Reality Fracture (FRA) Limited Review — Black

Note: This article was translated from Chinese by AI and may contain errors. Read the original Chinese version.

Reality Fracture (FRA) has its prerelease events on September 25, 2026, and officially releases a week later on October 2, 2026. Want to know more about how each card rates in Limited, with recommendations? Then check out this series of FRA Limited reviews!

• For the mechanics, see this article: Reality Fracture Mechanics Explained

Rating Scale

5.0: Always take it; gives you a near-winning advantage
4.5: Always take it if you’re in the right colors; gives you a huge advantage
4.0: First-pick quality; excellent synergy with the archetype’s theme, and can be the deciding card for splashing, switching colors, or entering a color pair
3.5: Top uncommons and commons of the set, plus other strong cards; good synergy with the archetype’s theme, and a key card for entering a color pair
3.0: Important cards for an archetype’s theme, plus other above-average cards; you’ll want them in your final deck
2.5: Average, usually a decent curve filler
2.0 to 1.0: Below average; you generally prefer not to play them, and can use them as filler if necessary, but not too many. A 2.0 can also be the score for a strong sideboard card.
0.5 to 0.0: Unplayable; basically never play it, it will only help you lose

Card Ratings

Rating: 3.0
Comment: If a set has a basic-land cycle, it usually supports splashing a third color to raise the ceiling. A 6/4 body is also very good, not to mention it drains two on entering and on dying, giving you more breathing room in long games.

Rating: 2.0
Comment: Hard to sideboard in, and usually just an ordinary bear. But since there’s still a slight chance to use the card draw on the right half, I’ll give it the floor of a playable score.

Rating: 3.0
Comment: It can kill a big creature at instant speed and also gain you two life. The downside is that it’s weak when the opponent only has small creatures.

Rating: 3.0
Comment: This time the 3-mana draw-two is a sorcery, but at last it isn’t only you who gets hurt; it can hit other players too!

Rating: 1.0/3.0
Comment: Very much a blue-black creature; the 3.0 is for blue-black. Also, the attack bonus it grants is cumulative, so remember that.

Rating: 4.0
Comment: Flying and haste are great abilities, but the strongest point is probably that as soon as two creatures die, you have a chance to bring it back during combat. Although two creatures dying usually means you need two removal spells, black has a sacrifice removal spell this time, so if you’ve picked up this bird, the sacrifice removal’s pick priority goes up a bit.

Rating: 3.0
Comment: Four-mana instant-speed exile removal. I don’t think there’s anything to complain about, especially since it can even deal with planeswalkers and drain the opponent for a bit.

Rating: 2.0
Comment: The most useful thing I can think of is fetching a third-color bomb from outside the game, or a land of another color, forcing the opponent to give it to you. Here are two scenarios for readers’ reference:

• High ceiling: When you already have a way to find a third color, when casting this choose one off-color bomb that currently looks uncastable plus one castable mid-sized threat (perhaps the 24th card you couldn’t fit in your main deck). Either one the opponent gives you is fine, but the ceiling is higher if they give you the bomb.
• Low-end trade: Generally you can only find worse cards that wouldn’t make your main deck. In situations where you need removal, there isn’t necessarily a suitable target. Even if you find one, it’s just a downward trade, and not really worth maindecking this card.

Rating: 3.0
Comment: A 2-mana instant-speed -3/-3 that can directly deal with creatures with toughness 3 or less, and it can also be used as a combat trick.

Rating: 3.0
Comment: It can be seen as 3-mana sorcery-speed clean removal that also kills planeswalkers, and afterward it can still add toughness to creatures, making it a decent piece of Equipment.

Rating: 3.5
Comment: Really strong removal! Any creature without a +1/+1 counter gets dealt with for two mana.

Rating: 4.5
Comment: Black’s 6-mana sweeper not only wipes the board clean but also has a chance to make a huge Jace token. Thanks to the basic-land cycle, you have a chance to splash it even if you’re not playing black. Take it when you see it! You don’t want your opponent to get it.

Rating: 3.0
Comment: On entering it gives another creature +2/+2 and deathtouch, so it’s easy to hit for 4 or 5. If the opponent blocks it’s a one-for-one trade, and it might even force the opponent to block with small creatures. A 3/3 deathtouch body is also great, putting the opponent in the awkward spot of wanting to block but shouldn’t.

Rating: 1.5
Comment: The 2-mana 1/1 that discards a card on entering, common in other sets. However, this set is very good at drawing cards, so this card’s value is even lower.

Rating: 3.5
Comment: It can dig up almost anything in this set, and it can also make a Jace token, with a chance to earn cards and widen the resource gap.

Rating: 3.5
Comment: Black has not only a 6-mana exile sweeper but also an instant-speed -3/-3 sweeper. When the opponent is in black, note that creatures with 3 toughness have a lower survival rate in the mid to late game. If you choose the card draw side, be careful: if your creatures are too fat, you might draw cards and hurt yourself to death.

Rating: 3.5
Comment: Although the 3/2 body itself is a bit poor, it not only keeps planeswalkers from dying but also gives Jace tokens the ability to grow on their own. The [+2] loyalty ability works with both red-black and white-black.

While discussing it with everyone, the more we talked the more it seemed super strong XD If you pair it with white’s Ajani Resolute, with the Jace token and Ajani himself both using [+2], Ajani gains 4 extra loyalty in one turn, and before you know it you can use his ultimate.

Rating: 2.5
Comment: A 4-toughness flyer can first hold off the opponent’s creatures, and later its own ability might produce some effects with red-black and white-black.

Rating: 2.5
Comment: In this set it’s probably just 5-mana clean removal, since the cost of sacrificing a creature is still too big. There also aren’t many tokens in this set; the more common one is the Jace token (all sorts of persecution).

Rating: 3.0
Comment: Being able to drop any card is still very strong, and this set seems rather slow, and it can also make a Jace token, which might have clever uses.

Rating: 2.0
Comment: A decent color-hate sideboard card. Against green-white it at least has a chance to kill the opponent’s Jace token (which is blue), but basically it’s still sideboard duty.

Rating: 3.0
Comment: 4 power can trade up nicely, but you’ll be reluctant to trade it away if the opponent keeps poking with small creatures. And the four-mana ability in the graveyard can return a creature to hand, which is actually not bad.

Rating: 1.0/2.5
Comment: Again, something only blue-black would play, so the 2.5 is the score for blue-black.

Rating: 3.5
Comment: Very strong removal that can also be strong card advantage. With the double-black restriction, you may not be able to make a 6-loyalty Jace token on turn 2. But the flaws don’t obscure the merits; it’s still a very strong rare.

Rating: 3.0
Comment: Although it loses on body size, its growth and first strike are not to be underestimated in Limited, so I gave it a 3.0. Play it only if your deck has enough removal; otherwise it’s forever just a lousy 2/2.

Rating: 2.5
Comment: Fine as a 2-mana curve play. Although the 5-mana effect lets it crawl back over and over, having to eat the graveyard just to make a 3/2 is still too weak.

Rating: 4.5
Comment: [+2] can basically neutralize a creature for a turn. [-2] removes an opposing creature while turning one of your own lousy creatures into a strong 4/4 trampler. [-3] makes the opponent lose two cards while also having a chance to refill your own hand. It’s really broken in Limited.

Rating: 3.5
Comment: The body is already passable and it even has ward, and its ability punishes the opponent for casting creatures and activating Jace token abilities. It’s good enough already, and in red-black it should be an even stronger card.

Rating: 3.0
Comment: The strongest engine for blue-black graveyards. Exhaust also makes filling the graveyard more than just filling it, since you can pull things back and turn them into fighting power. One card with two uses, this powerful.

Rating: 3.0
Comment: Many cards in this set synergize with small fry, for example: Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive. It may not be a strong creature on its own, but considering how many cards it can work with, I gave it a 3.0.

Rating: 2.5
Comment: As a 1/1 deathtouch with extra effects, don’t ask for too much. It can not only shrink creatures with +1/+1 counters but also has a chance to directly kill a Jace token.

Rating: 3.5
Comment: In red-black or white-black its ability gets a good payoff, and it’s a creature that can keep growing, so there’s no reason not to give it a 3.5.

Rating: 1.5/3.0
Comment: The 3.0 is the score for blue-black. If you’re not blue-black it’s basically around 1.5, almost entirely unplayable.

Rating: 3.0
Comment: A very good combat trick. It lets a small creature block and directly trade with a big one, or lets a planeswalker that deals damage pull off a sweep, which is also nice.

Rating: 2.5
Comment: Just a bigger Rank Rat, but in a red-black deck it can deal some noncombat damage. Overall it’s acceptable.

Rating: 3.0
Comment: It can make a 5-loyalty Jace token, then sacrifice a lousy creature to make a 4/4, which is actually better than expected. Or skip the 4/4 and draw a card instead, which doesn’t lose you cards either.

Rating: 2.0
Comment: This card adds one loyalty to all your planeswalkers when your creatures die, but you usually don’t want your creatures to die, so it’s a bit awkward.

Rating: 3.0
Comment: After you stock the graveyard well it can become huge, and on entering it can jump a small creature of yours to trade for the opponent’s creature. A card blue-black will like.

Rating: 2.5
Comment: Seriously, a 9-power fist is quite threatening, but it’s a pity the toughness is only 3 and it’s too easily traded off, and it costs 5 mana, so it may not be as good as you’d imagine in practice.

Conclusion

This set has a basic-land cycle that makes splashing bombs easy, and black’s bombs are strong, strong, strong sweepers (though there are more sweepers in this set than you’d think). This time I quite like red-black, and red-black should also be the color pair that can play faster this time. To these opponents who keep making Jace tokens to loot and filter, trying to drag the game out, give them a taste of direct damage!