The Planeswalker Jace Beleren has spent practically twenty years on the middle of Magic: The Gathering. As essentially the most highly effective thoughts mage within the Multiverse and a member of Gatewatch, Jace spent a lot of his life combating to guard many worlds from all kinds of threats alongside fellow Planeswalkers like Chandra Nalaar and Liliana Vess. Collectively, these characters basically perform just like the mascots of the buying and selling card recreation, recognizable heroes on the forefront of the continuing narrative.
But Jace emerged because the villain in Magic’s upcoming Actuality Fracture set. And, already, Wizards of the Coast has established Jace’s substitute as a part of Actuality Fracture’s sequence of brief tales detailing the set’s storyline.
Warning: Spoilers for the plot of Actuality Fracture comply with.
Let’s wind again the clock for a minute. In the course of the sixth brief story masking the occasions of 2025’s Tarkir: Dragonstorm set, Jace realizes the Meditation Realm itself was a “substrate to all actuality” that’s “moldable by sheer pressure of will.” By leveraging the magical energy of the dragon Ugin’s Spirit Gem, Jace tried to rewrite actuality to avert numerous disasters and deaths which have occurred through the years. Wouldn’t the Multiverse be higher with out the Eldrazi or Nicol Bolas? What if Vraska by no means needed to change into a Phyrexian? But as soon as he forged the spell, Jace “shattered like glass” and apparently died.
Within the new Actuality Fracture storyline, nonetheless, we study that Jace’s psyche fractured, and people items have been capable of create a brand new physique for him to inhabit. A type of items, the Theorist, seized full management and commenced eradicating numerous different points of his persona till there was just one left. Ruthless and calculating, the Theorist created an alternate actuality referred to as the Echoverse and deliberate to exchange the core Multiverse with it, erasing occasions just like the Struggle of the Spark and the Invasion of New Phyrexia from existence.
Inside that Echoverse, Jace additionally created a magical faculty referred to as Hexhaven that features as a darkish mirror to Strixhaven and crammed it with Echoverse variants of characters like Liliana. However Jace additionally created an genuine individual utilizing items of himself. Her identify is Tamira, or Tam for brief, and he or she was all the time Jace’s backup plan to dwell on after his eventual demise — in some sense no less than.
Launched within the Lorwyn Eclipsed storyline as a gifted however reserved first-year at Strixhaven, Tam initially appeared like simply one other levelheaded pupil making new buddies. As a pupil of Quandrix Faculty, she might bend chance and resolve issues rapidly along with her reality-warping magic, however her emphasis on chilly logic over compassion alienated her buddies. All alongside, that was as a result of she was basically part of Jace and skilled below the Theorist for fairly a while.
Then there was the most important heel flip in episode 6 of the Secrets and techniques of Strixhaven brief tales when Tam pushed Oracle Jadzi via a magical portal, betraying and abandoning her buddies. “I used to be made to do that,” she admitted earlier than stepping via the portal herself. “The times we spent collectively have been the happiest of my life.” On the opposite aspect, she reunited with the Theorist.
Actuality Fracture picks up quickly after that, with the Theorist desperate to kill Jadzi so he can understand the creation of the Multiverse because the soul of each oracle is tied to creation. With that information, Jace can efficiently overwrite the Multiverse together with his Echoverse, however as Liliana explains to Tam in episode 2, doing so would “smother the souls of everybody within the unique.” She additionally notes that the “doubles” within the Echoverse “don’t fairly have full spirits.” Tam begins to see all of it as “faux, faux, faux.”
Tam has rising issues in regards to the nature of the Theorist’s plans. In the meantime, she additionally questions whether or not the folks at Hexhaven and all through the Echoverse are even able to one thing like friendship. Primarily based on Liliana’s evaluation, they’re basically soulless husks that may eat and exchange everybody and every part in the true Multiverse.
This stress simmers via episode 6 when Tam confronts the Theorist and in the end decides he must be stopped. She was made for the express objective of serving to him succeed, however selecting to oppose him as an alternative is admittedly the primary selection Tam has ever made that’s solely hers.
That makes Tam one among Magic’s most attention-grabbing new characters in years. She entered the story as simply one other pupil, then had this significant villainous flip, however as she begins to develop into a real individual, she makes tough and courageous decisions to do the correct factor. Actuality Fracture lets her sit along with her sins reasonably than wiping the slate clear with one heroic gesture. When Tam reunites along with her former classmate Kirol as the 2 Multiverses start to collide, she admits, “You trusted me, and I failed you. So it’s my job to repair it.” Kirol doesn’t instantly belief her once more, however Tam nonetheless acts even with out that reassurance.
In the meantime, Vraska, Chandra, Ajani, and Garruk spend a lot of those brief tales gathering the items of Jace’s thoughts that the Theorist trapped in thoughts prisons. Vraska stabs the Theorist as these fragments rush again inside. Collectively, they sever his connection to the spell merging the Multiverse with the Echoverse and take management of his physique, fusing all of the disconnected items of Jace again collectively. For a short second, Jace is entire once more. He understands that the spell is tied to his life, and he dies in Vraska’s arms.
The spell stops, however the Echoverse continues to be intertwined with the unique Multiverse. Within the grand finale, Jace’s Planeswalker spark rises out of his physique and enters Tam. “Power pummels her, as if she’s standing on the base of a waterfall,” reads the story. “Tam cries out in response, falls to her knees, the strain and efficiency of magic overwhelming her, filling her. Her coronary heart feels prefer it’s burst open, and all her insides are a modest cup doused with the water of an enormous lake.”
Tam makes use of the newfound energy enhance to name the Eldrazi titan Emrakul, asking her to emerge from the moon of Innistrad to devour the Echoverse. Emrakul agrees, fastidiously separating the bogus actuality from the unique Multiverse earlier than consuming it.
This spark was me, and now, it’s you.
When Kirol asks who she actually is, Tam doesn’t invoke Jace, the Theorist, or the aim for which she was created. “I can’t wait to seek out out,” she says. Then, after Kirol gives to start their relationship once more with a brand new introduction, she provides a reputation of her personal: “I’m Tam. Simply Tam.”
Because the Echoverse collapses, Jace — not the Theorist or one other remoted fragment, however a last impression carried throughout the spark — speaks to Tam and calls her his “fail-safe.” Because the Desparking, Planeswalker sparks have change into terribly uncommon. Jace created Tam so she might inherit his spark upon his demise. “This spark was me, and now, it’s you,” he tells her. “I solely ask that you simply proceed our work. Make issues higher.”
The remainder of Jace’s numerous qualities then appear to crystallize inside her. Tam features his curiosity, diplomacy, survival instincts, and capability to start once more. The story declares that “she is him” and that “they’re one,” however this doesn’t quantity to Jace returning as a separate consciousness inside her head. Tam is described concurrently as “a starting,” “a continuation,” and a “clear slate.” She was comprised of Jace and now possesses his spark and numerous points of his psyche, however she has the liberty to decide on what all of meaning.
That distinction is what makes Tam greater than a handy substitute for a lifeless mascot. She is highly effective sufficient to succeed in Emrakul throughout the Multiverse, save actuality, and planeswalk dwelling to Strixhaven, however she just isn’t merely Jace Beleren in a brand new physique. She inherits his skills and bits of his persona however just isn’t sure to repeat his decisions.
The closing scene makes the succession specific. After Jace’s funeral on Vryn, Tam finds Vraska. She arrives in a blue cloak, carrying Jace’s spark and mannerisms in a gorgon physique that displays the girl he beloved. Vraska feels as if she is taking a look at a ghost, however Tam introduces herself as somebody new and guarantees, “I’m right here to assist make issues higher.”
Jace Beleren is lifeless. His substitute just isn’t a resurrection or a precise copy, however one thing much more attention-grabbing: an individual born from the items of his id who now has the facility to resolve which elements of his legacy are value carrying ahead. That looks like a significant technique to finish one period for Magic and start one other.