Monday saw the announcement of Jace, the Mind Sculptor's ban from Standard play. Over the past couple of weeks rumours have been building regarding new version of Jace, Chandra and Garruk in M12 based on the start of their names seen in the Japanese D12 trailer not matching their current naming structure. Whilst Jace, the Mind Sculptor being reprinted in a core set was an obvious impossibility, the idea of a new engine to work with that might be more rewarding than Beleren certainly caught the attention of blue mages everywhere. And then, as the week reached its end, we were put out of our misery...
Well, maybe not so far from misery just yet. Jace, Memory Adept has experienced quite a mixed response thus far, but it certainly seems the majority are negative. The initial disappointment is the cost. With his previous incarnations at 1UU and 2UU, the cost of 3UU shows us clearly that this Jace is a completely different card to approach. 4cc and below Planeswalkers generally see solid levels of competitive play working as core of a deck or as an engine to drive to advantage in the mid-late game.
Jace's past and present.
Planeswalkers of 5cc and above have generally seen less play, unless they are either a reliable win condition (Gideon Jura) or utterly breakable in a specific format (Tezzeret the Seeker in Vintage). High cost Planeswalkers have, on occasion, made splashes into competitive decks, such as Liliana Vess sneaking into UB Control lists recently and Venser, the Sojourner seeing a surge in testing for the post-CawBlade era. Each successful end game Planeswalker has had at least 2 worthwhile abilities and a high starting loyalty. So how does Jace, Memory Adept stand against such company?
How does Jace compare?
For the first time, Jace enters the battlefield and doesn't need to activate in order to survive a Lightning Bolt! 4 starting loyalty is solid enough to work with, and should the game be under your control (you ARE playing blue after all...) then he can prove to be a 2 for 1 at least, without activating. However, this assumes his abilities make him a target that needs to be removed.
Jace's +1 is a fair Jace's Erasure, essentially acting as Jace Beleren's -1 whilst not being utterly insane like Jace, the Mind Sculptor's 0 brainstorm ability. Currently, the mill 1 is largely irrelevant, but with Innistrad confirmed to at least have Flashback as a mechanic it is far from inconceivable that players would want to make themselves dump a card in an attempt to dig deeper (more on this later!). Overall, a solid ability to work with.
At 0 Jace returns to his roots by casting Glimpse of the Unthinkable. Whilst a powerful effect, especially in being so easy to repeat, it has no effect on the board. The inability to protect himself feels like a major weakness coming from the Mind Sculptor's -1 to Unsummon, and so the requirement of having control before starting to use Jace's 0 ability gives him a feel of being a win-more card. This has been a make or break rule for Planeswalkers in the past, but as time passes we increasingly encounter exceptions to the so-called rule. If Liliana can see successful play in UB Control right now without means of protection beyond the deck's own removal, I can't see this rule applying to a well supported win condition.
For his ultimate, Jace forces players of your choice to draw 20 for -7. Hmm. Whilst destined to make and break friendships around the table during a Commander game, Jace's ultimate feels a bit lacking in constructed, but the sheer strength of the ability cannot be ignored. The primary use of this ability is obvious, forcing the opponent to deck out just as his previous core set incarnation did. A powerful combo to utilize with this would be to follow up with the aptly named Jace's Archivist, but this is admittedly kitchen table stuff as maintaining Jace and an Archivist on the board leaves the combo easy to pick apart with removal.
I remember watching a feature match at GP Birmingham in which a Mind Spring for 10 was cast from a 6 card hand. At the time the very idea perplexed me, as no combo was being sought for. However, this brute force approach allowed him to carve a far superior hand to drive out of a stalemate and win the game. Mind Spring saw similar power play during the Jund era, but Blue Sun's Zenith has failed to repeat it's success in the CawBlade dominated format. I certainly don't believe Jace, Memory Adept would ever be played purely for his ultimate, but the ability to dig deep for a very specific solution or means to win the game is always nice when the mill itself won't be enough to win.
Draw enough yet?
In terms of power level, I'd put him on par with Venser, and possibly even Liliana. Solid abilities, but slow and requiring work to support. Innistrad's introduction to Standard will be the big test for Jace, as whilst the loss of Beleren, Valakut, Eldrazi and even Bolt will act in his favour, the set itself may force his abilities to be analysed once more. I suggested that his +1 could be used to dig 2 cards deep, his random mill acting much like Card Trooper and the like act in Yu-Gi-Oh! right now. If cards in your graveyard or retrievable, reusable or can be recurred then why not? Taking this a step further, could milling yourself 10 cards be better than milling the opponent in future standard? Consider the impact dredge had due to such future-shifted cards as Narcomoeba and Bridge from Below. Should any interaction remotely similar to this crop up in the next year, Jace could become a powerful engine in his own right. Time alone will tell how this one turns out, but for those wanting a real replacement for the Mind Sculptors, I'm sure Tezzeret and Beleren will happily oblige.
