Magic: The Gathering Reveals First Reality Fracture Cards Ahead of October Release

Magic: The Gathering's next set rewrites its own history, and four new cards show how.

Variety has published an exclusive first look at four cards from Reality Fracture, one with two art variants, ahead of the set's release on 2 Oct. Variety

Reality Fracture is a what if set. It is centred on the Echoverse, described as an artificial Multiverse of Jace Beleren's own design. Head designer Mark Rosewater and worldbuilding design manager Meris Mullaley spoke to Variety about how that idea shaped the set.

The main setting is Hexhaven. It is a what if version of Strixhaven. Where Strixhaven used enemy-coloured colleges, meaning pairs from opposite sides of Magic's five-colour system, Hexhaven uses ally-coloured colleges, meaning neighbouring pairs.

The set has one brand-new mechanic, meaning a new gameplay rule. It is called empower Jace. It creates a planeswalker token, a playable piece representing the character Jace on the battlefield, and was inspired by the amass mechanic first seen in War of the Spark.

The main set is large. It holds 71 commons, 109 uncommons, 64 rares and 26 mythic rares, the four levels of rarity that control how often a card turns up in packs, according to Wizards of the Coast. Wizards of the Coast It also includes 10 common dual lands, lands that can supply two colours of mana, the game's core resource.

Wizards of the Coast shared a new look at Reality Fracture during MagicCon: Amsterdam. The company has described it as an upcoming conclusion set. Variety

The rollout is already under way. Previews, the official season of card reveals, began on 8 Sept. Prerelease events in local game shops are scheduled for 25 Sept to 1 Oct, with release on MTG Arena and Magic Online, the digital versions of the game, on 29 Sept. TCGplayer

Shops can then host Magic Presents: All Leylines' Eve, a Halloween-themed Draft event where players build decks from fresh packs on the spot, from 30 Oct to 5 Nov. WPN

For fans, this means several chances to play the cards early. Digital release and prerelease come first. Then the full tabletop launch follows, with the new Jace mechanic and the reworked colleges to try.