Commander Insight: Building Reality Fracture at Low Rarity

The dust of Reality Fracture is settling. Rare, flashy, and desirable, Hexhaven Invigorator, Flickering Hound, and The Theorist, Jace Beleren found quick homes in commander.

But how about the humble, Reality Fracture draft chaff?

Let's take a look at ten cards you may find abandoned beside the LGS land station that could find a better home in your commander staples box.

At the end of each section, you'll find a few cards to grease your deck building wheels. 

#1 Heartwood Crafter 

A one-mana ramping elf that can cast a mana rock on turn two without extra resources from hand? Yes, please.

The drawback of not being able to cast cards from your hand with the one-mana creature half of the deal is softened by both the token and the command zone. 

Heartwood Crafter turn one. Prepared spell turn two. We can now cast our five-drop commander turn three while retaining a grip of action. 

Bonus points here if we have further synergies with our heartwood token and/or casting spells from zones other than the hand. 

#2 Way of the Pyromancer 

How good is ramp that dies to combat damage? How good is a relevant two-mana planeswalker? How good is ramp that draws cards if it sticks around in the mid-to-late game?

We will see!

Verdict hasn't fully come in yet on the Way of the Pyromancer yet, but two mana ramp is always desirable. The decks that want this will be able to control the board through blockers or sweepers, care about planeswalkers, and make use of the extra cards drawn by the empower Jace token.

#3 Sphinx's Approach 

Every. Time. 

“A deck can have any number of cards named…” is a Johnny/Jenny deck builder paradise. 

With Sphinx's Approach, we are buckling up for the long game and a deck full of draw twos, counters, and sweepers. 

With The Ur-Sphinx releasing in Mystery Booster: Commander Edition next month and the short window of drafting Reality Fracture due to Star Trek's imminent release, now is the time to snag thirty copies before the price starts to trend back upward.

#4 Planeswalker Lands

Blue-white Cheons enjoyers rejoice. 

It is always nice to see a cycle of relevant untapped lands across all ten color pairs. Mana bases are a true barrier to commander, and the cheaper we can get in, the more time we have to slowly upgrade. 

Realistically, planeswalkers have high mana values, resulting in this cycle of lands entering tapped until the very latest stages of the game. 

To make best use, we are looking for decks to be either 1) full of large, late-game, mana-pip-intensive spells or 2) making use of Empower Jace to get reliable, low-cost planeswalkers in play.

For the kitchen table, bring the ultimatums.

#5 Geist of Saint Thalia

Solid value is solid value. 

Only two weeks into the format, the little-geist-that-could has a higher inclusion rate than any of the rares mentioned in the intro at a fraction of the cost.

Reducing all noncreature spells–planeswalkers, instants, sorceries, enchantments, artifacts, battles–by one is a big game, especially when we get to start on turn two. 

We get extra helping of goodness here when Thalia is helping cast our commander ahead of schedule while also supporting our main themes. Though, with flexibility, evasion, and a low mana value, it will be easy to slot Thalia into many, many decks. 

Another one to make sure to collect enough of while we're still drafting. 

#6 Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive

Tetsuko is a sneaky one that may take a little work to get going, but promises to deliver big. 

A quick review shows that many are using Tetsuko to sneak in Thieving Magpie style attackers that draw when they connect. Others are building Plagon decks full of high-toughness, low-power creatures that assign damage equal to their toughness.

What if we get lost in janky combo land instead? 

So, we have Medomai the Ageless in play beside Tetsuko. We cast Fresh Start targeting Medomai the Ageless, causing it to lose all abilities and reducing its power to -1. 

We attack with Medomai. After blocks, we activate Meticulous Excavation bouncing Fresh Start, returning Medomai to its full glory. 

Next turn, we recast Fresh Start, removing Medomai's attack restrictions. Attack. Bounce. Repeat.

Combo or nonbo?

#7 Fblthp, Impossibly Lost 

Fblthp is an uncommon alternate wincon that doubles as a harder to get right Chart a Course that forces us to shuffle. 

Sure, it's easier to flip your library into your graveyard and win on the spot with Laboratory Maniac or Thassa's Oracle, but extra challenges are part of the fun of the game. 

What's unique here is that the alternate wincon can now reside in the command zone, draw us extra cards along the way, and hop back into the command zone instead of shuffling into the library.

It may feel like all downside to mill ourselves without access to black and be required to attack to win. But that's ok. 

Many players prefer when monoblue struggles, and Fblthp encourages us to struggle across multiple axes to truly earn a win. 

#8 Tinybones, Pocket Nuisance

Everyone loves discard. 

Whether cycling, looting, casting wheels, plussing Liliana of the Veil, or escalating Collective Brutality, seeing cards go from hand to graveyard for value feels good. 

Why not run a three drop that rewards not only when you discard, but when any player discards for any reason?

Wheel of Fortune, Windfall, and Memory Jar line up here for big Tinybones damage and grixis wheels led by Abbadon the Despoiler.

Or, Fluctuator shenanigans offer infinite discard alongside The Necrobloom and the og cycling lands.

#9 Stingerquill Voxmancer

It may be a reach, but low mana value is on the voxmancer's side. One mana to play and, on each of our turns, we are given a one mana sorcery to play. 

For strategies that care about density of spells cast each turn, this little guy is hard to ignore. And for our opponents, pointing targeted removal at Stingerquill Voxmancer can never feel like a winning proposition. 

Regrettably, Captain Ripley Vance cannot run the voxmancer due to the hybrid mana rules. However, the captain, Wanda's Vision, and Emeritus of Conflict can play nicely alongside the voxmancer in the 99. 

In the command zone, we can lean toward Kuja, Genome Sorcerer to reward us for our spellslinging ways.

#10 Saheeli, Jewel of Avishkar

Last on our list, we have Saheeli, Jewel of Avishkar.

Creating tokens for every noncreature spell cast is a strong ability. Granting haste, albeit to only one creature type, is a strong ability. Roll them together at uncommon, and we have a strong, budget commander for the kitchen table.

With so many blue/red spellslinger decks out there and so few dedicated thopter builds, allowing Saheeli to bring out her love of thopters, sending them into the red zone, then recycling them for future use is the way.

Happy brewing!