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Reality Fracture (FRA) is coming and preview season has begun. The latest Magic: The Gathering expansion brings tons of new cards, new mechanics, and shows us all a look at what might have been.
With Jace creating a new alternate multiverse named The Echoverse, players are getting to see many new takes on their favorite characters. Additionally, many new cards act as reflections of spells or locations that we've come to know and love.
It's been a long week full of revelations and new cards, so let's look back at everything you might have missed.
Wednesday's FRA Previews
Coming right off a tremendous Day One Debut, Wednesday was somewhat quiet. The main cards for this day came with the story.
Prophesied End is a stellar, two-mana removal spell. These usually only deal with attacking Creatures, but this one gives you the option to take something out at any time. You'll have to give your opponent a card to do so, but it's a small price to pay when the moment is right.
The second card was Overwrite the Multiverse. It's a powerful Mythic Rare that exiles all Creatures and has Empower Jace X, once for every Creature exiled. Longtime Standard fans may see a glimmer of Sunfall in this one.
Only a few additional low rarity cards were included. Three of them - Budding Insurgent, Greenhouse Propagator, and Tethermage's Advantage - were Limited Commons.
Warrior's Blades, a Red-White Signpost Uncommon, was also part of the group. This Equipment gives a modest power boost, but its real strength is in the Lightning Helix it casts when it enters the battlefield.
Cards from Thursday, September 10
Things really kicked into high gear on Thursday. The day started with a handful of glimpses into some of the new concept, Echoed Pairs.
The Dominarian Knight Danitha got two new cards. Both Danitha, Sword of Hope and Danitha, Sword of Agony depicted a pair of 2/2 Knights with First Strike, likely a nod to the classic White Knight and Black Knight.
We also get to see two new versions of Proft, the master Detective from Murders at Karlov Manor (MKM). The first one - Proft, Consulting Detective - allows you to make him bigger and draw lots of cards. His alternate version - Proft, Sinister Mastermind - is a cheap beater that you can only cast when you have Threshold, or seven cards in your graveyard.
A pair of Rare cards also appeared, Cruel Calculations and Face Yourself.
Cruel Calculations is all about benefitting from milling your opponents out. Just imagine casting this after you play a Maddening Cacophony with tons of mana ready to go? That could be game-ending.
Face Yourself is a Red variant of the classic spell Clone Legion. Rather than making permanent clones of all Creatures, these ones are only semi-permanent. If you have a Planeswalker in play, they stick around. If you don't, they'll be sacrificed during your end step.
We also got the final two Reality Fracture lore pieces on this day. Fans gushed over the high quality of these tales, as well as the two cards waiting for them within.
Blazing Crescendo is a reprint, first seen in Phyrexia: All Will Be One (ONE). This card is another classic spell that heavily pumps your power and lets you play a card off the top of your deck for a turn. This sort of card has become quite popular in Leyline of Resonance decks for their power to speedrun games.
More importantly, we also saw the return of a classic Eldrazi Titan. Emrakul, the Exigent Doom was previously held in the moon of Innistrad. Now, she's been freed to devour the collapsing Echoverse and bring stability to things once more. The card is also quite good and is sure to see play in many formats.
The real meat of previews for the day came in a large dump from Wizards of the Coast. Dozens of previews came through, with a heavy emphasis on Echoed Pairs. We got to see plenty of lower-rarity Legends we've come to know and love alongside their Echoverse doubles, like:
- Lyra, Archangel of Dawn and Lyra, Tolarian Archangel
- Edgar, Ancient Bloodlord and Edgar, Moonlit Sovereign
- Fblthp, Impossibly Lost and Fblthp, Knows the Way
- Yuriko, Hope from the Shadows and Yuriko, Blade of the Mighty
- Thalia, the Survivor and Geist of Saint Thalia
- Kiora of Salt and Sand and Kiora of Fire and Ashes
- Yargle, Glutton of Urborg and Yargle, Goliath of Otaria
- Vraska, the Culling Glare and Vraska, Soul of Stone
One particular Echoed Pair caught the attention of many: the surprise return of Gideon.
Gideon Jura was a Planeswalker who died at the end of War of the Spark (WAR) and was immortalized on Theros. Players didn't expect him to reappear, but Wizards solved this by pairing his Echoverse double to his Memorial.
Gideon, the Oathless depicts what might've happened if he never needed to face off against Nicol Bolas. The true version, Gideon's Memorial, honors his legacy by powering up tokens and casting Planeswalkers. You can even discard it to effectively cast Gideon's Reproach.
Here we also got our look at the set's cycle of five Charms. These include:
Each acts as a reflection of the ones found in Secrets of Strixhaven (SOS), highlighting the five colleges of Hexhaven. Several other cards focus on the school as well.
Cards like Proctor of Potential, Solarium Sentry, and Null Summoner are strong depictions of those involved with their respective schools. Solarium Sentry looks especially sweet, acting as a powerful body that can pressure Aggro decks.
Or, you could simply be the Aggro deck and press your advantage with Master of Barbs. This card pairs quite well with Hired Claw and may very well revive the dormant Lizards deck in Standard.
The biggest surprise came late in the evening, though, when a truly shocking card was previewed.
Tarmogoyf, the legendarily powerful Creature first printed in Future Sight (FUT), was revealed to be coming back to Standard. Tarmogoyf grows to enormous sizes fast, which made it the most dominant threat in Modern and Legacy for many years.
In a different era, Tarmagoyf was widely discussed as "too strong for Standard." Now, it's debatable if it will be good enough given the efficiency of modern-day threats and answers.
Wrapping up Week One
Today, we've only gotten to see a small handful of cards, like a few more Echoed Pairs.
We got our glimpse at Bloomburrow's favorite heroic Mouse with Mabel, Valley Hero. In the Echoverse, though, she appears in a much darker form as Mabel, Bitter Recluse.
We also got another of the "Way of the..." cycle with Way of the Wildspeaker and Way of the Deathbringer. Each of these has the Empower Jace mechanic and grants your Planeswalkers an additional ability. This helps to make your Jace tokens a little more versatile than simply "Surveil 1" or "Draw a card."
Carnivorous Cultivator was another reveal, this time only showing off the Bundle Promo. This powerful Prepare Creature has a spell called "Enroot," which is a version of Entomb that only puts Lands into your graveyard.
It's already generated a lot of talk for older, non-rotating formats. When paired with a card like Wasteland, it can be particularly deadly. The fact that it can find any land makes it that much more toolbox-oriented, especially with cards like Elvish Reclaimer and Knight of the Reliquary.
Stinging Vitriol was also shown off. This card is a sort of halfway point between Thoughtseize and Blightning. It's very strong if you're looking for a good Thoughtseize alternative to build your Boomer Jund list with Tarmogoyf and Dark Confidant.
Identity Echo does something almost shockingly good: cast Transmogrify over and over again.
Transmogrify has been a lower-tier fan favorite in Pioneer. If you make a small Creature token using something like Dwarven Mine, you can turn it into one of the other few threats in your deck. These include powerful Legends like Atraxa, Grand Unifier and Valgavoth Terror Eater.
It'll be interesting to see if this card breathes new life into the archetype or creates a new one in other formats. If nothing else, it's sure to become a Commander staple.
Finally, we've gotten to see Sphinx of False Conclusions.
This provides Control and Tempo decks with a solid threat that can be flashed in during your opponent's end step. If they somehow manage to kill it, you get a second token copy of it.
That makes this Sphinx a very real threat that's difficult for many decks to answer effectively. Because of this, you'll likely find yourself dealing lots of damage with it and looting quite a bit along the way.
This Week's Variants
Reality Fracture also includes many variant prints for tons of cards in the set. Here's what was revealed throughout the week.
Borderless Echoed Pairs
FRA includes a wide number of Echoed Pairs. Some of these come in a special Borderless treatment.
This allows players to get a better look as their favorite characters face off against their alternate selves. Echoed Pairs revealed, so far, with this look were:
- Lyra, Archangel of Dawn and Lyra, Tolarian Archangel
- Fblthp, Impossibly Lost and Fblthp, Knows the Way
- Thalia, the Survivor and Geist of Saint Thalia
- Vraska, the Culling Glare and Vraska, Soul of Stone
- Gideon's Memorial and Gideon, the Oathless
- Winter, Tormented Loner and Winter, Team Player
Sculptor's Stronghold
Several cards also get the Sculptor's Stronghold treatment.
These cards depict the world The Theorist, Jace Beleren has created, so only his creations get this frame. The edges show the twisted architecture of the Echoverse, with the frame opening up to show art that goes from edge to edge.
Braintwister Series
We also get a look into the warped mind of Jace through the Braintwister Series cards.
Each of these borderless arts depicts a surreal, abstract versions of the card's subjects. These can include repeating images, figures making the visual of a skull, or minds breaking open.
Secret Lair Bundle Foils
Two more Secret Lair Bundle cards were also revealed. Both Overwrite the Multiverse and Emrakul, the Exigent Doom were among this small set.
Each of these can only be found in the Reality Fracture Secret Lair Bundle that will be released later on. These cards use the unique flair of the Secret Lair (SLD) line to show how things might look in the world of the Echoverse.
Japan Showcase Cards
We also got to see some more Japan Showcase foil variants. These cards highlight Japanese artists and have been popular variants for many sets since the release of Duskmourn: House of Horror (DSK).
Emrakul, the Exigent Doom was the only one of these revealed this week, marking even more versions of this fan favorite character. The Fracture Foil version was revealed through social media ads early, spoiling her return ahead of the story's finale.
Promo Pack Cards
Last but not least, we got our look at the five cards you can find in Promo Packs when you participate in your local events.
Just like how the Charm cycle mirrors the ones in Secrets of Strixhaven, so do these. The SOS Charms were the Promo Pack cards with that release and they return here.
Check with your local game store for more info on how you can obtain these. Participation varies from location to location.
Conclusion
Reality Fracture is truly living up to the hype and then some.
The story is perhaps one of the best we've ever received and many beloved characters are being seen in a new light. Several variants make it even more exciting than it already appeared during the First Look.
There's no shortage of great ways to experience this awesome set. FRA Prereleases kick off on Friday, September 25, with all orders for the set shipping out the same day.
