Skip to content
TCGplayer Promo
Back to Homepage
Articles Features

New MTG Reality Fracture Deck Deals 40+ Damage Using Turn 3 Mill Combo

Riley Hicks
4 min read
New MTG Reality Fracture Deck Deals 40+ Damage Using Turn 3 Mill Combo

With Prerelease weekend just a few days away, Reality Fracture is closer than ever before. To celebrate, Magic’s biggest streamers are showcasing the set today, trying new brews out and slinging some Reality Fracture Limited.

Thanks to Wizards of the Coast, I was also invited to the Early Access Event, where I quickly put together a new deck utilizing Darklight Phoenix alongside a bunch of new self-mill tools. Going 7-1 in the Best of One Standard, this silly Standard sacrifice brew can do some extremely explosive things.

Orzhov Phoenix Sacrifice

Thanks to Reality Fracture’s incredible self-mill package, Orzhov Sacrifice got a massive shot in the arm. With Liliana, the Repentant and Dark Matter Manipulator, you can quickly fill your graveyard and find multiple copies of Darklight Phoenix to reanimate. Umbral Collar Zealot, The Sackville-BagginsesThe Sackville-BagginsesThe Sackville-BagginsesWhen The Sackville-Bagginses enter, you may sacrifice another creature or artifact. If you do, draw a card and create a Treasure token.
Whenever you sacrifice a token, target opponent loses 1 life.
, and Corrupted Conviction help get your Phoenixes into play with ease, stalling for time or dealing tons of damage.

Going deeper on the sacrifice theme, both Greedy Freebooter and The Hobbit’s Lake-Town Lookout can create tons of value when sacrificed. Lookout is particularly strong with Darklight Phoenix, getting copies in hand into the bin and offering two bodies to sacrifice. Freebooter, on the other hand, gives you more artifact tokens to sacrifice while setting up Raise the PastRaise the PastRaise the PastReturn all creature cards with mana value 2 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield. alongside Zealot’s Surveils.

Once you have a decent number of creatures in your graveyard, with at least one Umbral Collar Zealot available, you’re ready to Raise the PastRaise the PastRaise the PastReturn all creature cards with mana value 2 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield. and set off a massive chain reaction. Generally, you can bring a handful of bodies back from the graveyard, and Liliana, the Repentant will see them all. This will cause a ton of mill, often milling you out completely and getting all four of your Darklight Phoenixes into the graveyard.

Then you can use Umbral Collar Zealot to start sacrificing your creatures, ping your opponent with Vengeful Bloodwitch, and get any Phoenixes out of your hand with the Lookout. Notably, if you’re reanimating a particularly large board, you’ll need to do this combo under full control to ensure that sacrificing a Lake-Town Lookout doesn’t draw from an empty deck.

Between Vengeful Bloodwitch‘s pings and your four Darklight Phoenixes, you should generally have enough damage to do the job. That said, if you need more damage, Obsessive Pursuit can pile a ton of counters onto a Darklight Phoenix, making 10+ damage lifelink swings easy. It also provides tons of midgame Clues for card draw, making it the most important card in the deck.

With so many cards in your graveyard after the mill, Dark Matter Manipulator often has over 10 power, too. With that in mind, with the proper setup, dealing 40 damage out of nowhere is rather trivial.

Strengths, Weaknesses, and Additional Cards

With tons of ways to fill the graveyard and lots of grindy tools, Orzhov Sacrifice has a decent matchup against creature-based decks that can’t punch through your chump blockers. You have no issue trading off your Freebooters and your Recruits for damage, and reanimating Darklight Phoenix over and over gives you tons of blockers. Between the constant card advantage from Obsessive Pursuit and the instant-win button in Raise the PastRaise the PastRaise the PastReturn all creature cards with mana value 2 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield., slower decks also struggle to keep up with Orzhov Sacrifice.

While this combo deck is quite a fun way to play with the new Reality Fracture cards, it also has a fair few weaknesses. Graveyard hate like Rest in PeaceRest in PeaceRest in PeaceWhen this enchantment enters, exile all graveyards.
If a card or token would be put into a graveyard from anywhere, exile it instead.
is the worst thing this deck can run into, especially since this deck has no removal, but it should be uncommon in Best of One.

Of course, having no removal can be problematic, too, especially against the current Jund Sacrifice deck with Biotech Specialist, but your combo’s speed can help offset this downside.

If you want to shore up these issues, you could try some alternative cards in your own brews. Cards like Deadly Precision are fantastic removal options for this deck, enabling Darklight Phoenix on its own if you sacrifice a creature. Plenty of other options, like Requiting Hex and the new Multiply by Zero, give you tons of removal options if you want to play them.

Otherwise, I found this deck can struggle to get Darklight Phoenix out of your hand without casting it, even with a playset of Lake Town Lookout. If you’re willing to try Mardu, Masked Meower or Fear of Missing Out can help here, getting your Phoenixes into the bin with ease. This also gives you options like Ingris Stingerquill that can punish an opponent for leaving you with a wide board.

While this deck might not be a competitive Standard powerhouse, it is a fun way to try out many of Reality Fracture’s new cards. I had a lot of fun playing it, and I hope you’ll enjoy it too.

Stick with us here at dev.mtgrocks.com: the best site for Magic: The Gathering coverage. Be sure to check out our deckbuilder for your next big brew, and our brand new MTG Rocks Podcast!

Keep reading Story Navigation
← Previous story
MTG Players Share Frustration With “Salt-Inducing” Game Changer Effect
News MTG Players Share Frustration With “Salt-Inducing” Game Changer Effect
Next story →
Four Underrated $1.15 Gems Are Incredible Superfriends Upgrades
Articles Four Underrated $1.15 Gems Are Incredible Superfriends Upgrades
Continue reading
Riley Hicks
Written by Riley Hicks

After being introduced to MTG in 2014, Riley has done everything from attending a Pro Tour, accidentally developing an entire competitive archetype (RIP Mardu Fury) and sitting down to play games of Commander with friends regularly. If Riley isn't covering the latest breaking news for Magic: the Gathering, you'll generally find him tapping and untapping his Lotus Field somewhere.

Four Underrated $1.15 Gems Are Incredible Superfriends Upgrades Up next · Articles Four Underrated $1.15 Gems Are Incredible Superfriends Upgrades Read