It’s easy to forget since The Hobbit only officially released two weeks ago, but Reality Fracture is right around the corner. With spoiler season kicking off on September 8th, the hype train is already picking up steam. Unfortunately, it now seems that getting a hold of the set once it launches might be rather difficult.
Bizarre Backlog
Announced by Wizards of the Coast yesterday, Reality Fracture Play Booster Boxes may suffer a delay thanks to lower water levels in the Panama Canal. According to the announcement, one of the freshwater lakes that feed the canal is currently experiencing drought, essentially causing a traffic jam. Reportedly, this is a semi-regular drought in Lake Gatun caused by El Niño that was expected to recur this year.
Unfortunately, one of the affected ships carries a significant share of North America’s Reality Fracture Play Boosters, which will create product shortages if the ship falls behind schedule. While Wizards has reassured players that there will be enough product to experience Reality Fracture Prerelease, there may not be much left over afterward. At this point, the delay is expected to last about two weeks at worst.
On the plus side, at the time of writing, all of Reality Fracture’s other products are still on schedule, meaning that Wizards only expects delays for Play Booster Boxes. There is also a chance that this delay will not come to fruition if the affected ship arrives in North America on schedule. That said, given that the Panama Canal drought isn’t just affecting Magic Players in North America, this seems unlikely.