Jace is infiltrating Vorthos Wednesday this week. Today, I’ll be covering why Jace Beleren, the character, has been so successful. Before we delve into Jace, we need a little brand background.

Gerrard Capashen, the central character of the Weatherlight Crew, was great for the Legacy storyline, and Vorthos loved him.

Dreamy.

He allowed for long-term continuity and a reoccurring character to count on. Was he the most optimal brand identity for a business? Did entire Top 8s have four copies of Gerrard Capashen? Did Gerrard have a song made about him? Did Gerrard himself sell more cardboard during his “reign?”

Maybe. No. Probably not. Doubtful. (Though if you do have a song, please let me know.)

Unlike the entire Harry Potter franchise, the planes of the Magic: The Gathering Multiverse don’t and shouldn’t revolve around one character. Seriously, why was Dumbledore, a Level 30(ish?) wizard not taking care of 90% of their issues? Seriously. “Who is going to fix this problem, Ron?” Um, is it going to be Harry or not Harry? Nice writing.

Before the awesomely powerful and format-defining staple Jace, the Mind Sculptor was created, Jace was created with a strong branded identity in mind that wasn’t integrated during the formulation of Gerrard.

We can never be Jace, but as players, we can call upon him as an ally for a limited time in battle. According to the #banjace discussions on Twitter, the surreal amounts of JTMS in the Top 8s of any important tournament and the amount of cosplay created for Jace, I’ve come to the conclusions that Jace is what Gerrard strove to be. Jace has some incredibly strong cards, but that doesn’t make people love Jace.

A branded identity, which I will explain, is why you love Jace.

Character Shell

Since players are humans playing a card game first and participating in a Wizard battle between two planeswalkers second, Vorthos explanations for why blue counters spells and for black’s ambition aren’t immediately apparent. Tying a branded character within the game to a demographic playing a game is quite difficult, but branding folks at Wizards came up with branded characters that are shells.

Jace has become a male version of Bella. Hear me out on this.

Jace, like Bella, is an intentionally incomplete character.

By describing Jace with only a few traits but not fully fleshing him out, Wizards created a branded persona that the demographic implants themselves into, just like Bella. Throughout the entire Twilight series, Bella is never fully described. Though Edward was fully described, from personality traits to physical descriptions ranging from possessing “a perfect body” to sparkly, among other things, Bella is a shell of a character. (Seriously, “a perfect body” is a quote, but I’m a bit ashamed to cite that.)

Magic’s demographic, from any casual perusal of any Magic tournament, anywhere, is largely young and male. Most of the demographic, from playing the actual game, realizes that they must be careful how they use their power, whether it’s strength, wealth, wisdom, or counterspells. Most people even feel guilt for past misuses of their abilities. Jace is careful and wise but fallible, which most people can align with.

Has this idea been used elsewhere? Absolutely.

Crash

The movie Crash created a similar role of shell characters but was met with unexpected results. Gerrard could be compared to this movie entirely

The fragmented backgrounds of different ethnicities and the disconnected social roles of the last century has created an issue for filmmakers in portraying cities. Urban cultures do not fit into traditional Hollywood storytelling with linear narratives and a very small group of homogenous central characters. Did viewers transport themselves into the Crash character roles, despite the blatant stereotypes? It’s hard to tell, but reinforcing stereotypes was a dangerous thing. Could I relate to the characters? Absolutely. Did my roommate at the time and I discuss it at length? Of course we did.

It was hard not to be moved by the story, discussing what was intentional and the meanings of the roles. Ludacris’s role deserves a master’s thesis at least to ascertain his dialogue, actions, and broken-fourth-wall discussion. The planeswalkers aren’t ambiguous characters, but well-thought-out personas. Though to be fair, planeswalkers aren’t trying to push a societal cathartic conclusion.

Peter (Larenz Tate) and Anthony (Chris “Ludacris” Bridges) in Crash. Photo credit: Lorey Sebastian.

Sex and the City

Where a movie created ambiguity, television was very clear in the created of branded roles. Could this be traced to 1980s movies where of one of many films had four stereotypical roles that only the ’80s could create? Perhaps all creative endeavors derive from somewhere.

Sex and the City created a microcosm of life, not unlike Friends, where viewers would align themselves to a character. The difference is that the women were fully developed characters and women still aligned to their personalities by a majority of their traits.

Apparently my fiancé is a Charlotte/Miranda.

Despite the show being off the air since 2004, the character roles live on. Being a Charlotte, Miranda, Carrie, or Samantha hasn’t left contemporary culture. I hope that the planeswalker characters transcend the cardboard, but they haven’t yet. Jace is approaching this feat.

Roles Created For and By

Magic players tend to not be the “jocks” or in the high-school popular crowd—or not, at least, in large quantities. Some nerd-jocks do exist; I included myself in that group when I was running, but it’s an exception more than a rule, and stigmas are dwindling as the game becomes mainstream again with a different brand resonance.

The marginalization of the player base is a major component of who Jace became. He is the personification of the power to change each negative confrontation that many encountered. I have come to this conclusion from the Here I Rule campaign.

The tagline is begging for more words. Why do you rule here? Do you not rule other places? Are you marginalized? Commenters immediately created memes of “Here I rule, but nowhere else,” or “Anywhere else, I don’t rule.” Thomas Cleberg’s blog, Pure Blue Reason, posted But Nowhere Else that sums up many players’ responses. I agree with him to a point. I don’t believe it’s pandering, but is it intentional? Kind of.

It was a campaign for new players, not casual players to be lured into playing FNM. His message is close and should be read with caution and understanding.

Does even a safe haven for new players to be accepted tie into Jace? Sure.

Jace prefers to turn aside, negate, or otherwise render an enemy’s tactics ineffective rather than trying to outpower them. Insert a person into this role, and you’ll start to understand how a random player wants to overpower the traditional bullies and top of the social structures in high schools. Players are intelligent, but they don’t want to harm. They simply wish to exist, be respected, and be left to their respective lives.

Fred “The Ogre” Palowakski played by Donald Gibb in Revenge of the Nerds

I’m not saying all Magic players are introverted nerds who were stuffed into lockers and had Ogre deal out pain, but the connection from player to Jace is a believable icon for many players.

Additional Thoughts

1. Jace has visual elements of an iconic, modern mage. He has large gestures and colorful spells. (Though a true counterspell would simply be an implosion.) He looks like he’s doing magic . . . all the time.

2. The character Jace was given snapshots of his power on two cards, with one in an almost optimal form. Let’s face the facts here—the more popular the card, no matter what the art looks like, the art becomes cherished. Look at Grand Prix events and notice artists with marquee cards. Seriously. There are stacks with $1 to $2 cards everywhere. Also, if you really want something nice or simply a stack of signatures, give a real tip.

3. Agents of Artifice was a great novel, and it starred Jace Beleren. Not all of the novels are winners, but one of the most recent books directly ties to a character . . . you get the picture.

Let’s all just admit that the branding effort was incredibly successful and hope that they continue with Jace as iconic planeswalker, making him the other converted mana costs. A two-drop Jace would be nice . . .

M. J. Scott and I will be discussing Chandra next Vorthos Wednesday. Don’t touch that dial. You are allowed to touch that paintbrush, or have a friendly squirrel show up after you’ve dodged an acorn.