<p style="text-align: right;"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Primo, the Unbounded" href="#" target="_blank">Primo, the Unbounded</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> | Art by <a href="https://www.artstation.com/eyari">Aldo Domínguez</a></span></i></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As I typically enjoy doing when a new set releases, I’m setting out on a quest to cover creature types that gained substantial support. We’ve looked at <a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/building-wizard-typal-with-kaza-roil-chaser">Wizards</a> and <a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/building-warlock-typal-with-honest-rutstein">Warlocks</a>, two of the more prominent classifications of students at Strixhaven. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The last couple of weeks, we’ve been touring the mascots of the different colleges. Since we’ve already covered <a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/decyphering-the-new-elemental-commander-mass-of-mysteries">Elementals</a> in Lorwyn and <a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/building-spirit-typal-with-millicent-restless-revenant">Spirits</a> in Innistrad, as well as <a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/building-inkling-typal-with-felisa-fang-of-silverquill">Inklings</a> and <a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/building-pest-typal-with-blech-loafing-pest">Pests</a>, we’ll complete the cycle with a type that breaks the Simic/Quandrix formula.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Have you guessed it? It’s Fractals!</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Fractals are really cool-looking hypergeometric figures, resembling the shapes I used to make out of tessellations in elementary school. The prisms that constitute their bodies reflect the creativity of the caster. Even just on our commander’s art, there are Bird and Squirrel-like teal figures alongside Primo, the Big Badass Wolf.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Fractals themselves have remained largely unchanged since their introduction in <em>Strixhaven</em>, although they do provide a range of design opportunities. Fractals, by and large, were limited to tokens, and fairly mundane tokens at face-value. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The cards that made them were generally fun and exciting enough to see play, and the addition of creatures with the type added layers to an already fun and surprisingly deep token type.</span></p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Deekah, Fractal Theorist"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Kianne, Dean of Substance"></div></div>
<h2><span style="font-weight: 400;">Fractal History</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Fractals are anthropomorphic hypergeometric amalgamations of the flexible thinking of Quandrix students. They take a range of forms, even though, at their base, they begin as the same. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This is because the token itself represents the core of the Fractal, while the counters are what makes each Fractal unique, kind of like how snowflakes are all crystallized water droplets, but each has a unique, complex, beautiful, and delicate crystal structure.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Fractal tokens, and many Fractal creatures, are 0/0 green and blue bodies. Without help, they can’t even survive on the battlefield, dying to state-based effects. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The cards that make Fractals and the Fractal cards put a number of +1/+1 counters equal to any of a variety of values, such as the number of lands the caster controls or the number of instant and sorcery cards in the caster’s graveyard. These different sources of values for the counters give the Fractals a range of stats and roles in a deck.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">But how do we win a game with 0/0 creatures? And what are the roles Fractals can serve?</span></p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Primo, the Unbounded"></div></div>
<h2><span style="font-weight: 400;">What Does <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Primo, the Unbounded" href="#" target="_blank">Primo, the Unbounded</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span></span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Do?</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Primo is a fun and intriguing Simic/Quandrix commander. It’s a great curve-topper and ramp payoff, even without help. In a Commander precon built around X spells, Primo is the prime example. It enters with twice X +1/+1 counters and has trample. It’s a Fractal and a Wolf. If that were all, it would have been just enough to be fun to play.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">But, Primo also MAKES Fractals. Whenever one or more creatures with 0 base power deals combat damage to a player, we make a Fractal with counters equal to the damage dealt. A Fractal that makes Fractals and turns them into threats while being a win con in and of itself is exactly what a durdling (synergistic but not gamewinning) strategy needs.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Fractals have a clear throughline, both old and new, which relates to +1/+1 counter synergies. While Quandrix started to lean into X spells with <em>Secrets of Strixhaven</em> and its related precon, there are only a few Fractals, including our commander, that feed those synergies.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Some straddle the line between the two, however, like Primo and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Pterafractyl" href="#" target="_blank">Pterafractyl</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, although the latter has a printed power and doesn’t work perfectly with our commander.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">But what do Fractal producers look like? And do they work with this framework?</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-weight: 400;">Key Cards for <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Primo, the Unbounded" href="#" target="_blank">Primo, the Unbounded</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span></span></h2>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Fractals are tiny things by printed power and toughness, but the cards that create them give them variable amounts of counters. These counters are what help to determine the card’s role in the deck, anywhere from curve-filler to bomb threats. This fun and flexibility help to differentiate Fractals from the stock blue-green deck.</span></p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Serpentine Curve"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Leyline Invocation"></div></div>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Serpentine Curve" href="#" target="_blank">Serpentine Curve</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Leyline Invocation" href="#" target="_blank">Leyline Invocation</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> were both alluded to earlier as cards that make Fractals with counters equal to instants and sorceries in the graveyard and lands on the battlefield, respectively. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Both of these represent Fractals that are best saved until later in the game, coming down as mid-to-large threats on the ground. They both require some setup, but pay off things we’re already doing by making land drops and casting spells.</span></p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Wild Hypothesis"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Pterafractyl"></div></div>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Wild Hypothesis" href="#" target="_blank">Wild Hypothesis</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Pterafractyl" href="#" target="_blank">Pterafractyl</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> are newer Fractals that are X spells, so they can serve a variety of roles on the mana curve. Still, they’re better served being cast later, like the Curve and Invocation.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Pterafractyl" href="#" target="_blank">Pterafractyl</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, in particular, is a powerful flying beater, taking advantage of opponents without flying or reach. The chip damage starts to add up when our big bad Wolf commander comes crashing in.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">But Fractal makers are expensive; how do we protect our mana investments?</span></p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Wrap in Vigor"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Voidslime"></div></div>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Wrap in Vigor" href="#" target="_blank">Wrap in Vigor</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> regenerates our Fractals, as they are all both blue and green. It is worth noting that some of our Fractal producers aren’t as fortunate, but counterspells like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Voidslime" href="#" target="_blank">Voidslime</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> are able to protect everything, so we split our board protection between the two types.</span></p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Nature&#039;s Lore"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Kodama of the West Tree"></div></div>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">With our Fractals costing a hefty sum of mana, especially our mana sink of a commander, we need to get to high amounts of mana quickly. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Nature&#039;s Lore" href="#" target="_blank">Nature&#039;s Lore</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and similar effects help us fix our mana, and we want low mana-value ramp in particular to give us early plays and to build up lands and instants and sorceries for Invocation and Curve.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Kodama of the West Tree" href="#" target="_blank">Kodama of the West Tree</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> might not be a Fractal or Fractal producer, but it does work with modified creatures, which includes creatures with counters on them, like our Fractals. The burst of mana the Kodama provides helps to propel the deck into the late game, which our commander specializes in.</span></p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Karn&#039;s Bastion"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Breeding Pool"></div></div>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Karn&#039;s Bastion" href="#" target="_blank">Karn&#039;s Bastion</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is essentially a repeatable <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Gaea&#039;s Anthem" href="#" target="_blank">Gaea&#039;s Anthem</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, adding layers and layers of counters to our Fractals while also giving us a use for our excess mana. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Breeding Pool" href="#" target="_blank">Breeding Pool</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> might not seem like a noteworthy nonbasic land, but we want as many blue-green dual lands as we can support and afford, as it gives our <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Nature&#039;s Lore" href="#" target="_blank">Nature&#039;s Lore</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> effects ways to fix our mana.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">But what are we winning the game with?</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-weight: 400;">How Does This <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Primo, the Unbounded" href="#" target="_blank">Primo, the Unbounded</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span></span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Commander Deck Win?</span></h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Doubling Season"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Hardened Scales"></div></div>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This is very much a combat-oriented deck, looking to either grow our Fractals to massive size or commander damage an opponent with our giant trampling commander. Effects that increase the counters creatures enter with, either doubling the counters like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Doubling Season" href="#" target="_blank">Doubling Season</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> or adding to them like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Hardened Scales" href="#" target="_blank">Hardened Scales</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, contribute to both game plans.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><div class="edhrecp__deck mtgh"><span class="edhrecp__deck-s" name="Primo, the Unbounded Commander Deck Tech" site="edhrec" archidekt_link="" cards="&nbsp;
[Commander]
*1 Primo, the Unbounded
[/Commander]
&nbsp;
[Sorceries]
*1 Applied Geometry
*1 Body of Research
*1 Cultivate
*1 Emergent Sequence
*1 Fractal Summoning
*1 Kodama&#039;s Reach
*1 Leyline Invocation
*1 Nature&#039;s Lore
*1 Oversimplify
*1 Rampant Growth
*1 Serpentine Curve
*1 Three Visits
*1 Wild Hypothesis
[/Sorceries]
&nbsp;
[Creatures]
*1 Ambitious Augmenter
*1 Berta, Wise Extrapolator
*1 Biomathematician
*1 Deekah, Fractal Theorist
*1 Emil, Vastlands Roamer
*1 Esix, Fractal Bloom
*1 Fractal Mascot
*1 Fractal Tender
*1 Interdisciplinary Mascot
*1 Jadzi, Steward of Fate // Oracle&#039;s Gift
*1 Kami of Whispered Hopes
*1 Kodama of the West Tree
*1 Manifestation Sage
*1 Pterafractyl
*1 Zimone, All-Questioning
[/Creatures]
&nbsp;
[Artifacts]
*1 Fractal Harness
*1 Geometric Nexus
*1 Ozolith, the Shattered Spire
*1 Sequence Engine
*1 Sol Ring
*1 The Earth Crystal
*1 The Ozolith
[/Artifacts]
&nbsp;
[Enchantments]
*1 Additive Evolution
*1 Branching Evolution
*1 Doubling Season
*1 Hardened Scales
*1 Innkeeper&#039;s Talent
*1 Loading Zone
*1 Paradox Zone
*1 Primal Vigor
*1 Solid Ground
[/Enchantments]
&nbsp;
[Planeswalkers]
*1 Kasmina, Enigma Sage
[/Planeswalkers]
&nbsp;
[Instants]
*1 Decisive Denial
*1 Fractal Anomaly
*1 Fractalize
*1 Growth Spiral
*1 Heroic Intervention
*1 Inspiring Call
*1 Mutational Advantage
*1 Negate
*1 Planar Genesis
*1 Repulsive Mutation
*1 Silkguard
*1 Swan Song
*1 Voidslime
*1 Wrap in Vigor
[/Instants]
&nbsp;
[Lands]
*1 Alchemist&#039;s Refuge
*1 Breeding Pool
*1 Command Tower
*15 Forest
*1 Hedge Maze
*15 Island
*1 Karn&#039;s Bastion
*1 Novijen, Heart of Progress
*1 Rain-Slicked Copse
*1 Rogue&#039;s Passage
*1 Sodden Verdure
*1 Tangled Islet
[/Lands]
&nbsp;"></span></div></span></p>
<h2><span style="font-weight: 400;">Conclusion</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Fractals are a relatively new creature type, but represent the Quandrix college well. They’re fun and play in interesting ways, including having a few different options for commanders.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">But how would <em>you</em> build Fractals? And which commander would you choose?</span></p>


fractals

Building a Fractal Typal Deck with Primo, the Unbounded

Under the Radar - Deekah, Fractal Theorist