MTG's First Negative Power Card Is a Fantastic Reality Fracture Commander

Despite arguably not having the best setup over the past three years, Reality Fracture hasn’t disappointed at all. Not only have the story chapters been incredibly well received, but the new spoilers and the set’s gimmick are slam dunks. This is especially true for the new reality-swapped Loot, the Anomaly card that breaks new ground as Magic’s first negative-power creature.

MTG Loot, the Anomaly

While this Loot card might look like a bit of a novelty, it’s actually a pretty powerful mono-black Commander. At the very least, Loot, the Anomaly provides a free-ish sacrifice effect that’s not bound by a once-per-turn clause. While you do need to hit Threshold to use this ability, this isn’t too hard in an Aristocrats-style deck, even without self-mill.

Beyond just being an unrestricted free sacrifice engine, Loot is sort of a win con, too. Since each sacrifice buffs Loot with more negative power, it can steadily become a legitimate threat. It’s easy to boost this further, too, using cards like Belbe’s Armor Belbe’s Armor {X}, {T}: Target creature gets -X/+X until end of turn. , Clinging Darkness Clinging Darkness Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets -4/-1. , and Torment Torment Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets -3/-0. . Sadly, since negative toughness goes through Indestructible protection, potentially exciting cards like Kuro, Pitlord Kuro, Pitlord At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice Kuro unless you pay {B}{B}{B}{B}.
Pay 1 life: Target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn. won’t work.

While Loot doesn’t have tons of toughness to play with, you can use some Blight cards, like Sinister Gnarlbark Sinister Gnarlbark At the beginning of your end step, draw a card and blight 1. (Put a -1/-1 counter on a creature you control.) , to good effect. With Bogslither’s Embrace Bogslither’s Embrace As an additional cost to cast this spell, blight 1 or pay {3}. (To blight 1, put a -1/-1 counter on a creature you control.)
Exile target creature. and Dream Seizer Dream Seizer Flying
When this creature enters, you may blight 1. If you do, each opponent discards a card. (To blight 1, put a -1/-1 counter on a creature you control.) offering helpful utility, Loot can pack a punch even without sacrificing anything. Realistically, though, sacrifice is definitely the angle of attack for Loot, the Anomaly, so you’ll need plenty of fuel.

Thankfully, while it’s not quite as go-wide as white or green, black can still excel in this department with Bitterbloom Bearer Bitterbloom Bearer Flash
Flying
At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 1 life and create a 1/1 blue and black Faerie creature token with flying. and Bitterblossom Bitterblossom At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 1 life and create a 1/1 black Faerie Rogue creature token with flying. . Notably, you can also utilize recursive creatures like Forsaken Miner Forsaken Miner This creature can't block.
Whenever you commit a crime, you may pay {B}. If you do, return this card from your graveyard to the battlefield. (Targeting opponents, anything they control, and/or cards in their graveyards is a crime.) and Reassembling Skeleton Reassembling Skeleton {1}{B}: Return this card from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped. if you’ve got mana to spare. You can also repeatedly sacrifice the new Darklight Phoenix Darklight Phoenix Flying, haste
At the beginning of combat on your turn, if two or more creatures died this turn, return this card from your graveyard to the battlefield. , which will come back every combat for additional damage.

Infinite Negative Power Potential

While Loot, the Anomaly is capable of playing an interesting fair game, it also has some exciting combo potential. Alongside Hyalopterous Lemure Hyalopterous Lemure {0}: This creature gets -1/-0 and gains flying until end of turn. and Agatha’s Soul Cauldron Agatha’s Soul Cauldron You may spend mana as though it were mana of any color to activate abilities of creatures you control.
Creatures you control with +1/+1 counters on them have all activated abilities of all creature cards exiled with Agatha's Soul Cauldron.
{T}: Exile target card from a graveyard. When a creature card is exiled this way, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control. , for instance, you can give Loot infinite negative power for infinite damage.

To set this combo up, get Lemure in the graveyard, then exile it with Agatha’s Soul Cauldron. Since this will let you put a +1/+1 Counter on Loot, it can then use Lemure’s ability infinitely for infinite negative power. After this, all you really need is evasion from Whispersilk Cloak Whispersilk Cloak Equipped creature can't be blocked and has shroud. (It can't be the target of spells or abilities.)
Equip {2} to start knocking out opponents one by one.

Thanks to being a free sacrifice engine, once Threshold is active, Loot can also enable plenty of existing combos. The infinite loop of replaying Gravecrawler Gravecrawler This creature can't block.
You may cast this card from your graveyard as long as you control a Zombie. using Treasures from Pitiless Plunderer Pitiless Plunderer Whenever another creature you control dies, create a Treasure token. (It's an artifact with "{T}, Sacrifice this token: Add one mana of any color.") , for instance, is fair game here. Alternatively, any Persist creature alongside Mikaeus, the Unhallowed Mikaeus, the Unhallowed Intimidate (This creature can't be blocked except by artifact creatures and/or creatures that share a color with it.)
Whenever a Human deals damage to you, destroy it.
Other non-Human creatures you control get +1/+1 and have undying. (When a creature with undying dies, if it had no +1/+1 counters on it, return it to the battlefield under its owner's control with a +1/+1 counter on it.) , also gets you infinite Loot sacrifice activations.

Sadly, while these existing sacrifice combos are powerful, only killing one opponent with Loot isn’t ideal. As such, you’ll likely want to use Blood Artist Blood Artist Whenever this creature or another creature dies, target player loses 1 life and you gain 1 life. for a more traditional Aristocrats win condition instead. While this does dampen Loot, the Anomaly’s appeal somewhat, there’s still plenty of fun to be had.

Fun but Flawed

Realistically, while Loot makes for a unique and interesting Commander brew, mono-black does limit things somewhat. Many of the most interesting and powerful cards are outside its color identity. In blue, for instance, you get access to Chant of the Skifsang Chant of the Skifsang Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets -13/-0. , Fear of Death Fear of Death Enchant creature
When this Aura enters, mill two cards. (Put the top two cards of your library into your graveyard.)
Enchanted creature gets -X/-0, where X is the number of cards in your graveyard. , and Spontaneous Mutation Spontaneous Mutation Flash
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets -X/-0, where X is the number of cards in your graveyard. for insane negative buffs.

In theory, these cards could make Loot a unique addition to Dimir mill decks, but its need for extra support makes it iffy there. The same is also true for Doran, Besieged by Time Doran, Besieged by Time Each creature spell you cast with toughness greater than its power costs {1} less to cast.
Whenever a creature you control attacks or blocks, it gets +X/+X until end of turn, where X is the difference between its power and toughness. decks, as while it can work wonders, you need tons of extra support. At minimum, you’d need to double Doran’s second ability; otherwise, Loot would end up with +4 power, regardless of any negative buffs.

Due to this inherent awkwardness, it feels like Loot, the Anomaly may end up just being an unrestricted sacrifice effect. While this isn’t the most fun thing, given the card’s unique potential, it’s very hard to say this is bad. If nothing else, Loot could be a nice new budget option in this category.

All in all, even if Loot, the Anomaly doesn’t see widespread play in MTG, it’s a fantastically enjoyable novelty. Like many cards from Mystery Booster: Commander Edition, the fact that it exists feels like a real treat. With that in mind, hopefully MTG players will enjoy building around this delightful oddity.

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