This week in Magic: Jace vs. Jace

Friday, August 21st, 2015

Welcome to another “This week in Magic.” Let’s take a break from discussing decks. Today we’re going to rank all of the Jaces in order from worst Jace to the best Jace.

I recently had a discussion regarding which Jace, over the years, was the best one. While we knew which Jace was not the top choice, we knew which ones to argue about. First, let me remind you of the different Jaces (in no particular order):

Jace Beleren
Jace, The Mind Sculptor
Jace, Memory Adept
Jace, Architect of Thought
Jace, The Living Guildpact
Jace, Telepath Unbound

6. Jace, The Living Guildpact

At the bottom of the list has to be The Living Guildpact. The key to a solid version of Jace is the ability to take care of himself. At +1 loyalty, this version of Jace manipulates the top of your deck and your graveyard. At -3 loyalty, Jace bounced another nonland permanent back to it’s owner’s hand. While the possibility of bouncing a threat may prolong Jace’s life for a little bit, the fact that he leaves himself with only two loyalty means that even 1/1 tokens pose a threat. Finally, his ultimate ability just didn’t have the power that the other Jace’s have. In the end, for his lack of ability, The Living Guildpact earns the bottom slot on our list of Jace’s.

5. Jace, Memory Adept

While he’s only one place higher than the bottom, this version of Jace is leaps and bounds above The Living Guildpact. At five mana, this was the most expensive Jace to play. However, his abilities did a lot of the talking. The Memory Adept was key in a lot of control mirror matches. Whoever was able to play their Jace first usually won, and may the Magic gods have mercy on your soul if you didn’t have a copy in your sideboard. The funny thing about this Jace is that most players only cared about one ability. That ability was the zero loyalty ability. If this version of Jace hit the board, those facing him were on a three or four turn clock after that. Due to his ability to end the game quickly is why we can forget that this Jace cannot defend himself from harm and why he ranks better than last.

4. Jace, Architect of Thought

I guess when you have a small cast of characters, one should not be surprised by how low some of them may look on the totem pole. Don’t be fooled by the Architect of Thought’s placement at number 4. One of the biggest mistakes made with this Jace was being compared to The Mind Sculptor when he was first spoiled. Many thought he was trying too hard to be like his big brother. He took a while, but the Architect of Thought eventually made a name for himself. In fact, he’s even seeing play in Modern. This Jace had the whole package. He could defend himself, he gave you card advantage, and his ultimate actually mattered in some matches. Out of all the Jaces, this is the most balanced.

3. Jace Beleren

Also known as “baby Jace,” Jace Beleren is the original. If this were a popularity contest, Jace Beleren would win the crown. Unfortunately, this isn’t. This is about power. Imagine being there the first time baby Jace was introduced to the world. Blue mages all over the world rejoiced. However, once they had their taste of power, they wanted more and so didn’t R&D. Even if you got just one card out of Jace, the fact that it only cost three mana to play was very important. Not only was this Jace cheap, but it gave you card advantage. To top things off, giving him a mill ability was his ultimate was icing on the cake. Baby Jace made Turbo Fog decks what they were in the past. Without him, who knows where the state of Planeswalkers would be today.

2. Jace, the Mind Sculptor

I’m pretty sure that 95% of you are screaming at me right now. How can I rank something that is broken as number two? Easy, I think the remaining Jace is better. The Mind Sculptor will go down in history as one of the most powerful version of Jace to exist; so powerful that it was indirectly declared a mistake to have made this card.

I don’t think there was one bad thing about this card. At +2 loyalty, you had the ability to soft lock your opponent by knowing every card they were going to draw, even manipulating what they were going to draw. At 0, you had a Brainstorm-on-a-stick. At -1 loyalty, you could bounce any problems back to their owner’s hand or a solution back to your own. Finally, at -12 loyalty, The Mind Sculptor’s ultimate ability meant the end of most games. The card was too good to be true, and I doubt there will ever be anything like him again.

1. Jace, Telepath Unbound

This is the Architect of Thought all over again. Like its predecessor, many people didn’t think much of this Jace when it was first spoiled. However, over time almost everyone who has played him has been surprised and versatile by how he responds to most situations. I guess the real question is why is the Telepath Unbound number one in my book?

First of all, he is the cheapest Jace to play. Although he does not first make an appearance as a Planeswalker, it doesn’t take much to ignite his “spark” and flip him into one. So, before we get the benefits of his Planeswalker abilities, we get treated by his creature abilities as a looter. One of the best uses for this Jace is to use him as a blocker and then turn him sideways to flip him into a Planeswalker (barring you have enough cards in the graveyard to do so). Once flipped, use him as you see fit.

At +1 loyalty he can protect himself or you. At -3 loyalty, he becomes reminiscent of one of the most powerful mages in the multiverse. Lastly, at -9 loyalty, you get an emblem that could ruin almost any player’s day.

The fact of the matter is that the Telepath Unbound is number in my book because of how versatile it can be. I understand that some of you will disagree. How can the Mind Sculptor (with his four abilities) be less versatile than the Telepath Unbound (with only his three abilities)? The new version of Jace edges out the Mind Sculptor by just an inch and that inch is it’s ability to go from creature to Planeswalker.

That’s it for this week. What did you think? Agree? Disagree? I would love to hear your opinion. Feel free to leave a comment below letting us know what you think. Until next time…

About the author

Simeon is now the Community Manager for Battleground Games & Hobbies. If you have any questions or inquiries, then you can reach him at Sims@battlegroundgames.com. He is also an avid gamer who loves to play board games and video games. He graduated college with a degree in Political Science, and now serves the public by writing about games. You can check that out here. Don’t forget to “like” him on Facebook as well. It’ll update you on all of his newest content. Best of all, you can follow Simeon on Twitter (@SimeonCortezano) for some real time hilarity. Thanks for reading!

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Tags: jace, Magic the Gathering, MTG, Simeon Cortezano
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