Avatar of Burgeoning Echoes | Illustration by Eli Minaya

Reality Fracture (FRA) is one of the most anticipated sets from the MTG community, both because it has powerful cards and awesome flavor, and it has finally arrived.

Today I’m going to cover the best cards in FRA, considering the amount of play they’ll see and the new decks they’ll inspire. I’m covering both Standard and Commander releases together, but first we’ll cover some of the best reprints before we even talk about the shiny new cards.

Flickering Hound | Illustration by Chris Rahn

These dual lands are among the best to have in many formats. They tend to enter play untapped whenever you need them most, even in aggressive decks, where you can play these alongside basic lands or fast/pain lands.

Like Tarmogoyf, this was such a powerful staple, but it still sees some play here and there. Chandra, Torch of Defiance is good in big red decks, or in the sideboard of aggressive decks that want to diversify their threats a bit.

A weird reprint in this set, and I doubt it was on anyone’s reprint Bingo cards. Tarmogoyf was such a chase card back in the 2010’s, but it’s not even considered good anymore. Still, it’s a classic and iconic card for Cubes, especially those that also play Pyrogoyf and friends. It’s going to be legal in Standard and Pioneer, so let’s see if it does any good there.

Sunfall is one of the best wraths ever, since it exiles all creatures and you’re left behind with an Incubator token. You get rid of all the problematic, indestructible hexproof creatures, and you get a big token for free. Sounds like a good trade to me.

Splinter Twin getting its first proper reprint since Modern Masters 2015, and now the card’s legal again in Modern. The format isn’t the same as it was 10 years ago, so UR Twin isn’t the Tier 1 deck it once was. This card is played as an infinite combo piece with untap cards like Pestermite, or you can use it as a value card to copy your best creatures for a turn.

Eye of Ugin was the engine that fueled Eldrazi decks in Modern until it was banned. The card discounts Eldrazi spells by Splinter Twin.

Flawless Maneuver is one of the best ways to protect your board since it’s free to cast most of the time. It’s in the $20-30 range, so the reprint is most welcome.

One of the best reanimate targets ever printed, Archon of Cruelty does a lot when it enters play or attacks. It’s like a mini Cruel Ultimatum, and if you put this card into play and get to attack once, you’re in very good shape.

Mind Twist is a 1995 card that makes a player discard cards at random, and it used to be a Cube and Commander staple. This reprint is interesting because it was reprinted a lot early on, then exclusively limited to supplementary sets like Mystery Booster 2 and Amonkhet Invocations. People still play it in more casual setups, but discard in MTG as a whole is weaker than it was 10 years ago.

Best New Cards

#35. Darksteel Angel

Darksteel Angel is a twist on an oldie but goodie, Platinum Angel. This version costs 2 more mana, but it comes with indestructible, and your creatures can’t have -1/-1 counters, so it’s also a combo enabler or combo hater. And if you reanimate this card, what are red decks going to do? Or green decks without exile removal?

#34. Omnipresence

The green Omniscience, Omnipresence is greener, cheaper, and slightly weaker than its blue staple counterpart. That said, having a board full of creatures makes most of your other spells free. Plus, in green decks filled with mana dorks, you’ll be able to ramp this into play more consistently than casting Omniscience in a blue deck.

#33. Return to the Light Realms

With Return to the Light Realms, you get access to almost anything in your graveyard, so the possibilities are quite interesting. Some GW or WU deck with access to self-mill can get a lot of value from this card or outright win the game on the spot with the right combos.

#32. The Echoverse Fulcrum

The Echoverse Fulcrum is a 5-mana colorless sweeper that also doubles as a simple 2-mana loot effect. The looting is often part of the game plan, and many colors don’t have access to true board wipes, so this card is nice early and late.

#31. Sphinx of False Conclusions

Sphinx of False Conclusions is an easy two sphinxes for one. You play this, block your opponent’s 4/4, and get a free 4/2 flying token. And looting when attacking is just icing on the cake.

#30. Extrapolate the Impossible

Extrapolate the Impossible is an interesting way to make a 2-mana tutor. Sometimes you’ll show them Wrath of God and Sunfall, or something like Reanimate and Animate Dead. Or you can show them two hard-to-handle threats in the late game. It’s not a bad move to get two different lands, either. Just remember that it doesn’t work at all in Commander games.

#29. Avatar of Burgeoning Echoes

Avatar of Burgeoning Echoes gets to empower Jace 2 with each landfall trigger, which is right in between drawing a card and surveil 1. The math here is that if you get two landfall triggers, you get to draw a card and still have a Jace token in play with 1 loyalty. The -10 ultimate is cute, and it’ll definitely matter sometimes.

#28. Geist of Saint Thalia

Costing 1 mana more than Gran-Gran and 1 less than Iron Lad, Young Avenger, this should see quite a bit of play. Geist of Saint Thalia should find its way into enchantment decks, artifacts, planeswalkers, and more. Simple textboxes like this can be deceptively strong.

#27. Hall of Echoes

Hall of Echoes lets you have a Clone land that can copy a creature until the end of turn. You won’t copy enter effects, but attack and death triggers are fair game. And many EDH decks that don’t have access to blue will want to copy their commander from time to time.

#26. Pia, Aether Ascetic

Pia, Aether Ascetic is a green tutor for enchantments, and considering the number of green enchantments that combo, at least in Commander, we have a noteworthy card here. Greater Good, Food Chain, Doubling Season are now in your grasp, just to cite a few.

#25. Rise of the Deathbringer

A cool, black twist on an EDH green staple, Rise of the Deathbringer offers you either an instant-speed sweeper effect or the classic draw cards and lose life effect in black. There’s also no restriction, so your biggest creature can be either human or non-human.

#24. Carnivorous Cultivator

Carnivorous Cultivator is a pushed 2-drop deathtoucher. It’s not an easy card to block profitably, and if you don’t block it, your opponent gets a free land from their graveyard. Sell-mill decks will enjoy this card, and you can also tutor for a land you need straight into your graveyard – which is a cool form of deck-thinning while enabling delirium or Deathrite Shaman.

#23. Overwrite the Multiverse

Black kind of gets a Sunfall variant in Overwrite the Multiverse. Exiling all creatures and empowering Jace X often draws you a card or two, and that’s a nice upside. It’s also an excellent wrath for superfriends decks.

#22. Enlightened Confidant

Dark Confidant, or Bob, is white this time around, and instead of taking your life, it actually works when you gain life. Enlightened Confidant doesn’t guarantee card draw, and sometimes you’ll do nothing and just surveil, but once the lifegain engines are ticking, you’ll surveil and draw cards for free every turn.

You play Hexhaven Invigorator, fight a 4/4, and immediately ramp four times? And that’s totally in green’s slice of the color pie. This card is pretty strong in mono-green, and compared to cards like Phyrexian Obliterator, which cost

Venser, Fervent Forger is a high-value flash 6-drop, and you get to copy a spell or permanent twice. The possibilities are wild, considering the amount of crazy stuff you can do with this card, and you’ll also want a cheap way to blink it, like an Ephemerate or Cloudshift.

A big Eldrazi titan will always call our attention, right? Once you have the necessary amount of mana, Emrakul, the Exigent Doom is “free” to cast, and what draws me in is that the card has a buyout mode to make another of your lands tap to add counterspells, or that can cast flash threats.

Everybody knows The Ur-Dragon, right? Well, Hexhaven has The Ur-Sphinx, which is basically the same thing. Sphinxes in MTG aren’t that well supported, but the bonus this card gives to sphinxes attacking is absurd, and you can cast free spells from your opponents’ graveyards. Not to mention the permanent cost reduction, which is the main reason you’ll build around this.

Bloodline Recollector is a 2-mana vampire that can cast an inverted version of Ancetral Recall. This card is very flexible and fairly easy to trigger in an aristocrats deck. In EDH, you can have everyone sacrifice something to an edict to prepare the Recollector, too. This card lives or dies based on how consistently you can prepare it, with different formats relying on effects like mobilize or Kozilek's Command.

Chandra, Chill of Compliance is a very interesting 3-mana planeswalker. It has three different abilities you can use right away and a powerful ultimate. When this card is in play, you can get ramp for noncreature spells, a pseudo-Consider effect, or lock down threats for a turn or more. We also have interesting synergies with Floodpits Drowner and other blue-white cards that care about tapping or stunning.

Garruk, Curse Breaker doesn’t ask much to be playable. You already get a free Garruk's Uprising, which is a green EDH staple. Making a 4/4 beast token and drawing a card will be strong most of the time, like casting a free Owlbear. Untapping two lands is a nice reference to Garruk Wildspeaker, and all abilities are accessible from the get-go. In particular, the -4 looks nasty in Commander.

Many commanders with red as one of their colors wish they had haste to attack right away and reap the rewards. From go-wide commanders to extra turn ones, many benefit from haste, and Samut, Hazoret's Champion can offer that right away. Blue-red combo decks or Gruul

One thing that separates Aerid Konstrari from the “big dumb fliers” we have in MTG is that it has that Rusko, Clockmaker aspect: Even if it enters and dies, you’ll have more mana rocks to keep casting your commander, or just cast other big stuff instead. If your opponents don’t kill your commander, you have a 5/4 flier to smash face. This card even gives you something to do with all the extra mana.

Denzilore Fatehold is easy to slot into WU decks. Scrying and surveilling are very prevalent in MTG nowadays, and with the new empower Jace mechanic, you have another tool in the arsenal. Plus, we’re talking 3/4 flash flier that can easily be a 4/5 or 5/6, so the card definitely carries its own weight.

Three mana for a powerful flier is the selling point here. Ingris Stingerquill makes every creature deal 1 damage to the face directly when they attack, which combines very well with cards that care about pinging or that amplify damage. Plus, the mana sink is excellent, adding a 2/2 haste creature to the board, which will certainly deal more damage.

#10. Craterclaw Colossus

Yes, Craterclaw Colossus will end many games in red artifact decks. Besides, there are many ways to cheat big artifacts in red, and considering the prevalence of artifact tokens, like Treasure and Food tokens, red decks have a pretty reliable finisher.

One-drops that enter and mill tend to see play in synergy decks. Dark Matter Manipulator can get big quickly, and just having this as a 3/2 creature is already excellent for the amount of mana you’re paying. But it can also be a 5/2 or 7/2 in the late game.

Arclight Phoenix remains a staple across multiple formats, and Darklight Phoenix is its spiritual successor. This card works when you sacrifice two creatures, or when two creatures die. A card that makes two Eldrazi Spawns can trigger this phoenix, as well as cards like Nantuko Husk and mass edicts.

Stingcaster Mage is bound to see play across multiple formats. A 2-drop that’s also good in the late game is important, and cheap aggressive decks enjoy the extra burn or discard effects.

The Theorist, Jace Beleren looks like a “revamped” Jace, the Mind Sculptor for the 2026 era of MTG and Commander. Its best ability freely drawing extra cards on each opponent's turn. You can also protect it with a 1/1 token or use its scalable bounce effect. Its -6 is no slouch either, especially in WU or GU decks.

Two-mana planeswalkers are a dangerous place to put power in. Ajani Resolute needs a lifegain-dedicated deck to be good, but that’s not the hardest part, considering the amount of Soul Sister cards across every MTG format. From there, you can get free Ajani's Pridemate tokens, or just gain a lot of life and ultimate for a permanent +2/+2 buff.

Cards like Torpor Orb, Hushbringer, and Doorkeeper Thrull get played when the metagame calls, and Karn, Argent Defender is the newest one. This type of card is excellent against blink decks or cards that explore enters synergies, but this one is colorless, so it goes into more decks. Plus, Karn adds some redundancy to decks that want as many stax pieces as possible.

Vraska, Soul of Stone offers plenty of artifact synergies in the colors that can best use them. You can go wide with tokens, create Treasures, ramp, give vigilance to your beefiest artifact creatures, and more. It’s also a wizard, and at least blue and red have many wizard spellslinging synergies you can use.

Flickering Hound is the white Displacer Kitten, a card that already sees plenty of play in blue decks. Many creatures in MTG cost 0 mana to cast and can go infinite with this card and the right supporting pieces. Plus, you can get loads of value with blink commanders or just go off with good enters triggers.

Samut, Tyrant of Naktamun is hardly a complicated card, and has all the makings of a multiformat staple. Giving split second to all your spells means they resolve without any stack interaction, so your cards can’t be countered or responded to. It can be a commander, so you have ways to resolve your combos from the command zone, but on the flip side, I think WotC is betting on its 1 toughness to be fragile against Orcish Bowmasters and the like.

Darklight Phoenix | Illustration by Gonzalo Kenny

And that’s about it for Reality Fracture, guys, both the Standard set (FRA) and the Commander precon (FRC). This set is so novel and interesting that I could make this list with 60+ cards. If your favorite FRA card isn’t here, don’t worry – I know I left plenty of impactful, powerful cards out of it, and more cards will fly under the radar in the days and months to come.

What’s your favorite card from this list, guys? Which ones didn’t make it? Let me know in the comments below, and for more tips on Reality Fracture’s prerelease, do tune in to Draftsim’s YouTube Channel, The Daily Upkeep.

Thanks for reading, and until the next time.

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