In today’s article, we return to Reality Fracture to look at Dack Fayden, Helping Hand, a mono-white version of the artifact thief who gives away creatures, with a big catch.We’ll explore the strings attached to that generosity in a deck that forces opponents to beat each other up with some of our most entertaining creatures. The list makes use of ETB abilities, blink effects, and ways to reclaim our creatures.Dack Fayden, the CommanderDack Fayden, Helping Hand is today’s commander, a Reality Fracture version of Fiora’s artifact thief. When he enters, his ability reveals cards until it finds a creature for each opponent, puts those creatures onto the battlefield, and shuffles the deck. The original Dack Fayden was a thief; this alternate version is a philanthropist. He gives each creature to a different opponent and goads it for as long as it remains on the battlefield.Goad forces a creature to attack each combat if able and to attack someone other than the player who goaded it if possible. Usually, these creatures will fight our opponents, though they can attack us once only one opponent remains. They enter under our control first, so their ETB abilities are still ours even after we give them away. We also remain the cards’ owners, which lets us recover them with effects that return creatures to their owners’ control or with blink effects.The DeckThe list combines expensive creatures, ETB abilities, and plenty of blink effects, which exile a permanent and return it to the battlefield. We want to get value from our gifts before handing them over. Blinking Dack lets us repeat his ability, while other effects bring our threats back together when it’s time to attack.Here’s today’s deck:RampWhite’s ramp is fairly weak, so we’ll rely on staples like Sol Ring and Arcane Signet to do their usual job. Thran Dynamo produces three colorless mana, while Pearl Medallion reduces the generic cost of white spells, bringing Dack’s initial cost down to five mana.Archaeomancer's Map puts two basic Plains into our hand and lets us put a land onto the battlefield when an opponent plays one if they still control more lands than we do. Knight of the White Orchid and Claim Jumper also help us catch up on lands, with ETB abilities we can repeat through blink effects later. Land Tax keeps lands coming to our hand, though it doesn’t put them onto the battlefield, making it ideal for thinning the deck.Repeating ETBsPanharmonicon adds another trigger to ETB abilities triggered by artifacts or creatures. With three opponents, Dack reveals and distributes three creatures twice, putting six bodies onto the battlefield as the triggers resolve.Teleportation Circle and Conjurer's Closet let us blink our commander at our end step, repeating the distribution without paying his mana cost again or sending him back to the command zone. Airbender Ascension provides another repeatable blink effect once it has four counters, a total Dack and his three creatures can reach as they enter!Cloudshift, Ephemerate and Daydream can also repeat the ability, but they must target a creature we control. They work on Dack and any creatures we’ve already recovered; getting back creatures we’ve given to opponents requires other cards.Getting Our Cards BackSlip On the Ring can exile a creature we own even if an opponent controls it, returning the card to the battlefield under our control. Flicker of Fate also recovers creatures Dack has given away because it doesn’t require us to control the target and returns the permanent to its owner.A creature returning from a blink is a new object and loses the goad Dack applied to it. We can also trigger its ETB ability again, getting value from the same card twice before putting it to work for us.Homeward Path gets back all the creatures we own at once, gathering everything we’ve scattered across the table. Expedition Map and Urza's Cave help find it, so we don’t have to draw that exact land.The effect is symmetrical and returns other players’ creatures to their owners as well. It also changes only who controls the creatures: they remain goaded and must still attack if able. That makes the timing of their return important.ETB AbilitiesOri, Plate Stacker destroys our opponents’ artifacts and enchantments when it enters and gains us one life for each permanent destroyed, making it a strong creature to cheat onto the battlefield. Even though Dack gives Ori away afterward, the trigger still checks our opponents, leaving our mana rocks and enchantments intact.Curious Colossus turns an opponent’s creatures into 1/1 Cowards with no abilities, shutting down troublesome effects. Angel of the Ruins exiles up to two artifacts or enchantments, while Luminate Primordial can hit a creature from each opponent. These effects help control the board while the creatures remain on the other side.To refill our hand, Sandstone Oracle draws us cards equal to the difference between our hand size and that of an opponent with more cards. Blinking it lets us repeat the draw, while Loran of the Third Path combines artifact or enchantment removal with a source of shared card draw.The Deck’s ComboPreston, the Vanisher, my favorite commander I’ve never built, creates a 0/1 copy of another nontoken creature when it enters under our control without being cast. The gifts Dack hands out meet those conditions, so we can keep copies and their ETB abilities while giving away the originals.With Preston on the battlefield, blinking Felidar Guardian creates a copy whose ETB ability can blink the original Guardian again. We can repeat the process as many times as we like, building up 0/1 Illusions that won’t win through combat on their own. We can also pay and sacrifice five Illusions to exile a nonland permanent with Preston.Win ConditionsPathrazer of Ulamog can’t be blocked by fewer than three creatures and forces the defending player to sacrifice three permanents when it attacks. We can let opponents deal with those attacks, then recover it and take advantage of the damage already done to finish the game ourselves.Zetalpa, Primal Dawn has flying, double strike and trample, while Darksteel Colossus provides another huge body with trample and indestructible. Getting these threats back lets us win through combat without casting each one for its full cost.Galactus, Devourer of Worlds exiles a permanent when it enters and is also a 12/12 with flying, trample and indestructible. Because it must attack an opponent of its controller with the highest life total, that requirement can conflict with goad and allow it to attack us. It’s a gift I’d rather reclaim before combat.Removal and ProtectionMorningtide's Light exiles any number of target creatures and returns the cards tapped under their owners’ control at the next end step, while preventing all damage to us until our next turn. We can gather our gifts and buy time to prepare the next attack.Avatar's Wrath spares up to one creature and airbends the rest. Their owners can cast them from exile for two mana, but our opponents can’t cast spells from anywhere other than their hands until our next turn. That lets us rebuild before they can, within normal casting windows. Ghostly Prison makes opponents pay two mana for each creature attacking us, while Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile remove threats that need to go immediately.How to Play the DeckWe want an opening hand with lands, ramp and a way to recover our gifts. Dack handles some of the setup, but putting large creatures on an opponent’s side without access to blink effects can give too much to someone who was already ahead.From there, we decide which abilities we need to repeat and which threats can keep attacking our opponents. As players leave the game, reclaiming our gifts becomes a priority: the last opponent will have less reason to thank us for the help.Turn order matters, too. Recovering a creature during our main phase usually won’t let us attack with it immediately, because we haven’t controlled it since the start of the turn. If we want to finish through combat, it’s worth bringing the creature back at the previous end step so our army is ready when our turn begins, with mana left to protect Dack or repeat an ETB removal effect.Final ThoughtsThis is the most fun I’ve had with mono-white in a long time, and it’s a compelling way to turn a character known as a notorious rogue on his head. Group Hug strategies and gifts with enormous strings attached were my kind of Commander for many years, so it’s good to see a new way to play them.
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