Reality Fractures for MTG This Month
Wizards of the Coast are set to cap off three years of work this month with Reality Fracture, a multiverse spanning Magic set that closes the book on the Metronome arc that has encompassed non-UB sets from 2023’s Wilds of Eldraine onwards.
Jace Beleren, one of the very first Planeswalkers introduced is, quite frankly, not too happy about the state of things. So unhappy in fact that he intends to overwrite the MtG multiverse with his own creation, the ‘Echoverse’, free of pain, suffering and free will – you know, the usual Catch 22. Of course, this news doesn’t go down too well and now former friends and foes alike must unite to stop Jace’s plan from coming to fruition.
As part of this accumulation of power on Jace’s part to put his plan into motion, Reality Fracture introduces a new ‘Empower Jace’ mechanic that thematically… powers much of the events of Reality Fracture. ‘Empower Jace’ works by creating a Jace Planeswalker Token – incidentally providing the first source of Planewalker permanents in pauper format – with multiple Jace tokens possible provided players can bring them into the game through varying means. ‘Empower Jace’ will be followed by a number detailing how many Loyalty counters it will receive after entering which can be spent to Surveil or Draw a Card at a cost of 1 and 3 Loyalty counters respectively.
Another new addition are ‘Heartwood Tokens’, a Token Artifact which can provide a red or green mana when tapped, aimed at pumping up a players mana a few rounds in.
For collectors, there’s plenty new in Reality Fracture to keep them hunting. First up are Echoes Pairs, linked cards found in pairs in single booster packs which have apparently pushed the boffins at WotC to refine their booster print processes to make these things even possible.
Tower Lands are a new format for Reality Fracture which stack three Land cards on top of one another to create a full image, kind of like a vertical triptych, The effect is quite cool but I wonder how many tables can accommodate these things in all their majesty.
No MtG set is complete without a Chase cards, and in Reality Fracture it’s Bloodline Recollector, featuring double rainbow foil and of course limited to 500 copies worldwide and in Collector Boosters only – get cracking, literally!
Shattered Mirror cards reflect the multiverse aspect of Reality Fracture, riffing on popular cards with an alternate art effect overlaid in the form of mirror shards – it looks quite striking and a great way to link cards to the overall set theme.
The Reality Fracture product line-up includes a Secret Lair Bundle alongside the regular Bundle with a single Jace – Multiverse Reforged Commander Deck and a Draft Night kit, as well as the standard Play and Collector Boosters on offer. Coinciding with this release are a set of five ‘Foundations Commander Decks’ to help newcomers dive into the Commander format in an affordable and streamlined way.
While Reality Fracture hits stores globally on October 2nd, just in time for PAX Aus, Prerelease events will be running at FLGS’s from September 25th, while MtG Arena will launch Reality Fracture content on September 29th.
