Jace Beleren has finally gone too far. In Reality Fracture, the climax of Magic's three-year Metronome story arc, Jace has built an alternate Multiverse of his own design, the Echoverse, and it's threatening to swallow the real one. Familiar legends like Liliana, Chandra, Ajani and Garruk show up twisted into new colors and new attitudes, and one team of heroes is all that stands between the Multiverse and oblivion.
That's the story. But if you're here, you probably want to know the important part: how does this set actually play? Here's everything you need before you sit down to draft, build or brew.
Key dates
- Prerelease weekend: September 25 – October 1 at your local game store
- MTG Arena release: September 29
- Tabletop release: Friday, October 2
Reality Fracture is a Standard-legal expansion, so everything you open is fair game for Standard, Pioneer-and-up formats, Commander and Limited.
The new mechanics
Empower Jace
This is the set's signature mechanic. When a card tells you to "Empower Jace N," you put N loyalty counters on a Jace planeswalker token you control. If you don't have one yet, you create one with 0 loyalty first, then add the counters.
The default Jace token can −1 to surveil 1 or −3 to draw a card. A few things worth knowing:
- It only works with Jace tokens, not a regular Jace card you cast from your hand.
- The token can use a loyalty ability the turn it shows up, but you're still limited to one activation per turn.
- Some cards give your Jace token extra loyalty abilities, which is where the mechanic gets spicy.
Player tip: Empower Jace is a card-advantage engine that snowballs. The more you feed it, the more selection and draws you get. Your opponents know that too, so protect your Jace, and when you're on the other side of the table, attack your opponent's Jace whenever you're not going for lethal.
Prepare
When a creature becomes prepared, the game makes a copy of its Prepare spell in exile. As long as that creature stays prepared, you can cast the copy by paying its normal cost.
- The creature stays on the battlefield; the spell waits in exile.
- If the prepared creature is removed, you lose access to the stored spell.
- Each creature can only hold one prepared spell at a time.
Player tip: Prepare is all about flexibility. You can cast the spell right away or hold it as a threat. Just remember that holding it means betting your creature survives, so against removal-heavy decks, cast it sooner rather than later.
Heartwood tokens
Heartwood tokens are red and green artifact tokens that tap for red or green mana, and unlike Treasure, they don't sacrifice themselves. Think of them as tiny reusable mana rocks.
Player tip: Heartwood is the backbone of red-green ramp. Because they're artifacts, they also turn on anything that cares about artifacts entering or being controlled.
Flashback (returning)
The classic returns: cast an instant or sorcery from your graveyard by paying its flashback cost, then exile it. Unlike Prepare, you're casting the actual card, and normal timing still applies, so sorceries are main-phase only.
Echoed Pairs
Every Play Booster includes a legendary card and its Echoverse alternate. The set has 86 Echoed Pair cards across 43 matched designs. Important for players: Echoed Pairs are not a keyword or rules mechanic. The two cards don't interact automatically unless one of them says so, but they make fantastic build-arounds and are a fun thing to collect in sets.
Draft and Sealed archetypes
All ten two-color pairs have a clear plan:
- White-Blue: Fliers and surveil, with payoffs for surveilling
- Blue-Black: Self-mill toward threshold (seven or more cards in your graveyard)
- Black-Red: Aggressive noncombat damage
- Red-Green: Ramp with Heartwood tokens into big threats
- Green-White: Life gain and +1/+1 counters
- Blue-Red: Prowess and noncreature spell payoffs
- Black-Green: Creatures, recursion and graveyard value
- Red-White: Fast creatures and spreading +1/+1 counters
- Green-Blue: Empower Jace for repeated value
- White-Black: Attrition with "enters" and "dies" triggers
The five allied-color pairs of White-Blue, Blue-Black, Black-Red, Red-Green and Green-White each have a signature prepare spell anchoring the deck, so keep an eye out for those in your first few picks.
Prerelease and Limited tips
- It's a slow, grindy format. Early reports suggest powerful expensive cards beat low-curve aggro, so don't be afraid to take the bomb over the two-drop.
- Aim for 14–15 creatures with a curve that starts at one or two mana so you aren't run over early.
- Watch the legend rule. 75 of the set's 160 creatures are legendary, so doubling up on the same legend can cost you.
- Respect Jace tokens. A Jace that sticks around for three or four turns can bury you in card advantage.
Commander
Reality Fracture brings a four-color precon, Multiverse Reforged, led by a brand-new version of Jace in white, blue, black and red, with 16 new cards. If you want to take the Echoverse to your Commander table, it's ready to play right out of the box.
Which product is right for you?
- Want to draft with friends? Draft Night is a self-contained kit for a four-player Pick-Two Draft, with 12 Play Boosters, a Collector Booster for the winner, lands and tokens.
- Building for Standard or Limited practice? A Play Booster Display gives you 30 packs, enough for a full draft pod or a serious look at the set. Or grab individual Play Boosters to try it out.
- Chasing the premium versions? Collector Boosters and the Collector Booster Display carry extended art, special foils and a shot at the serialized Bloodline Recollector.
- Playing Commander? The Multiverse Reforged Commander deck puts the new four-color Jace at the helm of a ready-to-play 100-card deck.
Reality Fracture is the end of a three-year story and one of the most mechanically interesting sets in a while. Whether you're empowering Jace, stacking prepared spells or ramping into something huge with Heartwood, there's a lot to explore. See you in the Echoverse.
