While not quite as legend-focused as some recent Universes Beyond sets, Reality Fracture still features plenty of powerful Commander options. The most popular of the bunch, Jace, Multiverse Architect, has even begun making a splash in the competitive Duel Commander environment. This Planeswalker’s loyalty abilities both offer tons of utility, making it the ultimate build-around.
Control with a Polymorph Finish
At its core, this deck that finished top four in a 59-player tournament is looking to dominate the long game with tons of control elements. With access to lots of cheap removal from Lightning Bolt
Lightning BoltLightning Bolt deals 3 damage to any target. to Fatal Push
Fatal PushDestroy target creature if it has mana value 2 or less.
Revolt — Destroy that creature if it has mana value 4 or less instead if a permanent left the battlefield under your control this turn. across four colors, it’s easy to get out of the early turns without falling too far behind. From there, counterspells like Mana Leak and Memory Lapse keep more problematic spells from resolving.
As you continue hitting your land drops while trading resources with the opponent, you can soon slam Jace to take over the game. Every turn that Jace sticks in play, you’re at minimum pulling ahead on cards and raising its loyalty. Thanks to the Planeswalker’s static ability, it’s also very difficult for your opponent to meaningfully attack Jace and try to develop their board at the same time.
While churning through your library, you should have no problem eventually finding a token maker like Fire Nation Occupation or Shorikai, Genesis Engine
Shorikai, Genesis Engine{1}, {T}: Draw two cards, then discard a card. Create a 1/1 colorless Pilot creature token with "This token crews Vehicles as though its power were 2 greater."
Crew 8 (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 8 or more: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.). These tools help make fodder for Jace’s -3 ability, which serves as one of your closing mechanisms.
In most cases, whether you reveal Ugin, the Spirit Dragon or Iona, Shield of Emeria
Iona, Shield of EmeriaFlying
As Iona enters, choose a color.
Your opponents can't cast spells of the chosen color., you’re in good shape to close the game over the next few turns. Interestingly, though, there is also a version of this archetype that takes a more combo-centric approach, enabling even faster kills.
Going a Different Route
While this decklist that 5-0d a Duel Commander League shares a lot in common with the previous one, it has a bigger emphasis on abusing Rituals like Rite of Flame and Strike it Rich. Not only do these cards accelerate Jace out ahead of schedule, but they also increase the odds you can win the game the same turn you active Jace’s -3 ability.
This is made possible by Prismari, the Inspiration, which serves as this deck’s only Polymorph
PolymorphDestroy target creature. It can't be regenerated. Its controller reveals cards from the top of their library until they reveal a creature card. The player puts that card onto the battlefield, then shuffles all other cards revealed this way into their library. target. Once in play, the goal is to utilize cheap Rituals to build up a big mana advantage, then use cantrips like Brainstorm to dig for finishers. With enough mana at your disposal or a high enough Storm count, a simple Forth Eorlingas! or Purphoros’s Intervention should enable a lethal attack.
Positives and Negatives
Unsurprisingly, while both decks have their benefits, there are tradeoffs to going each direction. The more controlling variant has a much stronger approach against the fair decks of the format, especially the creature matchups. Your removal suite makes it difficult for Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd or Cloud, Midgar Mercenary decks to gain any headway early on. Plus, Iona, Ugin, and Nicol-Bolas, Dragon-God are all nearly impossible for fair decks to grind through once in play.
Where this deck can run into issues, though, is against dedicated combo shells, such as Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers. Not only can this deck build up a mana advantage that overwhelms No More Lies and other situational counterspells, but it also has access to protective tools like Defense Grid.
As such, in these matchups, having access to Rituals and Prismari to present a faster clock is a huge luxury. Naturally, though, loading up on mana accelerants over extra disruption does come at a cost, as it leaves you more vulnerable to popular hate cards like Containment Priest out of White Weenie.
With these strengths and weaknesses in mind, it’s tough to tell exactly what Jace build is the best. There’s still tons of room for exploration with Jace at the helm, too, so we could see other finishers emerge as the metagame fluctuates.
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