Prerelease events begin September 25, with the worldwide tabletop release following on October 2. The set takes us into Jace Beleren's Echoverse, an alternate reality filled with twisted versions of familiar Magic characters, new legends, and some very interesting new cards.

And after looking through the entire set, there are a lot of cards getting my attention.

But this isn't going to be a list of the most expensive cards in the set.

I'm more interested in something else:

Which cards do I actually want to own?

Some have serious competitive potential.

Some have incredible collector appeal.

Some could have both.

And then there's the question I always come back to:

What price makes sense?

Let's take a look.

These are the cards that immediately caught my attention.

Some because I think they could become competitive staples.

Some because of their collector appeal.

And some because they're just cards I really want to play.

If there is one card in Reality Fracture that has the competitive Magic community talking, it's Samut.

Samut costs only {1}{U} for a 2/1 legendary creature, but the ability is what makes this card so good:

Instant and sorcery spells you control have split second.

If you're not familiar with split second, it essentially means that while one of your spells with split second is on the stack, players can't cast spells or activate abilities that aren't mana abilities.

That's a pretty ridiculous ability to put on a two-mana creature.

Think about what that means for a combo deck.

Normally, if you cast an important spell, your opponent gets a chance to fight you on the stack.

With Samut in play, your instant or sorcery gets split second.

That can make some of the most important spells in a combo deck dramatically harder to interact with.

And that's exactly why competitive players are already talking about this card.

I'm not ready to call Samut "broken."

But I understand the reaction.

Two mana. Blue. And every instant and sorcery you cast gets split second.

That's going to get tested.

A lot.

And from a collector perspective, I'm looking specifically at the Borderless Foil.

This is one of the first Reality Fracture cards I want to see in actual gameplay.

Secret Lair Bundle #0443

Let's talk about Jace.

The Theorist, Jace Beleren is one of the cards that immediately jumped out at me when I started looking through Reality Fracture.

It's a four-mana planeswalker with a very powerful set of abilities, and it's the kind of card that could potentially find homes across multiple formats if players figure out how to use it.

I'm not ready to call it the next Jace, the Mind Sculptor.

That's an incredibly high bar.

But I can understand why people are making the comparison.

This is the kind of planeswalker that makes me want to see what competitive players do with it before I make a long-term judgment.

And then we get to the collector side.

The Showcase Fracture Foil is already one of the premium versions I'm interested in.

But there's another version that really catches my attention:

The Theorist, Jace Beleren #0443 from the Reality Fracture Secret Lair Bundle.

The Secret Lair Bundle has an MSRP of $89.99 and contains six Play Boosters, two Collector Boosters, two traditional-foil Secret Lair Bundle promos, 20 traditional-foil basic lands, a Spindown, and a storage box.

And one of those ten possible promos is the special Jace.

The interesting part?

The sealed Secret Lair Bundle is already selling around $190 on TCGplayer, more than twice its $89.99 MSRP. Current TCGplayer data shows a market price around $191 with only a few current listings on the page, I checked.

That's a huge premium before the set has even officially released.

And Jace is one reason why.

This is one I'm watching very closely.

Chandra is another planeswalker that immediately caught my attention.

And there's one thing I really like here:

Three mana.

Three-mana planeswalkers have historically had an easier path toward competitive play than their more expensive counterparts.

Chandra brings a pretty interesting package to the table, including surveil, mana generation for noncreature spells, the ability to put stun counters on creatures or artifacts, and an ultimate that can turn your spells into a major card-advantage engine.

That doesn't automatically make her a format staple.

But it gives players plenty to work with.

And when you're looking at a card that could see play in multiple formats, I like the combination of playability + premium treatment.

For me, that means the Borderless Foil is the version I'd want to keep an eye on.

Who doesn't love Eldrazi?

Emrakul immediately caught my attention for two reasons:

The art.

And the ability.

The card has a very unusual way of contributing to your game before you actually cast it.

You can pay three mana to exile Emrakul from your hand, allowing a target land to produce two colorless mana until Emrakul is cast from exile.

In other words, Emrakul can help create the mana you need to eventually cast itself.

That's a very interesting design.

And then you have the Eldrazi collector base.

There is already a huge amount of nostalgia and collector interest surrounding the Eldrazi, and putting Emrakul into a premium Showcase Fracture Foil treatment makes this an easy card for me to watch.

I'm not saying this is an automatic buy.

I'm saying:

I want to see what players do with it.

This is where things get interesting.

Vraska is one of those cards that immediately makes me start thinking about Commander combos.

EDHREC's Vraska combo database currently contains hundreds of Vraska-related combinations, including interactions involving cards such as Sensei's Divining Top and Mystic Forge.

That doesn't mean Vraska is automatically a cEDH staple.

Combo potential isn't the same thing as established competitive adoption.

But that's exactly what makes cards like this interesting to me.

Players are going to test them.

They're going to find interactions.

And some of those interactions may turn out to be much more powerful than they initially appeared.

If Vraska finds a home in high-powered Commander, I'd much rather own the Borderless Foil than the regular version.

Speaking of combo...

This dog could be a combo machine.

Flickering Hound immediately reminds me of the kind of card that Commander players are going to try to break.

The obvious comparison is Displacer Kitten.

Whenever you get a creature with a powerful blink or flicker engine, players are going to start looking for ways to turn that ability into an infinite loop or an enormous amount of value.

That's what makes Flickering Hound interesting to me.

I'm not necessarily buying it because I think it becomes a competitive staple.

I'm watching it because:

Someone is going to try to break this card.

And sometimes those are exactly the cards that become interesting after release.

Reality Fracture has a bunch of interesting Sphinx designs, and Kwia Vigorbloom is one of my favorites.

There are several Elder Sphinx cards in the set that I think could become popular Commander build-arounds, and Kwia is a great example.

What interests me most is the combination of a large evasive creature with an ability that rewards you for gaining life by creating Lotus artifact tokens.

That's a pretty unique engine.

It's also exactly the kind of card I could see Commander players experimenting with.

I'm not necessarily chasing the regular version.

If I'm buying this one for the collection, I'm looking at the Showcase Fracture Foil.

Another Sphinx I'm keeping an eye on.

Reality Fracture has given us several Elder Sphinxes, and the premium Showcase treatments make them particularly interesting from a collector perspective.

Denzilore isn't necessarily a card I'm calling a future staple.

It's more about identifying cards that have enough unique gameplay, character identity, and premium treatment to deserve a spot on the watchlist.

And this one does.

A two-mana planeswalker is already enough to get my attention.

Ajani costs only {1}{W}, and one of the things I like most is the way the card interacts with life gain.

Whenever you gain life, Ajani gets a loyalty counter.

And Ajani's zero ability can gain you life, creating a simple way to start building that loyalty back up.

That's a pretty interesting package for a two-mana planeswalker.

Again, I'm not calling it a guaranteed competitive staple, but white does have a lot of life gain synergy. It's exactly the kind of card I want to see tested in those decks.

And if I'm collecting it, the Borderless Foil is the version I'd want.

And finally...

A shoutout to all my rat-pack friends.

Rank Rat.

Another discard-focused rat for all of you who refuse to stop building Rat decks.

Is this the biggest investment opportunity in Reality Fracture?

Probably not.

But that's not really the point.

Some cards are worth watching because they're powerful.

Some because they're rare.

And some because they're just fun.

Rank Rat falls into that last category for me.

This is where Reality Fracture gets really interesting.

There are a lot of premium treatments in this set, but I'm particularly interested in cards that combine playability with collectibility.

That's the sweet spot.

A card that people want to play has one source of demand.

A card that people want to collect has another.

Put the two together, and you can get something special.

The treatment I'm watching most closely is the Facet Foil Shattered Mirror cards.

These cards show the original reality alongside its Echoverse counterpart, creating a visual connection between the card's history and its new Reality Fracture version.

And the Facet Foil treatment takes that concept even further.

There are 13 Shattered Mirror cards in total: 5 rare and 8 mythic rare.

Nonfoil versions appear in Play Boosters and Collector Boosters, while the Facet Foil versions are exclusive to Collector Boosters and are always in English.

Reality Fracture has a huge number of different premium treatments, but Facet Foil feels particularly connected to the identity of this set.

And when I'm thinking about long-term collectibility, I don't just want rarity.

I want recognizability.

I want someone to look at the card years from now and immediately know:

That's the special Reality Fracture version.

That's what makes these treatments interesting to me.

I'm also paying close attention to Fracture Foils.

These are the kind of treatments I like looking at from a long-term collector perspective.

They're visually unique, and they're tied directly to the identity of the set.

Then we have the Special Guests.

Reality Fracture gives us:

And I really like what Wizards did with these.

They're not simply random reprints.

The ten Special Guests form a 10-card borderless panorama, illustrated by Marina Banker. Nonfoil versions appear in Play Boosters, while traditional foil versions appear in Collector Boosters.

That gives the entire group an additional collector angle.

There are also several cards here with significant history in Magic.

Some are powerful Commander cards.

Some have competitive gameplay history.

And some simply have artwork that I think collectors are going to want.

But I'm not trying to collect all ten.

I have my eyes on two.

This is one I want for the collection.

Root Maze hasn't been reprinted nearly as often as many other older cards, and I like the combination of an older card, a recognizable effect, and a completely new premium presentation.

The Borderless Foil is the version I'd want.

This is less about trying to predict some huge price spike and more about finding a version of an older card that I think will remain desirable to collectors.

This might be my favorite Special Guest from a pure collector perspective.

It's Eye of Ugin in a borderless treatment.

And that's a big deal to me.

Eldrazi fans have a reason to want it.

Collectors have a reason to want it.

And the new artwork gives the card a completely different presentation from its older versions.

This is another card where I'm less interested in buying the cheapest copy and more interested in owning the premium version I actually want to keep.

This might be the most important part of the entire article.

I would not buy singles at pre-release prices.

Not because the cards aren't good.

Not because the cards won't go up.

Because I don't want to pay the highest price the market is willing to charge before the market has actually had a chance to settle.

We've seen this happen over and over again.

A new set releases.

Everyone wants the same five or ten cards.

More product gets opened.

More copies enter the market.

Prices come down.

Sometimes dramatically.

My rule of thumb is simple:

Let the market find a floor.

We're investing.

We're not trying to win a race to own a card first.

If I like a card at $150 and the market wants $250 on release weekend, I'll wait.

If it falls to $150 a few months later, I haven't missed the opportunity.

I've waited for the opportunity I wanted.

That's especially important with Reality Fracture because the set has so many premium treatments competing for collector dollars.

There are echoed pairs.

Shattered Mirror cards.

Facet Foils.

Fracture Foils.

Special Guests.

Secret Lair Bundle promos.

And serialized cards.

That's a lot of premium supply for collectors to absorb.

So I'm going to be patient.

And this brings me to the one Reality Fracture product that I actually want to buy.

If you can get one at MSRP, I'm interested.

The official MSRP is $89.99.

The bundle includes:

And one of those ten Secret Lair Bundle promos is:

The Theorist, Jace Beleren #0443.

That is the part that really catches my attention.

You're getting sealed product.

You're getting Collector Boosters.

You're getting premium lands.

You're getting exclusive promos.

And you have a chance at one of the special Jace versions.

The market is already showing how much interest there is.

Current TCGplayer data has the sealed Secret Lair Bundle around $190, with only a few listings on the product page. That's more than double the official $89.99 MSRP.

But here's the important distinction:

I like this product at MSRP.

I don't like chasing it at $190 simply because everyone else wants it.

That's the Pack Portfolio approach.

A great product can still be a bad buy at the wrong price.

So if I can find these at MSRP?

I'm buying.

At $190?

I'm waiting.

The wait is almost over.

Reality Fracture prerelease starts Friday, September 25.

And yes...

I'll be there.

I'll be at my local card shop testing out the new cards, seeing which ones actually perform, and getting a firsthand look at what players are excited about.

Because there's only so much you can learn from a spoiler.

Eventually, you have to shuffle up and play.

And that's where the real information starts.

I'm going to be paying attention to:

Which cards overperform.

Which cards disappoint.

Which cards players can't stop talking about.

And most importantly:

Which cards suddenly look more interesting after being played.

That information will help shape the next Reality Fracture Market Watch.

Because this article is about what I'm watching before release.

The next one can be about what actually happened.

Reality Fracture has a lot going on.

There are cards with competitive potential.

There are cards with serious Commander appeal.

There are premium treatments everywhere.

And there are some genuinely incredible collector pieces.

But I'm not trying to buy everything.

I'm watching.

I'm testing.

And I'm waiting for prices to come to me.

The cards I'm most interested in right now are:

Samut, Tyrant of Naktamun
The Theorist, Jace Beleren
Chandra, Chill of Compliance
Emrakul, the Exigent Doom
Vraska, Soul of Stone
Flickering Hound
Kwia Vigorbloom
Denzilore Fatehold
Ajani Resolute

And from the Special Guests:

Root Maze
Eye of Ugin

But the product I'm most interested in?

The Reality Fracture Secret Lair Bundle — at MSRP.

That's where I see the combination of sealed product, premium treatments, exclusive promos, and collector appeal that I want.

As for the singles?

I'm waiting.

Let the market open.

Let players test the cards.

Let supply hit the market.

Then we'll see where the opportunities are.

Pack Portfolio is an independent research publication focused on trading cards as collectible assets. Our opinions are our own and are not financial advice. Prices change quickly, and readers should conduct their own research before buying or selling any collectible.