Notable Reality Fracture Cards for Artisan: Best Charms, Planeswalker Enchantments and Uncommons

By Tiny and Scithos

Reality Fracture Artisan Set Review: Introduction

Welcome nobles, artisans, peasants, and paupers!

This is Tiny, I'll be writing with normal text. This article will be covering the cards Scithos and I think have potential in the artisan format. Fortunately this set is stacked so there's a lot to talk about.

Comin' at you with pretty letters on a tilt, it is I, Scithos! Today it is my pleasure to be teaming up with my main Wizard for this article, the one and only Tiny!

I felt it was good that I was called in, because looking at cards, as Tiny does, through the lenz of logic, efficacy and reliability is great, and very helpful... But sometimes you need to know about the cute and convoluted potential of things as well!

And I will say, there are some bangers in here that I can't wait to start bangin' with!

I hope that we can inform and inspire as we sift through this new pile of toys looking for the next fiery spice that will be wreckin' your face next Cup.

Without further ado, let's take a look at these cards, starting with some cycles!

Best Charms for Artisan

We got another cycle of charms, which is very exciting! This time they're ally pairs, which will have a better advantage of seeing play due to the reveal lands. All but one of them are very solid in my opinion, having several use cases.

Fatehold Charm

Let's talk about the charms in color order. That starts us off with Fatehold Charm. The primary use case I see for this charm is that ability to return a spell or creature to its owner's hand. It's a very versatile ability that allows you to interact with both the board and the stack, with the drawback of going down by a card. The other two modes are also very solid. The pump effect allows you to survive sweepers and push through damage, and the cantrip mode also gives card selection or the potential to draw another card off of Jace. I think if this charm does see play, it'll likely be in a tempo shell.

Theorix Charm

Theorix Charm is our blue-black charm of the cycle and looks very similar to a previously good charm, that being Izzet charm. Both have a Spell Pierce effect, a way to remove something with two toughness or less, and a way to curate your hand while filling your graveyard. However, I do think that Theorix Charm is going to be much better than Izzet Charm due to its removal and card selection modes being much better. It actually shrinks the target, making it easier to kill in combat and can soften blows being dealt to you. Meanwhile its other mode cantrips while putting more cards into the graveyard. Overall, I wouldn't be surprised if this did very well, but I'm not sure where it would show up currently.

Stingerquill Charm

Next we have my personal favorite of the cycle in Stingerquill Charm, the red-black charm. It has two excellent base modes and one more conditional, but still very powerful, mode. The first base mode is Lightning Strike, which has proven to be a fine card across formats allowing you to push damage and remove threats. The other base mode is a bit odd, especially in Rakdos colors, being effectively a 2/2 flash, haste creature which can function as a surprise blocker or an early threat. The final mode gives a creature deathtouch and first strike. This is a lethal combination that allows your creature to always win combat and be used as pseudo-removal. Overall a very solid aggressive charm that I'm excited to test out.

If you ever have played against me on Arena, you would know that I rock the Rakdos Avatar, and likely always will. On this charm of red and black I just had to chime in and say, "I am going to play so many menace creatures with this card."

Even just the threat of having this charm in hand makes your menace derds effectively unblockable. Not sure if it will pan out to anything, but the thought of two fatties needing to block my 2/1 menace villain token (or equivalent) so they live, and then getting shredded via a Stingerquill, makes me salivate.

Konstrari Charm

Konstrari Charm is a bit of a weird one. Its modes aren't the greatest, but it does function as a ritual producing three colorless mana. I'm not sure if this kind of effect will see play anywhere, but it is notable because we haven't seen anything like it in a long time. I'll be very curious to see if it does anything.

You know, I wonder if, with the likes of Loki Laufeyson, Mica, Reader of Ruins and perhaps other copy effects, this might find a place as a super-ritual. Cute? Yes. A bit convoluted? Sure. But…. just think of the possibilities! (hmm.. Do we even have anything that wants to be cast for six colorless mana on turn 3?)

Vigorbloom Charm

Our final charm, Vigorbloom Charm, is another solid charm that I think could have legs in creature combo shells like Rosie Cotton. Its first mode functions as a protection spell for any permanent, allowing you to keep it safe when needed. Its other two modes allow for some versatility with one padding your life total while cantripping, and the other functions as an instant-speed pump and fight effect. Not the craziest or most interesting effects but they're all solid and could definitely lead to the card seeing play.

Overall, the charms seem very solid with a decent chance to show up in decks all across Artisan.

Color Hate Cards in Reality Fracture

A new cycle of color hate cards was printed this set, with the change being they hate on their ally colors rather than their enemy ones. These will probably be decent as they compare to other color hate effects we've gotten before. There won't be much to say but I'll go over each one individually.

Refute Destiny

Refute Destiny is probably one of the weakest of the bunch due to being sorcery speed. Exiling the creature or planeswalker is nice for preventing recursive shenanigans, and the surveil one helps with the card selection a bit at the very least.

Precise Redaction

Precise Redaction is like Flash Freeze. It'll be good if white and/or black decks are popular or if you're having trouble with them. Good to have but a bit boring.

Terminal Criticism

Terminal Criticism is Noxious Grasp but for blue or red creatures or planeswalkers. I could see this being somewhat decent considering we're going into an era with lots of empower Jace cards.

Essence Burn

Essence Burn dealing five damage is very nice for this kind of effect; and on top of all that exiling the creature afterwards will prevent any recursion or death triggers. Overall my personal favorite of the bunch.

Flourishing Grapple

Flourishing Grapple making the creature lose all abilities before punching it seems quite decent. On top of all that it's very efficient, being a one mana instant speed spell. Could definitely see this seeing play.

I personally think these new color-disliker cards (hate is such a strong word, no?) are really interesting and fresh. They each give you an opportunity to cover a more separated part of the color wheel, and I have a theory that will make them more useful than the allied color-dislikers, which I feel tend to cover much more similar strategies with their color pairing.

Way of the Planeswalker enchantments

With Reality Fracture being a planeswalker-focused set, there is a lot of support for planeswalkers at uncommon. In particular I want to cover some of the more interesting 'Way of the Planeswalker' enchantments.

Way of the Pyromancer

Let's start with the strongest of the bunch, Way of the Pyromancer. This is the only one that was given a plus ability from the cycle. One of the nice things about it having a plus ability is that it's basically a fully functional two mana planeswalker at uncommon. Its plus ability grants all of your planeswalkers "[+1]: Add {R}", which is a lot stronger than you'd think. It allows you to cast a one mana spell the turn you play it and potentially getting five mana worth of cards during your next turn, if you play one of the War of the Spark (WAR) planeswalkers. It also has the base Jace token abilities allowing you to potentially draw extra cards or surveil for card selection. If there's anything that will improve the WAR planeswalkers, it'll likely be this.

I agree with Tiny's picks and evaluations for these enchantments, and will double up on the guess that, if there is one that will make its way into competitive artisan, its Way of the Pyromancer. It has the potential for sure.

Way of the Necromancer and Way of the Mentor

Way of the Necromancer and Way of the Mentor are the two other "Ways of the" cards that put loyalty on planeswalkers, either by having your creatures die or by gaining life. Both seem to have decent potential, with them allowing you to draw cards via the Jace token and keeping your other WAR planeswalkers alive. Way of the Mentor also seems decent for keeping a steady card flow in a soul sister's deck (Scithos thinks this deck is starting to look pretty juicy), which has been a problem for the deck in the past. Not completely sold on these yet, but I could still see them making an impact.

Way of the Deathbringer and Way of the Cryomancer

Our next two Way of the Planeswalker enchantments both provide minus abilities to your planeswalkers that seem potentially strong enough to see some play somewhere. Way of the Deathbringer seems to be the better of the two, allowing you to turn your small creatures with death triggers into 4/4 tramplers. I think it gives black one of the things that it's been missing in artisan, big threats that can push through damage, which makes me very excited. The other one, Way of the Cryomancer, also seems potentially solid as a way to have a copy effect sitting on the board. Copying your removal, a stock up, or a spell that empowers Jace could be a very solid piece of value.

Way of the Paradox

The final enchantment I want to talk about is Way of the Paradox. It's a bit weird looking, but it's basically a three mana Explore that gains some life and has additional value. I'm not entirely sure if it's too slow but I think it has the chance to accrue some decent value and pad your life total. Very glad that they gave us more planeswalker support at uncommon. I'm very excited to see what all of these will do to the format.

I'm also really excited to see planeswalkers getting some fun new tools (even if its all Jace all the time). I wanted to share my blanket opinion about all the "empower" cards that seem like they might be borderline playable.

On their own, cards like Campus Crier or Mindseeker Oculus likely won't make the cut. Though, with all these empower cards, and all these cards that give Jace tokens and other walkers extra abilities (some of which are definitely eye-catching), I wonder if there is a deck in there that could leverage big empowers efficiently enough to get crazy deals on, say, giant hexproof octopuses. Probably not, but it would be sweet if something like that did evolve.

Best Legendary Creatures for Artisan

Next let's look at some of the more interesting legendary creatures from the echo pairs that were printed this set. There's a lot of effects that we've never seen before, so let's take a look.

Ghalta, the Immovable

Ghalta, the Immovable - I have been wanting to make a "Big Butts" deck in StA ever since I saw Tapestry Warden and Destined Confrontation (Sir Mix-A-Lot even has the theme song covered), but it's been missing that extra piece. This alternate-reality Ghalta ticks that box, and landing nice-Ghalta on turn 3 for as low as 1 mana looks like it will be pretty easy. Once on the field this dino is a fierce attacker and can turn your otherwise completely harmless army into a coup de grâce strike force.

Fblthp, Impossibly Lost

Fblthp got his first uncommon printing in Fblthp, Impossibly Lost. It has a very interesting trigger that can be used as a two mana draw two, or if you have no cards left in your library, an alternate win condition. I'm not sure we have the most support to make use out of that alternate win condition, as we lack cards like Demonic Consultation to get rid of our deck in response to the trigger. I think it could still be a decent draw effect in midrange decks, even with the downside of having it potentially get removed before you can get the trigger.

Geist of Saint Thalia

We also got our own Thalia! Geist of Saint Thalia is very different from her usual counterpart Guardian of Thraben, where instead of increasing the cost of noncreature spells it reduces your noncreatures spells. I'm not entirely sure if there's a blue deck out there currently that wants this effect, but I could totally see some sort of combo or tempo list popping up taking advantage of this very powerful cost reducer.

I am really looking forward to tinkering with this one. We have artisan cost reducers in mono-blue, but none that are 2 mana (and fly!). I think it will open up previously unattainable design space that was only previously available by loading up your deck with lessons.

Traxos, Academy Guardian

Stormwing Entity is that you!?! It's not, but Traxos, Academy Guardian does a somewhat similar impression at a surface level. It gets discounted by noncreature spells rather than only instants and sorceries which is quite nice. On top of that it also has a much more defensive body which it can make use of with vigilance. I think you reliably need to be able to play it on the cheap in order for it to be good, but it shouldn't be too hard with eight cantrips in Standard Artisan or the baubles in eternal play. I'm not entirely sure if the work you have to go through will be worth it, but it does look potentially promising at a first glance.

Nice-Traxos looks like it could be irritating aggro decks near you in the very near future! I always appreciate a card that can be a brick wall of a defender while also going on the offensive. I think this card will likely really shine in Timeless and Historic, where the Baubles will make it a breeze to play it for its reduced cost and pump it efficiently. Both looking forward to, and cringing at the thought of, this one making it to market.

Proft, Sinister Mastermind

Proft, Sinister Mastermind seems like it could be the real deal to me. Standard might not have the tools to reach threshold fast enough for Proft to make a splash, but in Historic and Timeless you have the means to fill your graveyard very fast, and at that point a 5/5 menace creature for three mana is an appreciable threat. Throw in the extra bonus of its discard trigger, allowing you to pitch extras to the yard and lightly affect combats, and I think it may be enough to see some play. And you know, "Turn 1 Proft your elf. Turn 2 Unearth Proft" doesn't sound so bad either.

Winter, Tormented Loner

Winter, Tormented Loner is an interesting take on a Fleshbag Marauder, with the effect being entirely optional. I think this is a real boon for having this effect be optional, as it means you can run Winter out as a threat even when your opponent has no creatures in play. Speaking of being a threat, Winter is actually quite a decent one at that if you can put some creatures into your graveyard. He also has three toughness which means he's a lot more likely to live past sweepers like Fire Magic which is nice. Overall, a very solid threat that I could see going in a variety of black lists.

Koth, the Geomancer

Koth, the Geomancer is an interesting effect that almost works like a red Lotus Cobra while also pushing damage through. The main downside of course is that it'll only give the mana with mountains, which makes it much worse with fetch lands. I think I could still see this effect being pretty decent in Standard Artisan, either just using it to push damage through or using it to potentially ramp in a red deck.

Tomik, Izzet Sparkmage

The cheapest damage increaser, in Tomik, Izzet Sparkmage, is printed at uncommon, which was pretty surprising. This has a lot of theoretical potential for burn spells and pingers, turning all your pings into shocks and all your shocks into bolts. In addition to all that this card has prowess which will make this card potentially work favorably in combat. I'm surprised this card isn't rare, but I'm excited to see what it does in artisan.

I am absolutely Jazzzzed for this card! I am an absolute sucker for this kind of effect, and have been ever since Pyromancer's Swath showed me how fast they could close out a game. At 2 mana, this little guy can amp up all your burn and ping-triggers quickly and efficiently. He even, shockingly, comes with prowess! So all those extra spells amp up his damage-dealing capabilities in turn! I have no doubt that the first "Fractured" deck I burn wildcards for will start with "4x Tomik".

Winter, Team Player

Our first ever good convoke threat, in Winter, Team Player, got printed. You can pretty reliably get this out into play on turn two in Historic Artisan with the help of Kuldotha Rebirth and Gleeful Demolition. This is quite nice because, with just a few noncreature spells, you can pump up your team big enough to kill your opponent on turn three. The main problem I see with this sort of deck however is that there is no good backup plan if your winter gets removed or if you don't draw him. Because of this, the deck is probably worth paying attention to but not actually worth using yet.

I agree completely. This "Team Player" looks pretty absurd on paper, but I feel that it might not translate into a competitive deck until it has another piece for redundancy.

Pia, Aether Ascetic

A new tutor creature that's very similar to the all star Formidable Speaker was added. Pia, Aether Ascetic tutors for enchantments, a first for green, to hand which is quite a strong effect.

The most obvious use is discarding a reanimation target and fetching a reanimation enchantment, like Necromancy, to get back the threat you just discarded. I'm not sure this is the best thing to do in artisan, but it will likely happen either way. She's also a great way of searching up specific enchantments that are needed for combos, like Spelunking. Not sure if we have the best enchantments for this card currently, but it's very exciting to get another efficient tutor into the format.

In Standard Artisan, our respective Roots players were quite excited for this card, which fits like a tailored satin glove in that deck. I am much more interested in the interaction with Necromancy however, as I think it might be able to push reanimator into a competitive place.

Titanbones, Towering Heart

Silversmote Ghoul has a new buddy with Titanbones, Towering Heart, allowing you to freely get back your ghouls just by discarding one of these big fellas. I think this could make an interesting archetype similar to Hollow Vine, where you discard your hand repeatedly and get free creatures in play. I'm not entirely sure if the deck is all the way there yet, but this does bring it a heck of a lot closer to being a viable deck.

Mabel, Valley Hero

Mabel, Valley Hero is likely a bit slow to be competitive, but I really like the design. Instead of a blanket "all your derds enter with a +1/+1 counter" it lets you, for example, make one 5/5 and three 1/1's if you cast a "Release the Dogs" with Mabel in play. Interesting if not super-effective.

Other Notable Reality Fracture Cards

We have a final few cards we'd like to share before we go into our final thoughts on the set here. While these aren't as game changing as the cards above, there are some really interesting bangers.

Unflinching Hortimancer

Another Ajani's Pridemate effect was added with Unflinching Hortimancer. We've normally been seeing this effect printed on rares for the past few years with the likes of Essence Channeler, Voice of the Blessed, and Leonardo. The past few versions of this effect we've gotten at uncommon have unfortunately been multicolor or non-white, so it's pretty exciting to get another good mono-white pridemate effect. I'm hoping this makes mono-white and Orzhov soulsisters better.

Perfected Theory

Blue has a new giant growth for prowess decks now. Perfected Theory, while not actually saying "target creature gets +3/+3", is often a giant growth with most prowess threats. I'm not sure we have enough pieces to make mono blue prowess good yet, but this is a big addition to making it more possible.

Cast Away Doubt

You know, Cast Away Doubt brings to mind my most successful standard deck of all time (by win %). It was a Jund ramp deck that was being played around the time of Kessig Wolf-Run's release (drool, that card). The reason my ramp deck slayed more than the others at that time was because I put 4 Sign in Blood in the deck. It was awesome because the average power level of the cards in the deck was so high, those two cards were worth more than in most decks…

Anyway, nostalgic anecdotes aside, the reason I bring it up is that, damn, did I kill so many people with those Sign in Bloods! Three mana is a lot more than two, it's true, but with this you get the cards AND the damage! Maybe this could be a player in some kind of black or black/x aggro deck.

Multiply by Zero

I see Multiply by Zero as something like a Heartless Act that can also kill indestructible creatures, allowing it to take down anything that hasn't positively modified its toughness. I think this will become a staple removal spell if the format opens up to it.

No Admittance

At sorcery speed, No Admittance isn't mind-blowing, but this Volcanic Hammer's little bonus makes me consider it. I can see this card making its way into any red decks with some other empower support, and maybe even without.

Heartwood Crafter

I can't get over how Heartwood Crafter is a one-card, "turn one ramp, turn two ramp." Sure, the artificer's colorless mana can't be spent on casting hand cards, but there are a lot of things to spend mana on these days that aren't spells from your hand. Not to mention that our little friend here is putting an extra permanent on the table, an artifact no less, which is useful for many things. I wouldn't be surprised if some sort of ramp deck found a home for the Crafter.

Bloombrute

I would admit, Bloombrute does look pretty durdly (and at 4 mana it probably is). It does, however, have a powerful triggered ability (everyone loves drawing cards!) that is extremely easy to satisfy. Especially in standard where we have a range of "soul sister" type effects as well as Tigra, Feline Fury from Heroes, the new Unflinching Hortimancer, and a wide range of other gain life triggers. With all these tools Bloombrute may find a little corner of the meta where it could be useful.

Clash of Elements

Izzet acquired an interesting removal spell. Clash of Elements hits any nonland permanent and tucks it away. If they do decide to keep it on top, then they take some damage, which keeps the pressure up. And if they tuck it to the bottom, then it works as a hard removal. A pretty surprising and strong addition for Izzet to be honest.

Craftwork Crusher

A pretty good new reanimation target, in Craftwork Crusher, was added. We've recently been seeing our big reanimation threats get a lot better with the likes of Breaker of Creation and Shroudstomper. I'm hopeful that this will be a good addition with those for reanimator, though we still lack another two mana reanimation spell to make the deck really efficient.

Grim Repriser

Gotta say, not sure if our resident Rock'n'Roll enthusiast, Grim Repriser (right?), is quite good enough to make the constructed scene, but I needed this forum to say to the world that this is, by far, my favorite art piece in the set. I think it's totally Rockin'!

Primal Witchstalker

We got another good three mana ramp creature in Primal Witchstalker. This time it has the bonus of filling the graveyard and grabbing any land from there to play, and with a decent body to top it all off. I could totally see this working in some sort of graveyard deck that needs the ramp or some midrange list.

Stingerquill Voxmancer

Yes, this gobbo perhaps is a bit underwhelming, but Stingerquill Voxmancer does what it does very well. You have a deck that wants you to continuously cast a stream of spells every turn? Voxy here will help you out. You need to commit a "crime" every turn? Stinger Gob will guarantee that the sheriffs will have their hands full. Might not find the deck it needs, but I do see some potential here.

I will note that Voxmancer is probably the best red one drop creature in Standard Artisan now. It's less aggressive than some of the one drops we've gotten in the past, but it is an excellent synergy piece with cards like Tomik and Coruscation Mage.

Final Thoughts on Reality Fracture for Artisan

This set looks like it'll be a crazy one, and I for one am quite excited to see how it all turns out, especially with all this planeswalker support. How about you Scithos?

A whole set about Jace going insane and potentially wrecking up the entire everything?! How could it not be a crazy ride!? But seriously,

who is not excited about all the Goliath's thick thighs!?

Okay but actually really seriously, there is no way that this set is not going to shake up the artisan scene. We are getting weird toys with no real equal in the history of magic, and we are getting some power-crept nonsense that I truly did not think I would see anytime soon.

I am definitely excited to burn some wildcards and get testing!

And with that, that wraps up the set review, it has been a pleasure. See you all next time!