We’re just about to dive headfirst into Reality Fracture preview season. This set releases on October 2nd, and the presale for this multiverse-shattering set has already begun here at Card Kingdom. The set focuses on Jace’s construction of an alternate reality where none of the horrors of the New Phyrexian invasion ever happened. He’s attempting to overlay his new universe onto the mainstream Magic multiverse. Jace’s multiverse has alternate versions of many characters we know, as well as an alternate version of Strixhaven.
However, his changes have also had much wider implications for the rest of his multiverse. In this article, I’m going to take a look at how eliminating the New Phyrexian invasion has changed things in some unforeseen ways.
HOW WE GOT HERE
This alternate reality was first created during the events of Tarkir: Dragonstorm. In that story, Jace broke into the Meditation Realm – Nicol Bolas’s prison, where his brother Ugin stands guard – and stole Ugin’s spirit gem, which could control the Realm. When he took it, he told us exactly what he wanted to do, when he said:
This place is a substrate to all of reality, touching countless worlds and moldable by sheer force of will. If I take control of it, I can fix everything. I can make it so that the Phyrexians never did what they did to Vraska.
The combined power of the Jace and the Spirit Gem, as well as the unique nature of the Meditation Realm allowed Jace to channel his magic into the gem and create an alternate reality where the Phyrexians never compleated him or his paramour, Vraska.
MIRRODIN LIVES ON
So far, the biggest change that has been revealed is that Mirrodin never became New Phyrexia. This probably indicates that the moment that Jace rewrote was the events of Mirrodin Besieged, during which Mirrodin fell and was converted into New Phyrexia. In Jace’s multiverse, this never happened. The Mirrans won.
During Mirrodin Besieged Wizards of the Coast teased two potential follow-up sets – New Phyrexia and Mirrodin Pure. That way, the story wasn’t spoiled. That’s where we first saw Darksteel Angel’s art. So its presence in the set shows us that Mirrodin Pure actually happened in Jace’s multiverse.
This is good news for the Mirrans, but this change would have had massive ramifications for the rest of the multiverse.
ZHALFIR NEVER PHASED IN
During the events of March of the Machine, New Phyrexia was phased out and the pocket-plane of Zhalfir was phased in to take its place in the multiverse. Zhalfir was once part of Dominaria, but the Zhalfirin planeswalker Teferi phased it out to protect it from the original Phyrexian invasion of Dominaria. This made it a strange, isolated mini-plane for quite some time.
If New Phyrexia never existed, that means that Zhalfir doesn’t have anywhere to go, and it would remain phased out.
THE OMENPATHS NEVER OPENED
In the aftermath of the failed New Phyrexian invasion, strange new portals emerged that allowed anyone to travel between the multiverse. This was a result of Realmbreaker – the device that was a Phyrexianized World Tree that was bonded to the planeswalker Wrenn. The Phyrexians used this to burrow into every plane in the multiverse all at once.
However, if the Phyrexians never initiated this plane, there would be no omenpaths. The opening of the omenpaths was a major shift in the multiverse and many of the recent adventures in the Magic story are only possible thanks to these portals.
THE DESPARKENING NEVER HAPPENED
Following the New Phyrexian invasion, the majority of the multiverse’s planeswalkers lost their spark – the part of them that allowed them to planeswalk. It’s not entirely clear why this happened, but it was clearly connected to the massive upheaval in the multiverse caused by the New Phyrexian Invasion. This has left the multiverse with far fewer planeswalkers.
Without the invasion, all the planeswalkers who lost their sparks have likely remained planeswalkers – including Vraska. It will be interesting to see whether this factors into the story at all.
THOSE SLAIN DURING THE INVASION ARE STILL ALIVE
Many characters died as a result of the New Phyrexian Invasion including the planeswalkers Lukka, Tibalt, Wrenn, the Theros god Heliod and many more. Perhaps the most notable survivor is Tamiyo. Tamiyo and Jace are friends who have worked together on several occasions, so it’s likely that he made a point of making sure she survived.
I’m fairly certain that one of the people that Jace saved will ultimately disagree with what he’s trying to do, and Tamiyo is a great candidate for that.
END STEP
So, that’s my speculation about what Jace’s multiverse might look like if Mirrodin never became New Phyrexia. It’s kind of a mixed bag. Some of it is obviously quite good, but not everyone benefits from Jace’s new multiverse. This story has a lot of potential, and it will be interesting to see how things play out over the next few weeks as new story chapters are revealed. What are you hoping to see in Reality Fracture? Let me know over on X or Bluesky.
Jacob has been playing Magic for the better part of 24 years, and he especially loves playing Magic’s Limited formats. He also holds a PhD in history from the University of Oklahoma. In 2015, he started his YouTube channel, “Nizzahon Magic,” where he combines his interests with many videos covering Magic’s competitive history. When he’s not playing Magic or making Magic content, he can be found teaching college-level history courses or caring for a menagerie of pets with his wife.