It’s a testament to how fast Magic is moving that its Doctor Who crossover set feels like a distant memory these days. While it was well-received, it didn’t generate the same lasting hype as more recent Universes Beyond offerings. This is a crying shame, as the set is full of interesting, powerful Commander cards. River Song, for example, is a potent MTG legend that flips the game’s conventions on their heads, unlocking a bevy of infinite combos in the process.
River Song MTG
On its own, River Song’s first dramatic and incredibly flavorful ability doesn’t do much. When paired with other typically weak cards that utilize the bottom of the library, however, this MTG card comes alive.
Soldevi Digger or Transplant Theorist, for example, can put cards in your graveyard on the bottom of your library, letting you recycle removal and value pieces. Similarly, cards like Augur of Bolas become fantastic ways to set up future draws, turning what’s usually a downside into a major upside. As if that wasn’t enough, River Song punishes players for searching their library, Scrying, or Surveilling. Given how prevalent each of these effects is in Commander, River Song can quickly grow into a huge threat while dishing out a serious amount of hurt.
While this ability is already powerful, additional buffs like Clout of the Dominus and Commander’s Plate help to amplify the damage dished out. On top of that, it also gets extra value out of cards that let your opponents tutor up lands as a downside, such as Krenko’s Buzzcrusher.
Timey-Wimey Combo Lines
As great as the card’s simpler interactions are, any Doctor Who fan will tell you that River Song isn’t exactly known for playing fair. This style carries over into MTG as well, where River Song enables a wide range of spicy infinite combos.
Alongside Timestream Navigator and a Haste enabler like Anger, you can easily take infinite turns with River Song. Since Timestream puts itself on the bottom of your library, River Song lets you consistently draw and play it again. This opens up easy wins with cards like Impact Tremors or by raw damage, if you have enough on board.
Similar combos are available with cards like Epitaph Golem, which put cards in your graveyard on the bottom of your deck. Provided you have enough mana available, you can cast an extra turn spell like Time Warp, put it back on the bottom of your library, and then cast it again next turn.
Alternatively, while not as flashy, River Song also has near-infinite combo lines utilizing Field of Ruin and Radiant Performer. By copying Field of Ruin’s activated ability and making it hit every non-basic land, each opponent will be forced to repeatedly search their library. This will grow River Song incredibly quickly, causing her to dish out tons of damage. So long as your opponents have around 15 non-basic lands between them, this should be more than enough for lethal.
A Well-Kept Secret
Perhaps the best thing about River Song in MTG Commander is how broadly useful it is. Even if you’re not leaning hard into specific synergies, it’s just a nice punisher card that doesn’t detract from your gameplan. Because of this, it makes a great addition to the 99 as well as a great Commander. If you just happen to be running Timestream Navigator or Field of Ruin anyway, there’s no harm in slotting this card in.
Despite its wide range of applications, River Song doesn’t see nearly as much MTG Commander play as you’d expect. According to EDHREC, just 3,622 players run River Song as their Commander. It’s a bit more popular in the 99, appearing in around 6,400 decks in total. That’s still a very low figure, however, considering how powerful it can be.
While this low play rate is unfortunate, it does have the nice upside of making River Song incredibly affordable. Copies of River Song’s standard printing can be had for just $0.15 on TCGplayer right now, which is cheap by any standard. The fancier variants aren’t much pricier, either, with the Extended Art and Showcase versions coming in at $0.42 and $0.50, respectively. If you like the look of River Song as a combo enabler, or even just a funky punisher card, these prices make it a no-brainer to pick up.
Stick with us here at mtgrocks.com: the best site for Magic: The Gathering coverage. Be sure to check out our deckbuilder for your next big brew!