Reality Fracture Pre-Release 0-3

At the two-headed giant format of Reality Fracture, Rebecca and I constructed RB and UG decks to play. The new format, which provides 4 less packs to make decks from, is...fine I guess? We were able to construct viable decks, which was good.

But our games fell into two camps and I don't know if it's because of the new restrictions, or because the set is kinda meh. 

As always, Red Castle Games put on a delightful event. 

Round 1 vs Ziegler/Tiffany (Sorry, I didn't catch your first names!)

Up against a UR and GB deck, we had a strong start, rapidly getting our opponents down to 9. We had a great sequence of play early on where I cast a Fulminous Forte with a Tomik out in an attempt to clear their board of x/2's. In response to the removal spell they cast, Rebecca had a Perfected Theory to make sure Tomik survived. We swung in hard and things looked good for a little bit.

However, after an Overwrite the Multiverse, they reset the board and we drew spells instead of creatures. They were able to mount a solid comeback and pull the game out.

They had MANY empower Jace spells and used them to help filter their cards and get back into the game. This was especially good with Vraska-and the sequence that broke the game open for them went: Play Vraska to destroy our best threat, and in response to the removal spell I cast on Vraska, they cast Ferocity of the Hunt. 

Great play on their part, and it sealed the game for them.

Rd 2 Mica & Jameson

Our opponents were running UW and GB decks. This game went to time; our opponents were using Flickering Hound and  Pia, Aether Ascetic to create value with Prepared cards and Way of the Wildspeaker. Even though our early game was solid, we couldn’t quite get them down past 12.

Once again, a lot of empower Jace cards helped them filter through their deck, creating very grindy gameplay.

Then it went to turns and nothing happened, though it didn't help that I drew three Swamps in a row.

Rd 3 Ryan & Kyle

We just got CRUSHED.

By turn 4 they had a Garruk, Veiled Buther in play, which effectively cleared our board with the -2, giving them a 4/4. Their cards played out on curve, with a Hapatra, the Desert Frost and Saheeli, Consul of Oversight joining the next turn followed by a Hapatra the Desert Fang! Rounds have 45 minutes to play. Our last game left us with 37 minutes on the clock. There wasn't any Jace empowerment, but it was unnecessary.

We left that one a little demoralized. 

I was hoping I was wrong about Reality Fracture in the set review and that the games would be fun or engaging. I certainly found Aeitherdrift to be better to play than I had thought, even if it wasn't the best set.

While Rebecca appreciated that in our first two games we got to do something and there was interaction between us and our opponents, I personally found it frustrating that we couldn't close out. Were there some lessons we learned? Could we have played better? Of course; there are always lessons and tighter gameplay to achieve. 

But learning those lessons wasn't fun for me. Our smart plays were not rewarded with wins, and I don't think we made any mistakes that were so bad that we should have lost...we just did, in games that were either very draggy, or incredibly busted.

Set Review: Reality Fracture

Link to set here, and mechanics article here. 

I have to say, the first two mechanics are possibly the most boring mechanics I have seen in years. Making a planeswalker token is something I dislike for multiple reasons, not the least of which being that planeswalkers have provided unfun experiences for me in limited formats. I can't get excited about the notion of getting to scry or draw a card off a token and I certainly cannot get excited about having to worry about a rechargeable battery my opponents get to use to keep them scrying/drawing.

Similarly, getting to create a mana token just doesn't get my brain sparking up ideas. Cool, we made a mana rock. Why is this rock tied to R/G? How does this rock advance the themes and ideas of the set? You get a rock. 

The last one, Prepare, is one I've enjoyed before and I appreciate the mirroring of this in the Hexhaven university. 

Unfortunately, I don't really have a lot of positive things to say about this set. I don't have much negative to say either; Reality Fracture occupies the unfortunate space of being "fine, I guess?"

Part of this might be expectations: Hexhaven seems like an amazing setting and I would've really enjoyed a set exploring that. Set up how powerful Hexhaven is for the coming battle and really see those politics and powers play out in advance of Jace's plans coming to close. 

Instead we just get glimpses into it, with a kind of timidity in design that makes Planar Chaos- a set that is 18 years old- seem innovative. 

Part of this might be because of the decision to not commit to the alternative universe, instead telling the big climatic story: how does a card like Return To The Light Realms really stand out in alt-universe White vs. White in the regular Magic universe? It it just because Liliana is casting the spell?

Solemn Simulacrum vs Simulacrum Shaper? THIS is supposed to demonstrate the contrast between realities? A Green ability stapled onto a Green creature instead of an artifact?

If the only thing that changes is the faces of the cast, how truly different can the Echoverse be? Apparently different enough that it must be stopped, but not so different that we might be concerned about the result.

I will say, there's a fun bit of contrast with the 'mirrored cards', like Proft Consulting Detective and Proft Sinister Mastermind. But I don't see the rhyme or reason to it. 

Ajani has a Red and White version-clearly these characters are meant to contrast each other enough that they are in opposing colors. They are meant to fight each other! Why doesn't Proft follow the same kind of contrast? The inconsistency bothers me, and it happens all through this part of the set. 

Is it interesting that Pia goes from an artifact oriented character to an enchantment one? Sure! But the colors that she's in don't emphasize that contrast; this is strictly a mechanical thing and those mechanics don't even have anything to do with each other. There's no other contrast. 

Also, Planar Chaos was meant to show spots where the colors would be 'shifted'- Wrath of God becomes Damnation, for example. That set allowed for certain things to be changed permanently, because those mechanics were seen as important to the color. In some cases mechanics that should have been there all along! People were excited to see cards like Damnation, Frozen Aether, or Mana Tithe. Sure, it didn't all take but at least it was different. 

But I don't see similar experimentation in Reality Fracture. White and Green doing +1 counters? Where have you seen that before? (Everywhere). And that they don't so anything interesting with those +1 counters feels like a huge oversight, especially since philosophy behind the Vigorbloom school in Hexhaven is "invasive healing". 

Invasive healing? That shit sounds like some body horror stuff! Instead...it's just +1 counters. 

The set feels extremely safe and in a game like Magic, safe is boring. 

This is the first set in awhile that I've found difficulty working up any enthusiasm over. It's probably fine and the gameplay is probably alright. But I don't feel excited about it. 

We'll see how I feel after the pre-release, which is this weekend. Hopefully I won't be validated! But the last time I felt this way was around Aetherdrift and that set...was not great. 

Be Careful What You're Asking For

The match I played against Noah clearly showed that in this deck, The Mindskinner is the glory of cool things. 

But then Noah said something odd to me: "Daze is the wrong countermagic for this deck."

In my head, it seemed so clear: T1: Island, crab, go. Then Daze whatever they played and I can replay the land for a counterspell AND 3 cards!

However, this deck is already operating on some Glory of Cool Things. Maybe I can't afford to think about the ideal turn 1, when my deck doesn't realistically win until turn 4 and that's if everything goes well. 

So: Mindskinner out, but maybe Daze, too?

Really, the call here is to make this deck as focused as it can be. It's a four card combo: I don't have the space to mess around. I need to be able to execute it consistently, or at least as consistently as possible. 

An Ode To Locksmiths

 It's mill deck time

4 Hedron Crab
3 Ruin Crab
3 The Mindskinner

4 Manabond

4 Daze
4 Brainstorm|
2 Mana Leak

13 Island
3 Forest
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Temple of Mystery

2 Stock Up
3 Scouting Trek
3 Treasure Hunt
4 Serum Visions

Named after the Type O Negative song, there's no rhyme or reason to that name. I just like Type O. 

The real trick: Have a crab out, have a Manabond out, play Scouting Trek and then Treasure Hunt. Go to end of turn, drop all the lands in your hand and mill your opponent out. 

Is it pie in the sky? You bet. But let's go.

We Do What We Do To Get By

 OK, I think I've got this deck where I want it. It can do some crazy things and the curve is pretty good. 

Is it going to be tier one? No, not without some mana reworks. But I'm not mad about this! I've build this deck into something that does stuff as opposed to just hoping.

4 Harmonic Prodigy
4 Ignoble Hierarch
2 Judith, the Scourge Diva
2 Flamekin Harbinger
4 Taurean Mauler
4 Wolf-Skull Shaman
4 Rage Forger
3 Vexing Shusher
3 Deathgreeter

4 Infernal Grasp

1 Overgrown Tomb
6 Mountain
1 Jund Panorama
4 Savage Lands
4 Swamp
3 Forest
4 Darigaaz's Caldera

3 Crippling Fear

I like this build quite a bit, as there is a great deal of redundancy and good mana fixing. Of everything, Deathgreeter is probably the most replaceable creature, but it's super cheap-not unlike this deck.

I'm out of town for the next week, so let's see if I can get a new post up in seven days!

Worked All Week Long

So there have been a few developments. 

First, I have discovered that Jetmir's Garden does not, in fact, produce Black mana. Sooooo that's kind of embarrassing. However, it did make the decision to cut that land much easier! 

Infernal Grasp has come in as the spot removal of choice, and I was leaving Dark Banishing in as my extra copies of removal until last night when I was just being overwhelmed by tiny-but-growing creatures, all of whom were Black. 

I've had Crippling Fear in my sideboard: but why? This does what I want it to do with no drawbacks to my deck! There isn't a plague of shaman decks running around Magic and there never has been. 

Similarly, Hit/Run should come out. Before the deck's tune up giving all my creatures +1 on attack or making my opponent sacrifice a permanent was useful. But now it's just an expensive card that is fighting for space against having a fourth copy of Harmonic Prodigy, a card that has been an absolute banger, or maybe even some card draw. 

There's No One That Can Stop Her

Out: Ashling the Pilgrim, Dark Banishing, Fulminator Mage, and Sapling of Colfenor

In: 4 Ignoble Hierarch, 3 Harmonic Prodigy, 2 Judith, the Scourge Diva.

On the block: Titania's Boon.

Cut Boon, added Banishings, 

Cutting Caludron Haze (it's win more) and adding removal, in this case Bogslither's Embrace.

It took all of one match against Noah to find the problems: it's the lands.

With 8 lands that enter tapped and 4 that bounce a land when they come into play, that is a debilitating blow to the pace of this deck. For a deck that generally tops out at the 3 spot, I need to re-evaluate how many lands I have that stunt my mana. 

The other issue was the removal: Bogslither's Embrace is a Christmasland card. I just assumed that I'd have have plenty of creatures with +1 counters on them to negate the Embrace's drawback.

I do not. 

So a little more work to do here. 

But I'm glad I swung big on those first changes: seeing that Ignoble Hierarch was a Shaman is a HUGE boost for this deck.