroma's Memorial7 mana

Get ahead on mana

  1. Sol Ring1 mana
  2. Izzet Signet2 mana
  3. Palladium Myr3 mana
  4. Worn Powerstone3 mana
  5. Chrome Mox0 mana
  6. Everflowing Chalice0 mana
  7. Mox Diamond0 mana
  8. Mana Vault1 mana

Punishes the opponents' own actions — casting, drawing, searching, attacking cost them

  1. Mystic Remora1 mana
  2. Curiosity1 mana
  3. Curse of Opulence1 mana
  4. Rhystic Study3 mana
  5. Faerie Mastermind2 mana
  6. Ledger Shredder2 mana
  7. Mindcrank2 mana
  8. Vexing Bauble1 mana

Combos with River Song

Known combos from Commander Spellbook that River Song is a piece of, and how many decks list them.

Build this deck in the Arcane Forge →

Arcane Foundry is free to join and every tool is included: the Arcane Forge deck builder, the ARCANE Analyzer that scores a deck by simulating games rather than counting staples, a card scanner, a collection vault, and live webcam Commander tables. Read the guide · Browse all commanders · Pricing