Magic: The Gathering principal designer Gavin Verhey has revealed a card from Reality Fracture Commander that he describes as 16 years in the making. Darksteel Angel is a stronger version of Platinum Angel: alongside the original card's "you cannot lose the game" clause, it is indestructible and stops your creatures from receiving -1/-1 counters.
Both of those abilities are references. Indestructible was a signature keyword of Darksteel, the second set of the Scars of Mirrodin block, and blocking -1/-1 counters points at phyresis, the process by which Phyrexians assimilate other life.
The set that never shipped
The reference goes back to how Wizards of the Coast handled the end of the Scars of Mirrodin block. Rather than name the third set and spoil who won the war for the artifact plane, the company announced two possible sets, each with a name and art. New Phyrexia, depicting a Phyrexian victory, was the one that shipped. Mirrodin Pure, in which the plane's defenders won, was not — though it had a logo, a tagline and commissioned artwork, including a piece by the artist Chippy reimagining the original Mirrodin set's Platinum Angel.
According to Verhey, that unused illustration is where Darksteel Angel came from. Working on Reality Fracture, he remembered the piece and decided to "do something with it," turning it into a card from the timeline where the resistance held.
A set built on alternate timelines
Reality Fracture is positioned as the culmination of the storyline Magic has been building across recent sets, with Jace Beleren interfering with the multiverse once again. The premise lets designers show alternate versions of established settings — Polygon's example is a Strixhaven reimagined as a military academy — and, as with Darksteel Angel, to revisit discarded pieces of the game's own history.
The set follows The Hobbit, which is where much of the game's attention currently sits. Wizards of the Coast has not announced a release date for Reality Fracture.
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