Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Planeswalker — Jace

+2: Look at the top card of target player's library. You may put that card on the bottom of that player's library.

0: Draw three cards, then put two cards from your hand on top of your library in any order.

-1: Return target creature to its owner's hand.

-12: Exile all cards from target player's library, then that player shuffles his or her hand into his or her library.

Discussion (48)

wallisface on Please help:)

1 week ago

In modern:

• Jace, the Mind Sculptor

• Brainstone

• Vendilion Clique (though puts it on the bottom so may not be ideal??)

Some context around format, color restrictions, and what your deck is trying to actually achieve, will all be helpful towards people finding the card you’re after

Ector on Galea, the Equipmonger

1 week ago

The Ramp, the Lands and Topdeck Manipulation

The major goal of every good Galea deck is the right method of ramp and topdeck manipulation. Every time you see a card that Galea cannot play, you should have a way to change the situation somehow. And there are two primary ways to achieve that:

1. Direct manipulation. Scroll Rack , Sylvan Library , Soldevi Excavations , Vantress Gargoyle and Jace, the Mind Sculptor directly manipulate with your topdeck, allowing you to gain card advantage. Let's look at Scroll Rack for example. If you have say three Auras/Enchantments in your hand that you can play this turn, and your topdeck isn't Aura or Equipment. You just draw three cards, put your Auras/Equipments on topdeck and play all them, actually drawing three cards for 1 mana!

2. Fetching lands. As long as Galea cannot play lands from top of your library, you should fetch lands as much as you can. This reduces the number of lands in your library (and the chance to see a land on your topdeck), and allows you to shuffle your library. We have six lands that fetch the other lands, and one of them ( Thawing Glaciers ) can fetch multiple times. We also have Sword of the Animist and Elvish Reclaimer that fetch lands repeatedly, and Expedition Map .

The Ramp strategy of this deck uses "the best of all worlds" principle: the best creatures, the best artifacts and the best Aura ( Wild Growth ). Most of the Ramp cards cost 1 mana, but there are few 0-cost and 2-cost cards. Why don't I use more Auras? Because creatures and artifacts are more efficient, and I need Ramp prior to playing Galea. Why do I use mana dorks? There are two reasons: I need early targets for my Equipment, and I want to sacrifice them later to Skullclamp .

This deck has three ways of fetching NON-basic lands: Elvish Reclaimer , Expedition Map and Tolaria West - and if you have Academy Ruins , you can recycle Expedition Map to fetch more lands. One of the best targets for the fetching is Urza's Saga , which can create a giant token and fetch Skullclamp or Expedition Map . Another very important target is Glacial Chasm , which can allow you to survive and grab victory even in a grave sutuation. Of course, Academy Ruins and Hall of Heliod's Generosity are also the popular fetch targets.

The Aura Selection

Most Auras in this deck steal or spoil enemy creatures (especially Commanders). It's hard to win when your Commander is stolen or converted to Insect :) There are only two Auras that should be played on your creatures: Mantle of the Ancients and Unquestioned Authority . Most of the time they are played via Sovereigns of Lost Alara : you attack, then fetch one of them from your deck, and, in case of the Mantle, also play all Equips from your graveyard.

The Hidden Gems

Conqueror's Flail prohibits opponents from playing spells during your turn. This allows you to play all your stuff without pesky counterspells and attack safely. It's very important for this deck.

Moonsilver Spear and Seraphic Greatsword create 4/4 flying Angels. If you have both, you can create enough blockers that can eventually kill somebody.

Dowsing Dagger  ^Flip should be transformed into a land that provides three mana of any color. It's a great Ramp, especially if you consider that Sword of Feast and Famine and Treachery untap your lands. With a bit of luck, you can even create two Construct tokens with Urza's Saga !

Fractal Harness is the easiest way of creating an enormous creature. It will grow very fast, and Belt of Giant Strength may give it +10/+10! If you get both in play, follow the "Trident Punch" path and look for Surestrike Trident .

Umbral Mantle doesn't have a lot of good targets in this deck: there are no creatures with powerful "Tap:" abilities. But you can steal them! :) Talking seriously, the Mantle is used to untap our Ultron after attacking. I am not a big fan of using Galea for this purpose: it's better not to put all the eggs into one basket. Plus, the Mantle makes a great combo with Surestrike Trident .

Shimmer Dragon is really great for this deck. It flies and almost always has Hexproof. It provides insane amount of cards. And it is much better material for Ultron than Galea IMHO. Most of the time you would need just one Scytheclaw or Kaldra Compleat on it to deal very serious damage.

Fierce Guardianship means that you always might have a counterspell :)

Thassa, God of the Sea is very helpful for two reasons: it can make your creature unblockable (even a tiny Elf with the Scytheclaw becomes a very dangerous threat!) and it provides a free Scry 1 every turn (see above on topdeck manipulation). Still, you have a chance of turning her into creature, since there are several permanents with UU in their casting cost. Having an indestructible creature is always nice!

CoSM0 on Brazen Blue Moon

3 weeks ago

I love blue moon lists. I would make a few changes though: The Royal Scions isn't as good as you might think it is. If you want a loot I would play Teferi, Master of Time , otherwise I would be on Jace, the Mind Sculptor if your budget allows or Chandra, Torch of Defiance .

Archmage's Charm is also certainly a must for a deck with this many blue sources. I'd consider adding more removal if possible, try Electrolyze , Izzet Charm , or Prismari Command . I'd definitely shave a blood moon too as they suck ass in duplicates.

Oh, and add a sideboard.

PurePwnage on ---Acess Denied---

2 months ago

wallisface, the deck is a hybrid between control and tempo. All of of our bounce spells and counter magic with the exception of Cryptic Command and Jace, the Mind Sculptor have a CMC less than or equal to 3. I own this on paper and have play tested it, the results yielded an optimal number of Mana somewhere between 20-23, anymore usually results in flooding out fairly consistently. We are not an esper or U/W control deck and do not seek to play heavy amounts of mass removal or high CMC plainswalkers like big T3feri. Generally, we only need to hit all of our T1/T2/T3 land drops. Also, we almost never play Brazen Borrower for it's body until late game, turn making its converted Mana cost two.

My goal is to avoid the pitfalls associated with three or more color control shells.

Jonesbond49 on Friends with Atraxa 2.0

2 months ago

Ramp (12): Kiora, the Crashing Wave , Nissa, Who Shakes the World , Teferi, Temporal Archmage , Astral Cornucopia , Chromatic Lantern , Sol Ring , Circuitous Route , Cultivate , Explosive Vegetation , Kodama's Reach , Oath of Ajani , and Harrow

Card Advantage (11): Ajani Unyielding , Jace, Unraveler of Secrets , Jace, the Mind Sculptor , Kiora, the Crashing Wave , Liliana, Dreadhorde General , Tamiyo, Collector of Tales , Teferi, Hero of Dominaria , Teferi, Temporal Archmage , Vraska, Golgari Queen , Toothy, Imaginary Friend , and Tezzeret's Gambit

Removal (12): Ajani Unyielding , Liliana of the Veil , Liliana, Dreadhorde General , Liliana, Waker of the Dead , Teferi, Hero of Dominaria , Ugin, the Spirit Dragon , Vraska the Unseen , Vraska, Golgari Queen , Vraska, Relic Seeker , Assassin's Trophy , Fierce Guardianship , and Path to Exile

Wraths (7): Ugin, the Spirit Dragon , Nevinyrral's Disk , Merciless Eviction , Supreme Verdict , Urza's Ruinous Blast , Wrath of God , and Cyclonic Rift

RicketyEng on None

3 months ago

Some clarification of Obby's timeline:

1) Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath conquered his home plane then sparked.

2) On his travels/conquests of other planes at some point he was attracted by The Chain Veil 's power. However he was cursed by it when he touched it and started becoming a demon.

3) He travelled to Zendikar in hopes of using its powerful and wild mana to stop or reverse his demonic transformation.

4) Upon his arrival on the plane its protector, Nahiri, the Lithomancer , implanted a hedron in his forehead which robbed him of his spark and caused his wings to wither and eventually die. Ob Nixilis, the Fallen

5) After a few thousand years Jace, the Mind Sculptor was trying to figure out how to help Garruk, the Veil-Cursed . He extracted the hedron from Ob Nixilis's forehead and managed to implant it in Garruk's arm. In both Ob Nixilis and Garruk the hedron had the effect of subduing the veil's curse. It brought some clarity to the mind of Garruk, Apex Predator .

6) I remember reading a story where Ob Nixilis, Unshackled was buried alive and he very gradually dug his way down and toward a power source he could sense. This is how he found the Khalni Heart which he first tried to use to reignite his spark before Nissa, Voice of Zendikar stopped him.

7) Utterly sick and tired of Zendikar at this point, and buried alive once more after his duel with Nissa, Nixilis vowed vengeance on the entire plane. He hijacked the Aligned Hedron Network when the Zendikari momentarily managed to trap Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger . Ob Nixilis Reignited managed to siphon off enough power from Ulamog to reignite his spark. He then broke Ulamog out of the hedron prison and summoned Kozilek to the surface. He took the time to easily defeat Nissa, Gideon, and Jace before leaving, but Chandra showed up in time to rescue them. At that point it wasn't worth the effort to stick around for any more petty vengeance so he left.

8) Ob Nixilis, the Hate-Twisted took part in the War of the Spark. He joined Karn, Samut, and Dack Fayden on their mission to close Tezzeret's Planar Bridge from the Amonkhet side (they travelled through the portal itself because of The Immortal Sun ). Tezzeret didn't put up much of a fight. Nixilis burned large swaths of the remaining Eternal army before planeswalking away.

Ouroboros_47 on No-No! (Jeskai Control)

3 months ago

Raugrin Triome could replace the bounce lands and as a bonus, it can be fetched or cycled. Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Teferi, Hero of Dominaria would be very powerful additions to the deck as well if planeswalkers interest you at all. Vendilion Clique is a card I always enjoy.

plakjekaas on Strixhaven color "balancing"

4 months ago

Magic is a game of resource management, and Planeswalkers are by far the card type that upset the balance in resources between two players the most. Short of a counterspell, a planeswalker will always have an impact, because after resolving you can activate an ability before your opponent gets priority and a chance to response, even if your opponent has the Hero's Downfall in hand to deal with it. And your opponent has to deal with them, or they run away with the game, at least the ones who see constructed play. Creature decks have to waste attacks on them, effectively gaining their controllers a lot of life and tempo. It's like you're inviting a third player into the game, who will do nothing to oppose you, and nothing to help your opponent. It's not hard to see how that feels unfair, especially to the aggro deck that now needs to kill two players with just the resources available to kill one.

A planeswalker gains you life, casts you a spell every turn, at least once, even if it gets immediately removed. They have to be answered or they win the game on their own, even if it doesn't immediately looks like it. There's no other card type that so reliably has such a big impact on a game of magic. Having played aggro in Standard regularly during Teferi summer (when both Teferi, Hero of Dominaria and Teferi, Time Raveler were legal), I understand exactly what people mean when they say they don't like planeswalkers.

However, that's exactly how they were designed. Planeswalkers are the main characters of the story, they are the gifted, supernaturally powered, magical eyes through which we view the in-game world. Planeswalkers create the magic story just by existing in a place they shouldn't, and exploring the conflicts that arise by upsetting the natural balances. No wonder they treat games of magic the same way. They are the rarest card type, it feels great to pull one from a booster pack. They bring a lot of positives to the magic franchise, even though they can feel unfair if they oppose you ingame. They have been a mainstay ever since their introduction in Lorwyn, opposing their existence feels like wasted energy at this point. But I do believe we need to keep the power level discussion going forever, because Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Oko, Thief of Crowns happen if we don't.

So focus on individual cards; you can point at bans, but there have been plenty of planeswalkers that haven't been broken or upsetting their format, just like every other card type.