Spoiler season has officially begun for Reality Fracture, Magic: The Gathering’s upcoming multiversal set that serves as the culmination of the TCG’s three-year story arc. Set in an alternate universe (referred to as the Echoverse) in which Planeswalker Jace Beleren has oh-so-generously taken it upon himself to “fix” everything he finds wrong with the world, Reality Fracture depicts his hostile, perfectly curated world and the other Planeswalkers of Lorwyn’s efforts to demolish it.
Ahead of the set’s official release on October 2, Wizard of the Coast offered GameSpot an exclusive look at three cards: Surveillance Phantasm, Silence the Echo, and Chandra’s Emberling. Each of these cards depicts a moment from Reality Fracture’s 10-part story, which just wrapped up earlier this week.
Surveillance Phantasm
In Reality Fracture’s Echoverse, Jace (now known as The Theorist) has become all but omnipresent. Surveillance Phantasm depicts this, echoing Tam’s warning to Vraska that those opposing Jace should “stay away from the statues and birds.”
The two-drop Bird Illusion Creature boasts Flying and Vigilance, though it’s slightly hindered by being a Defender. However, if its controller has scried or surveilled this turn, Surveillance Phantasm can attack as if it didn’t have the keyword attached to it. It also features the ability to pay four mana to Surveil 1, giving you a somewhat pricey albeit useful way to ensure the Surveillance Phantasm can attack, as well as allowing the controller to cycle through cards a bit faster.
Silence the Echo
Silence the Echo depicts the events leading up to Reality Fracture’s heart-wrenching finale, as the true Vraska finally finds a way to destroy her Echoverse counterpart.
“When she locks eyes with her other self, all she sees is a pair of lovely blue irises, dull and mundane, not a flicker of gorgon magic within them,” the excerpt reads. “She’s already won. She’s been charging her gaze since she launched into the air. She grabs her double by the shoulders, holding her in place. Skin turns to stone, and the other Vraska solidifies with a look of mild confusion on her face.”
As such, Silence the Echo allows its player to destroy a target creature or Planeswalker–albeit at a cost. The two-drop requires its player to either sacrifice a creature or Planeswalker or pay an additional three colorless mana to cast it.
Chandra’s Emberling
Finally, Chandra’s Emberling is a Gremlin Elemental with Haste that accumulates +1/+1 counters as its controller casts noncreature spells, making it a solid addition to your spellslinger decks. The card costs three mana to cast it and features a power and toughness of 2.
Chandra’s Emberling refers to Chandra, Gremlin Wrangler, Magic: The Gathering’s first Heroes of the Realm card and one that was given exclusively to Wizards of the Coast employees. As such, it is a notoriously difficult (if not impossible) card to find.
Prerelease events for Reality Fracture kick off September 25, a week before its official release date on October 2.