Good morning everyone!

Now that we know what cards we will be getting in the next update I thought it would be a good time to talk about the one that has me the most excited. I am really jazzed that Cruel Reality made the cut, so what can we do with it?

My first thought is that we need to survive long enough to get to 7 mana, so maybe mono-black creature control with a side of lifegain and Diabolic Tutor to dig Cruel Reality out?

I know that this card was generally deemed overpriced in the speculation thread, do you think it is worth the wait?

What are your thoughts on Cruel Reality?

The only thing cruel about this reality is reaching 7 mana and you didn't find a response to this card.

From a competitive standpoint; it'll be too expensive to lay down and have it actually stay there.

Anywhere else though(agaisnt newer players on the ladder) and it's gas; especially in control decks; and you'll get atleast 1 upkeep value out it most of the time.

It forces upkeep so you can activate Scrounger if it's in the yard in response to the trigger to have something to sack right?

I'm more interested in where an "enchant player" is gonna sit on the board, apart from that I vote it as "most miserable card to see when you're behind in a game" I can't imagine it's fun seeing this when you have no board and a hand full of creatures you can only cast 1 per turn haha

Probably as an Ob emblem.

It's a limited bomb (watched a bit of that pre-pre-release stream last weekend, and it wrecked hard when it got played) but idk how good it will be in Duels. I don't play enough control to predict with much confidence. Superficially, seems like control won't have any trouble getting to 7 mana to cast, and it locks down the board while presenting a win con. Dodges fragmentize. In a counterspell control deck you can cast it w/ 10 mana if playing against G/W and hold up a counterspell for rec sage or solemn offering. Idk if it's worth it for us tho.

Once again I'll be the bummer guy who points out how criminally, almost comically inefficient this card is for it's price. No deck wants to run this.

That is why we don't ask decks what they want, instead we stitch them together with maniacal glee out of cards that nobody should use then we blame them or the random number generator when we lose.

Well, at least there's a reliable system in place.

I'd be more excited about it if we got enough dedicated artifact hate to hopefully lower the number of reclamation sages running around, as it is the chances of it not being an unanswerable wincon seem too high.

I don't think the card is very good like most of you guys agree. The card will eventually lead to a death by a 1,000 cuts. It's bad when you are behind and slowly kills your opponent when you are ahead. I guess if you want slowly bleed your opponent from despair till death then this card is for you.

A 7 drop that AT BEST wins in 4 turns. Not exactly awe-inspiring to begin with.

Dunno how good it will be but kinda hoping it makes the opponent's avatar glow in a purpley aura or something akin to that.

Maybe for a heavy control deck?

It's another win-con for an Esper-control deck that doesn't want to run creatures.

I can see this in a green-black ramp deck with Sandwurm Convergence as finishers. Would be a fun pairing (well, at least for the player that had it )

Is there a way to cheat it on the field earlier outside of ramp?

The only thing I can think of from the top of my head is:
1. pitch/mill to the gy
2. play/cheat emeria shepherd onto the battle field
3. drop a plains

I guess a revolt deck with aid of the cowl top decking it is possible as well. That would be rage inducing.

I bet Stainless will mess up Boonweaver Giant finding Cruel Reality somehow. I'm just wondering in what way

Well we already run a 6 drop that does about the same.

Actually this is a fair comparison. Lets looks at the pros and cons over Cruel Reality.

Pros:
- Can target specific creatures or PW with his "-X" ability, you gain life based on the value of X.
- Provides card advantage with his +1.
- Ult can put bodies onto the field (although its easily his worst and often wasted ability).
- Costs 1 less mana and isn't hit by enchantment removal.

Cons:
- His "-X" ability is limited to the number of counters he possesses. Whether its a creature or PW, Reality is killing something.
- His "+1" ability varies in damage, and in most Esper builds he is one of only two 6 mana cards, meaning his damage ceiling is tied with Cruel Reality.
- Consistency can't be argued since he can and does hit lands, exactly as Cruel Reality can and will eat threats instead of doing damage. The advantage of reality is you can remove sac fodder, whereas Telling Time is Sorin's only tool to aid his +1. Worst case scenario, Sorin hits a land, whereas Reality kills a token. Both situations suck, but I'd take a dead token over a dead card in my hand.

I'm not advocating replacing Sorin with Reality, the enchantment hate thing pushes it out of favor for me, just a fair comparison to one of the reasons players splash White to go Esper. A lot of arguments I'm seeing against Reality can just as easily be applied to Sorin to some extent (e.g it gets countered). Both are repeatable effects, but the ceiling in a control mirror is consistently higher with Reality than Sorin, who can just land whiff for a few turns.

EDIT: And since I see this as a Control mirror card at best, we'll say its Esper vs Esper. Both eat the same answers. Both eat Unmaking and die, both eat Cast Out and die, both eat counterspells and die. However, Reality does not die to Never // Return, or Gearhulk/Gideon/Disciple swinging. What other card in Esper targets Reality that cannot target Sorin?