The Eldrazi, a cosmic horror threat in Magic: The Gathering, are officially returning in the upcoming Reality Fracture set, signaled by the reveal of a new card and developments in the game's ongoing narrative. Ten years after their initial appearance, the reality-bending Eldrazi titan Emrakul is set to re-enter the story in a way that deviates from player expectations.
The return of Emrakul was prematurely revealed via a sponsored Instagram ad from Wizards of the Coast, showcasing the card Emrakul, the Exigent Doom. This marks Emrakul's first new card tied to the main storyline in a decade, suggesting her presence in the Reality Fracture fiction is a prelude to a larger role. Previously, Emrakul was seemingly imprisoned within Innistrad's moon following the events of the 2016 Eldritch Moon set, a containment that was the result of a forbidden spell cast by the Planeswalker Tamiyo.
The Reality Fracture Narrative
The Reality Fracture set's story centers on Jace Beleren, a powerful blue mage who attempted to rewrite the Multiverse from within the Meditation Realm. This spell failed, destroying his physical body but leaving fragments of his consciousness intact. One of these fragments, known as the Theorist, seized control and constructed the Echoverse, an alternate Multiverse intended to overwrite the original. The Echoverse features copies of existing planes, but the Theorist has selectively removed individuals and events he associates with suffering and replaced them with altered versions.
Within the Echoverse, the Theorist has stated that threats like the Eldrazi, Nicol Bolas, and the Phyrexians do not exist, and Emrakul is slated for elimination. To combat the Theorist, other Planeswalkers, including Vraska, Chandra, Ajani, and Garruk, are entering Jace's memory-prisons to gather more compassionate fragments of his psyche. Meanwhile, Tam, the Theorist's protégé, begins to question the morality of a painless world that necessitates destruction.
Emrakul's Imprisonment and Awakening
Tam's role in the story becomes critical as she probes the boundaries of her telepathic abilities, investigating rumors of a "monster inside the moon" on Innistrad. This leads her consciousness into a psychic space where Emrakul appears as a weakened humanoid figure. Emrakul describes herself as a cosmic entity that prunes worlds and hints that her self-imposed imprisonment was a tactic to build her hunger for a future, more devastating consumption. She offers to eradicate the Multiverse if shown its location, implying a willingness to act as a destructive force.
While Tam escapes this encounter, her interaction with Emrakul provides a potential solution to the crisis. The heroes are working to dismantle the Theorist's replacement body by collecting Jace's psyche fragments. However, Emrakul may be the only entity capable of defeating the Echoverse. The leaked card, Emrakul, the Exigent Doom, appears to confirm her escape from the moon and her significant return.
Emrakul, the Exigent Doom Card Details
The new card, Emrakul, the Exigent Doom, is a 10-mana, colorless 12/12 creature with flying and trample. It features a ward ability that compels an opponent to sacrifice three permanents before targeting it. A unique ability allows players to cast the card from exile by exiling it from their hand for three mana, granting a land the ability to tap for two colorless mana. This design echoes Emrakul's narrative state: seemingly out of reach but available for deployment at a crucial moment. The card's mechanics also draw a parallel to the 2016 card Imprisoned in the Moon, which depicted Emrakul's original containment and transformed an opponent's creature into a land.
Despite her current confinement, narrative snippets from the latest short stories suggest Emrakul is integral to stopping the Echoverse. A fragment of Jace's consciousness, the Soldier, contemplates seeking her aid. With the Theorist progressing in merging realities, the unleashing of Emrakul seems increasingly inevitable as a potential countermeasure to the Echoverse.