Riverfall Mimic MTG Card
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 2 |
| Rarity | Common |
| Type | Creature — Shapeshifter |
| Released | 2008-07-25 |
| Set symbol | |
| Set name | Eventide |
| Set code | EVE |
| Power | 2 |
| Toughness | 1 |
| Number | 111 |
| Frame | 2003 |
| Layout | Normal |
| Border | Black |
| Illustred by | Franz Vohwinkel |
Key Takeaways
- Enhances card effectiveness without spending extra, providing a valuable board presence upgrade.
- Adopts traits of powerful allies, increasing board strength without additional resource use.
- Transforms at instant speed, offering adaptability and strategic advantage mid-game.
Text of card
Whenever you play a spell that's both blue and red, Riverfall Mimic becomes 3/3 and is unblockable until end of turn.
Mimics don't hide their natural form well, but their disguises work well enough on boggarts.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Riverfall Mimic can potentially transform into a more powerful creature without requiring additional card expenditure, providing inherent card advantage as it brings more to the battlefield than its initial form suggests.
Resource Acceleration: While not directly providing mana, Riverfall Mimic can effectively accelerate your game plan by adopting the characteristics of stronger creatures that mesh well with your overall strategy, escalating your board presence with minimal resource investment.
Instant Speed: The ability of Riverfall Mimic to change forms is triggered when you play a spell that’s both blue and red. This gives you the flexibility to play at instant speed, keeping your opponent guessing and allowing strategic adaptability during crucial turns of the game.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Riverfall Mimic necessitates players to discard another card, which can be a strategic setback if you’re already struggling with hand size.
Specific Mana Cost: This card’s activation is dependent on blending blue and red mana, potentially complicating its inclusion in a wider range of decks that do not focus on this color pairing.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: Bearing a mana cost that is on the higher end for its effect category, the Riverfall Mimic might not be the most mana-efficient option for decks that aim for rapid tempo and early board presence.
Reasons to Include Riverfall Mimic in Your Collection
Versatility: Riverfall Mimic can seamlessly adapt to different deck archetypes. With its ability to become a copy of any multicolored spell, it adds flexibility and can be a surprise element against your opponents.
Combo Potential: This mimic thrives in environments where multicolored spells are abundant. It can exponentially increase value with each copy made, opening up a world of possibilities for ingenious combinations and plays.
Meta-Relevance: Considering the consistent presence of multicolored decks in competitive play, Riverfall Mimic holds its ground as a valid choice. It can be a tactical advantage in games where adapting to the ever-changing battlefield is crucial.
How to beat
Riverfall Mimic thrives in decks that capitalize on multicolored spells. To effectively counter it, denying those spells can dampen the Mimic’s impact. An efficient strategy involves focusing on single-target removal or spells that restrict casting, such as Counterspell or Essence Scatter, to prevent multicolored spells from resolving and triggering the Mimic’s ability. Additionally, employing board wipes like Wrath of God can reset the board state, dealing with the Mimic and other threats simultaneously.
In a more proactive approach, controlling the pace of the game with effects such as Thalia, Guardian of Thraben adds a cost to your opponent’s spells, including multicolored ones. This can hinder their ability to play both a multicolored spell and the Mimic in the same turn. The delay may give you the upper hand and time to establish board presence or draw into your removals and counters.
Lastly, hand disruption spells like Thoughtseize or Inquisition of Kozilek allow you to remove potential threats before they hit the battlefield, ensuring that Riverfall Mimic’s conditions for transformation are harder for your opponent to meet, thereby maintaining control of the game’s tempo.
Cards like Riverfall Mimic
Riverfall Mimic is an intriguing addition to the family of shapeshifters in Magic: The Gathering. While it bears some resemblance to other creature-mimic cards, its uniqueness lies in its color-pair activation. When you play a multicolor spell, Riverfall Mimic becomes a significant threat by transforming into a 3/3 creature with flying until end of turn. This is quite different from the flexibility of cards like Glasspool Mimic, which can either be a clone or a land, offering versatility rather than an aggressive playstyle.
Similar in nature is the Woodland Changeling, which is always all creature types, thus providing a constant diversity to its tribal synergies, unlike Riverfall Mimic, which requires the trigger of a multicolor spell to become more than just a simple 2/1 creature. Another comparable card is Volatile Claws, which temporarily gives creatures multiple creature types; though powerful, it lacks the staying power and recurring threat that Riverfall Mimic’s evasion ability provides when consistently casting multicolor spells.
Assessing the dynamics between shapeshifters and mimic creatures demonstrates that Riverfall Mimic offers a unique blend of aggression and synergy for decks that capitalize on multicolor spells, setting it apart from its counterparts both in form and strategic function within the realm of Magic: The Gathering.
Cards similar to Riverfall Mimic by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Riverfall Mimic MTG card by a specific set like Eventide, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.
For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.
Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.
Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Riverfall Mimic and other MTG cards:
- eBay
- TCG Player
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
- MTGO Traders Magic Online
See MTG Products
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Riverfall Mimic has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Pauper | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Predh | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Riverfall Mimic card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2008-08-01 | Any other abilities the Mimic may have gained are not affected. |
| 2008-08-01 | If you cast a spell that’s the two appropriate colors for the second time in a turn, the ability triggers again. The Mimic will once again become the power and toughness stated in its ability, which could overwrite power- and toughness-setting effects that have been applied to it in the meantime. |
| 2008-08-01 | The ability triggers whenever you cast a spell that’s both of its listed colors. It doesn’t matter whether that spell also happens to be any other colors. |
| 2009-10-01 | The effect from the ability overwrites other effects that set power and/or toughness if and only if those effects existed before the ability resolved. It will not overwrite effects that modify power or toughness (whether from a static ability, counters, or a resolved spell or ability), nor will it overwrite effects that set power and toughness which come into existence after the ability resolves. Effects that switch the creature’s power and toughness are always applied after any other power or toughness changing effects, including this one, regardless of the order in which they are created. |
