While Wizards has been very tight-lipped regarding MTG Reality Fracture, we do know a few things thanks to some leaks. An alternate-reality theme, similar to Planar Chaos, is looking likely, featuring color-shifted planeswalkers in tow. Today, we got even more leaks, reinforcing what we’ve seen and potentially showing us actual cards from the set.
Chandra, Torch Of Defiance & Chandra, Chill Of Compliance
Chandra, Chill of Compliance
– Mana Value: 1UU
– Type: Legendary Planeswalker – Chandra
– Rarity: Mythic Rare
– Card Text: +1: Surveil 1. If you put a noncreature, nonland card into your graveyard this way, put that card into your hand.
+1: Add U. Spend this mana only to cast a noncreature spell.
-X: Tap target artifact or creature. Put X stun counters on it.
-6: You get an emblem with “Whenever you cast a spell, draw a card.”
– Starting Loyalty: 3
After being spotted on Discord by Reddit user ATH773, a trio of Reality Fracture leaks has appeared online. While this isn’t a hugely convincing point of origin, the cards themselves do seem fairly legit. The colorshifted Chandra is certainly the highlight, but Chandra, Torch of Defiance is also a strong reprint. Thanks to its versatility, the card is quite popular in Commander.
Chandra, Chill of Compliance is an intriguing card, and there’s good reason to believe it’s real, too. A blue, ice-aligned Chandra was mentioned in the previous leaks, so this does line up with that. This card also has a watermark similar to Ral, Guest Lecturer, furthering its legitimacy for many players.
Real or not, Chandra, Chill of Compliance seems fairly solid. The mana production ability can work well as protection, letting you drop Chandra and bounce something with Boomerang Basics on the same turn. When the coast is clear, the Surveil ability will also often just draw you a card, which feels great on a three-mana ‘walker. The card seems a lot weaker in Commander, but could potentially work well with Doubling Season.
Stingcaster Mage
– Mana Value: 1R
– Type: Creature – Human Wizard
– Rarity: Mythic Rare
– Card Text: Haste.
When this creature enters, target instant or sorcery card in your graveyard gains Flashback until end of turn. The Flashback cost is equal to its mana cost.
– Stats: 2/1
Stingcaster Mage, as a color-shifted Snapcaster Mage, also fits in with the alternate universe theme established in previous leaks. It appears here in a borderless version featuring shattered glass, which is consistent with the style seen on the test version of the unconfirmed white Liliana.
While Stingcaster is clearly a lot worse than the original Snapcaster overall, being in red does give it some edges. Getting to reuse spells like Burst Lightning and Monstrous Rage in Mono-Red Prowess in Pioneer, while also developing a Hasty threat on board, seems pretty great, for example. With how popular Izzet is right now, this could also be a Standard contender.
In Commander, Snapcaster Mage does actually see a lot of play, but the lack of Flash gives this new version much less flexibility. Not being able to ‘hold up’ your interaction stings, and the trade-off of a 2/1 with Haste feels pretty inconsequential in most Commander games. It’s a nice synergy piece for Lorehold decks that care about cards leaving your graveyard, but overall, it doesn’t seem amazing in multiplayer Magic.
Reality Or Fiction?
For now, the biggest question about these new MTG Reality Fracture leaks is whether they’re legit. The biggest concern here is the high collector numbering on each card, likely ruling out a bonus sheet, and clashing with the previous survey leaks. The fact that these appear to be digital images of cards and not photographs is also suspect, since that’s not how leaks are typically found and presented.
That said, based on the cards themselves, these leaks do seem to be real. It seems unlikely that anyone would go to the lengths of creating a borderless version of Stingcaster Mage, for instance, that mirrors the shattered glass style so perfectly. Additionally, faking a reprint of Chandra, Torch of Defiance with new art would be a bizarre move. These are, however, more suspicious than leaks generally are, so there’s a fair chance that these could be fake.
In any case, we likely won’t have these leaks confirmed or denied for a while yet. MagicCon: Las Vegas is coming up fast on May 1st, but there’s still a lot of big sets between today and Reality Fracture. Thanks to this, we’ll likely need to wait for MagicCon: Amsterdam in July for any official details.
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