While The Hobbit has only been fully out for a couple of weeks now, eyes are already looking towards September and the upcoming release of Reality Fracture. As is now tradition, Mark Rosewater has released a teaser article for this much-anticipated MTG set, revealing a bunch of interesting info. From iconic cards as tokens to insane planeswalker support, this set looks incredible already.
Black Lotus As A Token?!
Perhaps the wildest entry in this new list of teasers is the one that reads: “a card that creates a colorless artifact token named Lotus with “{T}, Sacrifice this token: Add three mana of any one color.”” This new token is a near-exact replica of Black Lotus, the most powerful and expensive MTG card of all time. Even with a steep cost associated with it, any card that creates a token like this has real potential to be seriously busted.
Interestingly, this isn’t technically the first time we’ve seen this iconic artifact in token form. Garth One-Eye from back in Modern Horizons 2 created a token Black Lotus with its activated ability, though no actual token was printed for use alongside it. With the new version dropping the ‘Black’ this time, however, we could finally get an official token to represent it.
While we’re on the subject of tokens, Rosewater’s teaser article also promises a “mechanic that creates a token type no other mechanic has ever created.” As this specifies a type, not a subtype, this is likely more exciting than a new entry in the Treasure/Food/Clue artifact lineup. So far, players are speculating that it could be Battle tokens, to fulfill that long-awaited return.
Superfriends, Unite!
We already knew Reality Fracture would have a strong planeswalker focus, and today’s teaser article reinforces that in a big way. In particular, the promised rules text of “Planeswalkers you control aren’t put into their owner’s graveyards for having 0 loyalty” is incredibly exciting for the type. This not only lets you keep planeswalkers around after using their minus abilities, but it also protects them from death in combat, too.
Depending on the rate involved, this effect could be massive for Superfriends decks in Commander, helping to alleviate multiple major archetypal weaknesses at once. For balance reasons, it’s likely this will be a pricey creature, or possibly even a planeswalker itself, but for now we can only speculate.
Today’s teaser also includes another nugget for planeswalker fans: “Target planeswalker you control deals damage equal to its loyalty.” This very much sounds like a fight or bite effect for planeswalkers, which is a very funky new design space indeed. Currently the target of the damage is unknown, so this could even be a burn effect.
All The Colors Of The Wind
Reality Fracture looks to be a set packed full of several ‘what if’ references to different aspects of MTG, and more of these are confirmed in today’s teaser. One particularly intriguing entry notes that we’ll be seeing a “prepared spell that’s a red version of a popular blue instant (the color it should have been in).” So far, the prevailing guess for this hint is a red High Tide, though some optimistic players are hoping for a red Force of Will.
This set looks to be messing with colors a lot in general, with a “cycle of color hosers for ally colors” and “some colorwashed spells (akin to Planar Chaos’ bonus sheet)” also being teased. Intriguingly, we’ve also been promised “Hydra, Kraken, and Phoenix each printed in a single color they’ve never been printed before.” This means we’ll be getting a white Hydra, a red or white Kraken, and a blue or green Phoenix, all of which should be interesting additions.
Guess Who’s Back?
As you’d expect from such a heavily referential set, many classic concepts, like a new ‘Relentless’ card is also now confirmed for Reality Fracture. Per the teaser, the set will feature a new “A deck can have any number of” card, this time an instant, which is new for the Relentless concept. We’re also getting a “new wish (a card that can put a card outside the game into your hand),” which commonly make waves in older, combo-heavy MTG formats.
The most exciting returning concept here, however, is undoubtedly the “new restriction for whether a cycle of dual lands enters tapped,” which implies we’ll be getting a new land cycle here. While we should temper expectations, as this could just be a funky low-rarity cycle for limited, the potential for a new set of staple lands is definitely here.
On top of these returning concepts, Reality Fracture also looks to be stuffed with returning characters, with Lyra, Tomik, Winter, and even the beloved Yoshimaru all getting new cards here. There’s also a mysterious new character named Rescue Girl, who players are currently predicting to be a color-shifted Massacre Girl.
Overall, these new Reality Fracture teasers are exciting on a huge number of axes. Whatever kind of Magic player you are, you’ll want to keep your eyes wide open on September 8th, when the official Debut for the set finally drops.
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