Jace Everything!

Posted on February 16, 2018

It was announced that Jace was unbanned this previous Monday. Since then, I have not been able to stop brewing. I'm sure by now you've seen a good handful of Jace decks. People are slotting Jace into already existing archetypes like Control, Jeskai Control, Storm, and Grixis Control. Those are all easy inclusions for Jace, it doesn't take rocket science to cut a couple of cards and slot in Jace, the Mind Sculptor in those lists. My articles come out at the end of the week and I want to make sure you have some Jace brews. I'm talking about decks with Jace that are either new or aren't that intuitive to include him in.

Here are the decks I've brainstormed up!

W/U Miracles -- Modern | Ali Aintrazi

Creatures (3)
3 Snapcaster Mage

Planeswalkers (4)
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

We don't have Sensei's Divining Top, but I believe we have enough cards to actually make this archetype work. We've had plenty of one Blue cost spells that cantrip or draw at instant speed, but we've been stuck with our Miracle cards if we ever drew them. The only card in Modern we had to shuffle our cards back into our deck before Jace was See Beyond. Riverwise Augur already made a few splashes in this archetype and we get a huge upgrade in Jace, the Mind Sculptor. He not only set ups our Miracle cards but he's also a great finisher and can relieve some pressure with his Unsummon ability.

In Game 1 this deck doesn't have too many win conditions, but it has enough. Jace, the Mind Sculptor backed up by Celestial Colonnade and Entreat the Angels will get you there. If you need more pressure in games two and three, you can board in Geist of Saint Traft to quicken the clock. Careful not to just toss away Opts and Think Twice since they are your best way to trigger Miracle at instant speed. Azor's Gateway is another way to trigger miracle at instant speed and one that will stick around once you get it into play.

This deck is sweet but we're just starting to scratch the surface of Jace's potential in Modern. Let's look at an oldie but a goodie!

Blue Moon -- Modern | Ali Aintrazi

Planeswalkers (4)
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Sorceries (4)
4 Serum Visions

Enchantments (5)
2 Search for Azcanta
3 Blood Moon

Blue Moon is Blue based control deck that aims to lock the opponent out with Blood Moon and then control the game from that point on. The deck didn't have an effective way to end the game after resolving a Blood Moon. It would have to play big spells like Wurmcoil Engine and now, Torrential Gearhulk, to try and wrap the game up. Now? Jace, the Mind Sculptor will happily clean up here. When your opponent is under a Blood Moon you'll be able to keep them away from basic lands or relevant spells much easier with Jace's +2 ability. Your opponent usually has a handful of cards that are good with Blood Moon out, and Jace slams the door shut on those cards.

The other card I wanted to try out with the printing of Jace is Disrupting Shoal. You don't want to die after tapping out for Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Disrupting Shoal goes a long way in helping you stay alive. It's essentially a bad Force of Will, but a bad Force of Will might just be what Jace, the Mind Sculptor needs.

What about decks that can accelerate into a turn three Jace? What are some of the better homes for him? Let's look at one that not only can push Jace out turn three but also does an excellent job of protecting him.

Protect the Queen -- Modern | Ali Aintrazi

Planeswalkers (4)
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Creatures are obviously a fantastic way to protect your planeswalkers. This list is based off Jeff Hoogland's old Nahiri Emrakul Chord deck. It features Hoogland's favorite Wall of all time, Wall of Roots. Wall of Roots does a lot of leg work in this deck. It accelerates into Jace, protects Jace, and then adds two mana into your Chord of Callings when you're ready to tutor up creatures. We also have another great creature to help Jace stick around in Wall of Omens.

Just sit back and Brainstorm away while burying your opponent in card advantage. Then when your opponent is finally setting up to push through Jace, you can just kill them with the Restoration Angel / Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker combo. Sometimes Kiki-Jiki would rot in your hand and you wouldn't be able to cast him. Jace eliminates that problem by insuring Kiki-Jiki can stay where you want him, in your hand or your deck.

Control has been missing a solid finisher for a while. It already has powerful cards like Fatal Push, Creeping Tar Pit, and Tasigur, the Golden Fang but it really wanted something else and Jace is perfect.

U/B Control -- Modern | Ali Aintrazi

Planeswalkers (4)
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Enchantments (2)
2 Search for Azcanta

I'm a lover of Control; it's hard to not like the archetype after winning US Nationals with it. It has a special place in my heart and I really think can be a contender now. It has everything a control deck wants: countermagic, hand disruption, board wipes, kill spells, and most importantly, Jace, the Mind Sculptor. By going straight , we have less issues with mana while also being able to play the full playset of Creeping Tar Pits and Field of Ruins.

We also get to go next level a little bit here and play Hero's Downfall for opposing control decks that are also playing Jace. If Jace ends up being a big in Modern, then we can toss in another one in the Sideboard. Not much to say about Control. It's like the other control decks but it does operate slightly on a different axis.

The last deck I want to talk about is a pet deck of mine, Bant Superfriends.

Bant Superfriends -- Modern | Ali Aintrazi

Creatures (5)
2 Wall of Omens
3 Eternal Witness

Enchantments (2)
2 Search for Azcanta

I've played a lot of different Bant lists in my time. Some were powered out by Noble Hierarch and Utopia Sprawl. While those lists are extremely powerful and explosive, Modern is not a format where we need to sometimes wipe the battlefield of creatures and having a mana acceleration plan of creatures comes back to bite us.

For this deck, I've decided to forgo those mana creatures for more removal and a couple of Fog cards. We can still accelerate our mana with the help of Explore, Farseek, and Nissa, Steward of Elements. Nissa works great with Jace since you can put lands back on top of your library and then put them into play with Nissa's 0 ability. The planeswalkers are all very powerful with Time Warp since you'll be able to use their ability again on your new turn. When you assemble Eternal Witness and Venser, the Sojourner, you'll start racking up on a ton of card advantage. Throw a Time Warp into that mix and you'll take infinite turns.

This deck has gained two new toys since I've last visited it. Search for Azcanta and Jace, the Mind Sculptor. That's a powerful combo that I'm excited to play.

So many Jace decks but so little time! This weekend I'll be in Indianapolis playing in the SCG Modern Open. Sadly, Jace will not be legal this weekend, so I'll have to play something else until I can sleeve up the best planeswalker of all time, Jace, the Mind Sculptor.

I know some of my readers have been waiting for me to revisit five color ramp deck in Standard. I initially intended to write about it this week, but with Jace unbanned and a Modern Open this weekend, my sites were set to Modern. I promise you I will have it ready for you next week, I'll even try to stream it, so make sure to follow my me on Twitch.

As always, thank you for reading.

Until next time,

Ali Aintrazi

Follow me @AliEldrazi

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