Jace, Memory Adept – Under the Hood

It’s been a while, but I wanted to drop a quick post with a few initial thoughts on the latest Jace to (potentially) grace Standard, since the Mind Sculptor has been banned and the original will be rotating in October.

If you haven’t yet seen it, here it is:

Yeah, seems…neat.

To me the obvious comparison is Venser, the Sojourner. At the same converted mana cost, their first abilities are comparable, as typically with Venser you’re blinking Spreading Seas and Wall of Omens, etc. Venser’s starting loyalty is lower, but both ‘walkers can immediately go to 5 loyalty, so that’s a wash. On the following turn though, Venser hits 7 loyalty while Jace only reaches 6. This could be very relevant if you’re attempting to reach the ultimate against attacking creatures or a deck with burn. While Jace’s +1 is more “guaranteed” (since you actually need something decent in play to blink with Venser), Venser has the slight edge here in my opinion for the versatility. Blinking a Sun Titan, or any Titan for that matter, often gives you more than a single card’s worth of value, and having to option to blink-“untap” a land in a pinch is useful more often than you might think. There’s a plethora of options here to find interesting permanents with enter-the-battlefield abilities that can be used (and hopefully abused) with Venser.

Skipping the middle ability for a sec, both planeswalkers reach their “ultimate” in the same amount of time (4 activations if left unchecked), and both should win you the game. However, while Venser gives you an emblem that applies for the duration of the game, you only get one turn with the cards from Jace before you need to discard back down to 7. Drawing 20 cards is immensely powerful, don’t get me wrong, but if you can’t put those cards to use the majority of that advantage goes to waste. Not only that, but you have to be careful, since there’s a nonzero chance that you deck yourself. Keep in mind: Using Venser’s +2 for three turns puts him at 9 loyalty, meaning that he sticks around for more blink action after you get his emblem. Jace has to survive an additional turn if you want him to stay in play after his ultimate.

The middle ability on Jace, Memory Adept is probably the most interesting one. In the context of the current Standard, it is “just” a milling strategy. No question, if you let your opponent keep Jace around for too long, he has the potential to be a killer, but it has no real effect on the board, and if this is the route you’re going, you’ve got to worry about protecting Jace. However, all signs point to Innistrad (the fall 2011 set) as a graveyard-based set. It’s exciting to consider whether in the future we will have a reason to want to mill our own library. This is a common thing in Legacy (Dredge, Breakfast), but not usually in Standard. Flashback has already been confirmed (via D12) as a returning keyword in Innistrad.

For the moment, it seems like you can get more value and versatility out of Venser, but if there’s a reason to want to stock our own graveyards, Jace, Memory Adept could be where it’s at. Also, if there are hardcore good milling strategies coming down the pipe, Jace could actually be a staple in those sorts of decks. The Eldrazi giants are rotating, and WotC loves to create tension in their strategies, so pushing milling as a win condition seems to fit perfectly into a graveyard-based block. That’s my prediction anyway.

Be careful to avoid the trap of comparing this new incarnation to Jace, The Mind Sculptor. It’s a different card with different applications, and should be treated as such.

It’s stronger than it looks at first glance. Playable? Maybe, maybe not. But remember, Wizards wants planeswalkers to be playable; Aaron Forsythe even admitted that Chandra Ablaze was a failed design. This Jace’s power may not be immediately apparent, but that doesn’t mean it’s not there. It may just be waiting for some friends. (Remember Stoneforge Mystic before Swords?)

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