What if Thalia discounted your spells instead of taxing them? What if Niv-Mizzet drew cards off lifegain instead of noncombat damage?
Reality Fracture answers all of that and more. Here are the best Reality Fracture cards for Commander, from the clear bangers to the sleepers you might have scrolled past.
Editor’s note: Only one Empower Jace card made this list. But if you’re looking for Planeswalker-matters cards, check out our article on The Best Planeswalker-Matters Cards for Commander!
The Clear Bangers from Reality Fracture
Samut, Tyrant of Naktamun
$18.95 
Jeeeeeeeeez. Did Blue players really need a way to prevent you from responding to any of their spells? Move aside, Lier, Disciple of the Drowned, as Samut’s 
mana cost is sure to have her end up in cEDH piles and is likely to remain pricey for a while.
Got someone in your pod abusing Samut? Don’t forget that you can use most mana abilities and morph abilities in response to split second. Creatures like Stratus Dancer and Voidmage Apprentice can still be used to interact with split second spells.
Draconic Visitor
One of the more potent game-ending effects for artifact-token generating decks, Draconic Visitor turns all your artifact tokens into 5/5 dragons instead. Rocco, Street Chef‘s food tokens? Actually, Dragons. Smaug the Impenetrable‘s treasures? Actually, Dragons. Anim Pakal, Thousandth Moon‘s gnomes? Actually – Dragons!
Bloodline Recollector // Ancestral Craving
Bloodline Recollector is a fun way to spend your life for cards. This 2/2 Vampire Warlock for 
enters without being prepared, but will become prepared at any end step where 3 or more creatures died that turn. Then you can pay for Ancestral Craving to have target player draw 3 and lose 3.
While this would be a fun way to try to black-Lightning Bolt someone to death, you’re more likely targeting yourself to fill your hand. This pairs nicely in any deck that sacrifices a lot of its creatures regularly, but even better in decks that can have edict loops on other player’s turns. Avacyn, Angel of Horror comes to mind, but something like Savra, Queen of the Golgari with Ophiomancer and Viscera Seer could also reliably prepare Bloodline Recollector at each end step.
Craterclaw Colossus
One of the earliest spoiled cards and the latest entry into color-shifted Craterhoof Behemoth-class cards, Craterclaw Colossus enters and gives all your creatures trample and +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is the number of artifacts you control.
Lots of decks pump out artifacts, but the ones that pump out artifact creatures will benefit the most here. Pia Nalaar, Consul of Revival, or newer cards like Saheeli, Jewel of Avishkar and Vraska, Soul of Stone.
Nahiri, Forged in Fury also comes to mind, as many of her creatures come via equipment; and Thorin, King of Durin's Folk‘s dwarves come with Treasures. He was one of the best commanders we highlighted out of The Hobbit set!
Wonder what they’ll cook up for Black and Blue? One of ’em has to care about the yard, right?
Hall of Echoes
For many decks, copying your commander leads to some truly nutty situations. Hall of Echoes can become a copy of your commander for 
, though similar to TMNT’s Irma, Part-time Mutant (covered in our TMNT review) you won’t get any ‘enters the battlefield’ effects when doing so.
That said, decks that have triggered abilities on their commanders are the ones that are most likely to make best use of this.
The Sleepers from Reality Fracture
Liliana the Repentant
Reality Fracture’s O.G. Liliana is absolute gas for self-mill reanimator decks, like my boy Old Rutstein. Only with a crazy ability: Whenever another creature or planeswalker you control enters, mill two cards.
This doesn’t specify non-token! All of your Zombie, Insect, Skeleton, Spirits, anything else – will mill you 2. This isn’t a ‘may’ ability so careful not to accidentally empty your library.
Liliana absolutely loads up your graveyard for all kinds of reanimation shenanigans. She even comes with one stapled onto the card via her Exhaust ability. It’s overcosted at , and you can only use it on targets in your graveyard, but who cares? This is just icing on the cake. Don’t let the mediocrity of the Exhaust ability distract you from the incredible triggered ability on a 2 mana creature.
Ajani’s Anguish & Ghalta, the Unstoppable
For 
, creatures you control have trample. Pay some additional mana and you can remove a problem. Got big mana or infinite mana? Remove a player!
Ajani's Anguish is a great new include for decks who really want trample. A 1-mana option for this doesn’t currently exist, with the green Primal Rage being the closest comparison.
This’ll be a nice include in the Secrets of Strixhaven Lorehold Spirit deck (check out our Lorehold Spirit guide), as Quintorius, History Chaser‘s spirits would really love a way to ensure their damage reaches a player’s face.
Throwing in the latest entry of Ghalta as well, since technically this could also be a 1-mana way to give your creatures trample, but with an 8/8 dino to boot. Unlike the original Ghalta, Primal Hunger which looks at total power of your creatures on board, Ghalta, the Unstoppable only cares about the creature with the biggest power.
Lich’s Relic
Black targeted removal is typically 3 mana unconditional (think Hero's Downfall) or 2-mana conditional (Go for the Throat). Infernal Grasp being a mild outlier, as the ‘condition’ is that you have 2 life to spare.
Lich’s Relic lets you pay 
to destroy three creatures or planeswalkers – one per opponent. And it sticks around as an equipment! This is a fun card that should be considered in many black decks as very flexible removal.
Rise of the Deathbringer
Echoverse-shifted Return of the Wildspeaker, Rise of the Deathbringer draws you cards equal to the greatest power among creatures you control but also costs you that much life. Alternatively, give all creatures -3/-3, a decent board wipe option in many decks. Being instant speed is also unique, as most black board wipes are sorceries.
Theorist’s Proxy
Theorist’s Proxy is the only empower Jace card to make this list. For , the Proxy is a 0/3 creature with Flash that creates a Jace token with 3 loyalty on entering. He also has , sacrifice this creature: the next spell you cast this turn can’t be countered.
Good way to protect your combo spell, replaces itself (Jace can -3 to draw a card), and leaves behind a body. Lovely!
Reality Fracture’s Echoverse-Shifted Bombs
Avacyn, Angel of Horror
Avacyn, Angel of Horror is a truly terrifying variant of Avacyn, Angel of Hope – though to be fair, both inspire fear in the eyes of her enemies. This card appears in the Multiverse Reforged precon.
Avacyn offers eternal servitude – whenever she or another nontoken creature you control die, bring them back at the next end step. This sets up some crazy loops with Fleshbag Marauder effects and is overall very strong in Aristocrats Reanimator piles. At a whopping 8 mana, she is begging to be cheated into play, but if she lands, she’s likely a short clock for the rest of the table.
Interested in building her as commander? Check out our Avacyn, Angel of Horror deck tech.
Niv-Mizzet, Ghost Counsel
Echoverse or Multiverse, Niv-Mizzet sure does love card draw. The Ghost Counsel makes it almost trivially easy to draw cards, requiring you only to gain life, and pay said life, to draw cards equal to that life.
Show Ancestral Recall who’s boss by turning Light of Hope into a Draw 4 for 
spell.
Show Simic players who’s boss by drawing 8 cards for playing lands with Sunspring Expedition.
Truly the hardest thing you’ll have to do with Niv-Mizzet is get him on the battlefield. The rest should be card draw central for you. This card also appears in the Multiverse Reforged precon.
Ob Nixilis, the Ascended
The last entry from the Multiverse Reforged precon, this demon-turned-angel blows up your opponent’s tapped creatures on entry and gets you 1 life for each creature that died.
Also, on each endstep, get a 4/4 flying Angel if you gained any amount of life this turn.
This goes well in Angel Tribal decks, but also goes well in Flicker decks. Like the previous two entries, the hardest thing you’ll do with this card is get it on the battlefield.
Flickering Hound
Flickering Hound is the echoverse variant of Displacer Kitten and somehow Jace’s doggy variant is significantly less busted than the kitty.
Flickering Hound gives you one flicker effect on another target creature (can’t protect himself) whenever you cast a creature spell. Pretty big value play in decks that care about enters and exit effects, though I suspect his price will drop over time.
Roiling Canopy
Heyyyy we got green Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle! Every Forest you control that enters after your 5th gives a creature you control +3/+3 until end of turn.
These cards are great for mass-land-reanimation or mass-land ramp effects, like a Scapeshift or Zuran Orb + Splendid Reclamation. All the lands that enter simultaneously see each other, so bringing back 6 forests will give you 6 instances of +3/+3 buffs until end of turn.
While Valakut might just kill someone by itself, Roiling Canopy will be easier to use, and combos very nicely with Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth.
Wonder if they’ll continue this cycle for other colors?
Hexhaven Invigorator
Hey, I heard you like fight spells. Do you like fight spells? Hexhaven Invigorator loves fight spells. Especially with a Vigor in play. Got an Arena?
Not quite as brutal as Phyrexian Obliterator with fight spells, but the Invigorator will turn removal into ramp at a pretty ridiculous pace. You could also use it with effects like Pyrohemia or spells like Blasphemous Act to just keep the ramp flowing.
The lands he gets? They don’t need to be basic. Turbo Maze's End deck, anyone?
Omnipresence
Omnipresence lets you cast spells from your hand as long as their mana value is less than or equal to the number of creatures you have in play. Not as busted as Omniscience in my opinion, but it is cheaper and in the game’s best ramp color.
Reality Fracture – Best Cards for Specific Archetypes
Spell Slinger & Pinger Decks
Tomik, Izzet Sparkmage; Winter, Team Player and Master of Barbs
Tomik increases non-combat damage you’d deal to opponents by 1 for only ; Winter buffs your creatures for +1/+0 on non-creature spells for potentially free with convoke; Master of Barbs gives your creatures +1/+0 until end of turn when opponents are dealt non-combat damage also for .
I really think Reality Fracture wants you to build a Hawkeye, Young Avenger pingers deck. Which is great since she’s one of my favorite cards from the Marvel set, reviewed here!
Mill Decks: Cruel Calculations
This 3 mana sorcery draws you X cards where X is the number of cards that ended up in someone’s graveyard from their library this turn. This can be a significant amount of cards, as there are plenty of ways out there to mill tons of cards in a turn. This can also be used in self mill decks, as you can target yourself.
Cards like Maddening Cacophony are kind of the dream – mill folks for ~35, draw 35 – but coming up with 9 mana in a turn could be tough. Creatures that mill might make your life easier, like The Mindskinner or Nemesis of Reason. Easily slotting this into my Captain N'ghathrod deck.
Another card to try and combo with Psychosis Crawler!
Polymorph Decks: Identity Echo
I had to triple check this wasn’t included in the Multiverse Reforged precon, as it’s clearly on theme for that deck.
Identity Echo lets you repeatedly pay 
to turn a random creature token into the next eligible bachelor(ette) from your deck.
You’re voted off the island, gobbo! Our next contestant is:
let it be Etali, let it be Etali, let it be Etali….
Norin, the Wary!
damnit…
Dirty Discard Decks: Tinybones, Pocket Nuisance
Who needs friends? Play this Tinybones to turn your discard effects into face damage for your opponents. Everyone loves discard tribal! What’s not to love?
Tinybones enters, each opponent discards a card, and then each of them take 3 damage. They’ll love it. It’s fun!
Maybe the only discard deck I’d consider building is Winter, Misanthropic Guide since it’s more like wheeling than discarding. I swear I don’t have Sheoldred, the Apocalypse in any deck!
Best Reality Fracture Cards for Lifegain Commander Decks
Creature-ETB Lifegain Decks: Liliana the Faultless
White Lili is the lovechild of the fixed versions of the Soul Sisters and Mother of Runes. Her effects overall are still potent in the right decks, but far from overpowered. Still though, coming down for makes her a strict upgrade over Hinterland Sanctifier type cards. Her ability to discard cards can help set up graveyard mischief while providing hexproof to another one of your creatures until end of turn.
Large Lifegain Decks: Germinate Recruits
Talk about a ridiculous card for incremental lifegain decks. Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim with plenty of Liliana the Faultless life-on-etb effects paired with Marauding Blightpriest drain-on-gain effects. Get a bunch of lifegain triggers from Endless Foot Assault or other mass creature creation effects, follow that up with Germinate Recruits: an instant for that gets you X 2/2 creatures, where X is the amount of life you gained that turn. You probably gained like 30 life! Now you get 30 creatures, triggering all your lifegainers again, triggering your drainers again! Nuts – absolutely nuts.
Mono-White Lifegain +1/+1 Counters Decks: Koth of the Homestead
Koth’s here to get you life on landfall – modest, cozy. You could build a home here. You’re safe. Also, eat your wheaties – Plains make you stronger.
Lifegain Angels Decks: Lyra, Archangel of Dawn
While no Archangel of Thune, Lyra’s angel-lifegain-tribal effect goes well in many variants of Giada, Font of Hope decks and will be significantly cheaper than the Archangel.
Reality Fracture’s Best Ramp Spells
Geist of Saint Thalia
In Jace’s Echoverse, Thalia is a Saint, and instead of taxing, she discounts. Oh and, she’s dead.
For only , Geist of Saint Thalia is a 1/2 Spirit Cleric creature with Flying that discounts all of your non-creature spells by .
This is just generally good all around. Spellslinger, enchantments, artifacts, planeswalkers, etc. All discounted by 1. This is very good and I would expect the price to climb a bit over time.
Gardenize
OK, Vigorbloom’s all about ‘invasive healing’ and I’m not sure I’m on board. The art is terrifying, in both forms.
This is like a color-shifted Black Market that only cares about your creatures instead of everyone’s. Get a charge counter when your creatures die, get 
for each charge counter on your first main. Very good for Golgari aristocrats decks.
Loot, the Nexus & Hapatra, the Desert Frost
Cards that tap for big mana are begging to be paired up with untap effects for infinite mana. Loot is no exception, especially since you can pick a different color each time he’s tapped. Speaking of untapping…
Hapatra will happily combo with many big mana generators for infinite mana. Loot is one example, as is any creature that taps for WUBRG. Jegantha, the Wellspring, Bloom Tender, Faeburrow Elder as examples.
Koth, the Geomancer & Pyre Rhymer
Koth’s here to give you free for your Mountain land drops, and Pyre Rhymer wants to give you a red color-shifted High Tide for your Mountains. Hell yeah, big red!
Verdant Kraken
At 7 mana it’s hard to call this ‘ramp’, but it does give you 3/3 Forest Tentacle land creature tokens on each upkeep. They tap for ! Really does a great job evoking the thought of a land kraken invading the land you thought you were safe on.
Simulacrum Shaper
Hey, Sad Robot is a real boy! Err, girl? Elf! Let’s go with Elf. Maybe Jace isn’t so bad.
Wait – repurposing flesh into fertile soil?!?! JACE, WHAT THE HELL
Simulacrum Shaper has the exact same text as Solemn Simulacrum – a 2/2 that when it enters, tutor a basic into play tapped; dies, draw a card. But the Shaper is an Elf Druid for – a full 1 mana cheaper than Solemn’s 
– but does lose the Artifact type and requires double-green making its applications more limited.
Lands of Note in Reality Fracture
Turbulent Lands
The Multiverse Reforged precon continued the fantastic commander-centric Turbulent land cycle with 3 new entries – Turbulent Crater (Red/Black), Turbulent Shore (White/Blue) and Turbulent Wetlands (Blue/Black).
We keep our Dual Lands Guide for Every Budget updated with lands like these, so check it out – especially if you’re building a two color deck!
End Step
Reality Fracture is loaded with Echoverse twists on old favorites, and we’ve barely scratched the surface. Samut, Tyrant of Naktamun and Geist of Saint Thalia will shake up tables fast, Craterclaw Colossus is bound to end many battlecruiser games and Liliana the Repentant might be the sleeper of the set. Which card are you sleeving up first? Let us know in the comments!