Following multiple Universes Beyond sets, it’s nice to that Reality Fracture is bringing us back to our roots with lots of sweet new designs. There are tons of callbacks to old cards, but the set still feels fresh and interesting. Today’s array of spoilers certainly reflects this, and many of them, including a new uncommon green Pia variant, look poised to see play across multiple formats.
Pia, Aether Ascetic
Interestingly, this green Pia card actually has more in common with Formidable Speaker, but tutors up enchantments instead of creatures. While this obviously makes Pia a natural fit for Enchantress EDH decks, the real prize is in combo decks centered around one broken enchantment.
Being able to search for Omniscience in Standard and curve nicely into Kona, Rescue Beastie, for example, is extremely powerful. Otherwise, being able to grab Aluren in Legacy, Song of Creation in Modern, or Food Chain in cEDH could be a huge upgrade for certain decks. Pia could even become a Food Chain-centric combo deck herself, since she can tutor the card from the Command Zone. With all this in mind, the card certainly has potential.
Darklight Phoenix
Much like this card’s Arclight Phoenix
Arclight PhoenixFlying, haste
At the beginning of combat on your turn, if you've cast three or more instant and sorcery spells this turn, return this card from your graveyard to the battlefield. counterpart, the main appeal to Darklight Phoenix is that you can repeatedly bring it back from your graveyard to play. In this case, the key is to force multiple creatures to die, making this creature a natural fit for Aristocrats shells.
In Standard, Mill effects like Snarling Gorehound
Snarling GorehoundMenace
Whenever another creature you control with power 2 or less enters, surveil 1. (Look at the top card of your library. You may put it into your graveyard.) and discard outlets like Lake-Town Lookout can help you get Phoenix into your graveyard. With the help of Umbral Collar Zealot as a sacrifice outlet, bringing back the Phoenixes should be trivial. Notably, killing opposing creatures also triggers Phoenix, making Deadly Precision and similar effects more appealing. From there, your payoff is a resilient threat that also significantly increases your closing speed, something Aristocrats desperately need.
Notably, once you have multiple copies of Phoenix in play alongside a sacrifice outlet, you’re even free to sacrifice them precombat for value at no cost. This upside could even give Phoenix some Modern brewing potential alongside Goblin Bombardment. We’re excited to see all the ways that players look to abuse this new tool.
Roiling Canopy
A new take on Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle, Roiling Canopy threatens to grow your creatures exceptionally large over time. While this benefit is typically worse than spreading damage around, in formats where Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth
Yavimaya, Cradle of GrowthEach land is a Forest in addition to its other land types. is legal, this tool is much easier to enable.
Many dedicated Landfall decks in Commander will likely want to include this card as a result. Tifa Lockhart decks in particular should abuse this extremely well, making it much more likely you can assemble lethal Commander damage in one hit. Beyond just Commander, it’s also not out of the question that Amulet Titan decks in Modern adopt a copy of this land as a tutor target, potentially speeding up Primeval Titan
Primeval TitanTrample
Whenever this creature enters or attacks, you may search your library for up to two land cards, put them onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle. kills.
Even in decks like Standard Landfall that don’t have access to Yavimaya, amassing a high density of Forests via ramp spells and Icetill Explorer
Icetill ExplorerYou may play an additional land on each of your turns.
You may play lands from your graveyard.
Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, mill a card. isn’t impossible. The combination of Ba Sing Se and Roiling Canopy also seems very strong in the late game, potentially giving the deck more inevitability.
Seasoned Cryomancer
From a pure value perspective, Seasoned Cryromancer is a heck of a card. While you don’t get tokens from the looting effect, getting to stun opposing creatures does a lot to help you stabilize. Then, by extending the game, you make it more likely you can eventually get value from its graveyard-based ability and draw more cards.
The decks that can best utilize this card are those that get extra mileage out of the stun counters and looting effects. In Standard, tapping creatures down does make it easier to connect with Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, giving this card some Dimir Midrange appeal. Alternatively, in Pioneer, looting away Vivi Ornitier
Vivi Ornitier{0}: Add X mana in any combination of {U} and/or {R}, where X is Vivi Ornitier's power. Activate only during your turn and only once each turn.
Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, put a +1/+1 counter on Vivi Ornitier and it deals 1 damage to each opponent. to enable Agatha’s Soul Cauldron sounds great, all while getting extra value from Proft’s Eidetic Memory
Proft’s Eidetic MemoryWhen Proft's Eidetic Memory enters, draw a card.
You have no maximum hand size.
At the beginning of combat on your turn, if you've drawn more than one card this turn, put X +1/+1 counters on target creature you control, where X is the number of cards you've drawn this turn minus one.. Even Commander Reanimator shells should make good use of this card as a discard outlet, too.
Omnipresence
Admittedly, as cool as Omnipresence is, it’s unlikely to make a Constructed splash. After all, it still costs a ton of mana, but it’s way less abusable than Omniscience because you need a big board first. Where this card does have appeal, though, is in green Commander decks that do flood the board with creatures.
This card is perfect for Landfall decks with token makers like Springheart Nantuko
Springheart NantukoBestow {1}{G}
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1.
Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, you may pay {1}{G} if this permanent is attached to a creature you control. If you do, create a token that's a copy of that creature. If you didn't create a token this way, create a 1/1 green Insect creature token. and Rampaging Baloths, covering both bases needed to abuse this card. From there, if you can pair Omnipresence with a card draw engine like Greater Good, casting a boatload of free spells and churning through your whole deck is actually realistic. Expect to see this card at Commander tables a decent amount moving forward.
Pyre Rhymer
For those who enjoy explosive turns, Pyre Rhymer should be right up your alley. A 3/3 body with Prowess for three mana is a decent rate, but the real prize is getting access to a big burst of mana from Molten Tide. You just need to ensure you have a lot of Mountains untapped when you cast it.
As such, this card is at its best in mono-red Commander decks like Zada, Hedron Grinder, or Gandalf, Goblin’s Bane that can utilize the excess mana to cast a flurry of spells. With the help of land-untapping effects like Candelabra of Tawnos, you can really pop off.
Interestingly, because Pyre Rhymer can become re-prepared by reentering play, Conjurer’s Closet and other blink effects also play nicely with this card. So, even if this card looks a bit too slow for competitive Constructed play, we expect it to open the door for some sweet Commander deckbuilding opportunities.
Draconic Visitor
Moving past colorshifted designs, this set features more generic bangers, and Draconic Visitor fits the mold. While its effect is narrow, playing this card in a dedicated Food or Treasure Commander deck seems like a no-brainer. Casting this as a follow-up to Jaws, Relentless Predator sounds particularly incredible.
If it weren’t strong enough at face value, Draconic Visitor even has combo potential alongside Ganax, Astral Hunter. By casting Draconic Visitor with Ganax in play, you’ll trigger Ganax’s ability, which nets you a Dragon via Visitor’s replacement effect. This triggers Ganax again, creating an infinite loop. Notably, this loop is mandatory, but a sacrifice outlet can stop the chain after you’ve netted an arbitrarily large number of tokens.
Way of the Mentor
Way of the Mentor is a bit difficult to utilize, but for life gain EDH decks with lots of Planeswalkers in the mix, this card goes really hard. If you’re able to get a bunch of life gain triggers in one turn, say via Soul Sisters effects and token generators, you may be able to boost the Loyalty of all your Planeswalkers significantly.
Besides just helping keep them alive longer, Way of the Mentor makes it possible to then ultimate your Planeswalkers in short order. Considering how backbreaking some final abilities are, like those of Gideon, Champion of Justice or Venser, the Sojourner
Venser, the Sojourner+2: Exile target permanent you own. Return it to the battlefield under your control at the beginning of the next end step.
−1: Creatures can't be blocked this turn.
−8: You get an emblem with "Whenever you cast a spell, exile target permanent.", being able to turbocharge your way to them is awesome. Life Gain remains one of the most popular themes in Commander, so we expect this card’s hype to be through the roof.
Dark Matter Manipulator
Much like Stitcher’s Supplier
Stitcher’s SupplierWhen this creature enters or dies, mill three cards. (Put the top three cards of your library into your graveyard.), Dark Matter Manipulator gets your Mill engine started, making it extremely valuable in graveyard decks. The card can even double as a nice attacker, too, but the mill effect alone may be enough to consider playing it.
Obviously, not having the upside of triggering upon death is notable, but this card is a lot stronger as the game progresses. This makes the card quite intriguing for Pioneer Dredgeless Dredge, a deck that has plenty of self-Mill effects like Breaking/Entering but could use another robust threat to help close games. This card could even make a splash alongside Stitcher’s Supplier in Vengevine shells in older formats, too.
Whether you’re looking to tutor enchantments from the Command Zone, or are looking to build a new Standard deck with reimagined staples, Reality Fracture looks like an incredible set so far.
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