If you're reading this article, you're likely a resident of the Multiverse. That's great! The Multiverse is an awesome place to live. Unfortunately, we're getting a new roommate in Jace's Echoverse, and it's taking up a wee bit more space than we had in mind. Alternate versions of beloved characters, lands in front of creatures … It's madness! Let's look at the new and returning mechanics of Magic's latest set so you can navigate what's to come. Welcome to Reality Fracture.

Empower Jace

The story of Reality Fracture revolves around an unprecedented display of Jace's power and—some would argue—his hubris. The marquee mechanic of the set is a keyword action that has Jace bringing versions of himself to your battles: empower Jace.

0037_MTGFRA_MainUP: Protege's Awakening

When instructed to empower Jace, first check to see if you control a Jace planeswalker token. The most likely reason you will is because you've previously empowered Jace, but it's possible to control a Jace planeswalker token some other way, such as by creating a token that's a copy of another Jace planeswalker. Note that nontoken planeswalkers don't count. If you do control a Jace token, put the specified number of loyalty counters on it. This pleases Jace greatly. If you control more than one Jace planeswalker token, you choose one of the tokens to get the loyalty counters. This pleases the Jaces greatly.

0005_MTGFRA_TknBoos: Jace Token

If you don't control a Jace planeswalker token, Jace will be right along to fix that. You create a blue Jace planeswalker token with 0 loyalty. While it won't enter with any loyalty counters, you will put the specified number of loyalty counters on it just after it enters. The new Jace token has two loyalty abilities: "−1: Surveil 1" and "−3: Draw a card."

It's worth mentioning that the Jace planeswalker tokens aren't legendary. While empower Jace won't allow you to create another token if you already control one, you could create multiple tokens in other ways and not have to worry about the legend rule messing with your plans.

Heartwood Tokens

Reality Fracture introduces a new kind of predefined token to the game: Heartwood tokens. These artifact tokens provide a steady boost of mana to propel you into the mid to late game.

0121_MTGFRA_MainUP: Aerid Konstrari

Each Heartwood token is a red and green artifact token with ": Add or ." As Aerid Konstrari, one of the Founder Sphinxes of Hexhaven, so ably demonstrates, Heartwood tokens are useful not only for ramping up your available mana but also the number of artifacts you control.

0011_MTGFRA_TknBoos: Heartwood Token

Please note that early printings of the Heartwood token use the colorless artifact frame but are red and green artifacts per reminder text.

Prepare

The students of Hexhaven are just as prepared to assist you in your duels as the students of Strixhaven were. Preparation cards return once again to offer you additional spellcasting options, as long as you can keep the holder of these spells in your employ.

0090_MTGFRA_MainUP: Pompous Battlemage

If this is the first time you've seen preparation cards, let's take a brief tour. They look a lot like previous cards with two-part frames, such as cards with Adventures or Omens. Most of the card is made up of the creature and its characteristics: its name, mana cost, type line, power, and toughness. The left side of the text box is home to the creature's abilities.

On the right side of the text box, you'll find the card's prepare spell. For Pompous Battlemage, that's Improvised Act. It has its own name, mana cost, type line, and rules text. The prepare spells from Secrets of Strixhaven included some familiar incantations from the past. While Reality Fracture wanted to continue that tradition, things got a little twisted along the way.

Preparation cards always have the characteristics of the creature, no matter where they are. If you're searching your library for a creature card or returning a creature card from your graveyard to your hand, Pompous Battlemage is a creature card. But if you're searching your library for a sorcery card, you can't find Pompous Battlemage. It's not a sorcery card no matter where it is.

How do you cast the prepare spell? Well, you don't, exactly. But you do cast a copy of it. Many creatures with prepare spells, including Pompous Battlemage, enter prepared. We're going to talk a lot about creatures, but really prepared is a designation any permanent can have. If a creature with a prepare spell becomes prepared, a copy of its prepare spell appears in exile. That copy stays in exile until one of three things happens: One, you cast it. This is how you'd prefer things to go. Two, the prepared creature leaves the battlefield. If this happens, the copy of the prepare spell immediately ceases to exist. Bummer. Three, the prepared creature becomes unprepared. There are some cards that can make this happen. Again, the copy of the spell will cease to exist. Again, bummer.

Casting the copy of the prepare spell works like casting any other spell. You put it on the stack and make any choices it calls for, like targets. You also pay its costs. You know how to cast a spell. Wait, maybe you don't! Maybe you've been reading this article and have no idea what any of this is. You should check out some of our learn-to-play resources.

Casting a prepare spell from exile causes the prepared creature to become unprepared. For some creatures, that's the end of their contributions on the spellcasting front, although there are external ways to prepare them again. Other creatures have their own ways of becoming prepared again, turn after turn.

0151_MTGFRA_MainUP: Stingerquill Voxmancer

A creature can't become prepared again if it's already prepared. A single creature won't be able to give you more than one copy of its prepare spell at the same time. You'll need to cast that spell (or have that copy cease to exist because the creature becomes unprepared some other way) before you can create another copy by having the creature become prepared again.

Hexhaven students are even more treacherous than their counterparts at Strixhaven were, so there's one situation worth mentioning. If you control a prepared creature and another player gains control of it, the new controller is now the one who can cast the copy from exile and not you.

This All Rings a Beleren

Reality Fracture previews are here (at least in this reality), and the set releases on October 2, 2026. Reality Fracture is available for preorder from your local game store, TCGplayer, Amazon, and elsewhere Magic is sold. However many versions of you are out there, I hope you all go to the Prerelease!