While Reality Fracture is chock full of strong cards, some powerhouses have separated themselves from the rest of the pack. Ajani, Unrelenting, for instance, has emerged as one of the most broken Limited bombs in recent memory. Despite its hefty casting cost, the Planeswalker is even finding success in Standard, giving rise to a new Boros Superfriends brew.
A Quartet of Planeswalkers
During the early turns of the game, this Boros shell’s main goal is to keep the board clear. Efficient removal spells like Lightning Helix and Solitary Cell do a great job staving off pressure while keeping your life total high. Gideon’s Memorial also fits the mold in a pinch, while doubling as a ramp effect for your Planeswalkers.
Thanks to all these removal spells, it’s surprisingly easy to curve out your four different Planeswalkers without fear of them getting attacked down. The cheapest of the bunch, Ajani, Outland Chaperone, further helps the cause, providing a steady stream of token blockers as early as turn three. This buys you time to use Chandra, Torch of Defiance and Caretaker’s Talent as card advantage machines.
Eventually, finding Elspeth, Storm Slayer or Ajani Unrelenting can end the game. Like Ajani, Outland Chaperone, Elspeth makes a flurry of tokens for Caretaker’s Talent, and even enables Ajani to make double tokens. Then, Elspeth’s 0 ability and Ajani, Unrelenting’s +1 can team up to kill players out of nowhere.
Ajani Unrelenting takes things a step further, threatening to wipe away the opponent’s board with its -3 ability while keeping your token army intact. All the while, Ajani’s static ability goes completely ballistic as you activate your other Planeswalkers. This haymaker even includes a card-draw mode via its -2 ability should you ever run out of gas, though the opponent will likely be dead before that matters.
An Intriguing Position
While Boros Superfriends is a bit of an unorthodox archetype, the strategy of controlling the board and using Planeswalkers as finishers is effective against most creature decks. Your cheap removal excels against Prowess, for example, making it hard for them to ever stick a threat. Then, your Planeswalkers easily overwhelm any incremental advantage the opponent may have gained from Flow State
Flow StateLook at the top three cards of your library. Put one of them into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in any order. If there is an instant card and a sorcery card in your graveyard, instead put two of them into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in any order. or Stock Up.
At the same time, decks relying on bigger creatures, like Boros Dragons, are much more vulnerable to Erode and Day of Judgment. Clarion Conqueror is also of minimal concern despite its potential to shut down your Planeswalkers, since you have so many answers to it.
Unfortunately, despite these strengths, Boros Superfriends can certainly struggle in matchups where the removal suite is unimpactful. Having so many dead cards versus Jeskai Artifacts is a huge liability, and most of your draws don’t apply enough pressure to win before Simulacrum Synthesizer take over. Similarly, your Planeswalkers often won’t resolve against control decks, and you have no way to stop Jeskai Revelation from happening.
With these problems in mind, Boros Superfriends’ appeal largely lies with the metagame you expect. That said, Reality Fracture Standard is still in its early stages, so it’s tough to tell how things will continue to shape out quite yet. Nonetheless, if creature decks start to dominate, don’t be surprised if this deck shows up as a solid metacall.
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