River Kelpie
Tracked across real Commander games played through TurnZero HQ.
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What it does
Whenever this creature or another permanent enters from a graveyard, draw a card.
Whenever a player casts a spell from a graveyard, draw a card.
Persist (When this creature dies, if it had no -1/-1 counters on it, return it to the battlefield under its owner's control with a -1/-1 counter on it.)
Combos with River Kelpie
Lines this card is part of — what it needs alongside it, and what the two of them do. An infinite result is the one that moves a deck's bracket.
- Spark Double Ashnod's Altar Infinite
- Infinite card draw
- Infinite draw triggers
- Near-infinite colorless mana
- Near-infinite death triggers
- Near-infinite creature ETB
- Near-infinite creature LTB
- Near-infinite creature sacrifice triggers
- Denry Klin, Editor in Chief Ashnod's Altar Infinite
- Infinite card draw
- Infinite draw triggers
- Near-infinite colorless mana
- Near-infinite death triggers
- Near-infinite creature ETB
- Near-infinite creature LTB
- Near-infinite creature sacrifice triggers
- Moritte of the Frost Altar of Dementia Infinite
- Infinite card draw
- Infinite draw triggers
- Near-infinite death triggers
- Near-infinite creature ETB
- Near-infinite creature LTB
- Near-infinite mill
- Near-infinite creature sacrifice triggers
- Infinite self-mill
- Solemnity Spawning Pit Infinite
- Infinite card draw
- Near-infinite death triggers
- Near-infinite creature ETB
- Near-infinite creature LTB
- Near-infinite creature sacrifice triggers
- Vizier of Remedies Spawning Pit Infinite
- Infinite card draw
- Near-infinite death triggers
- Near-infinite creature ETB
- Near-infinite creature LTB
- Near-infinite creature sacrifice triggers
- Selective Memory Storm-Kiln Artist Flame Jab Infinite
- Near-infinite damage
- Near-infinite draw triggers
- Near-infinite magecraft triggers
- Near-infinite storm count
- Selective Memory Birgi, God of Storytelling // Harnfel, Horn of Bounty Flame Jab Infinite
- Near-infinite damage
- Near-infinite draw triggers
- Near-infinite magecraft triggers
- Near-infinite storm count
Combo data from Commander Spellbook, the community-maintained database of Magic combos. Mirrored nightly.
Rulings
12 official rulings, in the order Wizards published them.
- 2008-05-01
River Kelpie doesn't give you the ability to cast spells from graveyards. Its second ability merely triggers whenever a spell is cast this way (by using Memory Plunder, for example).
- 2008-05-01
If you play a land card from a graveyard (by using Crucible of Worlds, for example), only the first ability triggers. That's because the land (which isn't a spell) is put directly onto the battlefield from the graveyard.
- 2008-05-01
If you cast another artifact, creature, enchantment, or planeswalker spell from a graveyard, only the second ability triggers. That's because the card is put onto the stack, not onto the battlefield.
- 2008-05-01
If River Kelpie and another permanent are each put onto the battlefield from a graveyard at the same time, River Kelpie's first ability will trigger twice. (It will see the other permanent entering.)
- 2008-05-01
If you cast River Kelpie itself from your graveyard (by using Yawgmoth's Will, for example), neither ability triggers. The first ability doesn't trigger because River Kelpie is put onto the stack; the second ability doesn't trigger because it works only while River Kelpie is already on the battlefield.
- 2013-06-07
When a permanent with persist returns to the battlefield, it's a new object with no memory of or connection to its previous existence.
- 2013-06-07
If a token with no -1/-1 counters on it has persist, the ability will trigger when the token is put into the graveyard. However, the token will cease to exist and can't return to the battlefield.
- 2013-06-07
If a permanent has multiple instances of persist, they'll each trigger separately, but the redundant instances will have no effect. If one instance returns the card to the battlefield, the next to resolve will do nothing.
- 2013-06-07
If multiple creatures with persist are put into the graveyard at the same time (due to combat damage or a spell that destroys all creatures, for example), the active player (the player whose turn it is) puts all of their persist triggers on the stack in any order, then each other player in turn order does the same. The last trigger put on the stack is the first one that resolves. That means that in a two-player game, the nonactive player's persist creatures will return to the battlefield first, then the active player's persist creatures do the same. The creatures return to the battlefield one at a time.
- 2013-06-07
If a creature with persist stops being a creature, persist will still work.
- 2013-06-07
The persist ability triggers when the permanent is put into a graveyard. Its last known information (that is, how the creature last existed on the battlefield) is used to determine whether it had a -1/-1 counter on it.
- 2013-06-07
If a creature with persist that has +1/+1 counters on it receives enough -1/-1 counters to cause it to be destroyed by lethal damage or put into its owner's graveyard for having 0 or less toughness, persist won't trigger and the card won't return to the battlefield. That's because persist checks the creature's existence just before it leaves the battlefield, and it still has all those counters on it at that point.
Rulings are Wizards of the Coast's own, mirrored from Scryfall and refreshed nightly.
In the 99
Every deck whose current list includes River Kelpie, whatever its commander.
Most played under
| Commander | Decks | Games | Win rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teval, the Balanced Scale | 2 | 0 | — |
Colors it shows up in
- Sultai 2 decks
Every version of River Kelpie
4 printings, newest first. Prices are the market figures Scryfall publishes, refreshed nightly — a printing with no figure shows a dash rather than a zero, because Scryfall genuinely publishes none for some of them.

Tarkir: Dragonstorm Commander
- Normal
- $0.28

Inverted
Tales of Middle-earth Commander
- Normal
- $6.58
- Foil
- $9.27

- Normal
- $0.33

Shadowmoor
- Normal
- $1.51
- Foil
- $13.99
Prices from Scryfall, which tracks the TCGplayer and Cardmarket markets. They move daily and are a guide rather than a quote. Search TCGplayer for River Kelpie — a name search across every version, for the printings TCGplayer publishes no direct link to.
Aggregated from Commander games tracked in TurnZero HQ. Every figure counts decks and games only — no individual deck list, player or playgroup is identified. Win rates are withheld below 5 completed games, where the sample is too small to mean anything.