Reality Fracture’s Omnipresence Is Green Omniscience, But Does Green Even Need It?
It didn’t take Magic players long to figure out what Omnipresence was supposed to remind them of. Reality Fracture’s new mythic enchantment looks a whole lot like green finally getting its own version of Omniscience, which sounds terrifying until you remember what green decks are already pretty good at doing.
Omnipresence costs 5GGG and lets you cast spells from your hand without paying their mana costs as long as their mana value is less than or equal to the number of creatures you control. Five creatures means your five-drops are free. Eight creatures means anything costing eight or less can come down without spending another mana, and there’s no once-per-turn restriction slowing you down.
On paper, that sounds ridiculous. Then you get to the question Magic players have already started asking: if you’re playing green, have eight mana and already control five or six creatures, how badly did you really need help casting your spells?
Reality Fracture's Omnipresence Gives Green Its Own Omniscience, But Does It Need One?
Omniscience costs 10 mana, but once it resolves, it doesn’t care what the rest of your battlefield looks like. Omnipresence comes down two mana earlier, but if somebody wipes your creatures, the card gets dramatically worse right along with them.
And that’s where the “win-more” criticism comes from. If you already have eight mana, six creatures and several cards in your hand, you’re probably doing okay.
Of course, green is also really good at getting itself into exactly that position.
Mana creatures and land ramp make eight mana much easier to reach, while token and creature-heavy decks can satisfy the other half of Omnipresence without doing anything unusual. Say you have four creatures when it hits the battlefield. A free four-drop gives you five creatures, which unlocks your five-drops. Add another creature and now you’re at six.
Throw some card draw into the mix and one good battlefield can turn into a very long turn.
That’s where I think Omnipresence gets stupid. The payoff isn’t necessarily casting one giant creature for free. It’s reaching the point where you barely have to spend mana for the rest of the turn.
Commander Is Where This Makes Sense
Commander is where I’d want to try Omnipresence first. I’m not buying the Standard hype until somebody actually proves that eight mana and a creature-dependent payoff are worth the trouble there.
Commander gives the card a much friendlier environment. Creature-heavy green decks already make piles of mana and creatures, and plenty of them can refill their hands too. Omnipresence doesn’t have to save a bad board to be useful there. Sometimes turning an already decent turn into something completely unreasonable is enough.
That doesn’t mean I’m ready to call it the next Omniscience. Omniscience works whether you’re ahead, behind or staring at an empty battlefield, while Omnipresence needs you to build something first. That’s a real weakness, especially after a board wipe.
But green is also better than just about any color at building the board this card wants, and once you give a creature-heavy Commander deck a full hand and tell it that mana is optional, somebody is going to do something stupid with it.
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