Last week's banned and restricted list announcement release shook up Modern in a huge way. With both Bloodbraid Elf and Jace, the Mind Sculptor legal, players are racing to figure out what the best ways to take advantage of these cards will be, or if they're even good in the format as it stands. Many players are looking to slot Jace into control decks with combo finishes as yet another angle of attack and means of assembling your combo. Others, however, are looking to do something more degenerate with Magic's most infamous Planeswalker:

Amulet Jace -- Modern | conanhawk

• Creatures (13)
• 1 Walking Ballista
• 4 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
• 4 Primeval Titan
• 4 Sakura-Tribe Scout

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

• Instants (5)
• 1 Pact of Negation
• 4 Summoner's Pact

• Sorceries (10)
• 2 Explore
• 4 Amulet of Vigor
• 4 Ancient Stirrings

• Artifacts (1)
• 1 Engineered Explosives

• Lands (28)
• 4 Forest
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Boros Garrison
• 1 Khalni Garden
• 1 Radiant Fountain
• 1 Selesnya Sanctuary
• 1 Slayers' Stronghold
• 1 Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
• 1 Vesuva
• 2 Cavern of Souls
• 3 Gruul Turf
• 3 Tolaria West
• 4 Gemstone Mine
• 4 Simic Growth Chamber

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Ghost Quarter
• 3 Swan Song
• 3 Tireless Tracker
• 1 Reclamation Sage
• 2 Dismember
• 1 Obstinate Baloth
• 1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
• 1 Hornet Queen
• 1 Walking Ballista
• 1 Engineered Explosives

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The big difference is that, on top of that, you have the potential to just cast Jace on the second turn of the game. With a turn one Sakura-Tribe Scout, you can cast Amulet on your second turn and then play the same Simic Growth Chamber twice to cast Jace. While Modern as a whole is pretty good at pressuring Jace, I'm not sure that there are many decks that can adequately pressure a turn two Jace on the play. In addition to that, this deck is pretty great at taking advantage of Jace's Brainstorm ability. You don't have fetchlands to combine with it, but Ancient Stirrings, Summoner's Pact, and Tolaria West are all great effects that clear the top of your library as necessary.

This deck lost a big part of its explosiveness with the banning of Summer Bloom. Suddenly, casting Primeval Titan on turn two requires multiple copies of Amulet of Vigor alongside Sakura-Tribe Scout. The addition of Jace doesn't give the deck more explosive potential, but it does provide more resilience and flexibility. Sure, control decks are where we usually expect to see Jace, the Mind Sculptor. However, if this list is any indication, combo decks with fast mana may be Jace's most natural fit in Modern.