At long last, Reality Fracture spoiler season is finally here, and there’s a ton of incredibly powerful cards on offer. From a series of new Elder Sphinx that are bound to make a Commander splash, to yet another one-mana Standard Prowess threat, there’s lots to see here. The most exciting card revealed today, however, is a new addition to Magic’s one-mana instant-speed tutor cycle.
MTG Loyal Tutor
Loyal Tutor follows in the footsteps of some of the most broken cards in MTG history, like Vampiric Tutor and Mystical Tutor
Mystical TutorSearch your library for an instant or sorcery card, reveal it, then shuffle and put that card on top., but is obviously far weaker. Searching for a Planeswalker is a surprisingly specific effect that might be difficult to apply.
In terms of competitive viability, Loyal Tutor could help make Saheeli Rai
Saheeli Rai+1: Scry 1. Saheeli Rai deals 1 damage to each opponent.
−2: Create a token that's a copy of target artifact or creature you control, except it's an artifact in addition to its other types. That token gains haste. Exile it at the beginning of the next end step.
−7: Search your library for up to three artifact cards with different names, put them onto the battlefield, then shuffle. combo decks more viable in Modern, severely increasing the deck’s consistency while offering some versatility. If you’re facing down lots of interaction, Loyal Tutor can find Teferi, Time Raveler, forcing opponents to play at sorcery speed, or Narset, Parter of Veils to set up a lethal Day’s Undoing
Day’s UndoingEach player shuffles their hand and graveyard into their library, then draws seven cards. If it's your turn, end the turn. (Exile all spells and abilities from the stack, including this card. Discard down to your maximum hand size. Damage wears off, and "this turn" and "until end of turn" effects end.). In sideboard games against decks like Neoform
NeoformAs an additional cost to cast this spell, sacrifice a creature.
Search your library for a creature card with mana value equal to 1 plus the sacrificed creature's mana value, put that card onto the battlefield with an additional +1/+1 counter on it, then shuffle. combo that rely on tutoring, you can also find Ashiok, Dream Render to shut things down.
While Loyal Tutor has some niche potential for competitive MTG, the card has a much higher chance of success in Commander. Superfriends decks, from Commodore Guff
Commodore GuffAt the beginning of your end step, put a loyalty counter on another target planeswalker you control.
+1: Create a 1/1 red Wizard creature token with "{T}: Add {R}. Spend this mana only to cast a planeswalker spell."
−3: You draw X cards and Commodore Guff deals X damage to each opponent, where X is the number of planeswalkers you control.
Commodore Guff can be your commander. to The Prismatic Bridge
The Prismatic BridgeVigilance
{T}: Add one mana of any color.
Other legendary creatures you control have vigilance and "{T}: Add one mana of any color." can use this card to find the perfect Planeswalker for any situation. Otherwise, you can just tutor generically powerful Commander Planeswalkers like Teferi, Master of Time
Teferi, Master of TimeYou may activate loyalty abilities of Teferi on any player's turn any time you could cast an instant.
+1: Draw a card, then discard a card.
−3: Target creature you don't control phases out. (Treat it and anything attached to it as though they don't exist until its controller's next turn.)
−10: Take two extra turns after this one. or The Theorist, Jace Beleren.
MTG Pompous Battlemage
Offering yet another Standard-legal Prowess threat, Pompous Battlemage certainly has potential, if nothing else. The Prepared spell here is interesting, too, allowing Prowess strategies to simultaneously trigger their namesake ability and get rid of extra lands in hand.
Of course, outside of Prowess, you can also use this spell to discard haymakers like Abhorrent Oculus
Abhorrent OculusAs an additional cost to cast this spell, exile six cards from your graveyard.
Flying
At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep, manifest dread. (Look at the top two cards of your library. Put one onto the battlefield face down as a 2/2 creature and the other into your graveyard. Turn it face up any time for its mana cost if it's a creature card.) and reanimate them with Helping Hand
Helping HandReturn target creature card with mana value 3 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped.. The card could have some strong synergies in discard-centric decks like Mardu Discard, too, growing your Marauding Makos and triggering Cool, But Rude
Cool, But Rude(Gain the next level as a sorcery to add its ability.)
Whenever you attack, you may discard a card. If you do, draw a card.
{1}{R}: Level 2
Whenever you discard a card, this Class deals 2 damage to each opponent.
{1}{R}: Level 3
When this Class becomes level 3, search your library for a card, put it into your hand, shuffle, then discard a card at random.. That said, despite the synergy, Pompous Battlemage may not be strong enough to make the cut here.
MTG Hexhaven Invigorator
It took quite some time for us to see the next card in the Phyrexian Obliterator
Phyrexian ObliteratorTrample
Whenever a source deals damage to this creature, that source's controller sacrifices that many permanents of their choice. cycle, and Hexhaven Invigorator is a really odd choice. While the card not being Phyrexian makes sense in Reality Fracture’s lore, it does feel a bit like a flavor fail. Fortunately, Invigorator makes up for it with an extremely powerful ability.
Converting damage dealt to land tutors, Hexhaven Invigorator can do some absolutely disgusting stuff. Tutoring critical lands like Lotus Field in Pioneer is an extremely attractive quality, potentially letting this become a sideboard blocker in those strategies. There’s likely some shenanigans afoot with Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle in Modern, as well.
While this could give Hexhaven Invigorator some potential in competitive formats, the card should easily see some Commander play thanks to its combo potential. If you can give the Horror Indestructible, repeatable damage cards like Akoum Hellkite
Akoum HellkiteFlying
Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, this creature deals 1 damage to any target. If that land is a Mountain, this creature deals 2 damage instead. can essentially tutor every single land out of your deck. With Spelunking to make those lands enter untapped, you can win in a lot of different ways.
MTG Aerid Konstrari
Aerid Konstrari might not be the most exciting creature ever printed, but this is an absolute powerhouse for Gruul Commander decks. On top of offering a decent flying body, Aerid ramps you up a massive four mana between entering and dying. Double up those triggers with Roaming Throne
Roaming ThroneWard {2}
As this creature enters, choose a creature type.
This creature is the chosen type in addition to its other types.
If a triggered ability of another creature you control of the chosen type triggers, it triggers an additional time. or Strionic Resonator
Strionic Resonator{2}, {T}: Copy target triggered ability you control. You may choose new targets for the copy. (A triggered ability uses the words "when," "whenever," or "at.") effects, and this Elder Sphinx can put you far ahead of your opponents.
Thanks to its activated ability, Aerid can also serve as a win condition in artifact-focused lists, swinging for tons of damage when left alone. The activation cost isn’t quite as bad as it looks either, since Aerid’s Heartwood tokens can help pay for it.
With all this in mind, Aerid Konstrari seems like an absolute slam dunk in decks like Meria, Scholar of Antiquity
Meria, Scholar of AntiquityTap an untapped nontoken artifact you control: Add {G}.
Tap two untapped nontoken artifacts you control: Exile the top card of your library. You may play it this turn. and Bello, Bard of the Brambles that have additional synergies with it. Even outside of this, Aerid could become a Commander staple in bracket 2-3 Gruul decks that want to ramp.
MTG Denzilore Fatehold
So long as you have some Scrying or Surveilling to back it up, Denzilore Fatehold can turn any board into a lethal nightmare. Sadly, this card can’t do any of that on its own, which may rule it out of competitive formats despite the popularity of cards like Opt
OptScry 1. (Look at the top card of your library. You may put that card on the bottom.)
Draw a card. and Prismari Charm
Prismari CharmChoose one —
• Surveil 2, then draw a card.
• Prismari Charm deals 1 damage to each of one or two targets.
• Return target nonland permanent to its owner's hand.. In Commander, however, Denzilore Fatehold could easily be a terrifying foe to face down.
All you need is a few repeatable Scry effects, like Crystal Ball
Crystal Ball{1}, {T}: Scry 2. (Look at the top two cards of your library, then put any number of them on the bottom and the rest on top in any order.) or The Temporal Anchor
The Temporal AnchorAt the beginning of your upkeep, scry 2.
Whenever you choose to put one or more cards on the bottom of your library while scrying, exile that many cards from the bottom of your library.
During your turn, you may play cards exiled with The Temporal Anchor., and Denzilore Fatehold can make any board into a terrifying threat. Combine this with token makers like Skrelv’s Hive
Skrelv’s HiveAt the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 1 life and create a 1/1 colorless Phyrexian Mite artifact creature token with toxic 1 and "This token can't block."
Corrupted — As long as an opponent has three or more poison counters, creatures you control with toxic have lifelink., and you’ll never run out of threats to pump. Heck, Denzilore Fatehold can even create some infinite combos alongside cards like Scurry Oak
Scurry OakEvolve (Whenever a creature you control enters, if that creature has greater power or toughness than this creature, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.)
Whenever one or more +1/+1 counters are put on this creature, you may create a 1/1 green Squirrel creature token. and Elrond, Lord of Rivendell, creating infinite Squirrels with infinite power and toughness.
MTG Kwia Vigorbloom
During MTG designer Mark Rosewater’s teasers for Reality Fracture, the most exciting tidbit, by far, was the existence of the new Lotus token, which essentially functions as a Black Lotus. That token is created by the new Elder Sphinx Kwia Vigorbloom, who is bound to be an instant upgrade for all kinds of Commander lifegain decks. Creating a Lotus token whenever you gain life, Kwia’s Lifelink often means that this card will just trigger itself.
Sadly, Kwia’s once-per-turn restriction shuts down any extremely broken shenanigans, but it can still create four Lotus tokens per turn rotation in Commander. You can accomplish this with a fair few cards, using something as simple as Sun Droplet
Sun DropletWhenever you're dealt damage, put that many charge counters on this artifact.
At the beginning of each upkeep, you may remove a charge counter from this artifact. If you do, you gain 1 life. or Celestial Force
Celestial ForceAt the beginning of each upkeep, you gain 3 life. to gain life at the beginning of each turn. Otherwise, a token generator like Tendershoot Dryad can also accomplish this with a Soul Sisters effect like Prosperous Innkeeper.
With this in mind, Kwia Vigorbloom is an easy inclusion in all kinds of Selesnya lifegain decks, like the recent Secret Lair Hatsune Miku precon, and makes for an intriguing Commander itself.
MTG Ingris Stingerquill
With an aggressive mana value and tons of damage potential, Ingris Stingerquill looks like a new, powerful asset to aggressive decks. Because this creature essentially deals one extra damage per attacking creature, Ingris works best in aggressive shells that want to go wide, like Standard’s Boros Tokens shell. Considering that one of the stronger Standard decks uses a Mardu manabase, there should be plenty of room in the format for a Mardu Tokens deck.
If that weren’t enough, Ingris Stingerquill’s activated ability also gives the card burst damage potential, letting it close longer games even without a larger board. There won’t be a ton of support for this activated ability in Standard, but you can use cards like Training Grounds
Training GroundsActivated abilities of creatures you control cost {2} less to activate. This effect can't reduce the mana in that cost to less than one mana. to activate Ingris’s ability multiple times in Grixis Commander decks.
While this card could support a go-wide build-around in Commander, Ingris might work better as a 99 support piece to existing aggressive MTG Commanders instead. Heck, with the right support pieces, like mana dorks that can tap for four mana and Intruder Alarm, you could even create infinite Hasty tokens with this Sphinx.
MTG Karn, Argent Defender
Offering a Torpor Orb
Torpor OrbCreatures entering don't cause abilities to trigger. attached to a body that also hits artifacts, Karn, Argent Defender may be one of the more exciting Reality Fracture cards for competitive players. Denying artifacts and creature entry triggers turns off entire archetypes, like Modern Affinity and Blink, or Standard Artifacts and Nurturing Pixie
Nurturing PixieFlying
When this creature enters, return up to one target non-Faerie, nonland permanent you control to its owner's hand. If a permanent was returned this way, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature. decks. Being colorless is a particularly massive boon here, giving any MTG deck access to Karn’s ability.
Of course, Karn will also be a strong addition to any Commander decks that already use Torpor Orb. This is particularly relevant for Legendary creatures like Acererak the Archlich or the new MB3 card Tressorhorn’s Lord, Returned, that want to ignore their detrimental enters triggers.
With all this in mind, Karn, Argent Defender is an exciting new MTG card, but it may not end up seeing much play outside of Commander as a redundancy piece. For constructed decks that want this effect, putting them on noncreature permanents like Torpor Orb will make it much more difficult to remove. That said, if hitting artifacts is particularly important, Karn will definitely make an appearance.
MTG Karn, Gilded Guardian
While Karn, Gilded Guardian is rather flashy, the card feels somewhat unimpressive. Despite the card’s ability to draw five cards alongside five-color artifacts like Infinite Guideline Station
Infinite Guideline StationWhen Infinite Guideline Station enters, create a tapped 2/2 colorless Robot artifact creature token for each multicolored permanent you control.
Station (Tap another creature you control: Put charge counters equal to its power on this Spacecraft. Station only as a sorcery. It's an artifact creature at 12+.)
12+ | Flying
Whenever Infinite Guideline Station attacks, draw a card for each multicolored permanent you control. and Reaper King, it’s not very exciting for WUBRG. This card draw being an entry effect does allow Blink effects like Conjurer’s Closet to draw tons of cards, but this really does feel like a build-around.
Thanks to demanding a lot of resources to work, Karn, Gilded Guardian will likely be a rather narrow card, appearing in specific Commander 99s and being a somewhat interesting Commander itself. There are potentially some shenanigans available with its hybrid mana value, but without a broken interaction, Karn, Gilded Guardian is rather forgettable.
MTG Return to the Light Realms
A ‘what if’ twist on Rise of the Dark Realms, Return to the Light Realms doesn’t return your opponent’s creatures to play under your control, but it does return every single nonland permanent in your graveyard to play. Frankly, this card could easily fit in any white Commander deck under the sun, but excels in decks with graveyard synergies.
White Commanders that both care about nonland permanents and mill cards, like Dogmeat, Ever Loyal and Eivor, Wolf-Kissed make for natural homes for Return to the Light Realms. Other Commanders, like Gandalf, Party Guest
Gandalf, Party GuestAt the beginning of combat on your turn, you may cast an instant or sorcery spell with mana value X or less from your hand without paying its mana cost, where X is twice the number of legendary Wizards you control., or Power Pack also have some powerful synergies with this sorcery, potentially casting it for free. Even without these synergies, however, Return to the Light Realms has everything it needs to be a Commander super staple at lower brackets.
MTG Diviner of Victory
Of all the early spoilers from Reality Fracture, Diviner of Victory is the hardest to assess. Oftentimes, this will be a worse aggressive option than a typical Prowess attacker, but in exchange, you get an incredible piece of interaction in Unwind History. Playing a one-drop, bouncing a creature, and fixing your draw is a ton of value.
That said, as strong as this card can be, Diviner of Victory needs a specific home for it to work. The card does pair quite well with bounce effects like Nurturing PixieNurturing PixieFlying
When this creature enters, return up to one target non-Faerie, nonland permanent you control to its owner's hand. If a permanent was returned this way, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature. or Teleportation Circle
Teleportation CircleAt the beginning of your end step, exile up to one target artifact or creature you control, then return that card to the battlefield under its owner's control., resetting Diviner’s Prepared spell. This could mean that Diviner appears in some form of Standard bounce deck, but the card is more likely than not going to be exclusively found in Scry and Surveil Commander decks.
Not Done Yet
While this covers a majority of the new rare and mythic rare cards spoiled at Reality Fracture Spoiler Season kickoff, there are a few more available to see. Empower Jace, the sole new Reality Fracture mechanic we’ve seen so far, has some interesting shenanigans to explore, which you can read about here. Otherwise, the new Dimir Elder Sphinx looks like the most powerful new Commander among the new rares and Mythics, which we explore here.
All in all, this is a great start to the MTG Reality Fracture spoiler season. If this is a strong reflection of the rest of the set, we may be in for an all-timer.
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