Reality Fracture (FRA) is quickly turning into the most anticipated set of the year, loaded with nostalgic callbacks, powerful new spells, and the most important characters of the last twenty years of Magic history.

If you've been following along through Reality Fracture preview season, you'll know there's no shortage of exciting cards in the set! I was anxious to see how the cards performed, but the Early Access event on Arena showed that all the excitement surrounding this set is warranted.

These are some of the cards I played, or played against, and how they performed.

The Most Exciting Cards from the Early Access Event

Tarmogoyf

One of the biggest questions surrounding this set is, "Will Tarmogoyf actually be good in Standard in 2026?" Watching and participating in the Early Access left this a definitive... maybe.

Tarmogoyf was fine, providing a cheap, effective beater. I won some games with it. The biggest issue for Goyf is that the old school style of Jund decks just don't seem to provide enough consistency in the game that Magic has become.

Too many decks go wide too easily, and every deck seems to have some combo that practically ends the game on the spot, making a reactive deck much more difficult to pilot. I think Tarmogoyf is good enough, but it's going to take some work to figure out where to put it.

Jace's Machinations

I saw this one used quite a bit. The results were mixed but, Jace's Machinations is the perfect opportunity to mention the Empower Jace ability.

As the predominant theme in the set, just about every deck was using Empower Jace in some way, and the ability is strong.

It's like a cross between a Clue and a Map token in many ways, but in both cases it always provides some value. When paired with cards that take advantage of the fact that you have a Planeswalker (and can capitalize on it), the ability can be incredible. It's looking like it will certainly be a viable effect in Standard.

It is also one of the better flavor additions we've had in quite a while. Jace's Machinations is good enough to see Standard play and might be the best Empower Jace card in the set. Though, it's also possible that this will be even better in Pioneer, where it creates a "Splinter Twin" style combo with Kasmina, Enigma Sage.

Way of the Pyromancer

I think a lot of people looked past Way of the Pyromancer when it was first spoiled, but this card put in a ton of work.

You can evaluate it as either a two-mana mana rock or as a two-mana Planeswalker. Both would be very powerful if printed on its own, so seeing this as a kind of split card is amazing.

In either case, this presents a very big piece of the puzzle for the go-big version of Red decks. I don't think this will replace Tablet of Discovery, but it warrants testing in decks like Jeskai Control as another way to accelerate to Jeskai Revelation.

It will also help spawn another archetype I think, especially when paired with...

Ajani Unrelenting

Holy cow, did I miss out when evaluating Ajani Unrelenting!

This was brutal, and ended so many games that I think this will slip into my top ten cards of the set. If you play this with other Planeswalkers, especially Empower Jace, it's so easy to start free rolling Creature tokens and take over the game.

Even better, the set gave us a fantastic card to facilitate Ajani Unrelenting on every level with Gideon's Memorial, pumping the tokens with +1/+0 and providing mana ramp to get Ajani on the board a turn early.

Boros might be the way to go, as curving Elspeth, Storm Slayer into this will end games on the spot. Boros Planeswalkers might be a real deck once FRA drops.

Dark Matter Manipulator

Dark Matter Manipulator was everywhere and might be another one of the top cards in the set. It's the cheapest way to load the graveyard in Standard, provides a body for additional interactions, and can even be a reasonable beater in the late game.

The +2/+0 ability stacks up pretty quick, and it's not uncommon to see this as big as a 5/2 by turn four. This might not look all that glamorous, but if you're doing graveyard shenanigans in the near future, you'll probably want to start with four of these in your deck.

Liliana the Faultless

I played against the Soul Sisters style life gain deck more than any other during the event.

Whether mono White focusing on Ajani Resolute or Orzhov versions that ran the usual black bat package, the deck was everywhere.

Liliana the Faultess was the perfect one-drop in here, providing the consistent stream of life gain that makes the deck work, while backing it up with pinpoint protection. I expect people to try this deck the entire time Liliana is in the format, so expect to see this one periodically.

Aerid Konstrari

I liked Aerid Konstrari when it was previewed, mostly because I thought it could be fun in an Agatha's Soul Cauldron deck (which I tried out, and it worked pretty well). It helps that it can effectively act as a three-mana spell, since the token this creates comes in untapped and allows you to immediately use the mana to offset the tempo loss.

But, seeing it in action by itself, made me realize just how quickly this can end the game, once you start adding in other ways to get Artifacts on the board. Cards like Heartwood Crafter (which performed very well and might be the set's best Common) or Chainsaw are enough to get the ball rolling.

Then, every activation of Aerid's ability grows the card exponentially, and it can end the game in an attack or two. Don't sleep on this one.

Ingris Stingerquill

I saw Ingris Stingerquill being played in a ton of decks, and almost always in conjunction with Master of Barbs.

The decks were fast, easily allowing for turn four kills as a baseline.

Lizard decks in general are going to get one more chance to shine as the top aggro deck before Bloomburrow (BLB) rotates in January.

The fact that Ingris allows the attacking Creature to be the source of the damage (whereas previous cards with this ability, like Hellrider, didn't grant the ability but did the damage themselves) sets up some powerful interactions.

Jace, Reality Sculptor

I did not think Jace, Reality Sculptor was going to be a real problem, but it smashed me multiple times.

In a deck that's almost mono-Islands (did you notice that Theorist's Sanctum is an Island?), it only takes a turn or two for the +1 ability to pump up a Jace token to the point that the -0 ability ends the game. The -3 effectively buys you the crucial turn that you play Jace, as giving the opponent's team -5/-0 is effectively a Fog effect in 95% of matches. This one surprised me.

The Theorist, Jace Beleren

Seeing as this is "The Jace Set" it's only fitting that we talk about multiple Jace cards. The first time I typed this, I misspelled Theorist and autocorrect changed it to "The Terrorist, Jace Beleren." Honestly, autocorrect might have had a point.

Especially when you look at The Theorist, Jace Beleren with Jace's Machinations, allowing you to tick up on an opponent's turn as well, it is so easy to get this to the ultimate, giving Blue decks a way to end games immediately.

The fact that this protects itself while also drawing cards let's Jace take over the game with the barest amount of backup. This played out so much better than I thought it would, and I wouldn't be surprised to see this spawn new decks all by itself.

Conclusion

The Early Access Event was a blast, and I feel like it gave us only the slightest taste of what FRA is going to do to the format. This set will make an impact on multiple formats, and I can't wait to have access to the all the cards.

These were just a few that jumped out to me during the Event, but there are dozens more that I expect to pop up once the set is legal.