Fate Reforged was announced at the Wizards of the Coast panel at PAX Prime on August 31, 2014. It contains 185 cards (10 basic lands, 70 commons, 60 uncommons, 35 rares, 10 mythic rares) and includes randomly inserted premium versions of all cards. The expansion symbol of the set is a stylized representation of two opposing planes or realities because the large sets of the block represent alternative timelines. This middle set, representing the past, is the precursor to both. The set had to be designed so it worked mechanically with both Khans of Tarkir and Dragons of Tarkir. It is designed to be drafted with both large sets, while the large sets are never drafted together. Fate Reforged draft is one pack of Fate Reforged and then two packs of Khans of Tarkir.
Because the clans of Fate Reforged are less defined, the set does not contain many gold cards - a cycle of enemy color at common, and a cycle of allied color at rare. There are no three-color cards, with the spells that pull towards a particular clan names an enemy color and an allied color, either by controlling another permanent or by using hybrid color costs (for example, Yasova Dragonclaw and Temur Runemark, Temurs card with green mana cost, and blue/red to maximise them). This lets Sultai and Temur decks in Fate Reforged draft and Gruul and Simic decks in Dragons of Tarkir draft play them. Like in Khans of Tarkir watermarks are used on the cards for the different clans, while adding slightly altered watermarks for the related dragon broods. The foil versions of the cycle of Sieges and Crux of Fate (all of which present a choice between Khans and Dragons) have a special overlay and finish which transitions seamlessly between the expansions symbols of Khans of Tarkir and Dragons of Tarkir.
Because mana fixing is very important in multicolor blocks, the basic land slot of Fate Reforged booster packs contains nonbasic lands instead. These are reprints of the ten common Khans of Tarkir taplands. They have new artwork and the Fate Reforged expansion symbol. Boosters may also include Khans of Tarkir fetch lands (in the same slot at a low frequency) which will have the Khans of Tarkir expansion symbol. The 10 Fate Reforged basic land cards can only be found in Ugin's Fate boosters, Fate Reforged Intro Pack decks and Fate Reforged Fat Pack's land pack (apart from Korean, Portuguese, Chinese (Traditional), and Russian).
The set features the colorless planeswalker Ugin, the Spirit Dragon.
Each Fate Reforged Booster Pack contains 15 cards each. Premium foil cards are randomly inserted.
