We always knew who'd be in the #1 slot, didn't
we? Of course it's Jace 2.0. But what exactly is
it that makes him so good? Is it the fact that
he charges up loyalty by locking you out of ever
drawing anything good? Is it that when he's
fully charged, he simultaneously rids you of
your entire hand and mills away almost your
entire deck? Is it that he can cast Brainstorm,
one of the most powerful draw spells this side
of Ancestral Recall, for free? That he's
repeatable bounce and can systematically empty
your board, forcing you to play catch up?
No, it's that he does ALL of those things. As is
the case with so many of the cards on this list,
if he had half of the abilities he has he'd be
playable, but the added functionality put him
over the top.
Since the very beginning of Magic, some cards
have been polarizing. Counterspell, Stone Rain,
and Strip Mine are, to many people, the kinds of
cards you must either love or hate, with no
middle ground. Yet every card - every single
one, even your least favorite card - appeals to
somebody. Jace's appeal is obvious, as he fits
superbly in constructed decks, especially the
blue control archetypes. This is, of course,
also one of the features that contributes to
part of the fan base hating him. Today, though,
let's leave that aside and recognize the
implications this card has had for Magic as a
whole. Jace, the Mind Sculptor changed the idea
of what planeswalkers are capable of
doing, helped define not one but two Standard
seasons, and carries the hopes of an entire
generation of blue players. For those reasons,
for better or worse, we have named him the #1
card of 2010.
Magic The Gathering Card of The Day: Jace,
The Mind Sculptor
Welcome back readers today's card of the day is
Jace The Mind Sculptor the number one card from
2010. Most everyone saw this coming unless of
course you have been living under a rock. The
most powerful and widely used planeswalker
Jace's new form rolls together a powerful
menagirie of abilities. A free Brainstorm every
turn combined with fetch lands makes for a
powerful card drawing and filtering engine. The
loyalty adding ability of a fateseal is weak but
its good for messing up opponents carefully
sculpted plans and a necessity to gain loyalty.
The ability to unsummon a creature is great for
reusing come into play effects or simply
unsummoning an opponents creatures. Finally his
ultimate ability takes a long time to build to
but can end the game quickly although im unsure
of how often it actually comes up. In standard
Jace is a format defining card that has appeared
in the top decks at every major tournament, if
you are playing blue you play this card, you
need to splash blue to play this card its unreal
and extremely powerful. In extended it sees a
little less play then in standard but the same
rules apply its powerful.
In eternal its rare to see a card that plays so
well in vingtage as well as standard and every
other format, it has made appearances in top
decks and is nuts. In casual and multiplayer
this guy is realistically to expensive unless
your hardcore about casual play or trade or open
them in boosters, once again no need to tell you
how powerful it is. In limited it pays for your
draft and then some and its a powerful win
condition always draft it no matter what.
Overall one of the most powerful cards made in a
long time, a format defining card, believe the
hype this card is nigh perfect.
Today's number one card of 2010 is Jace, the
Mind Sculptor which is an impressive rebuild of
the character and the first Planeswalker to
feature four abilities. The first of which is
similar to an old five mana enchantment named
Precognition, but works on your own library as
well as an opponent. The second effect is a copy
of the Ice Age classic Brainstorm while the
third is a copy of Unsummon, both of which quite
useful and often played in Blue decks. The
ultimate ability will almost always end the game
in your favor when used as it exiles an entire
library and replaces it with that player's hand
which will likely be either cards they were
unable or unwilling to play previously or no
cards at all. This is an extremely powerful and
versatile card and well deserving of the hype it
is receiving.
In Constructed, Casual, and Multiplayer this is
a top of the line card that can manipulate a
deck, gain card advantage, control the field,
and potentially win the game. The plus two
ability works quite well after the draw cards
effect to send the second of the two cards to
the bottom of the library on your next turn. At
only three mana not much more can be asked of
any card.
With Limited if you are playing Sealed you
should seriously consider running a primarily
Blue deck if this is in your pool for the card
advantage and reusable control aspects at the
very least. In Booster you may consider playing
Blue for this, but at the very least Rare draft
it and it'll cover the entry fee for your
tournament. If you prefer you can also consider
it hate drafting to prevent someone else from
having the advantage. The only reason to ever
pass one is if there is a foil and regular in
the same pack. Actually playing this card is
slightly hindered by the double Blue mana cost
and it may not see play on the third turn in
multicolor decks.
And then there was
one. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,
children of all ages, please allow me to
introduce you to our number 1 card of 2010, non
other than Jace, the Mind Sculptor. Four mana,
two blue, two generic gets our number one on the
board. From there, it gets crazy. The first, and
so far only, planeswalker with four amazing
abilities. His first, add two counters, look at
the top card of target player’s library, you may
put that card on the bottom of that player’s
library. Second ability, add zero, draw three
cards and then put two on the top of your
library in any order. Third ability, minus one,
return target creature to its owners hand. And
the coupe de grace fourth ability, minus twelve,
yes twelve, exile target player’s library, that
player then shuffles his or her hand into his or
her library.
This guy is by far the most sought after card in Magic perhaps
since the legendary Black Lotus. His appearance
in five of the six of the top eight decks in
this past Worlds Championship screams at how
pros value him, and just look at any site
selling him right now to see the perspective
value this phenom brings with him, but why? He
seems pretty weak at first glance; I mean a
Lightning Bolt can take him out before he even
gets his first ability. But there in lies the
challenge. People, especially pros, didn’t get
this card to simply let it die, they build decks
around him. They will let him drop only if they
feel they can keep him there, at least until he
isn’t needed. That is why Jace has found his
home in so many control based decks. That and
his ability to “control” what people draw means
he is a key factor for the person using him. He
can either help the controller find something he
needs, or simply delay your opponents from
getting something they may need. But ultimately,
if you can keep him on the table long enough, he
can be a game ender, and people know it. How can
you deny doing whatever you can to remove him
from the board before he can activate his final?
Unless you have a hand the size of a small
country, exiling a player’s deck and making
their hand their new deck can end the game on
the spot. If that targeted player has been
dumping spell after spell and now has no hand
when Jace’s final goes off, they would lose on
their next draw.
I’m not going to waste a whole article trying to
convince people how powerful this card is, or
why he should have placed number one. His
abilities and the fact of his value in
tournaments and simple value do those
themselves. And there are a number of ways to
exploit how to utilize him even more. With
Proliferate these days, getting him to twelve
counters is just as easy as getting fifteen mana
for an Emrakul. The question is, how do you stop
him?
