So I Built a New Deck (April ‘24)

In my last article I wrote about my contribution to the All Star Sports X-mas Deck Exchange, in which I constructed Gishath, Sun’s Avatar. I broke down the concept of the deck and what it was designed to do in an add–on to the deck box so that the player receiving it would know the best way to pilot. From the sound of it, they had a blast and had intentions to keep it together.

As in all of my articles, I will be writing about decks that I have recently constructed. In order to break the decks down and discuss what I am using, you should know about the play groups I am involved in and their respective levels of play. The groups I am in range from a very mild casual level of non-tuned but themed (let’s say a Power Level of a 5) to very tuned decks that do not win before turn six (usually) (let’s call those Power Level 8 decks). Generally our groups call Power Level 9 and 10 decks, cEDH. Based on these descriptors, you will generally find that my decks are created at about a Power Level of 7-7.5. An additional note about the link to my decks. After I have “retired” a deck, when following the tapped out link, you will need to change the word “active” to “retired” in the link itself for it to find the deck.

Now for what you all came here for.

Deck Link:

https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/active-riku-hornets-kill/?cb=1713401428

This article’s featured deck and its theme/gimmick:

Riku of Two Reflections a.k.a. Riku, Hornet’s Kill

Folks, I am doing something “normal me”, so something absurd. I am going to try to kill the table with Hornet Sting due to the new card Crackling Spellslinger. I have decided to throw this in a traditional Riku Clone Shell so that I can adapt to the situations that may come up of people knowing I am doing this and trying to prevent it.

The 99.

Creatures - 36

Notables:

Crackling Spellslinger - This is the main point of the deck. I want to have this enter the battlefield after being cast as many times in a turn as possible to get as many of its triggers existing. If I cast this one 5 times the next instant or sorcery cast will have 5 instances of Storm with a storm count of 5 for each.

Temur Sabertooth - One of the best ways to get the Spellslinger back into my hand.

Harmonic Prodigy - Will copy the Spellslingers trigger.

Thassa, Deep Dwelling - Can use this to reset my clones into other things.

Non-Creature Non-Lands - 30

Notables:

Hornet Sting - Ultimately, this is the kill condition after enough Spellslinger triggers.

Panharmonicon - Like the Prodigy above, another way to get extra triggers without extra spell casts.

Storm King’s Thunder - This just seems like a silly (and obvious) addition for what I am trying to accomplish.

Lands - 33

Notables:

Alchemist’s Refuge - Who doesn’t like flash? I know I do.

Packages & Interactions

Clones - Very obvious. Many of your things and mine. Also can be another way to get extra Spellslinger triggers.

The Final Cuts.

There are not really many cuts in a build like this. You just jam a bunch of clones in the deck and leave some space for the silly thing you may want to accomplish, which in my case means cutting some extra clones and clone type spells.

24

Final Thoughts

I intend to keep Riku together for a long while as part of my 32 Deck challenge. However, the build on it will likely change from time to time. I hope to get to use this win con this upcoming weekend when my friends and I get together to sling some spells. If you have your own silly Riku builds or other commanders that are not doing the “normal” thing, feel free to hop on over to our team discord and share them with me in the EDH-Discussion channel.

See you all next time!