New Reality Fracture Sphinx Breaks 22-Year-Old Mechanic in Half

Since its initial appearance in Fifth Dawn back in 2004, the Scry mechanic has become an integral part of many MTG sets. By fixing your future draws and smoothing out land flooding or mana screw, Scrying, and its evolution, Surveilling, have become a major part of Magic: The Gathering.

Now, Reality Fracture is bringing an insane Scry and Surveil payoff in the form of Denzilore Fatehold. With the right setup, this Elder Sphinx can grow your creatures infinitely large, and it’s the real deal.

MTG Denzilore Fatehold

Denzilore Fatehold provides incredible upside thanks to its final ability, which can unusually trigger multiple times per turn. This lets you make your creatures astronomically large with lots of Scrying and Surveilling, which Denzilore can do with ease. Evasive creatures like Nightveil Sprite Nightveil Sprite Flying
Whenever this creature attacks, surveil 1. (Look at the top card of your library. You may put it into your graveyard.) and Il Mheg Pixie Il Mheg Pixie Flying
Whenever this creature attacks, surveil 1. (Look at the top card of your library. You may put it into your graveyard.) kick this off nicely, while Palantir of Orthanc Palantir of Orthanc At the beginning of your end step, put an influence counter on Palantír of Orthanc and scry 2. Then target opponent may have you draw a card. If that player doesn't, you mill X cards, where X is the number of influence counters on Palantír of Orthanc, and that player loses life equal to the total mana value of those cards. and Eye of Jace Eye of Jace At the beginning of your upkeep, surveil 1. Then if there are seven or more cards in your graveyard, sacrifice this artifact, it deals 2 damage to each opponent, and you gain 2 life. (To surveil 1, look at the top card of your library. You may put it into your graveyard.) help to accrue counters while just sitting in play.

Things really start to get out of hand when you add other tools that can Scry or Surveil multiple times a turn. Cryptic Annelid Cryptic Annelid When this creature enters, scry 1, then scry 2, then scry 3. (To scry X, look at the top X cards of your library, then put any number of them on the bottom and the rest on top in any order.) is among the strongest options, since each of its instances of Scrying trigger Denzilore separately. Alternatively, Proctor of Potential Proctor of Potential Whenever this creature or another creature you control enters, surveil 1. (Look at the top card of your library. You may put it into your graveyard.)
{W}{U}: Return this card from your graveyard to the battlefield with a finality counter on it. Activate only if you've scried or surveilled this turn. (If a creature with a finality counter on it would die, exile it instead.) , Gossip’s Talent Gossip’s Talent (Gain the next level as a sorcery to add its ability.)
Whenever a creature you control enters, surveil 1.
{1}{U}: Level 2
Whenever you attack, target attacking creature with power 3 or less can't be blocked this turn.
{3}{U}: Level 3
Whenever a creature you control deals combat damage to a player, you may exile it, then return it to the battlefield under its owner's control. , and Elrond, Lord of Rivendell Elrond, Lord of Rivendell Whenever Elrond or another creature you control enters, scry 1. If this is the second time this ability has resolved this turn, the Ring tempts you. each reward you for playing lots of creatures to the board.

With these tools and Denzilore both incentivizing you to go wide, utilizing mass token producers like Grand Crescendo Grand Crescendo Create X 1/1 green and white Citizen creature tokens. Creatures you control gain indestructible until end of turn. and Secure the Wastes Secure the Wastes Create X 1/1 white Warrior creature tokens. is super important. To get value turn after turn, you can also lean into repetitive token producers like Adeline, Resplendent Cathar Adeline, Resplendent Cathar Vigilance
Adeline's power is equal to the number of creatures you control.
Whenever you attack, for each opponent, create a 1/1 white Human creature token that's tapped and attacking that player or a planeswalker they control. , or Cosmogrand Zenith Cosmogrand Zenith Whenever you cast your second spell each turn, choose one —
• Create two 1/1 white Human Soldier creature tokens.
• Put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control. . Throw in token doublers, like Elspeth, Storm Slayer Elspeth, Storm Slayer If one or more tokens would be created under your control, twice that many of those tokens are created instead.
+1: Create a 1/1 white Soldier creature token.
0: Put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control. Those creatures gain flying until your next turn.
−3: Destroy target creature an opponent controls with mana value 3 or greater. , and things start to pop off even faster.

Once your engine starts rolling, plenty of other Scry payoffs, like Matoya, Archon Elder Matoya, Archon Elder Whenever you scry or surveil, draw a card. (Draw after you scry or surveil.) , and Planetarium of Wan Shi Tong Planetarium of Wan Shi Tong {1}, {T}: Scry 2.
Whenever you scry or surveil, look at the top card of your library. You may cast that card without paying its mana cost. Do this only once each turn. (Look at the card after you scry or surveil.) , come online, ensuring you’ll never run out of gas. At the same time, Saheeli, Consul of Oversight Saheeli, Consul of Oversight Flying
Whenever you scry or surveil, create a 1/1 colorless Thopter artifact creature token with flying. This ability triggers only once each turn. helps increase your board presence, while Prudent Fateseer Prudent Fateseer This creature enters prepared.
Whenever you scry or surveil, creatures you control get +1/+0 until end of turn. This ability triggers only once each turn. further buffs your squad. Then, after cementing your advantage, Elvish Mariner Elvish Mariner Whenever this creature attacks, scry 1.
Whenever you scry, tap up to X target nonland permanents, where X is the number of cards looked at while scrying this way. helps tap down blockers to push through damage.

Of course, Denzilore Fatehold also lets you use +1/+1 counter payoffs like Pensive Professor Pensive Professor Increment (Whenever you cast a spell, if the amount of mana you spent is greater than this creature's power or toughness, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.)
Whenever one or more +1/+1 counters are put on this creature, draw a card. or Danny Pink Danny Pink Mentor (Whenever this creature attacks, put a +1/+1 counter on target attacking creature with lesser power.)
Creatures you control have "Whenever one or more counters are put on this creature for the first time each turn, draw a card." . Doubling Denzilore’s impact with Lae’zel, Vlaakith’s Champion Lae’zel, Vlaakith’s Champion If you would put one or more counters on a creature or planeswalker you control or on yourself, put that many plus one of each of those kinds of counters on that permanent or player instead.
Choose a Background (You can have a Background as a second commander.) and Yoshimaru, Beloved Companion Yoshimaru, Beloved Companion If one or more +1/+1 counters would be put on a creature you control, that many plus one +1/+1 counters are put on it instead.
{6}: Put a +1/+1 counter on target legendary creature. is particularly nasty, scaling your creatures to extreme heights. All the while, Kid Loki Kid Loki Each creature you control that you've put one or more +1/+1 counters on this turn has hexproof.
Whenever you draw your second card each turn, put a +1/+1 counter on Kid Loki. can protect your biggest threats from removal, and Herald of Secret Streams Herald of Secret Streams Creatures you control with +1/+1 counters on them can't be blocked. then helps you attack unscathed.

Infinite Tokens and Counters

While Denzilore certainly doesn’t need any extra help to be a strong build-around, you can kick things up a notch with an impactful infinite combo. With Denzilore, Proctor of Potential, and Invisible Woman, Sue Storm Invisible Woman, Sue Storm Lifelink
Whenever you put one or more +1/+1 counters on one or more other Heroes you control, you may create a 0/4 colorless Wall creature token with defender. , you can generate infinite tokens and +1/+1 counter buffs to your board, so long as you have another Hero in play.

With these cards in play, resolving any creature will trigger Proctor of Potential to let you Surveil 1. This in turn triggers Denzilore, putting a +1/+1 counter on your team. Once the counter is put on your other Hero, Invisible Woman’s ability triggers, netting you a Wall token. When this token enters, Proctor of Professor triggers once more, keeping the chain going. After growing your team infinitely large, you should be able to just attack for the win.

Even though this combo requires a decent amount of setup, it includes a ton of cards that Denzilore would want to play anyway. Importantly, you can also replace Proctor of Potential with Gossip’s Talent or Elrond, Lord of Rivendell and achieve the same results. Between its incredible plan A and its combo upside, Denzilore has the potential to be quite a popular Commander option moving forward.

Stick with us here at mtgrocks.com: the best site for Magic: The Gathering coverage. Be sure to check out our deckbuilder for your next big brew, and our brand new MTG Rocks Podcast!