Wizards of the Coast has begun spoiler season for Reality Fracture, the upcoming Magic: The Gathering set that concludes the trading card game's three-year narrative arc. The set arrives in prerelease events on September 25 and sees a full release on October 2.
Reality Fracture unfolds in an alternate universe called the Echoverse, where the Planeswalker Jace Beleren—now known as The Theorist—has appointed himself the arbiter of a perfectly curated world. Opposing him are the Planeswalkers of Lorwyn, who are working to dismantle his hostile creation. The set's ten-part story concluded earlier this week, and the cards depict pivotal moments from that narrative.
Among the three cards revealed exclusively to GameSpot is Surveillance Phantasm, a two-drop Bird Illusion Creature that embodies Jace's near-omnipresence in the Echoverse. The card echoes a warning from Tam to Vraska that those opposing Jace should stay away from statues and birds. Surveillance Phantasm has Flying and Vigilance but is hindered by Defender. However, if its controller has scried or surveilled this turn, it can attack as though it did not have Defender. It also carries an activated ability costing four mana to Surveil 1, offering a way to enable attacks while cycling through cards.
Silence the Echo captures the events leading to the story's finale, in which the true Vraska destroys her Echoverse counterpart. The narrative describes Vraska locking eyes with her double and seeing only dull, mundane blue irises with no trace of gorgon magic. Having charged her gaze since launching into the air, she grabs her double by the shoulders, and skin turns to stone. The card is a two-drop that destroys a target creature or Planeswalker, but its controller must either sacrifice a creature or Planeswalker or pay an additional three colorless mana to cast it.
Chandra's Emberling is a Gremlin Elemental with Haste that accumulates +1/+1 counters whenever its controller casts noncreature spells, positioning it for spellslinger decks. It costs three mana and has a power and toughness of 2. The card references Chandra, Gremlin Wrangler, Magic's first Heroes of the Realm card, which was given exclusively to Wizards of the Coast employees and is notoriously difficult to find.
Additional cards from the set include The Echoverse Fulcrum, a Mythic Rare legendary artifact designed to merge universes. Its functional effect is a board wipe with card selection attached. While colorless cards have had conditional board wipes before, the low initial mana cost and immediate draw-and-discard benefit could make it broadly useful in formats like Commander. Five mana to activate and sorcery-speed timing are drawbacks, but the immediate card selection softens them.
Vraska's Final Mercy is a Rare sorcery depicting the final moments of Jace's turn from hero to villain. It can either destroy a creature or Planeswalker at the cost of two life, or effectively draw two cards while building up Jace. The removal mode parallels Infernal Grasp but hits planeswalkers and is hampered by sorcery speed and a demanding two-black-pip mana cost. The second mode resembles Night's Whisper, though the Empower Jace mechanic delays the second draw until the following turn. It also offers flexibility to boost a Jace token's loyalty or Surveil instead of drawing.
The set's story wrapped earlier this week, and prerelease events begin September 25, giving players their first chance to experience the Echoverse ahead of the October 2 release.