30, Sep, 26

Ridiculous Reality Fracture Mythic Creates Turn 4 Infinite Combos in Multiple Formats

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Since its debut at the set’s spoiler season kickoff, many eyes have been on Reality Fracture’s Hexhaven Invigorator Hexhaven Invigorator Hexhaven Invigorator Vigilance
Whenever this creature is dealt damage, you may search your library for up to that many land cards, put them onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.
. With tons of combo potential in formats like Modern, many players believed that this Phyrexian Obliterator Phyrexian Obliterator Phyrexian Obliterator Trample
Whenever a source deals damage to this creature, that source's controller sacrifices that many permanents of their choice.
retrain might be the next Primeval Titan Primeval Titan Primeval Titan Trample
Whenever this creature enters or attacks, you may search your library for up to two land cards, put them onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.
.

While the card is still being explored in older formats, the infinite combos it can pull off are quite powerful. If that weren’t enough, Hexhaven Invigorator seems to have Standard infinite combos too, massively increasing its potential.

MTG Hexhaven Invigorator Standard Infinite Combo

Discovered by Pro Tour winner Simon Nielson, Standard’s Hexhaven Invigorator infinite combo is a bit more complex than the rest. This is primarily a 3-card combo that uses three new Reality Fracture cards: Avatar of Burgeoning Echoes Avatar of Burgeoning Echoes Avatar of Burgeoning Echoes Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, empower Jace 2. (Put two loyalty counters on a Jace token you control. If you don't control one, first create a blue Jace planeswalker token with "[−1]: Surveil 1" and "[−3]: Draw a card.")
Planeswalkers you control have "[−10]: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature for each land you control."
, Way of the Warlord Way of the Warlord Way of the Warlord When Way of the Warlord enters, empower Jace 5. (Put five loyalty counters on a Jace token you control. If you don't control one, first create a blue Jace planeswalker token with "[−1]: Surveil 1" and "[−3]: Draw a card.")
Planeswalkers you control have "[−4]: This planeswalker deals 2 damage to up to one target creature or planeswalker and 2 damage to target player."
, and the Invigorator itself.

The goal is to, essentially, use Way of the Warlord’s -4 ability infinitely, dealing infinite damage to Hexhaven Invigorator and tutoring all the lands in your deck into play. Avatar of Burgeoning Echoes’s Landfall ability fuels your extra Empower Jace activations, while Roiling Canopy Roiling Canopy Roiling Canopy This land enters tapped.
Whenever a Forest you control enters, if you control at least five other Forests, target creature you control gets +3/+3 until end of turn.
{T}: Add {G}.
keeps your Hexhaven Invigorator alive.

Here’s an example of how the combo works:

  • Start with a Jace token at 4 loyalty, as well as Hexhaven Invigorator Hexhaven Invigorator Hexhaven Invigorator Vigilance
    Whenever this creature is dealt damage, you may search your library for up to that many land cards, put them onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.
    , Way of the Warlord Way of the Warlord Way of the Warlord When Way of the Warlord enters, empower Jace 5. (Put five loyalty counters on a Jace token you control. If you don't control one, first create a blue Jace planeswalker token with "[−1]: Surveil 1" and "[−3]: Draw a card.")
    Planeswalkers you control have "[−4]: This planeswalker deals 2 damage to up to one target creature or planeswalker and 2 damage to target player."
    , Avatar of Burgeoning Echoes Avatar of Burgeoning Echoes Avatar of Burgeoning Echoes Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, empower Jace 2. (Put two loyalty counters on a Jace token you control. If you don't control one, first create a blue Jace planeswalker token with "[−1]: Surveil 1" and "[−3]: Draw a card.")
    Planeswalkers you control have "[−10]: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature for each land you control."
    , and at least three Forest lands in play
  • Activate Way of the Warlord’s -4, dealing two damage to Hexhaven Invigorator and your opponent. Invigorator finds Roiling Canopy Roiling Canopy Roiling Canopy This land enters tapped.
    Whenever a Forest you control enters, if you control at least five other Forests, target creature you control gets +3/+3 until end of turn.
    {T}: Add {G}.
    and a Forest land, while your Jace token dies.
  • Avatar of Burgeoning Echoes triggers twice, Empowering Jace 4. Activate the -4 ability again with the same targets, finding two Forest lands this time.
  • Roiling Canopy triggers twice, giving your Invigorator +6/+6. Avatar of Burgeoning Echoes also triggers twice, Empowering Jace 4. You can then target Invigorator again with your -4 ability, creating a loop.

Sadly, because Way of the Warlord Empowers Jace 5, setting up this combo is more difficult than it looks. Surveilling 1 with your Jace token and going for the combo next turn is the easiest way to make this work, but you can also use Fabled Passage 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. to Empower Jace 4 with Avatar if your opponent goes after your Jace token.

Given how difficult this combo is to set up, it might not be competitively viable in Standard, but as Nielson shows, you can pull it off as early as turn four. That said, since creature removal easily disrupts this combo, I wouldn’t count on it making a competitive appearance.

Beyond Standard

Mine Collapse MTG Reality Fracture Combo

While this newly discovered Standard combo for Hexhaven Invigorator is quite interesting, things get a lot scarier when Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle This land enters tapped.
Whenever a Mountain you control enters, if you control at least five other Mountains, you may have this land deal 3 damage to any target.
{T}: Add {R}.
is added to the mix. With Mine Collapse Mine Collapse Mine Collapse If it's your turn, you may sacrifice a Mountain rather than pay this spell's mana cost.
Mine Collapse deals 5 damage to target creature or planeswalker.
dealing 5 damage to the Invigorator for free, you can easily set up a similar infinite combo as early as turn four.

To start, you need four Forest/Mountain cards in play, one of which you’ll sacrifice to Mine Collapse to deal 5 damage to your Invigorator. From here, you can search up three Mountain/Forest lands, Valakut, and Roiling Canopy, triggering Valakut and Canopy three times each. Buff up your Invigorator before dealing damage to it with Valakut, finding three more lands in the process. Killing your opponent from here should be trivial.

While this combo is already well-known in Modern and is seeing some early experimentation, you can also pull it off in Historic, where Scapeshift Scapeshift Scapeshift Sacrifice any number of lands. Search your library for up to that many land cards, put them onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle. Valakut decks were already competitively viable. Notably, you can also grab Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth Each land is a Forest in addition to its other land types. with your Invigorator, making Roiling Canopy extremely easy to trigger. Green Sun’s Zenith Green Sun’s Zenith Green Sun’s Zenith Search your library for a green creature card with mana value X or less, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle. Shuffle Green Sun's Zenith into its owner's library. can further improve your consistency, essentially giving you eight copies of your key creature.

Compared to Standard, Hexhaven Invigorator looks far more powerful in Modern and Historic since you really only need two cards to combo off. Of the three formats, this might mean Invigorator is at its best in Historic, since the card pool there is far weaker than Modern.

Add its Commander appeal, and it’s no wonder this card is one of the most expensive Reality Fracture cards after release. It will be interesting to see if any of these combos have a larger impact on these formats’ metagames, or if Hexhaven Invigorator is just yet another silly combo card.

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