In MTG Reality Fracture, Jace’s scheme to reshape the multiverse is finally revealed, and the set presents a version of Magic’s setting without its big three villains: Nicol Bolas, the Eldrazi, and the Phyrexians.
Of course, Jace is the villain in this MTG set. It has themes of coming to terms with past trauma instead of burying it, and multiple characters express the desire to wear their scars with pride, or learn from their mistakes instead of undoing them.
But before considering if it’s a good idea to make a better multiverse, we have to wonder: has Jace even managed to do that? Because while some characters seem better off in The Theorist’s bold new world, many seem to be suffering much more than they were before.
There’s only one way to know for sure. Let’s look at every single legendary creature card in the set and see if the character is doing better or worse for Jace’s meddling. Only then can we decide if the plan even made any sense by its own standards.
Obviously Worse Off
- Ajani – Now a big angry kitty entirely consumed by rage.
- Chandra – Ice Chandra is a cop.
- Garruk – Chain Veil-wearing Garruk is pretty sexy, but also cursed yet again.
- Codie – Codie is an evil sentient book of forbidden lore now, which I suppose is worse than a grumpy sentient book of regular lore.
- Danitha – The Benalian knight now works for Dominaria’s demon-worshipping Cabal. That’s bad, Jace!
- Gallia – Oh my word, this fun-loving satyr is not only undead, but no one goes to her parties! “She keeps setting table after table, but no one ever comes.” Feels bad man.
- Gideon – So… Gideon is at least alive, but he’s extremely evil and murders anyone who discovers his dark past. Since Theros has an afterlife and we know original Gideon is chilling there, I’m going to say this is worse.
- Hapatra – Amonkhet seems pretty screwed up in both realities, but at least in the real one it’s on the road to recovery. In the Echoverse a demon basically took over the role of Nicol Bolas and transformed the plane into a frozen wasteland.
- Jiang Yangu – Oh no he’s lost his doggo and gone full John Wick. What the hell, J-man?
- Loot – The horrendous abomination we all knew he was deep down, Echoverse Loot is basically Stitch at the start of Lilo and Stitch.
- Mabel – The poor mouse has had her family torn away and is now on a quest for revenge.
- Marwyn – Deforestation is bad.
- Pia – Pia’s family has been brainwashed by the Consulate and she’s estranged from them.
- Proft – He’s gone full Moriarty. Never go full Moriarty!
- Saheeli – Instead of loving freedom and expression, Saheeli runs the Consulate’s surveillance network.
- Samut – Another goodie turned villain, Samut is a tyrannical wizard who serves a demon now calling itself Amonkhet’s ‘Frozen God’.
- Teyo – In this reality, instead of dedicating his life to protecting people after his village got destroyed by diamond storms, Teyo decided that it looked pretty cool and then sliced an entire city, I quote, “to ribbons” with sharp magic.
- Thalia – Thalia is at least a friendly ghost (or geist). Still dead though.
- Yoshimaru – Seriously, what has Jace got against dogs?
- Nissa – The new Zendikar seems to be ruled by the Kor and Nissa’s busy planning a war against them instead of hanging out with her gf. It seems likely her spark never awoke.
- Akroma – This time Nivea survived while Ixidor died. She then made an angel in her own image and made it super duper furious. Lot of vengeance going on in the Echoverse, eh, J-dawg?
- Omnath – With the Eldrazi gone, Omnath seems to be serving the same basic function. I guess nature loves a vacuum.
- Total: 22
Probably A Lateral Move
- Arni – The boastful berserker is now a scribe who writes down other people’s stories.
- Edgar Markov – Edgar is the progenitor of all werewolves instead of all vampires now. He seems fine with it.
- Ghalta – Turning from a T-Rex to a Trike is the very definition of a ‘lateral move’
- Kiora – Kiora hangs out with dragons instead of krakens now, that’s fine.
- Lyra – She just has a different boss, Tolaria instead of Benalia.
- Ruric Thar – Another faction swap – the two-headed ogre’s gone from Gruul to Simic.
- Tinybones – He’s bigger, but is bigger the same thing as better?
- Tomik – Guildswap. He’s Izzet now.
- Yargle – Instead of eating everyone, now he stomps on everyone. I don’t think that’s a significant upgrade.
- Yuriko – Career change: she’s a samurai instead of a ninja.
- Avacyn – So nu-Avacyn is quite horrifying, but can I really say that being an undead cult leader is worse than being anguishedly unmade? I don’t think I can.
- Jhoira – Echoverse Jhoira is certainly more villainous than before, but she’s also a badass sky pirate who stole the Blackblade, so it’s a wash.
- Niv Mizzet – While he is dead and that’s normally quite a bad thing to be, Niv doesn’t seem to be any worse off for that change. In fact, he’s almost exactly the same egomaniacal dragon as before – just a ghost now.
- The Ur-Dragon – Now it’s an Ur-Sphinx. What can I say, that doesn’t obviously move the needle in either direction.
- Total: 14
Clearly Better Off
- Liliana – White, healer Liliana is unbearably smug, and that’s because nothing bad has ever happened to her.
- Vraska – Rather than being a persecuted member of Golgari, nu-Vraska grew up guildless. But it seems like the Echoverse Ravnica has a proper support network for guildless citizens. Echoverse Vraska appears to have had a pretty good life, not being tied to any one organization, just supporting the movements she cares about.
- Fblthp – Yay, Fblthp now has magical navigation abilities and he can explore the multiverse, instead of stumbling through Omenpaths into all the very worst places. Honestly, you’ve won me back big time with this one, Jacey boy.
- Karn – With the Phyrexians out of the picture, a huge weight is taken of Karn’s shoulders, and this version of him rules an untainted Mirrodin, the world he built.
- Koth – This Koth has never faced war and just lives happily at a metal orchard with his family.
- Massacre Girl – She’s an acrobatic paramedic now instead of a serial killer. Still looks a bit scary though.
- Tetsuko – I guess being a bounty hunter who specializes in non-lethal takedowns is better than being hunted for a crime you didn’t commit.
- Traxos – I don’t think Traxos has feelings so things can’t be ‘improved’ for it, any more than a tank can lead a better life. Still, it’s surely better for everyone else that this thing’s now a protective guardian instead of a rampaging war machine.
- Winter – Instead of betraying everyone and serving Valgavoth, he leads the survivors of Duskmourn.
- Dack Fayden – Another great win. Instead of dying off-screen, Dack’s back and helping people out.
- Ginger – The cookie people from the Eldraine trailer survived! Okay, Big J, let’s switch. I’m fully on board now.
- Memnarch – Mirrodin are the real winners of Jace’s multiverse remaking, and so Memnarch is nice now.
- Ob Nixilis – He’s apparently much happier as a New Capenna angel.
- Tamiyo – Oh hey, Tamiyo’s alive and in charge of Kamigawa here – that’s great!
- Venser – Last time we saw Venser he was a ‘corpse puppet’ so ‘sky pirate wizard thief’ is an immense upgrade.
- Total: 15
So, totting up the final results, it’s not looking great for Jace’s big project. While 29.5% of characters are better off, and 27.5% of characters are doing about the same, a whopping 43% have had their situations deteriorate.
Perhaps the legendary creatures here are not a representative sample of the multiverse’s inhabitants. Maybe the adventurous hero types are doing a bit worse, but that’s a price worth paying so that the everyman isn’t suffering at the hands of the Eldrazi, Phyrexians, or Nicky B?
I don’t think so. Zooming out and trying to look at the Echoverse through what little we see of its planes, I could only find a couple that looked like improvements, and many where things seem worse than before.
Planes that seem better:
- Mirrodin – A metal paradise.
- Ravnica – I guess the guildless are treated better?
Planes that seem worse:
- Avishkar – The Consulates rules.
- Amonkhet – The demon Razaketh locked up the gods and the sun.
- Arcavios – Hexhaven clearly stinks.
- Zendikar – The Kor empire has subjugated nature and other races.
Sorry, J-dude, it looks like you failed. I have to say, the timing of the pitch was the biggest mistake here. No one was going to go for the multiversal reset in-between battles with Big Bads, in the rebuilding period after the Phyrexians are all defeated. Mid-war, that was the time to do it!
Maybe if Jace had waited a few years he could’ve sprung this idea on everyone as a way to escape whatever evil Nicol Bolas hatches up.
Do you agree with my assessment? Did I get my counting wrong? Let me know your thoughts over at the Wargamer Discord.
Source: Wargamer
