New MTG Reality Fracture Deck Deals 40+ Damage Using Turn 3 Mill Combo

With Prerelease weekend just a few days away, Reality Fracture is closer than ever before. To celebrate, Magic’s biggest streamers are showcasing the set today, trying new brews out and slinging some Reality Fracture Limited.

Thanks to Wizards of the Coast, I was also invited to the Early Access Event, where I quickly put together a new deck utilizing Darklight Phoenix alongside a bunch of new self-mill tools. Going 7-1 in the Best of One Standard, this silly Standard sacrifice brew can do some extremely explosive things.

Orzhov Phoenix Sacrifice

Thanks to Reality Fracture’s incredible self-mill package, Orzhov Sacrifice got a massive shot in the arm. With Liliana, the Repentant Liliana, the Repentant Whenever another creature or planeswalker you control enters, mill two cards.
Exhaust — {5}{B}: Return target creature or planeswalker card from your graveyard to the battlefield. Put a +1/+1 counter on Liliana. Activate only as a sorcery. (Activate each exhaust ability only once.) and Dark Matter Manipulator Dark Matter Manipulator When this creature enters, mill three cards.
This creature gets +2/+0 for every seven cards in your graveyard. , you can quickly fill your graveyard and find multiple copies of 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. to reanimate. Umbral Collar Zealot Umbral Collar Zealot Sacrifice another creature or artifact: Surveil 1. (Look at the top card of your library. You may put it into your graveyard.) , The Sackville-Bagginses The Sackville-Bagginses When The Sackville-Bagginses enter, you may sacrifice another creature or artifact. If you do, draw a card and create a Treasure token.
Whenever you sacrifice a token, target opponent loses 1 life. , and Corrupted Conviction Corrupted Conviction As an additional cost to cast this spell, sacrifice a creature.
Draw two cards. help get your Phoenixes into play with ease, stalling for time or dealing tons of damage.

Going deeper on the sacrifice theme, both Greedy Freebooter Greedy Freebooter When this creature dies, scry 1 and create a Treasure token. (To scry 1, look at the top card of your library. You may put that card on the bottom. A Treasure token is an artifact with "{T}, Sacrifice this token: Add one mana of any color.") and The Hobbit’s Lake-Town Lookout Lake-Town Lookout When this creature dies, recruit. (Draw a card, then discard a card. If you discarded a nonland card, create a 1/1 white Human Soldier creature token.) can create tons of value when sacrificed. Lookout is particularly strong with 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. , getting copies in hand into the bin and offering two bodies to sacrifice. Freebooter, on the other hand, gives you more artifact tokens to sacrifice while setting up Raise the Past Raise the Past Return all creature cards with mana value 2 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield. alongside Zealot’s Surveils.

Once you have a decent number of creatures in your graveyard, with at least one Umbral Collar Zealot Umbral Collar Zealot Sacrifice another creature or artifact: Surveil 1. (Look at the top card of your library. You may put it into your graveyard.) available, you’re ready to Raise the Past Raise the Past Return all creature cards with mana value 2 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield. and set off a massive chain reaction. Generally, you can bring a handful of bodies back from the graveyard, and Liliana, the Repentant Liliana, the Repentant Whenever another creature or planeswalker you control enters, mill two cards.
Exhaust — {5}{B}: Return target creature or planeswalker card from your graveyard to the battlefield. Put a +1/+1 counter on Liliana. Activate only as a sorcery. (Activate each exhaust ability only once.) will see them all. This will cause a ton of mill, often milling you out completely and getting all four of your Darklight Phoenixes into the graveyard.

Then you can use Umbral Collar Zealot Umbral Collar Zealot Sacrifice another creature or artifact: Surveil 1. (Look at the top card of your library. You may put it into your graveyard.) to start sacrificing your creatures, ping your opponent with Vengeful Bloodwitch Vengeful Bloodwitch Whenever this creature or another creature you control dies, target opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life. , and get any Phoenixes out of your hand with the Lookout. Notably, if you’re reanimating a particularly large board, you’ll need to do this combo under full control to ensure that sacrificing a Lake-Town Lookout Lake-Town Lookout When this creature dies, recruit. (Draw a card, then discard a card. If you discarded a nonland card, create a 1/1 white Human Soldier creature token.) doesn’t draw from an empty deck.

Between Vengeful Bloodwitch Vengeful Bloodwitch Whenever this creature or another creature you control dies, target opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life. ‘s pings and your four 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. es, you should generally have enough damage to do the job. That said, if you need more damage, Obsessive Pursuit Obsessive Pursuit When this enchantment enters and at the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 1 life and create a Clue token. (It's an artifact with "{2}, Sacrifice this token: Draw a card.")
Whenever you attack, put X +1/+1 counters on target attacking creature, where X is the number of permanents you've sacrificed this turn. If X is three or more, that creature gains lifelink until end of turn. can pile a ton of counters onto a 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. , making 10+ damage lifelink swings easy. It also provides tons of midgame Clues for card draw, making it the most important card in the deck.

With so many cards in your graveyard after the mill, Dark Matter Manipulator Dark Matter Manipulator When this creature enters, mill three cards.
This creature gets +2/+0 for every seven cards in your graveyard. often has over 10 power, too. With that in mind, with the proper setup, dealing 40 damage out of nowhere is rather trivial.

Strengths, Weaknesses, and Additional Cards

With tons of ways to fill the graveyard and lots of grindy tools, Orzhov Sacrifice has a decent matchup against creature-based decks that can’t punch through your chump blockers. You have no issue trading off your Freebooters and your Recruits for damage, and reanimating 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. over and over gives you tons of blockers. Between the constant card advantage from Obsessive Pursuit Obsessive Pursuit When this enchantment enters and at the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 1 life and create a Clue token. (It's an artifact with "{2}, Sacrifice this token: Draw a card.")
Whenever you attack, put X +1/+1 counters on target attacking creature, where X is the number of permanents you've sacrificed this turn. If X is three or more, that creature gains lifelink until end of turn. and the instant-win button in Raise the Past Raise the Past Return all creature cards with mana value 2 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield. , slower decks also struggle to keep up with Orzhov Sacrifice.

While this combo deck is quite a fun way to play with the new Reality Fracture cards, it also has a fair few weaknesses. Graveyard hate like Rest in Peace Rest in Peace When this enchantment enters, exile all graveyards.
If a card or token would be put into a graveyard from anywhere, exile it instead. is the worst thing this deck can run into, especially since this deck has no removal, but it should be uncommon in Best of One.

Of course, having no removal can be problematic, too, especially against the current Jund Sacrifice deck with Biotech Specialist Biotech Specialist When this creature enters, create a Lander token. (It's an artifact with "{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this token: Search your library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.")
Whenever you sacrifice an artifact, this creature deals 2 damage to target opponent. , but your combo’s speed can help offset this downside.

If you want to shore up these issues, you could try some alternative cards in your own brews. Cards like Deadly Precision Deadly Precision As an additional cost to cast this spell, pay {4} or sacrifice an artifact or creature.
Destroy target creature. are fantastic removal options for this deck, enabling 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. on its own if you sacrifice a creature. Plenty of other options, like Requiting Hex Requiting Hex As an additional cost to cast this spell, you may blight 1. (You may put a -1/-1 counter on a creature you control.)
Destroy target creature with mana value 2 or less. If this spell's additional cost was paid, you gain 2 life. and the new Multiply by Zero Multiply by Zero Target creature has base power and toughness 0/0 until end of turn. , give you tons of removal options if you want to play them.

Otherwise, I found this deck can struggle to get Darklight Phoenix out of your hand without casting it, even with a playset of Lake Town Lookout Lake Town Lookout When this creature dies, recruit. (Draw a card, then discard a card. If you discarded a nonland card, create a 1/1 white Human Soldier creature token.) . If you’re willing to try Mardu, Masked Meower Masked Meower Haste
Discard a card, Sacrifice this creature: Draw a card. or Fear of Missing Out Fear of Missing Out When this creature enters, discard a card, then draw a card.
Delirium — Whenever this creature attacks for the first time each turn, if there are four or more card types among cards in your graveyard, untap target creature. After this phase, there is an additional combat phase. can help here, getting your Phoenixes into the bin with ease. This also gives you options like Ingris Stingerquill Ingris Stingerquill Flying
Whenever a creature you control attacks, that creature deals 1 damage to each opponent.
{4}: Create a 2/2 colorless Wizard Soldier creature token named Cadet. Then creatures you control gain haste until end of turn. that can punish an opponent for leaving you with a wide board.

While this deck might not be a competitive Standard powerhouse, it is a fun way to try out many of Reality Fracture’s new cards. I had a lot of fun playing it, and I hope you’ll enjoy it too.

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