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How to play Jace like a pro

By Patrick Stuart

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Playing Jace The Mind Sculptor isn’t hard, but playing him in the best possible way is what’s hard.

With the knowledge that Jace The Mind Sculptor will be reprinted in the M25 set, people that are newer to the game want to know how to utilize Jace to his fullest potential.

This here will be a brief overview of how to use him and when to use each ability of his. His ultimate is huge and getting there will not be an easy feat. You don’t have to get to his ultimate to win games though. Just having him in play is enough to threaten your opponent.

The first point I will touch on is his +2 ability which states “Look at the top card of target players library. You may put that card on the bottom of the target players library.”

Now that rules text is pretty straightforward but this begs the question, who should you target with this ability? Do you want to use it on yourself or your opponent?

In all honesty, using it on yourself is what you want to do. This allows you to place cards on the bottom of your library that you don’t need in that certain moment of the game. Leaving you with a better opportunity to draw the exact card you need. This also gets you out of Lightning Bolt range.

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Jace The Mind Sculptor’s 0 ability states “Draw three cards, then place two cards from your hand on top of your library in any order.” Now using this ability will not get you any closer to his ultimate ability but it can come in handy. This ability that Jace The Mind Sculptor has is a perfect way to hide certain spells from your opponent.

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Betting that if you are playing Jace The Mind Sculptor means you are residing in the Modern format. If that’s the case then you really want to use this ability to prevent your opponent from making you discard your better spells in your hand. Spells like Pithing Needle, which prevents you from using Jace The Mind Sculptor at all, and also spells like Thoughtseize and Duress can make you discard Jace unwillingly.

The 0 ability will allow you to draw three cards then put back any two from your hand in any order. This can set up your next few turns by allowing you to put cards back on top of your library that can be used but you don’t want to possibly lose them to a discard spell.

Now the -1 ability can benefit your opponent if they have a Fatal Push in hand. If you activate his -1 ability, then Fatal Push can now destroy a creature you control with a converted mana cost of four or less. That’s huge for one black mana at Instant speed.

Now to use it to your advantage fully, use the -1 ability by sending a permanent back to your opponent’s hand, then it them with a Duress or Thoughtseize and make them discard it. For icing on the cake, have a Hypnotic Specter in play and make them discard another card.

You can also bounce a creature you control that has an enter the battlefield ability, and then cast it on your next turn and get that ability activated again for you. A spell like Snapcaster Mage would be huge to cast out of your hand again.

Now for the ultimate, this is a game winner instantly. The -12 ability states “Exile all cards from target players library then shuffle his or her hand into their library.” Now, this doesn’t get rid of their board state but it will prevent them from using spells in the future.

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They will have less than seven cards in hand which just makes the game even shorter for them. With the rule that you can’t draw from an empty library, they are now forced to go on the offense and take you out before you can wait them out by playing defense.

Who is all excited to see Jace The Mind Sculptor in Modern? Leave your thoughts over here on our Magic the Gathering Facebook page!

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