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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day

Daily Since November 2001!

Reality Shift
Image from Wizards.com

 Reality Shift
- Fate Reforged

Reviewed Feb. 18, 2015

Constructed: 3.50
Casual: 3.50
Limited: 3.88
Multiplayer: 3.50

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale:
1 - Horrible  3 - Average.  5 - Awesome

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Card of the Day Reviews 

BMoor

Deck Garage

Reality Shift

What are the odds that the top card of your opponent's library is going to be a creature? What are the odds that it'll be a better creature than the one you're exiling? Not great, I'd say, and even if it is, he still has to pay its mana cost to get it out from under its 2/2 disguise. Most of the time, this is basically just Pongify plus one additional mana to make the Ape you're giving your opponent smaller.

At first glance, you might think that this could be used like Polymorph, to transform your own Ornithopters into something more impressive. I don't think it really can be, though. Even if you can use scrying tricks to put a powerful creature on top of your own library, you still have to pay the mana cost of whatever you manifest to get the actual creature, and you have to do it before your opponent finds a Shock. This might be worth it if your creature is underneath a Pacifism or the like and you just need a warm body on the field, but really the better use for this is downgrading your opponent's creatures into face-down lands or whatnot.

Constructed- 3.5
Casual- 4
Limited- 4
Multiplayer- 3.5

David Fanany

Player since 1995

Reality Shift
 
This is one of those removal spells that looks like it has more of a drawback than it actually does - most decks are 40% land, instants and sorceries can't be turned face up, and a 2/2 creature may well be smaller than the one that was exiled. But it does have that element of risk, and if you truly fear it you can build your deck to make it less effective - that creates interesting game states, and interesting game states are why we play Magic in the first place.
 
Constructed: 3/5
Casual: 3/5
Limited: 3/5
Multiplayer: 3/5
Michael "Maikeruu" Pierno

Today's card of the day is Reality Shift which is a two mana Blue instant that exiles target creature and its controller Manifests the top card of their library.  This is similar to Polymorph, but much stronger against an opponent with instant speed, half the mana cost, exiling and possibly only putting a vanilla 2/2 into play if it can't be turned face up.  It is much weaker on your own creature as it can't be used to cheat out a Progenitus or similar endgame threat.  Overall this is very powerful removal for Blue with some additional versatility if combined with library manipulation and it will be a very popular card across formats.
 
In Limited this is an easy second or third pick in Booster or even first in an otherwise weak pack as it is top end threat removal for a color that usually lacks options aside from bounce once something is in play. 

The low cost and minimal risk in Manifesting something makes for an ideal tool and almost any Sealed deck can benefit from running it.
 
Constructed: 4.0
Casual: 4.0
Limited: 4.5
Multiplayer: 4.0

Mattedesa

Deck Garage
Reality Shift
 
This is an uncommon that's gotten a little bit of hype. Anything that says "exile target creature" deserves some attention. When it only costs 2 mana, it's going to raise some eyebrows. Add to it the fact that it's in blue, and it has the potential to be a real show-stopper. 
 
Of course, there is a drawback. The 2/2 manifest creature they get in return is most likely much less threatening than whatever else you got rid of, but you did just help them dig one card deeper into their library, possibly putting a big threat on the table, ready to be flipped over at just the wrong time. But again, since it's so cheap and in blue, it will usually be worth the risk of a possible backfire.
 
If you want to be really creative, you might even try exiling your own creature in response to some creature kill.  
 
Constructed: 3.5
Casual: 3.0
Limited: 4.0
Multiplayer: 3.5

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