New Reality Fracture Sphinx Breaks 22-Year-Old Mechanic in Half

Since its initial appearance in Fifth Dawn back in 2004, the Scry mechanic has become an integral part of many MTG sets. By fixing your future draws and smoothing out land flooding or mana screw, Scrying, and its evolution, Surveilling, have become a major part of Magic: The Gathering.

Now, Reality Fracture is bringing an insane Scry and Surveil payoff in the form of Denzilore Fatehold. With the right setup, this Elder Sphinx can grow your creatures infinitely large, and it’s the real deal.

MTG Denzilore Fatehold

Denzilore Fatehold provides incredible upside thanks to its final ability, which can unusually trigger multiple times per turn. This lets you make your creatures astronomically large with lots of Scrying and Surveilling, which Denzilore can do with ease. Evasive creatures like Nightveil SpriteNightveil SpriteFlying
Whenever this creature attacks, surveil 1. (Look at the top card of your library. You may put it into your graveyard.) and Il Mheg PixieIl Mheg PixieFlying
Whenever this creature attacks, surveil 1. (Look at the top card of your library. You may put it into your graveyard.) kick this off nicely, while Palantir of OrthancPalantir of OrthancAt the beginning of your end step, put an influence counter on Palantír of Orthanc and scry 2. Then target opponent may have you draw a card. If that player doesn't, you mill X cards, where X is the number of influence counters on Palantír of Orthanc, and that player loses life equal to the total mana value of those cards. and Eye of JaceEye of JaceAt the beginning of your upkeep, surveil 1. Then if there are seven or more cards in your graveyard, sacrifice this artifact, it deals 2 damage to each opponent, and you gain 2 life. (To surveil 1, look at the top card of your library. You may put it into your graveyard.) help to accrue counters while just sitting in play.

Things really start to get out of hand when you add other tools that can Scry or Surveil multiple times a turn. Cryptic AnnelidCryptic AnnelidWhen this creature enters, scry 1, then scry 2, then scry 3. (To scry X, look at the top X cards of your library, then put any number of them on the bottom and the rest on top in any order.) is among the strongest options, since each of its instances of Scrying trigger Denzilore separately. Alternatively, Proctor of PotentialProctor of PotentialWhenever this creature or another creature you control enters, surveil 1. (Look at the top card of your library. You may put it into your graveyard.)
{W}{U}: Return this card from your graveyard to the battlefield with a finality counter on it. Activate only if you've scried or surveilled this turn. (If a creature with a finality counter on it would die, exile it instead.), Gossip’s Talent, and Elrond, Lord of Rivendell each reward you for playing lots of creatures to the board.

With these tools and Denzilore both incentivizing you to go wide, utilizing mass token producers like Grand Crescendo and Secure the Wastes is super important. To get value turn after turn, you can also lean into repetitive token producers like Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, or Cosmogrand Zenith. Throw in token doublers, like Elspeth, Storm Slayer, and things start to pop off even faster.

Once your engine starts rolling, plenty of other Scry payoffs, like Matoya, Archon Elder, and Planetarium of Wan Shi Tong, come online, ensuring you’ll never run out of gas. At the same time, Saheeli, Consul of Oversight helps increase your board presence, while Prudent Fateseer further buffs your squad. Then, after cementing your advantage, Elvish Mariner helps tap down blockers to push through damage.

Of course, Denzilore Fatehold also lets you use +1/+1 counter payoffs like Pensive Professor or Danny PinkDanny PinkMentor (Whenever this creature attacks, put a +1/+1 counter on target attacking creature with lesser power.)
Creatures you control have "Whenever one or more counters are put on this creature for the first time each turn, draw a card.". Doubling Denzilore’s impact with Lae’zel, Vlaakith’s Champion and Yoshimaru, Beloved Companion is particularly nasty, scaling your creatures to extreme heights. All the while, Kid Loki can protect your biggest threats from removal, and Herald of Secret Streams then helps you attack unscathed.

Infinite Tokens and Counters

While Denzilore certainly doesn’t need any extra help to be a strong build-around, you can kick things up a notch with an impactful infinite combo. With Denzilore, Proctor of Potential, and Invisible Woman, Sue Storm, you can generate infinite tokens and +1/+1 counter buffs to your board, so long as you have another Hero in play.

With these cards in play, resolving any creature will trigger Proctor of Potential to let you Surveil 1. This in turn triggers Denzilore, putting a +1/+1 counter on your team. Once the counter is put on your other Hero, Invisible Woman’s ability triggers, netting you a Wall token. When this token enters, Proctor of Professor triggers once more, keeping the chain going. After growing your team infinitely large, you should be able to just attack for the win.

Even though this combo requires a decent amount of setup, it includes a ton of cards that Denzilore would want to play anyway. Importantly, you can also replace Proctor of Potential with Gossip’s Talent or Elrond, Lord of Rivendell and achieve the same results. Between its incredible plan A and its combo upside, Denzilore has the potential to be quite a popular Commander option moving forward.

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