The Commander
At the beginning of combat on your turn, create X tokens that are copies of another target creature you control, where X is one plus the number of instant and sorcery spells you've cast this turn. They gain haste. Exile them at the beginning of the next end step.
Guide
Gameplan
Cast cheap instants and sorceries before combat to pump Rionya's trigger, then copy a high-impact creature (with a big ETB or attack trigger) to flood the board with hasty temporary copies that swing for lethal or chain massive value. You ramp into spell-heavy turns and convert a single combat step into an explosive burst.
Strengths
- Generates massive amounts of value/damage in a single combat with the right creature copied
- Synergizes with both spellslinger and ETB-payoff strategies
- Can produce lethal swings out of nowhere when copying evasive or pinging creatures
- Mono-red gives access to fast ritual mana and efficient card advantage like Wheel effects
Weaknesses
- Tokens are exiled at end step, so each turn's board must be rebuilt
- Heavily reliant on Rionya surviving until combat and on having a good copy target
- Vulnerable to board wipes, spot removal on the copy target, and combat hate
- Mono-red struggles with sustained card draw, interaction, and recovering from sweepers
Key Cards
- Combat Celebrant — Copying it grants extra combat steps, letting you re-trigger Rionya and swing repeatedly for huge damage.
- Krenko, Mob Boss — Each copy taps to make Goblins equal to your creature count, snowballing into hundreds of tokens and lethal attacks.
- Terror of the Peaks — Every copy entering deals damage equal to its power, turning Rionya's tokens into a direct burn wincon.
- Hellkite Tyrant — Hasty copies steal all artifacts on hit or trigger the alternate win, and connecting with several copies wins fast.
- Underworld Breach — Recasting cheap spells from the graveyard fuels Rionya's X count and enables explosive combo turns.
- Jeska's Will — Refills your hand and dumps a pile of red mana, both fueling extra spells and ramp before combat.
Upgrade Path
Add fast mana (Mana Crypt, Jeweled Lotus, ritual effects) and protection like Deflecting Swat to ensure Rionya connects, plus more efficient cantrips to inflate the X count cheaply. Lean into a dedicated combo finisher—Combat Celebrant loops or Krenko with sac outlets—and include Wheel effects (Wheel of Fortune, Reforge the Soul) to refuel. Prioritize a stronger creature suite where copying just one card ends the game.
Core Cards
The most-played cards for this commander, built from aggregated deck data (the Mythic Graph). Build public decks to seed it.
Win Conditions
- ▸Copying Krenko or Terror of the Peaks to generate lethal token armies or burn
- ▸Infinite/extra combats via copied Combat Celebrant for one-shot kills
- ▸Hellkite Tyrant copies stealing artifacts or hitting its win condition
- ▸Wide hasty alpha strikes with evasive or high-power creatures
Archetypes
- Spellslinger — Each instant/sorcery cast before combat directly increases the number of token copies Rionya makes.
- Combo — Copying creatures with extra-combat or self-replicating abilities like Combat Celebrant or Krenko can go infinite or near-infinite.
- Tokens/Go-Wide — Rionya floods the board with hasty copies for a single overwhelming alpha strike each turn.
Combos
- Rionya, Fire Dancer + Combat Celebrant
→ Infinite combat phases, Infinite creature tokens with haste, Infinite ETB
- Rionya, Fire Dancer + Terror of the Peaks
→ Near-infinite damage
- Rionya, Fire Dancer + Port Razer
→ Infinite combat damage, Infinite combat phases, Infinite creature tokens with haste
- Breath of Fury + Rionya, Fire Dancer
→ Infinite combat damage, Infinite combat phases, Infinite death triggers
- Rionya, Fire Dancer + Bloodthirster
→ Infinite combat damage, Infinite combat phases, Infinite creature tokens with haste
Combos via Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (R), by popularity.
