The next Magic The Gathering set, “It’s all Jace” Reality Fracture, is almost here, and it’s one to get excited about! Releasing October 2nd (meaning singles can be picked up at prerelease September 25th), this conclusion to a multi year story arc brings some fun new cards to Commander with a throwback design principle. Back in 2007, Planar Chaos introduced fresh takes on new cards by colourshifting them, taking an effect in one colour and moving it to another. An example you may have seen playing Commander is Harmonize, a predominantly Blue effect (card draw with no downside), in Green. Reality Fracture is an interesting set as it uses this exact design principle. You’ll certainly find some new tech for your decks in this set with some cross format staples getting colour shifted treatments. As with all of our top 10 lists, we’ll exclude Legendary Creatures unless they can stand on their own in the 99. Let’s dive in and see what the set has to offer!
Blink decks finally get a White Creature that rewards you for casting more Creatures. Every Creature spell you cast lets you exile another Creature you control and return it immediately, which turns every Enter the Battlefield trigger on your board into a repeatable resource. Pair it with Mulldrifter, Solemn Simulacrum, or Cloudblazer and each new Creature spell refunds a card or a land. Because the trigger happens on cast, the blinked Creature returns before the new Creature even resolves, so your value arrives even if the creature spell gets countered. Even if your using Flickering Hound in a mono White deck, there’s still a tonne of value to be had, Creatures with Flash can help protect existing Creatures in play from removal.
Giving every Instant and Sorcery you control Split Second is a remarkable effect for two Mana. Once Samut is on the Battlefield, opponents can’t counter your removal, answer your tutors, or respond to your wheel effects with anything except mana abilities. That makes it an excellent protection piece for spellslinger decks built around commanders like Mizzix of the Izmagnus or Kess, Dissident Mage, and it behaves like a Grand Abolisher for your spells that works on every player’s turn. Keep in mind that Split Second also stops you from responding to your own spells, so storm-style sequencing where you hold priority no longer works. At 2/1, Samut, Tyrant of Naktamun is also fragile and will draw removal quickly, so try to land it the turn you plan to cast your most important spell.
One black Mana for an Equipment is cheap, but the real hook is the optional payment of two more when it enters. For three Mana total, you destroy up to one Creature or Planeswalker for each opponent, which is a multiplayer swing that rivals casting Ravenous Chupacabra three times. Afterward, the Relic sticks around as a solid +2/+1 Equipment with Equip {2}, so it has some lasting upside. Recursion multiplies its value: Sun Titan can return it from the Graveyard every time it attacks, retriggering the removal as long as you can pay the extra two mana. It’s excellent scalable removal, and definitely worth a consideration if you find your decks have difficulty getting overrun by opponents.
Replacement effects can be really powerful, and what better way to catch your opponents off guard than with an army of dragons? Yes, it goes infinite with Ganax, Astral Hunter, but it also doesn’t naturally conclude, so it will cause a game to end in a draw unless there is instant speed removal. Rather than draw each game, why not create a large army on your Opponent’s end step with Call the Coppercoats or go for the value play with Academy Manufactor. You could also go for repeated sacrifices with Warren Soultrader or pair this Dragon with April O’Neil, Human Element to create more Dragons when your opponents cast spells. Lots of fun to be had with this one.
Red has always had unique ways to cheat creatures into play, and this Enchantment is a repeatable Polymorph on a stick. For four Mana at Sorcery speed, you can exile a Creature or Planeswalker you control and reveal cards until you hit another Creature or Planeswalker, which goes straight onto the Battlefield. The best fodder is tokens, so Identity Echo will excel in decks that can consistently create tokens to exile. Build with a low density of creatures and a handful of expensive threats to make each activation reliable, similar to how Proteus Staff decks are constructed. It is slow and mana-hungry, but in a long game it can create some big tempo swings, or lead to some memorable moments.
Aristocrats decks in Green have a new ramp engine that grows over time. Whenever a creature you control dies, this enchantment gains a charge counter, and at the beginning of your first main phase it adds {G} for each counter. Those counters never go away, so every chump block, sacrifice, and board wipe permanently increases your mana. Pair it with token makers like Pest Summoning and sacrifice outlets like Ashnod’s Altar to build a huge bank of counters quickly. Even a single Damnation with six of your creatures on the Battlefield turns into six extra mana every turn. If you happen to be going wide, you might as well add in Druid’s Repository, that way you get Mana on the attack and potentially the block as well.
It’s a Chimera! While it has a steep colour commitment with four Green pips, the value it can generate is quite high. Whenever Hexhaven Invigorator is dealt damage, you may search for that many Land cards and put them onto the Battlefield tapped. Opponents will think twice about blocking it, because a big blocker could ramp you by five or six Lands in one combat. You can also trigger it yourself with fight spells like Prey Upon and Ram Through, or with symmetrical damage such as Pyrohemia in a Gruul deck. Landfall commanders such as Omnath, Locus of Rage and Tatyova, Benthic Druid turn each trigger into a flood of value. With Vigilance you can swing in with this 6/6 every turn while keeping it back as a blocker as well.
Eight Mana is a lot, but few Enchantments end games as quickly as this one. You may cast spells from your hand without paying their mana costs as long as their mana value is less than or equal to the number of creatures you control. With a wide board of tokens from Tendershoot Dryad or Avenger of Zendikar, nearly every card in your hand becomes free, much like a green-flavored Omniscience. The effect scales naturally with go-wide strategies, so commanders like Rhys the Redeemed or Jetmir, Nexus of Revels can make it lethal the turn it lands. Since it requires an. Existing board state, this is a “win more” card, but boy will it feel good when you can dump your hand right after playing it. Protecting your Creatures and drawing more cards are core requirements to get the most out of this one.
Mana dorks usually produce one mana, but Loot, the Nexus can produce much more in the right deck. When you tap it, you choose a Colour and add one Mana of that Colour for each different power among creatures you control. Loot itself counts as a power of 2, so a board with Creatures of power 1, 3, 5, and 6 generates five Mana of any single Colour. That makes it a strong fixer as well as a ramp piece. Similar to Bloom Tender or Faeburrow Elder, Creatures that tap for multiple Mana can often be core pieces of infinite Mana combos. Keep an eye out for this little Noble in your games, it may just be the central piece of a game-ending play!
Colorless Graveyard hate on a Creature body is always welcome, and this two-mana Gargoyle fits into every deck. Whenever it attacks, you may exile up to one target card from a Graveyard, which chips away at reanimation targets, Flashback spells, and recursion engines one card at a time. For {2}, it gains Flying until the end of turn, so it can attack past ground blockers and keep its trigger online. It won’t replace Relic of Progenitus or Bojuka Bog against dedicated Graveyard decks, but it offers repeatable disruption like Scavenging Ooze in Colours that usually lack it.
There we have it, ten cards you should consider adding to your decks. Whether you’re intrigued by Colour shifted staples of yesteryear, or drawn in by some of the unique effects we’ve highlighted here, Reality Fracture is bound to have something for everyone. There’s a whole Myriad of other Jace’s cards to explore in this set, check out our singles preorder page to see them all.
Were there any cards you’re excited about that I missed? Let me know in the Chimera Gaming Discord, or reach me directly on Bluesky.
Did you know we usually have 20 pods firing for Commander night on Tuesdays? Tables fill up fast and I hope to see you there!