Fate Reforged Spoilers and Set Information

Last updated on February 28, 2024

Ugin, the Spirit Dragon | Illustration by Raymond Swanland

Ah, the “old” days of Magic. When we only had to choose which set we wanted to crack open, not which booster type. When sets were released as blocks, and bundles were called “fat packs.”

Some of you are going to feel old, while others will feel young when I say this: Fate Reforged was my first prerelease event. I picked Temur as my clan of choice, and I even pulled a Temporal Trespass in my prerelease packs. Good times.

As the middle, small expansion of the Tarkir block preceded by Khans of Tarkir and followed by Dragons of Tarkir, Fate Reforged is a bit of an oddity. Does anyone even give a second thought to bolster these days? I was going to say the same thing about manifest, but now cloak is a thing. Everything old is new again.

If you’re into time travel and alternate histories, Fate Reforged may be a set worth revisiting!

Fate Reforged Basic Information

Temporal Trespass | Illustration by Clint Cearley

Set Details

Set Symbol
Set Code	FRF
Number of Cards	185
Rarities	70 commons, 60 uncommons, 35 rares, 10 mythic rares, 10 lands
Mechanics	Manifest, Bolster, Ferocious, Prowess, Delve, Dash

Important Dates

*Fate Reforged is not yet available on MTG Arena, but since Khans of Tarkir has recently joined the platform, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s coming soon. Stay tuned!

About the Set: The Story

The story of Fate Reforged follows Sarkhan Vol as he travels back in time 1280 years. His goal: to change the fate of the plane of Tarkir at its most crucial moment, the battle between Nicol Bolas and Ugin, the Spirit Dragon.

He finds a dangerous plane teeming with dragons. Rather than fighting each other, the clans are focused on defending themselves from these imposing creatures. Although the story features Sarkhan, he doesn’t get a card printing in this set.

In the original timeline, Nicol Bolas defeats Ugin. In this new timeline, Sarkhan uses a shard of a hedron that contains Ugin’s life force to create the Crucible of the Spirit Dragon. He saves Ugin, which in turn changes the fate of Tarkir as a whole.

Thematically, Fate Reforged links between Khans of Tarkir and its alternate universe counterpart, Dragons of Tarkir. Fate Reforged is set long before Khans and Dragons, unless you want to follow Sarkhan’s storyline. Yay, time travel logic!

Fate Reforged Mechanics

Wedge Clans

Khans of Tarkir introduced the clans associated with 3-color wedges (Abzan, Jeskai, Mardu, Sultai, Temur), and Fate Reforged continued that theme.

The set features a cycle of legendary Khans, as well as other cards associated with each clan. Many cards in the set have a watermark in their text box to identify the clan they fit into, like on Abzan Beastmaster or Flamewake Phoenix.

Bolster

Bolster is a +1/+1 counter mechanic associated with the Abzan Houses. For example, Honor's Reward is a lifegain spell that also bolsters. Mechanically, it was supposed to replace outlast.

Too bolster X, you choose a creature with the lowest toughness among those that you control and place X +1/+1 counters on it. Bolster doesn’t target, so you can bolster a creature with shroud. You can’t, however, use it to trigger heroic, much to younger me’s dismay. You can also pair bolster cards with Hardened Scales and other effects that add or multiply counters.

Dash

Dash is an aggressive mechanic associated with the Mardu Horde. You can cast a creature like Mardu Scout or Lightning Shrieker for its dash cost. It gains haste, and you return it from the battlefield to your hand at end of turn.

Delve

Delve is a cost-reduction ability that allows you to exile cards from your graveyard to pay for spells. Introduced in Future Sight, it returned in Fate Reforged as an ability belonging to the Sultai Brood. Tasigur, the Golden Fang is the khan associated with the mechanic, while Temporal Trespass is one of the more expensive singles from this set that uses it.

Ferocious

Ferocious is an ability word that checks whether you have creatures with power of 4 or higher. It’s the Temur Frontier’s clan mechanic.

Ferocious can modify a card’s effects depending on the power of the creatures you control. For example, Whisperer of the Wilds generates if you’ve reached the ferocious threshold, while Shamanic Revelation can gain you a lot of life if you have lots of big creatures.

Manifest

Manifest is a keyword action that plays in the same design space as morph. When you manifest a card, you place it onto the battlefield face down as a 2/2 colorless creature. If it’s a creature card, you can turn it face up at any time by paying its mana cost. Turning over a manifested creature is a special action that doesn’t use the stack, and you can do it any time you have priority. Soul Summons is the most simple and straightforward manifest card from this set.

Fate Reforged includes Manifest reminder tokens for your convenience. A similar, somewhat improved ability named cloak appears in Murders at Karlov Manor.

Prowess

Prowess is the clan mechanic of the Jeskai Way. Creatures with prowess gain +1/+1 until end of turn whenever you cast noncreature spells. This can help to swing for a big attack or help your blockers make better trades or stay alive.

Prowess can also play into other abilities. For example, it helps Sage-Eye Avengers bounce bigger targets with its attack trigger. Prowess triggers also give you an opportunity to give a creature double strike using Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest’s ability.

Fate Reforged Card Gallery

White

Blue

Black

Red

Green

Multicolor

Colorless

Lands

Notable Cards

Cycles

There are twelve cycles in Fate Reforged, but these are the most notable among them.

Khans

The Khans are leaders of the clans on Tarkir at the time Sarkhan visits. While they’re all mono-colored cards, the Khans all have abilities that cost hybrid mana, turning them into 3-color commanders as far as their color identity goes.

Alesha, Who Smiles at Death is an embodiment of persistent creatures and has been a fairly popular commander (over 5000 decks on EDHREC at time of writing). It’s one of the more reprinted Khans from this set, including in the Pride Across the Multiverse Secret Lair.

Daghatar the Adamant is notable as one of the few ways we can move +1/+1 counters around, albeit rather slowly. I wonder if it’s gotten any better now that we have Sovereign Okinec Ahau from The Lost Caverns of Ixalan.

Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest makes me want to build a Voltron-esque shell for it. Whether you’re using permanents like auras and equipment or combat tricks to trigger its prowess, you can quickly grow its power and pump in some spare mana for double strike. Yikes.

Tasigur, the Golden Fang is another fairly popular commander from Fate Reforged. Tasigur has also been reprinted and reskinned as Ian, Convalescent Charmer thanks to a Jurassic World Secret Lair. I’m not thirsty; you’re thirsty.

I personally like anything that makes me feel like I’m growing devilish horns, which is one of the reasons Yasova Dragonclaw will always have a place in my heart as a creature theft card.

Allied-Colored Dragons

This cycle of dragons offsets the legendary khans, and each one has an ability that triggers whenever a dragon you control attacks. Some of these dragons have better analogs in Dragons of Tarkir, where they ascend to Dragonlord status.

For my money, Atarka, World Render is among the most notable of the Fate Reforged dragons since it came back as the face commander of the Draconic Destruction Starter Commander Deck. It’s a great introduction to dragon typal synergies, and it’s a good card for Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm and other dragons.

Dromoka, the Eternal is decent support for a dragon deck if your colors support it.

Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury can do some interesting things in a Rivaz of the Claw deck and is almost mandatory there.

I don’t normally think of Azorius when I think of dragons, but Ojutai, Soul of Winter gives me some possibly slow, janky ideas for an Elminster deck.

Silumgar, the Drifting Death has an obvious home with Sivitri, Dragon Master, but its ability to give -1/-1 to opposing creatures when your dragons attack can clear the way for a big swing and can even reduce indestructible creatures to 0/0.

Sieges

The Sieges are a cycle of modal enchantments, not to be confused with the siege subtype on the battle permanents introduced in March of the Machine. As these Sieges enter the battlefield, you choose either the Khans or Dragons mode.

The different modes provide you benefits depending on your choice, often offering synergies with other cards in the set. For example, the Khans mode of Citadel Siege fits in with the +1/+1 counters theme and the bolster mechanic, while the Dragons mode of Frontier Siege lets your fliers fight an opposing creature the moment they enter the battlefield.

Mythic Creatures with Hybrid Mana Activated Abilities

Wordy category aside, these five creatures have mono-color casting costs, but you can activate their abilities with hybrid mana costs that fill out the colors of their respective clans.

Brutal Hordechief earns its name by being good even if you’re not using its activated ability. It fits in with warrior typal decks, but I really want to double up on its attack triggers with Isshin, Two Heavens as One.

Soulfire Grand Master gives spellslinging Jeskai decks some utility by giving your instants and sorceries lifelink. Its activated ability gives you spell recycling, which is just that much better. It’s a monk for your The Archimandrite deck, while Hinata, Dawn-Crowned can give your spells cost reduction.

Gain Lands

The common gain lands from Khans of Tarkir were reprinted in Fate Reforged. Unlike most sets, the land slot from Fate Reforged has nonbasic lands. The fetch lands from Khans can also be found in the land slot, but they aren’t considered reprints since they maintain the Khans of Tarkir set symbol.

Other Notables

I’d be remiss not to mention Ugin, the Spirit Dragon. It’s a powerful finisher in Modern Tron decks, and it was banned in Historic Brawl after its reprint in Core Set 2021 proved too powerful for the format.

Monastery Mentor is an incredible token gen erator, so much so that it’s now restricted in Vintage because of how good it is in control decks.

Crux of Fate is like a story spotlight card before they were even a thing. Its modes allow you to destroy either all dragons or all non-dragons, illustrating the battle between Ugin and Nicol Bolas.

Want an extra turn spell you can cast for cheap? Look no further than the delving Temporal Trespass. Izzet Phoenix decks in Pioneer can often reduce it to and use it as a win condition.

Temur Battle Rage is a really good combat trick with the potential to grant both trample and double strike for 2 mana. Reality Shift is still used in mono-blue Commander decks that don’t have access to the removal offered by other colors.

The Khans mode of Outpost Siege has made it a consistent source of red card advantage, and it’s seen multiple reprints in Commander precons.

Jeskai Infiltrator and Ghastly Conscription are neat because they allow you to shuffle groups of cards before manifesting them. The rules usually prevent “shell games” (i.e., put a ball under one of multiple shells or cups, then shuffle), but these remain legal ways to attempt to hide which manifested card is which.

Available Products

Fate Reforged is available in 15-card Draft boosters (the 16^th card is a marketing card, so I’m not counting it). The land slot of Fate Reforged packs contains nonbasics rather than basic lands, and it may include the fetch lands from Khans of Tarkir.

The prerelease also featured special Ugin’s Fate boosters, which featured cards with alternate art to showcase how Tarkir has changed in the new timeline.

You could also buy bulk Fate Reforged boosters in Fat Packs and Booster boxes, although they may become rarer as time goes on.

Magic: the Gathering Fate Reforged Booster Box

• 36 Booster Packs

$155.00

Buy on Amazon

Fate Reforged featured a Clash Pack with two ready-to-play decks, a Sultai Power deck and a Golgari Profit deck.

Fate Reforged also had five Intro Packs utilizing cards from the set itself and Khans of Tarkir:

• Unflinching Assault, an Orzhov deck focused on the Abzan Houses;
• Cunning Plan, an Izzet deck focused on the Jeskai Way and the prowess ability;
• Grave Advantage, a Golgari deck focused on the Sultai Brood and the delve ability;
• Stampeding Hordes, a Boros deck focused on the Mardu Horde;
• Surprise Attack, a Simic deck focused on the Temur Frontier.

Wrap Up

Atarka, World Render | Illustration by Karl Kopinski

Small expansions can sometimes feel like the runts of the block, but they always have a few standouts that keep us coming back. Fate Reforged will always trigger some nostalgia in me as my first prerelease, but it also gave us some iconic Khans and introduced the dragons that would become Dragonlords.

Which cards from Fate Reforged do you still use? Which do you hope to see reprinted? What do you want to see on our next visit to Tarkir? Let me know in the comments below or over on Draftsim’s Discord!

Thank you for reading, and forge your own fate!

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