Washington Crossing the Delaware by by Emanuel Leutze (1851). Selvala, Explorer Returned by Tyler Jacobson.
A few weeks ago I finally broke down and posted all of the Commanderruminations artwork I've been making for this blog. You can see them at this link - I've even removed the branding so you can use them for whatever you like. The reception was fantastic and I want to thank everyone who gave me feedback. One comment suggested that I tweak "Washington Crossing the Delaware" and while I didn't exactly do what they asked for, I did have some fun with that famous painting for this week's post. I think of it as "Selvala Crossing the Delaware".
I promised a while back to try to look at the cards released in the run-up to the Commander 2017 release on August 25th and find something to write about. There have been lots of spoilers that are fairly straightforward but one of them particularly caught my attention.
That card is Fractured Identity.
I'll include the release notes on the card as well, as sometimes that can help in understanding what a card can do. This is straight from WoTC.
Fractured Identity 3WU Sorcery Exile target nonland permanent. Each player other than its controller creates a token that's a copy of it.
The tokens copy exactly what was printed on the permanent and nothing else (unless that permanent was copying something else or was a token; see below). They don't copy whether that permanent was tapped or untapped, whether it had any counters on it or Auras and/or Equipment attached to it, or any non-copy effects that changed its power, toughness, types, color, and so on.
If the copied permanent had X in its mana cost, X is 0.
If the copied permanent was copying something else, the tokens enter the battlefield as whatever that permanent was copying.
If the copied permanent is a token, the tokens created by Fractured Identity copy the original characteristics of that token as stated by the effect that put it onto the battlefield.
Any enters-the-battlefield abilities of the copied permanent will trigger when the tokens enter the battlefield. Any "As [this creature] enters the battlefield" or "[This creature] enters the battlefield with" abilities of the copied permanent will also work.
If the exiled permanent was a commander, the tokens won't be commanders.
Fractured Identity is one of those cards where if you use it to try to help yourself, you'll be helping out every other opponent. If you're down to one opponent, it can absolutely be game-ending depending upon what you pick. If you're in the mid-game and you're faced with 2-5 opponents, you've got to be very careful what you target. As an example, do you really want someone's Propaganda enough for everyone else to get one too?
While most players might not think about giving their opponents anything but headaches, bruises and maybe the occasional poison counter, I have experience giving permanents to my opponents. Regular readers may remember that I have a Zedruu deck. I've given my share of weird, nice and game-endingly mean gifts. Today I'm going to do my best to explore the many dumb, goofy, effective and downright filthy targets you can exile and foist upon each and every one of your opponents.
For the cards presented here I'll be using a 5 player game as the standard for how things might work out. It should go without saying that the more players in the game, the more busted Fractured Identity can get, but for the sake of consistency it will be making four copies of target permanent in all of examples to follow.
Dumb Ideas
Before we dive into all the neat stuff, it's worth mentioning that there are lots of dumb targets for this spell. Targeting Propaganda is a way to practically hand the combo or voltron player the win if nobody can attack without paying for each attacker. Of course, the guy whose Propaganda got exiled will probably bear the brunt of the combat damage. There are lots of more interesting dumb targets for Fractured Identity. Here are five for for us to start off with.
Have a lot of lands? Got a use for tons of mana? Mana Flare will add another mana each time you tap a land. In a 5 player game, four copies of Mana Flare would mean that each land is tapping for five mana. You'd better have a use for that mana because every other opponent including the one without a Mana Flare will get the same benefit as well.
Manabarbs will do 1 damage to you if you tap a land for mana. At the same 5 player table, four copies of Manabarbs will deal 4 damage for every land you tap. Want to overload a Cyclonic Rift by tapping 5 lands and a Sol Ring? You'll be taking 20 damage for your trouble, but you're a blue player casting Cyclonic Rift so you probably deserve it.
I almost included Seedborn Muse on this list, but Awakening is spicier by far. Awakening untaps your creatures and lands on each player's upkeep. At our 5 player table with 4 Awakenings out that should give each player at the table four separate instances of untapping their lands and creatures. If every player can respond to each untap by tapping a creature that has a tap ability, that means on their four opponents' turns they'll get a total of 16 chances to tap that creature. If that dude is Nettle Drone, who taps to do one damage to each opponent, they'll be doing a whole mess of damage. If it's Heartless Hidetsugu... you'd better pray he doesn't have lifelink.
While four copies of Awakening is dumb, what's even dumber is targeting a creature like Boldwyr Heavyweights with Fractured Identity. Each time these big fellows hit the battlefield each opponent gets to grab any creature they want from their library and put it into play. It's bad enough when you let your opponents do it once, as most EDH decks have something way scarier than an 8/8 with trample. When you invite your opponents to do it four times - five if you count the initial casting that put the first copy on the battlefield - you're just asking for horrible things to be played. If you follow it up with Mob Rule, you might be onto something, but on its own it's asking for trouble to hit Boldwyr Heavyweights with Fractured Identity. I'd still probably do it, but it sure isn't smart.
Next up is Rite of the Raging Storm. If you have an opponent with this enchantment, every opponent gets a 5/1 red Elemental creature token with trample and haste named Lightning Rager during their turn. The key part is that the controller of the enchantment cannot be attacked by creatures named Lightning Rager. That means that when you hit Rite of the Raging Storm with Fractured Identity, the original owner loses that enchantment and all of his opponents get a copy of it. At a five player table that will mean that on each of his opponents' turns that opponent will get FOUR 5/1 red Elemental creature tokens with trample and haste that can ONLY attack the original owner of the enchantment - as they are now the only one that doesn't have a copy of it. Withstanding 20 trample damage every turn is pretty rough, but also pretty hilarious. This is suicide if it's YOUR Rite of the Raging Storm, but if it's someone else's it would be well worth the trouble. Not only would it probably kill them - it would be unforgettable.
Goofy Gifts
So some of my dumb ideas might only be truly dumb in the right context. Let's see if any of these truly qualify as goofy.
Drooling Ogre is goofy. Just look at him. While I've long wanted to add this bad boy to a deck, I haven't yet found a good reason to play a 3/3 who will leave me to go to the battlefield of whoever played the most recent artifact. At our 5 player table Fractured Identity would give us four of these big goofy bastards to all go tromping off to whoever plays the next artifact. I find this slightly hilarious but it would only really belong in a deck more concerned with playing goofy cards than actually trying to win.
Perplexing Chimera is a colossal pain. Whenever someone casts a spell, you can hijack it by giving them control of Perplexing Chimera. You even get to re-target the spell if it is one that targets, but it is a may so you can wait for just the right spell to come along. The thing is, one of these makes for constant headaches as every player casting a spell has to wait for the current Chimera owner to decide if they want to hijack that spell. If Fractured Identity has put four Chimeras on the table, four players will get a chance to grab it with the last player with priority getting the final say.
If that pesky "may" makes Perplexing Chimera way too easy a choice, why not make four copies of Confusion in the Ranks? Now every time someone plays an artifact, creature or enchantment, every player with a copy of Confusion will have to pick a permanent that shares a type with the original one being cast and will have to swap them. I'm not even sure exactly how this would work, but I suspect this is the kind of thing that would make even the most whimsical EDH player think about scooping.
If you're looking for potential wincons in this article, don't worry - we're getting there...
How about casting Biovisionary at a 5 player table and then targeting it with Fractured Identity? Now you've got the four Biovisionaries you need to win the game. You just have the added challenge of having to assemble them all on the your battlefield. It's definitely something that can be accomplished. Mob Rule would be my first choice for how to try to land a Biovisionary win this way.
If you're into old cards, bad art and you want to actually win by combat or damage, there's Soulgorger Orgg. For 3RR you can have a life total of 1 and can pray you live long enough to cast Fractured Identity on him. If you do, you'll go back to your original life total and will give a copy of him to each of your opponents. You'd better pray nobody has a way to do 1 damage to you before you cast Fractured Identity because that would be an embarrassing way to lose the game.
Effective Plans
Was your interest piqued when you were reminded about Biovisionary? Surely there are more effective ways to use Fractured Identity to either win the game. Let's look at some better options than the weird stuff I've been parading in front of you so far.
Worldgorger Dragon is a hefty 7/7. Giving one to each of your opponents might be a bad idea - unless there's some way you can keep them from attacking you or doing damage to you. You'll be exiling all their lands, so if you can keep their Dragons off your back you should be in a pretty good position. There's one thing to remember - make sure to float the mana you'll need to cast Fractured Identity BEFORE you cast Worldgorger Dragon if you want to try to pull this off, because you'll have a hard time making that much mana after he's hit your battlefield. A well-timed stifle or a way to temporarily suppress ETB effects would serve you well here.
Worldgorger Dragon might actually be more goofy than effective, but what if you're playing a creature-heavy deck? What do you think about having four copies of Ruric Thar on the field? Anyone casting a non-creature spell would take have to take 24 damage for the privilege. Now all you need to do is give him lifelink and you're good to go.
Statecraft is a juicy Zedruu gift that is best given to the player with the most dangerous boardstate. If you could give one to each of your opponents, that would even better. On its own it doesn't exactly guarantee a win, and it might wind up helping certain opponents more than hindering them but at the right table it could be a brutal play to just stop everyone else in their tracks until you can kill them or combo off.
Aggressive Mining is a classic Zedruu gift that is sometimes avoided as being just a little too mean. If you're hesitant to give it to one person, you should embrace the idea of being equally cruel to all your opponents by giving on to each of them. The only big risk is the possibility that they will all decide to simply kill you. They'll still have their copies of Aggressive Mining of course, so that'll be something to feel good about.
If you really want to just win the game, you can always give them a copy of Demonic Pact. If any of them don't have removal, or can't draw or tutor into removal, they'll be out of the game in a few turns. Of course, if they are able to stop you from casting Fractured Identity you'll be the one staring down Demonic Pact and hoping to find an answer before you have to choose "lose the game" as your final option.
Filthy Shenanigans
If you're wiling to get really mean and in some cases if you've got the right extra card in hand, there are even filthier things you can do with Fractured Identity. Some of these were quickly shared online as soon as this card was spoiled, but they're well worth mentioning here.
Forbidden Crypt will force your opponents to draw from their graveyard until they can no longer do so, at which point they will lose the game. If they don't have much in there, the game shouldn't last too long. The best part is that any hope of drawing into some removal will only work if their removal is already in the graveyard.
I have killed my share of opponents by using Zedruu to give someone Transcendence and it really never gets old. This is clearly a best possible situation, but if you manage to be the only one under 20 life you can play Trancendence and win the game right then and there. If you only kill a few of them, you'll still be in a pretty good situation, other than being under 20 life of course. That never feels good.
Lich may require some explanation - if only because the card text shown above is completely unreadable. Here's the oracle text:
As Lich enters the battlefield, you lose life equal to your life total. You don't lose the game for having 0 or less life. If you would gain life, draw that many cards instead. Whenever you're dealt damage, sacrifice that many nontoken permanents. If you can't, you lose the game. When Lich is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you lose the game.
So if you can play this and dodge the ETB effect, and then cast Fractured Identity on Lich, you've set yourself up for an interesting endgame. Destroying those copies of Lich will win you the game, and doing damage to your opponents will force them to sacrifice permanents, which eventually should include their copy of Lich. If they can't exile their Lich, they are screwed.
That's a complicated, unpredictable mess, but there are simpler options.
Leveler will remove your library from the game. If you give all of your opponents a copy of Leveler, they will also have their libraries removed from the game. If you want to be careful, you can stifle the triggered ETB ability and keep your library, but I'll give mad props to the player who plays Leveler, Fractured Identity and passes the turn. I think it's a fairly safe play, all things considered. Somewhere out there you just know that somebody is going to find a way to win a game despite being handed a Leveler and an invitation to start their turn. You guys are just too clever and there always seems to be a way to do anything in EDH if you just have the right card.
Last but most assuredly not least, we have to include Phage the Untouchable. If she enters the battlefield under your control and you didn't cast her from your hand, you lose the game. That means only a truly daring EDH player will use her as their commander, as you can't safely cast her from the command zone without Torpor Orb. Stifle and Hushwing Griff aren't even in her color identity so they're no help. This is about as insta-win as you can get if you can pull it off.
Winning a game off of Phage and Fractured Identity is surely something that should now be on every EDH player's "bucket list".
Final Thoughts
I hope somewhere in this post was at least one new idea for a way to abuse Fractured Identity. I know if I can get a copy of it, I'll be putting it in my Zedruu deck. I might even use it as an excuse to add in a few old Zedruu "hate cards" that I've pulled out of that list. I'm also not above casting Fractured Identity on something silly like Rainbow Vale, just to watch all those lands flying back and forth across the battlefield. Zedruu is fun stuff.
Thanks for reading and I'll see you next week!