We are finally back in universe for Magic the gathering and the set is called Realty Fracture. The set’s story is based around Jace Beleren. It takes place in a timeline where Jace decides to end the cycle of disasters in the planes. He does this by figuring out he can rewrite reality itself. If you did not know there were so many universe ending disasters that happened, here are a few.
First you had the Eldrazi Eldritch all consuming beings that nearly caused everything to cease to exist. Then you had Nicol Bolas: an ego maniacal ancient dragon trying to ascend to god hood. Finally you have the Phyrexian invasion which almost turned everyone into Phyrexians: bio mechanical beings hell bent on turning everyone into more Phyrexians. Jace eventually had enough and created the Echoverse. It's a reflection of the multiverse as we know but history has changed the characters that we recognize.
This set is super unique in that there will be versions of cards and characters we are very familiar with. For example all the Lorwyn Five (original planes walkers) are making a return. However, there is going to be a reflected version of themselves saying what if events went the other way? It shows what could have become of our favorite magic characters in alternate events: some better, others far worse. You see the characters have an opposite reflection of themselves adding the uniqueness to the set.
The only other set that has come close to this is planar chaos. That set is known for breaking the colour pie of magic, but is this set going to just be about breaking the colour pie, or will it reach for something more? Planer chaos was also very much known as a unique set where many of the cards did not follow the standard color-based functions. For example, a big one is ‘Damnation’. This is simply a colour shifted version of the card ‘Wrath of God’. There are a few more examples: Morphling and Torchling / Concentrate and Harmonize. The reactions were mixed in the set. People did like the chaos and what if’s, but were the cards just coloured shifted to take existing effects and copy them from one color over to another?
Is reality Fracture just a modern version of planar chaos? Wizards, the company for Magic The Gathering, said themselves that it is simply not going to be color shifted cards and there is not going to be color pie breaks but re interpretations. You can see that especially in stingcaster mage and the difference with snap caster mage. Snapcaster mage allows you to replay a card in your graveyard and sting master has the same ability. In Magic there is overlap with the colour pie; it is not a rigid system as red and blue are known to be able to cast instants and sorceries in their graveyard. The difference between them is the extra text Snapcaster has flash which is often associated with the colour blue and sting master similarly has haste which is always associated with the red color.
There is a big difference here, not just changing a coat of paint on a card, as both cards keep their colour identity and neither simply just break the colour as they did in planer chaos. Another example is Dark Confidant and Enlightened Confidant. It was not as simple as what if white had this effect? They made sure it felt as though Dark Confidant was designed entirely as a white card instead of a black card. The same goes for Rise of the Dark Realms, Vampiric Tutor and Crater Hoof; each colour has their own interpretation of the effect. Instead of the dark realms reviving all creatures (including your opponents) onto your battlefield the white interpretation would revive all permanents in your graveyard only instead.
Why is breaking the colour pie such a big deal might you ask yourself? Well there are a few reasons why colour shifts can cause some issues and why the colour system in magic is so important. One reason is it makes each colour feel unique to each other as each colour has strengths and weaknesses to it. If every colour can do anything then the card game is not gonna be based on synergies and unique effects it will devolve into best in card slot and synergies and deck building takes a back seat. This is why colour combinations are so meaningful. A good example is black and green. Black strengths are removal and graveyard interaction while green has ramps and large creatures. When you combine them together it makes for an interesting strategy. Now you may want to mill your deck into your graveyard and hope you get one of the large creatures that normally would cost 7 mana or more. A good example is Ruric Thar Magecrusher. Even with green ramp it normally would still take a few turns but with the colour black you can use a cheap revive spell such as reanimate for one mana you can get a 7 mana creature!
Overall I think the set is going to be super fun as it brings back many of the original characters with many callbacks and remembering the history of magic. For example the Lorwyn Five, the original planswalkers, and the cards that address the question ‘what if things turned out differently for the characters?’. The set also pushes what the colour pie means and looks at cards in MTG and asks itself what if this was in a different colour. Even though it pushes what colour boundaries, it still keeps the strength and weaknesses of the cards in those colour identities, making choosing colours still have meaning and impact on how the game plays.
Thank you for reading. Hope to see you again!
And as always, Top Shelf Co. will be carrying these products when they release, and if you want to secure your product, you can Pre-order Here! I hope you are all as excited as we are to see where this set takes MTG. See you next time!
