MTG Empower Mechanic Explained: The Jace Token Engine (Reality Fracture)

Empower is the signature new keyword action in Reality Fracture (releases October 2, 2026), appearing on roughly 35 cards across the set. It's the engine the whole planeswalker-matters archetype runs on. Here's precisely how it works.

What Empower Does

"Empower [a planeswalker type] N" means: put N loyalty counters on a planeswalker of that type you control. If you don't control one, first create it.

Almost every instance in the set reads "Empower Jace N." When you resolve it:

• If you already control one or more Jace planeswalkers, you put N loyalty counters on one of them.
• If you don't control a Jace, you first create a Jace planeswalker token, then put the counters on it.

The Jace Token

The token you create is a blue Jace planeswalker token with two abilities:

• - [−1]: Surveil 1 — look at the top card, keep it or bin it. Repeatable card selection.
• - [−3]: Draw a card — straight card advantage.

Because Empower *adds loyalty*, stacking Empower effects lets that single token fuel its abilities turn after turn. Empower Jace 5 twice, and you have a 10-loyalty Jace that can draw multiple cards or surveil repeatedly while sitting safely behind blockers.

Key Rulings and Common Questions

• - Do the counters stack on one token? Yes. Empower keeps adding to a Jace you already control — you're growing one big token, not making a new one each time (you only create a token if you have none).
• - Which Jace gets the counters if I control several? You choose.
• - Can I Empower a real (nontoken) Jace? Yes — any Jace planeswalker you control is a legal target, including hard-cast ones like The Theorist, Jace Beleren.
• - Is the token a commander? No. Tokens can't be commanders, and Empower has nothing to do with command-zone legality. See which planeswalkers can be commanders.
• - Behold a Jace — several cards ask you to "behold a Jace" as a casting condition; controlling a Jace token satisfies it, so Empower and Behold combo naturally.

Building Around Empower

Empower rewards a critical mass and payoffs that care about loyalty and planeswalkers:

• - The "Way of the ___" enchantment cycle each empowers Jace on entry and hands your planeswalkers extra loyalty abilities.
• - Proliferate copies every loyalty counter you've added — a force multiplier on your token.
• - Planeswalker protection (Tomik, Orzhov Lawmage; pillowfort) keeps the token alive so it keeps drawing.
• - Sanctum Lurker stops your planeswalkers from dying at 0 loyalty, so you can drain the token's abilities freely.

For the full archetype, read our Reality Fracture superfriends guide.

Try It in a Real Deck

The fastest way to see Empower click is to build a deck around it. On Tapped Decks, pick Jace, Multiverse Architect or another Reality Fracture legend, choose a superfriends theme, and get a complete Empower-and-proliferate deck in under a minute — with the new cards added as soon as they hit Scryfall.