Reality Shift

[fsecco]

Reality Shift 1U
Instant
Exile target creature. Its controller manifests the top card of his or her library.

OK, they oficially made blue the only color in Magic. This is ridiculous.

[tito del monte]

Yup - I like the look of this, too. I don't know how heavily played it will be, but it's definitely worth exploring. It's a solid mono-blue answer to something like Blightsteel (as opposed to Pongify) and even stuff like Goyf or Knight... the kind of threat that is no use bouncing (other than for tempo reasons) and can grow out of Dismember range. The 2/2 is also way easier to handle than a 3/3 ape - and although its chances are higher in today's Vintage of being a creature than ever before, you still have a good chance of stranding an opponent's spell on the battlefield. Just don't Jace-bounce it to their hand!

Definitely an interesting printing.

[fsecco]

Manifest is worse for you (caster of Reality Shift) than a 2/2 token, since your opp can simply Repeal the manifested card to his hand and you can't bounce it.

But blue exiling creatures for 2 mana at instant speed... That's bizarre. Have we got to a point in the power level of the game where even this won't be that relevant?

EDIT: Oh, and this can really screw up Tutors and Delver reveals.

[gkraigher]

This card is good.  I expect it to see play in blue decks and sideboards.  I can't believe wizards just gave blue a swords to plowshares.  In vintage, the fact that the 2/2 can morph is almost irrelevant. 

[zeus-online]

.

[fsecco]

Sorry, zeus, but exiling is actually important here... hehe

So, not the same thing as Pongify. Also 3/3 vs 2/2 is relevant for Vintage.

[Protoaddict]

How much better is this than Pongify though? I mean 1 mana vs 2 is a huge deal in the shops match up, not that Pongify every saw play as it stands. exile vs destroy is obviously the biggest part of the deal, but really there is 1 creature that we worry about where that is relevant, and that is blightsteel since this cannot target emrakul anyways.

I'm just not 100% sure this ability is even needed at this point for blue.

[MaximumCDawg]

How much better is this than Pongify though?

Tremendously better.  Exiling means this hits Blightsteel and it doesn't allow Welder tricks.  3 power versus 2 power is an enormous difference, since your blue deck might well be packing plenty of 2/x's (Bob, Tiago, etc) but only very few 3/x's (Clique).  2 power is a 10 turn clock versus 3 being a 7 turn clock, so think about it like paying 1 to get three more turns in the game.  In Vintage, moreso than in other formats, your opponent's Morph is very likely to be a non-creature and so it will never turn up.  Beware the player who responds to this with Brainstorm, though!

And to add to all of that, you can even get utility out of this card yourself in a pinch.  This card is great! 

It might, ultimately, be like Demonic Consultation, though.  It's high reward, but every now and then you'll just lose the game because you morphed them into something better off the top.  Is that enough to make it not see play..?

[gkraigher]

This card will probably see play in mono-blue merfolk, in all eternal formats.  

[dangerlinto]

Before mental misstep I'd be loathe to pack many (or any) removal spell with CC that wasn't 1.   Nowadays, I'm not so sure.  Sometimes I wish there was a 1R pyroblast just to win the counter war.

[ben_berry]

Negate?

[diopter]

I love how MM and Chalice 1 have made 1C spells actually situationally *better* than C spells.

Anyways. Interesting card, the 2/2 clock isn't that fast, and most Ux decks will pack Peezy or Mentor.

You kinda gotta ask yourself what problems you're hoping to solve here though. Most Tinker targets are already heavily hated by the eminently maindeckable Dack Fayden, and Bolts or Plows (in secondary colors that you inexorably have to run) pull a lot of weight on their own.

Maybe an anti-Sphinx of the Steel Wind for Delver?

[enderfall]

It really is amazing that 2-mana spells have actually gained value in Vintage over the last 1-2 years thanks to Misstep. I'm a big fan of Disenchant over Nature's Claim for this reason alone. So many decks have only Misstep/FoW plus 1-2 other counters, which are usually Flusterstorm and/or Pyroblast. The rise of Pyroblast both helps and hurts this card, though.

[vaughnbros]

I'm having trouble seeing this be playable due to it being so much worse than other removal spells, but there are some cool advantages to it.  You can use it on your own creatures if they are about to be removed, or you want to manifest your top card.  You can mess up a top deck tutor or top activation, although this would require them having a creature in play and vamp/mystical are not as popular now.

[zeus-online]

.

[gkraigher]

predict that Reality shift will be tried and discarded.

I disagree, as a merfolk player in modern and legacy, i like this card much more than i like swords to plowshares (life gain) and path to exile (land grab).  I'm fine with you having a 2/2 creature that you can "cast while it's in play."  This card fits a niche for aggro decks needing this effect.  

I doubt this card is a boon to delver decks, and it's not exactly great against them.  But it is certainly a boon for merfolk.  In legacy, merfolk has been jamming 4 chalice of the void in the 75 cards, so this card costing 2 mana isn't necessarily a disadvantage there.  

[TheWhiteDragon]

I just think it sucks that they really are trying to make blue the best without even needing a support color.  It's already best, but now blue plows?  Next we'll get blue ingot chewer, nature's claim, and demonic tutor.

[gkraigher]

This is also the first card with manifest that is good enough to be played in a deck with phyrexian dreadnought.  It's blue so you can play stifle, trickbind, delver (which gets to peek). 

I really like this card. 

I just think it sucks that they really are trying to make blue the best without even needing a support color.

so true

[vaughnbros]

I just think it sucks that they really are trying to make blue the best without even needing a support color.  It's already best, but now blue plows?  

This is a lot worse than Plow much closer to polymorph (a blue spell).

Next we'll get blue ingot chewer, nature's claim, and demonic tutor.

Blue already has worse versions of all of these cards: Annul, Hurkyl's Recall, other bounce spells, Counterspells that answer everything, Gifts Ungiven, Intuition.

[enderfall]

I disagree, as a merfolk player in modern and legacy, i like this card much more than i like swords to plowshares (life gain) and path to exile (land grab).   

Agreed. Merfolk gets a boost from this. Pretty much any heavy Blue deck that had to resort to using Dismember as removal will immediately switch to Reality Shift.

[dangerlinto]

Sometimes I wish there was a 1R pyroblast just to win the counter war.

A 1R pyroblast can also target Jace on the board... and still not be mental mistteped. 
And I said "sometimes". 

Thanks for trying everyone, though.  You're a good crowd.

I think the point on it being 1 more mana than it's removal cousins has been made.  It's not such a detriment.  The exile portion is important.  Comparing it to Polymorph is just plain silly.  It's a 2 mana card that always exchanges the creature on the board with a vanilla 2/2 and the vast majority of the time, will stay that way, while the other is a 4 mana card that gives them whatever creature is in their deck in the first place - not to mention it will not perform a single function on Blightsteel.   Polymorph's sole redeeming quality is that if they have no creatures left in their library it will read "destroy target creature - no regen".  Which you can get for LOT less than 4 mana should it be necessary.

[vaughnbros]

In vintage 1 vs 2 mana is huge, especially for removal. 
For a practical reason: Workshops is a deck, and turn 1 lodestone is a serious threat that usually never gives you the opportunity to cast a 2 mana spell. 
For theoretical reasons: You don't see anyone playing Doomblade, Go for the Throat, Diabolic Edict, Incinerate, Lightning Helix, Lignify, Journey to Nowhere, ect. ect. The 1 mana increase is not worth it.  At 2 mana you also have competing removal spells that can hit more than just creatures like abrupt decay.

Dodging misstep and chalice is always a poor argument against playing a more efficient spell.  Are you really going to cut every 1 drop from your deck?  Snuff out and dismember are both better at doing this anyway.  You pay 4 life for both of them, but you are very likely to end paying the same amount, or even more by giving them a 2/2.  Also a 2/2 morph (not necessarily vanilla) is not something that can be easily ignored.  There is a reason why Swan Song sees little to no play, even in oath. 

I brought up polymorph because creature removal that gives your opponent a creature is a blue effect, polymorph being the original.  This effect is not outside of the color wheel.

[Protoaddict]

100% inclined to agree with this. A solid amount of the time Dismember fits the bill better than this will, and does not give them possible upside AND dodges misstep.

[dangerlinto]

100% inclined to agree with this. A solid amount of the time Dismember fits the bill better than this will, and does not give them possible upside AND dodges misstep.

Except that Snuff out and Dismember can't remove Blightsteel, Griselbrand and a fair number of other creatures .

Absolutely I agree there are several situations where Dismember is the superior card.  No argument.  If your meta is all over welder, oath and tinkers you are way better off with this.

[Saya]

consider adressing this instant to a creature you own.it would work...

[davidasmatthews]

Regardless of play-ability (It is awesome) it's aful in terms of color pie. Let's just give blue a lightning bolt while we're at it.

[Protoaddict]

Blue has more than one direct damage spell.
Mind Bomb
Psychic Purge
Psionic Blast

This is far more in blues color pie than it is in every other color since its not removal, its a polymorph effect.

[davidasmatthews]

Blue has more than one direct damage spell.
Mind Bomb
Psychic Purge
Psionic Blast

This is far more in blues color pie than it is in every other color since its not removal, its a polymorph effect.

The Polymorph-esque part masks what it is at its base, low cc spot creature removal into exile. All previous polymorph effects "destroyed" to the best of my knowledge. I feel like adding "exile" is a dramatic change. In the past when blending one colors domain into another a player would usually have to pay a premium on CC or some other negative ie Unyaro Bee Sting. Reality Shift does not force a player to play a significant premium to cast a spell that does what white has historically done.

[Protoaddict]

Changing a card into another card has always been base blue, regardless of the methodology. Exiling cards is not color specific.
Likewise blue has previously always had the most ways to interact with facedown cards, so making a morph style dude is also within color pie.

The flavor of this card is what is winning out over mechanics. The only way this card could work is with exile, because destroy would trigger "dies" effects which is out of flavor, and bounce really does not mean the creature was changed so much as its a bribe to replace it temporarily.

Compare this with Beast within. Beast within is a destroy effect but it is because of the flavor of the card, literally a 3/3 beast tearing its way out of another thing, killing it.

[mmcgeach]

I'd play this in mono-blue control.  It's better than paying 4 life for a dismember. 

MBC is probably a tier-2 deck right now; tho, thanks to a poor delver matchup.  Stellar workshop matchup, tho.