Wizards of the Coast’s preview panel at MagicCon Amsterdam showed off loads of cool cards from the next MTG set, Reality Fracture. This ‘What If?’ set has some wild reinterpretations. We saw a giant Tinybones and the new Hexhaven schools. But sweetest of all were the new planeswalker and legendary creature cards representing the Lorwyn 5 and their alternate universe rivals.
These five characters: Jace, Ajani, Liliana, Garruk, and Chandra, are the very first MTG planeswalkers ever released for the game – all the way back in October 2007. Now as part of his mission to right/rewrite the multiverse, Jace has created creepy alt-universe versions of each of them. Except himself, of course!
Let’s start with Ajani. The regular version, Ajani Resolute, is as classic as Ajani gets, a super cheap two mana walker that cares about lifegain, creates Pridemates, and – if you can keep gaining life to get his loyalty up – can make a big anthem buff to boost a wide board.
His mirror image, Ajani Unrelenting is a much angrier version of the character, but still great in a go-wide tokens deck. Actually he works well with other planeswalkers that make tokens as he spits out 2/2s whenever any loyalty ability is used. He can also buff the board, discard and draw, and his -3 fires off damage at anything that’s not a friendly token critter.
Liliana is the only member of the Lorwyn group to lose her spark, and her Echoverse version is pretty fun. It’s another ‘what if’ scenario. What if all the horrible stuff that happened to Liliana, didn’t? And what if she was really smug about it?
Whereas regular Lili mills you when creatures or planeswalkers enter, Echoverse Lili gains you life (she’s a soul sister). Liliana the Repentant has an Exhaust ability that can bring a creature or planeswalker back from the grave, but Liliana the Faultless can ensure they never go there in the first place by temporarily granting them hexproof.
Garruk, Curse Breaker is again very classic. He has the static effect of Garruk’s Uprising, ramps you by untapping lands, and spits out beasties. His -4 ability is really fun in multiplayer games though, inviting everyone at the table to hunt another player, buffing everyone else’s creatures when they attack them. Meanwhile Garruk, Veiled Butcher is wearing the chain veil, giving him discard and debuffing powers. He can still make beasts, but only if you sacrifice something first.
We’ve already seen both versions of Chandra. The ‘normal’ one is a reprint of Chandra, Torch of Defiance while her mirror is an ice mage with eerily similar abilities, who works for the Consulate.
Finally, we have The Theorist, Jace Beleren, and ooh, his new role has supplanted his real name. Eerie! Just by having this guy on the field, you’re drawing an extra card on each of your opponents’ turns – again, an effect that’s really good for EDH. He can also bounce artifacts and creatures from everyone’s boards, and if you’re prepared to put in the work, protecting him while he spits out illusions for multiple turns, you get a really strong effect.
Jace’s ultimate is a -6 loyalty ability that draws you three cards, then gives all your creatures a +1/+1 for every card in your hand. That’ll probably be seven or more, since you’re a blue deck that’s already drawing extra cards with that static effect.
It’s notable that many of these cards synergize really well with other planeswalkers – and also seem really good for EDH. If you’re building a superfriends deck, you should pay attention to Reality Fracture.
Meanwhile, everyone out there should pay attention to the MTG release schedule, as three exciting-looking new sets just got announced!
Source: Wargamer
