Jay's CD & Hobby · Prerelease · Magic: The Gathering
Play Reality Fracture a week before the rest of the world.
3 sessions2 storesSept 25–27$30 now · $35 at the door
Crack packs, build a deck on the spot and play the new set before it hits shelves. Southside + Ankeny. Everyone's welcome, first-timers especially.
Prerelease weekend starts in
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First session: Fri, Sept 25 · 6:30 PM · Southside
Pick your session
One seat, one kit, one afternoon of new cards.
Reserve online and your seat is held. Seats are capped at every session and prerelease weekends fill up.
Where you're going
Pick the closer store.
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3315 SE 14th Street
Southside
Des Moines, IA 50320 -
613 S Ankeny Blvd
Ankeny
Ankeny, IA 50023
Arrive 15 minutes early to check in and get your kit.
How prerelease works
Four steps. Zero experience required.
Prerelease is the most relaxed event on the calendar. Nobody has seen the cards, nobody has a deck, and everybody is figuring Reality Fracture out at the same table.
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Check in, get your kit
Give us the name on your reservation. You get a sealed kit of Reality Fracture that nobody outside a prerelease has opened yet.
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Build a 40-card deck
Open everything, pick your best two colors, add basic lands from the counter. Staff help anyone who wants it.
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Play a few rounds
Short, casual matches against the rest of the room. Everybody is learning the set in real time.
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Keep it all
Every card you open is yours, promo included. Prizes for wins on top.
What's in your kit
- 6 Play Boosters of the new set
- 1 traditional foil promo card
- Deck box and spindown die
- Basic lands, provided at the counter
Everything you open is yours to keep.
New to the game?
This is the best day of the year to start.
Nobody knows Reality Fracture yet, so a first-timer and a ten-year veteran open the same packs and start from the same place. Our staff will sit with you and build your first deck before round one.
- We walk you through building your deck before you play
- Casual rules. Take your time, ask anything
- Bring nothing but yourself. The kit is everything you need
- Win or lose, every card you open goes home with you
The set
Reality Fracture
- Magic: The Gathering
- FRA
- Releases Oct 2
- Sealed deck
Jace's solution. Everyone's problem. Your table, a week early.
Reality Fracture is the set where Jace Beleren stops fixing the Multiverse and builds his own. He calls it the Echoverse: a rewrite of every plane and every hero, done his way. Prerelease weekend runs September 25–27 at Southside and Ankeny, a full week before the October 2 street date. Crack packs, build a deck on site, and play with cards nobody outside a prerelease has touched.
Why this one matters
Every Play Booster carries an echoed pair: one card as the character exists in the Multiverse, one as Jace rewrote them. Chandra, Torch of Defiance next to Chandra, Chill of Compliance. Two Ajanis, two Garruks, and both halves land in the same pack, so the sealed pool you open at prerelease is the first place anyone gets to play them against each other.
The new mechanic is Empower Jace: cast the right spells and you build a Jace planeswalker token that grows the more you feed it, then cashes in for cards or filtered draws. Prepare returns in a trimmed form, creatures arriving with a spell in hand. Landfall and Replicate are back. Sealed is about finding your two deepest colors and a curve, and this set gives every color pair a reason to exist.
The collector side is deep: 270 cards in the main set, Shattered Mirror rares and mythics with facet foils in Collector Boosters, the Braintwister series, Portal view lands, and a serialized Bloodline Recollector capped at 500 copies worldwide.
Worth knowing: Commander decks and Collector Boosters are separate products from the prerelease kit. Ask us about preorders.
What to expect at prerelease
Every player gets a Prerelease Pack: six Reality Fracture Play Boosters, a traditional foil promo card, a deck box and a spindown die. You build a 40-card sealed deck out of what you open, add basic lands from the counter, and play a few short rounds against the rest of the room. Everything you open is yours to keep.
Never played Magic? Come anyway. Prerelease is the friendliest event on the calendar. Half the room is figuring the set out in real time, and our staff will walk you through deckbuilding before round one. Pizza's on us, as usual.
Set details from the publisher's official announcements and TCGplayer's coverage, current as of the date on the guide.
- Echoed pairs in every packTwo versions of the same character, Multiverse and Echoverse, land together in every Play Booster. Prerelease is the first time anyone plays them.
- Empower JaceThe set's new mechanic. Cast the right spells and you build a Jace planeswalker token that grows, then cashes in for cards.
- Prepare, Landfall and Replicate returnFamiliar tools with a twist, so a returning player has footing from turn one.
- 270 cards, releases October 2Prerelease weekend runs a full week before the street date. Arena gets it September 29.
- The chaseShattered Mirror facet foils, the Braintwister series, Portal view lands and a serialized Bloodline Recollector capped at 500 copies.
Prerelease questions, answered
Do I need to know how to play?
No. Prerelease is built for exactly this. Nobody has seen the set, so everyone is learning it together, and our staff will build your first deck with you before round one. If you've played once at a kitchen table, you're ready.
What do I get for my entry?
A sealed prerelease kit of the new set: the packs, the promo card and the bits you need to play. You build a 40-card deck from what you open, play a few short rounds, and take every card home. Prizes go to the winners on top of that.
How long does a session take?
Plan on roughly three to four hours: a deck-building window, then a few short rounds. Arrive 15 minutes early to check in. If you need to leave early, your cards leave with you.
What should I bring?
Just yourself and the name on your reservation. The kit is the whole game. If you own sleeves or a playmat, bring them; if you don't, don't worry about it.
Do I need a game account?
For Magic prereleases, yes: install the free Magic: The Gathering Companion app and create a Wizards account before you arrive. Pairings run through it. Add your account name at checkout if you already have one and we'll have you seated fast. For Pokémon, a Play! Pokémon ID is nice to have but not required.
Why is it cheaper to reserve online?
Reserving locks the lower price shown above and guarantees your seat. Walk-ups pay the door price, and only if there are seats left. Prerelease weekends fill up, so reserving is the safe play.
Can I switch sessions or get a refund?
Switch, yes: call or email before your session starts and we'll move you to any session with open seats. Seats aren't refundable, because the kit for your seat is allocated to us in advance.
Can I bring my kid, or come as a group?
Yes and yes. Set the number of seats when you reserve and everyone in your group gets a kit. Parents are welcome to sit in. Under-13s play best with an adult nearby for the first deck build.