Build · Reality Fracture

Counts describe distinct common and uncommon cards in the set, not how many belong in your deck.

1. 1

   Sort for a complete deck, not just the best rare

   Sort cards by color, putting lands and colorless cards aside. Within each color, separate cards you expect to play from cards that need a special reason. In Sealed, compare complete two-color combinations. During a draft, keep checking what your existing picks are missing.

   A strong color offers several useful cards at different costs. One amazing expensive card surrounded by weak filler is a reason to investigate that color, not an instruction to play it.

   Early plays:

   cards you can cast in the first turns to attack, block or develop your plan.

   Enablers:

   cards that create the conditions your strategy needs.

   Payoffs:

   cards that reward those conditions.

   Answers:

   cards that remove or neutralize opposing threats.

   Finishers:

   cards or combinations that can end the game.

   Mana & fixing:

   lands and other cards that let you cast your spells on time.

   SealedStart with what your cards actually do. A rare is an invitation to investigate, not a commitment.

2. 2

   Say how this deck wins in one sentence

   Try a specific sentence: “Play small creatures, improve them, and keep attacking”; “Trade creatures, then reuse my graveyard”; or “Survive with blockers and answers, then win with larger threats.” That sentence helps decide between two otherwise similar cards.

   Synergy means cards helping one another do more than they would alone. An enabler supplies what another card needs; a payoff rewards it. Count both. Three cards that reward sacrificing creatures do very little if you lack creatures you can afford to sacrifice or a reliable way to sacrifice them.

   SealedFinish this sentence: “I survive or get ahead by ___, then win with ___.”

3. 3

   Cut what the deck cannot support

   When you have too many cards, protect the deck’s structure. Cutting lands just to fit more spells can leave all those spells stranded. Cutting every ordinary creature can leave your impressive support cards with nothing to support.

   • Cut a narrow payoff if you did not find enough enablers.
   • Cut an expensive card when the top of your curve is already crowded.
   • Cut a situational answer from the starting deck if it will often have no useful target; keep it available for suitable opponents.
   • Between two similar cards, favor the one that fills a job your deck lacks.

   SealedYour final cuts should make the deck more functional.

4. 4

   Run a one-minute opening-hand test

   Shuffle and look at several practice opening hands. This is a practical check, not a statistical proof. Imagine your first three turns, then shuffle everything back before the event starts.

   A sideboard gives you options between games or when rebuilding your deck as the event allows. A best-of-one match has no between-game sideboarding step. You do not normally swap sideboard cards into your deck during a game.

   • Count the deck: normally 40, including the lands.
   • Can a typical hand cast an early spell in the right color?
   • If your opponent plays creatures on turns two and three, can you participate?
   • Can your reward cards turn on with cards already in this deck?
   • Do you have answers to a dangerous creature and a route to win after surviving?
   • Set unused cards aside as your sideboard. In Limited, it is your remaining eligible pool, not a fixed 15-card selection.

   SealedYour final cuts should make the deck more functional.

5. 5

   Lay the spells out by mana cost

   Your mana curve is the spread of costs across your spells. Arrange them in columns costing one, two, three, four, five, and six or more. For a first deck, put plenty of useful plays in the two- and three-mana columns and only a few at the expensive end.

   Look at when a card can really help. A cheap trick that needs a creature is not a replacement for that creature. A two-mana removal spell may answer an attacker, but it does not necessarily give you something to attack with afterward.

   1–21 mana

   7–82 mana

   5–63 mana

   3–44 mana

   2–35 mana

   0–16+ mana

   SealedStart at 40 cards, around 17 lands and two main colors. Adjust for the actual deck.

6. 6

   Make the mana support the cards

   Two main colors are an approachable default. A nine-land/eight-land split can start the conversation, but count which colors you need early and which spells require two symbols of the same color. Those demands can change the split.

   Fixing means lands or spells that help produce the colors you need. A splash is a small amount of an extra color. Favor a powerful card you can use later with a single extra colored symbol; an off-color two-drop with two colored symbols is much harder to support.

   Adding one off-color land is not a promise that you will draw it on time. Check all your sources of that color and the cost to your main colors. A mana-producing creature also needs to be cast and survive; do not automatically replace a land with every one you include.

   SealedA splash adds a small number of late-game cards in a third color. It should improve the deck more than it hurts consistency.

Full lesson: Build a 40-card deck →

Reviewed practical mana tools and notable restrictions; basics and every rare mana engine are not an exhaustive list.

Check when each land enters untapped and which colors it can produce.

Fatehold AnnexWUdual landTheorix AnnexUBdual landStingerquill AnnexBRdual landKonstrari AnnexRGdual landVigorbloom AnnexGWdual landMeticulous CommonsWBdual landInnovative CommonsURdual landFormidable CommonsBGdual landDedicated CommonsRWdual landTransformative CommonsGUdual landRoom of Refugeanychosen color landHexhaven Dueling ArenaCcolorless landEye of Uginno manaTheorist's SanctumUsingle color land

Find a land or make an extra land play; check the printed cost and restrictions.

Hexhaven BattalionlandcyclingUndulating WitnesslandcyclingApex WitchstalkerlandcyclingAwaken the InfernolandcyclingVinelasher AdeptlandcyclingFblthp, Knows the Wayland selectionWay of the Paradoxextra land playSimulacrum Shaperland ramp

These mana sources take a spell slot. Count when they can first help you cast a card.

Murmuring Volumeanyartifact manaGreenhouse PropagatorGcreature manaHeartwood CrafterCrestricted creature manaKonstrari ImproviserRGheartwoodWoodwork ProdigyRGheartwoodWay of the PyromancerRloyalty manaLoot, the Nexusanycreature manaGideon's Memorialanyrestricted landHungering PuppetbeastRGheartwoodTenured TethermageRGheartwoodVerdant KrakenGland creature mana

Temporary mana is spent once; check the setup and what you must sacrifice.

Konstrari CharmCtemporary manaKoth, the GeomancerRtemporary mana

Prepared spells are later uses of a battlefield permanent, not additional physical cards or spells automatically available from hand.

6 rules that hold whatever pair you land in.

• Build the deck you openedCompare complete two-color builds: early creatures, answers, a way to finish, and castable mana. A powerful signpost is evidence to investigate, not a command.
• A second spell still costs manaPrepared cards supply another option only while the creature survives and is prepared. Schedule the spell instead of counting both halves as free immediate value.
• Jace is a choice, not automatic drawSurveil, draw, and granted loyalty abilities compete for a planeswalker’s one activation that turn. Spend loyalty before danger when that gives the better result.
• Borrow packages across colorsHybrid prepared cards can fit any deck able to pay their symbols. A WU hybrid does not require both colors; check the creature and prepared spell separately.
• Fixing must make the right colorHeartwoods make only red or green. Basic landcycling finds a land into your hand. A tapped dual helps consistency but may delay an opening play.
• Use matches to revise the hypothesisBetween games, reconsider expensive setup, dead conditional cards and missing answers from the games you actually played.

• Keep hands that have a route into the game

  Look for usable mana, a useful early action and a plausible next turn. A hand of lands plus expensive bombs can be worse than a modest six-card hand that works. In individual Sealed the London mulligan gives seven cards, then you put one on the bottom for each mulligan; there is no free first mulligan. In Two-Headed Giant, each player’s first mulligan is free.

• Decide who must act

  If your opponent has the stronger late game, waiting may lose even at a healthy life total. Pressure their life or Jace before their engine takes over. If your late game is stronger, make trades and preserve life. Reassess when a bomb or repeatable engine appears.

• Jace changes your attack decisions

  An opposing Jace may turn spare loyalty into cards or fuel a Way enchantment. Compare attacking it with attacking the player: which choice stops the opponent winning? Do not automatically send every attacker at Jace if you can threaten lethal. Keep enough blockers to protect your own value engine.

• Use information before committing

  When it will not damage your curve or risk an important response, draw or surveil before choosing a land or another spell. Choose whether to mill based on what you need now, not merely whether the card is generally powerful. Preserve a land you need to cast your hand.

• Make removal solve a real problem

  Save a flexible answer when a smaller threat can be blocked profitably. Use removal earlier when it protects your Jace, enables a strong attack or prevents an engine from snowballing. “Always save removal for bombs” is too rigid.

• Respect open mana

  Before combat, identify the trick, flash creature or removal that would punish your line. Can you attack with fewer creatures, force the trick first or keep your removal available? Know the color and mana cost of likely responses from the card browser.

• Do not spend everything into a sweeper

  If you are already ahead and your opponent can plausibly clear the board, an extra creature in hand can rebuild afterward. Balance that against giving them too much time. Token makers, planeswalkers and recursion can help you recover in different ways.

• Use the judge

  Call a judge for ambiguous card interactions, missed triggers or a disagreement. Clearly announce loyalty abilities, prepared spell copies and which player or planeswalker you attack. A prerelease is a learning environment; resolving the game accurately benefits both players.

Common and uncommon instant spells and cards with their own Flash keyword in the exact Play catalog. Not all possible responses, activated abilities, rares, or a probability model.

A two-color cost needs both colors; a hybrid symbol needs either. Conditions still apply.

Best-of-one has no sideboarding. The six matchup situations and the cards to reconsider appear under Bo3. Switch to Bo3 →

Two players, two decks, one shared pool and one 30-life total.

• 8 Play Boosters
• 1 promo
• 2 decks

Default Reality prerelease allocation. WPN permits organizers to keep two kits per team. The event’s announced allocation takes precedence.

• Start with the team’s eight-booster poolThe official allocation is one Prerelease Pack plus two Play Boosters: eight boosters and the kit’s single promo, shared between two decks. Confirm your organizer’s allocation before the event.
• Spread functionality before spreading bombsLay out two complete curves from the shared pool. Each player should have early actions, useful interaction and a way to matter later. One deck full of threats and one full of answers can collapse if either player misses lands.
• Keep engines with their own enablersMost lifegain, prowess, Jace and artifact rewards watch their controller’s cards. Give those pieces to the same deck. Your partner’s creatures can help block, but their spell casts usually do not trigger your engine.
• Allocate the scarce support deliberatelyCompare where each removal spell, dual land, cycler and colorless card adds the most. A fixing card may allow one deck a crucial splash while merely providing convenience to the other. Do not weaken both mana bases to squeeze in every rare.
• Choose how the pair closes the gameThirty shared life and two defending boards make a few small attackers less reliable. Evasion, large bodies, repeated value and effects reaching both opponents deserve attention. Fast pressure remains possible if both decks support it; “2HG is always slow” is not a rule.
• Discuss play or draw as a teamThe team playing first skips its first draw step. Taking the play buys initiative for both players; drawing supplies extra cards. Decide based on both curves and the actual plan. There is no universal prerelease answer.
• Revisit after each roundUnused cards remain a shared sideboard. If the organizer permits continuous construction, move support between decks as needed. Normal 2HG matches are a single game, so plan broadly useful answers before the match.

Rules and wording, not a card rating: check the condition before doubling an effect.

Tinybones, Pocket NuisanceEach opponent can multiply valueIf both opponents discard to its entry ability, two discard triggers each deal one damage to both opponents: four damage to their shared total. If only one player discards, that produces only one trigger.Lich's RelicAnswer both boardsIts paid entry ability can destroy up to one target creature or planeswalker controlled by each opponent. Read targets individually; two opponents can mean two answers from one card.Winter, Tormented LonerOne cost, two opposing sacrificesSacrificing one of your own creatures or planeswalkers can make each opponent sacrifice a creature. You cannot pay by sacrificing your partner’s card, and each opponent chooses their own creature.Unflinching HortimancerShared life is not shared triggersYour teammate gaining life changes the team total but does not trigger your Hortimancer. Keep your own lifegain enablers in the same deck as your rewards.The Theorist, Jace BelerenShared steps do not double automaticallyIts passive draw happens once for the opposing team’s shared draw step. Its −2 explicitly reaches a permanent controlled by each opponent, so that ability can affect both opponents.Verdant KrakenOne token per shared upkeepThe upkeep trigger makes one Forest Tentacle for each team’s shared upkeep, not one per player. A newly created Tentacle is a creature and cannot immediately tap for mana without haste.

• Jace, Reality Sculptor · Its −3 weakens attackers aimed at you or your planeswalkers. Opponents can aim at your teammate instead. You blocking an attacker does not change whom it attacked.
• Cast Away Doubt · It deals two to all four players: each team loses four life. Only the caster draws the cards. Check the shared total before treating it as harmless card draw.
• Jiang Yanggu, Alone · “Attacks a player alone” allows one attacker at each opponent, provided no teammate adds another creature at that same opponent. Attacks aimed at planeswalkers do not spoil that condition.
• Necrodominance · Skipping your draw step skips the team’s shared draw step, but only its controller receives the cards bought at the end step. The life payment uses your team’s shared total. Do not treat this as free extra cards for both players.
• Karn, Argent Defender · Its ability stops creature and artifact entry triggers for all four players. Entering prepared and entering with counters are replacement effects, so those still work. Discuss your partner’s entry-value creatures before playing Karn.
• Ajani Unrelenting · Its damage mode exempts only tokens controlled by Ajani’s controller. Your teammate’s tokens are still hit. Plan board-clearing effects with both friendly boards in mind.
• Rank Rat · Both opponents discard a card, if able. Their hands are separate; they do not choose one card for the whole team.
• Screeching Soulbreaker · The attack trigger deals one to each opponent (normally two total from their team life) while you gain one life for your team.
• Extended Absence · Deals one to EACH opponent: normally two damage to their shared total. You gain only one life, not two.
• Break Under Pressure · Targets one opponent; it does not make both sacrifice.

Notes and Oracle lookup at paper events →