We knew it was busted, but according to Magic data analyst, Sierkovitz, the Reality Fracture card Ajani Unrelenting may just be the biggest limited bomb Magic: The Gathering has ever printed. It’s the top card of the past five years, at any rate.
Taking data from 17 Lands and normalizing it to account for the different average win rates recorded for each set, Sierkovitz has kept track of every card’s Game In Hand win rate for Draft since Midnight Hunt (i.e. your odds of winning a game when you have that card in your opening hand).
Ajani Unrelenting has a win rate of 65.2%, which puts it in first place – and it isn’t particularly close. In fact this is a 2.5% higher win rate than the previous top card, Bonehoard Dracosaur from Lost Caverns of Ixalan. That’s a ridiculous dragon that generates both card advantage and creature tokens, so what makes Ajani even more terrifying?
Well, this card does a lot. It instantly adds a ton of stats and bodies to the board, deals damage with them on the same turn it’s played, and threatens to snowball out of control if it isn’t handled immediately. Ajani usually creates enough pressure to win the game even if it’s killed on the very next turn, and if the opponent cannot deal with it before you untap, success is all but guaranteed.
This MTG planeswalker is also very versatile. It would be a fantastic card for this set with just that static and first loyalty ability, but the one-sided board wipe makes it an equally mighty card when you’re behind, while the loot/draw ability can help you dig in some niche scenarios – perhaps if you’re facing down an opposing bomb, for instance.
Finally, it’s hard to counteract. The card’s first activation can’t be avoided once it’s been played, and its card type makes it harder to remove, even in a set with decent planeswaker removal.
Anecdotally, in the limited number of Limited games I’ve seen, Ajani has seemed completely unstoppable. In fact, you usually don’t get to see it in action because players will concede as soon as it hits the field.
While Sierkovitz notes that the set hasn’t been out long, and it’s likely the win rates will fall a bit in the coming weeks, he argues “they won’t go down by a mile – probably Ajani will remain on no. 1 spot and I am definitely hoping he will stay there for a long time”.
It’s worth noting that in a vacuum, Ajani Unrelenting would be a fair bit less powerful. But because this set has so many Empower Jace cards which give you a free planeswalker activation, you can usually get two tokens a turn from this walker.
Are you enjoying Reality Fracture Draft? If so, you’ll probably be happy to hear that WotC has extended the format – it won’t be disappearing when Star Trek arrives next month.
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Source: Wargamer
