Mythic Two-Drop Takes Over Multiple Formats with New Mechanic

While the Empower Jace mechanic is at its best when heavily built around, there are a few Reality Fracture powerhouses that can dominate all by themselves. While it’s still early, Avatar of Burgeoning Echoes has quickly emerged as the best of the bunch. It’s not often that a Standard-legal card makes waves in Vintage, but this two-drop is making a name for itself.

Eternal Impact

Almost immediately following the release of Reality Fracture, Avatar of Burgeoning Echoes started putting up results as a four-of in Vintage. The primary home for this card is Sultai, a midrange deck looking to grind the opponent into dust with value-generating creatures.

Even with no other Planeswalker or Landfall synergies, Avatar fits this deck perfectly at face value. It’s easy to set up a window where you jam this creature, then follow up with a Fetch land to get your Jace token up to 4 loyalty immediately. This way, even if your opponent has a removal spell, you pull ahead on card advantage. If they don’t kill it, you can keep playing lands and drawing extra cards over time.

You also have access to Lurrus of the Dream-Den Lurrus of the Dream-Den Companion — Each permanent card in your starting deck has mana value 2 or less. (If this card is your chosen companion, you may put it into your hand from outside the game for {3} as a sorcery.)
Lifelink
Once during each of your turns, you may cast a permanent spell with mana value 2 or less from your graveyard. to rebuy Avatar and keep the value train rolling. With other bursts of card advantage like Psychic Frog Psychic Frog Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player or planeswalker, draw a card.
Discard a card: Put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.
Exile three cards from your graveyard: This creature gains flying until end of turn. and Ancestral Recall Ancestral Recall Target player draws three cards. , the risk of running out of lands to play is extremely low, even in the late game. In the rare case you do, though, excess copies of Avatar still hold value as blue spells to pitch to Force of Will Force of Will You may pay 1 life and exile a blue card from your hand rather than pay this spell's mana cost.
Counter target spell. and Force of Negation Force of Negation If it's not your turn, you may exile a blue card from your hand rather than pay this spell's mana cost.
Counter target noncreature spell. If that spell is countered this way, exile it instead of putting it into its owner's graveyard. .

While Lurrus has made Avatar a natural fit for Vintage, the creature is also popping up in Legacy Bant Lands brews. This deck can abuse Mox Diamond Mox Diamond If this artifact would enter, you may discard a land card instead. If you do, put this artifact onto the battlefield. If you don't, put it into its owner's graveyard.
{T}: Add one mana of any color. to accelerate Avatar out early, then use Carnivorous Cultivator Carnivorous Cultivator Deathtouch
This creature enters prepared.
Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, return target land card from your graveyard to your hand. to rebuy lands and keep the Landfall triggers coming. With Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath When Uro enters, sacrifice it unless it escaped.
Whenever Uro enters or attacks, you gain 3 life and draw a card, then you may put a land card from your hand onto the battlefield.
Escape—{G}{G}{U}{U}, Exile five other cards from your graveyard. (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its escape cost.) putting extra lands into play, it’s easy to build Jace’s Loyalty in no time and threaten the -10 ability.

Maximizing the Final Ability in Standard

Even though Avatar’s final ability can come to fruition in Eternal formats, it’s by far the most threatening in Standard Simic Landfall shells. After all, the combination of Icetill Explorer and either Fabled Passage Fabled Passage {T}, Sacrifice this land: Search your library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle. Then if you control four or more lands, untap that land. or Escape Tunnel Escape Tunnel {T}, Sacrifice this land: Search your library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.
{T}, Sacrifice this land: Target creature with power 2 or less can't be blocked this turn. goes completely ballistic. These tools make it very possible to put 10 loyalty counters on Jace in one turn, especially if you have multiple Avatars in play.

Beyond making the -10 ability more attainable, this deck also uses Trampling monsters like Mossborn Hydra Mossborn Hydra Trample (This creature can deal excess combat damage to the player or planeswalker it's attacking.)
This creature enters with a +1/+1 counter on it.
Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, double the number of +1/+1 counters on this creature. that wear those counters well. Earthbender Ascension Earthbender Ascension When this enchantment enters, earthbend 2. Then search your library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.
Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, put a quest counter on this enchantment. When you do, if it has four or more quest counters on it, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control. It gains trample until end of turn. can also grant Trample to any of your other creatures, making it trivial to break open a board stall. Throw in Mightform Harmonizer Mightform Harmonizer Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, double the power of target creature you control until end of turn.
Warp {2}{G} (You may cast this card from your hand for its warp cost. Exile this creature at the beginning of the next end step, then you may cast it from exile on a later turn.) , and you’ll almost guarantee lethal.

It’s crazy to think it’s only been six days since Reality Fracture’s official release, and Avatar is already crushing events across formats. There’s still more brewing potential, so we may see the card’s popularity keep growing over time. This is a great example of how raw power and rate can turn a design into a multi-format staple.

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