Three months ago, some of the most heated conversation among Vintage players was about Jace, and was generally split between two camps. One, having tested Jace in a variety of decks, realized that the card was extremely good in some existing archetypes such as Oath and Drain Tendrils, while the other, mostly having not tested the card and framing it conceptually based on mana cost and immediate effect, said that it was mediocre to terrible. Some pegged it as a role-player while a select few, such as Marius van Zundert and Jeremy Beaver, tagged the card as a game-changer from the start. The majority of Vintage players adopted Jace as one-of in Oath, or Tezzeret, or Fish and otherwise carried on as normal. Many people were surprised that I played two Jace in Oath of Druids, given See Beyond.
Here’s an interesting selection of quotes from The Mana Drain that frame the conversation on Jace, the Mind Sculptor in Vintage in May 2010:
“So why do so many people think Jace is winning them games? My own testing indicates that any game Jace “wins” for me could have just as easily been accomplished by something as mediocre as Concentrate.”
“I agree. In my testing, every time I cast Jace, I wished it was Tezz. ”
“Sometimes a slot, especially a one-off just feels wrong. That’s how I feel about Jace. I fully suspect that as I keep playing in this environment some other 60th card will become obvious and bump it out.”
“I have not been impressed by Jace and would not run it in Tezz if I were to play it”
“I’m not excited about him as an archetype defining bomb – but I’m totally satisfied with him in my maindeck… for now. I value flexibility, consistency, and threat diversity, and Jace feels like a fine support player in these roles.”
“Jace may not win the game on the spot when you cast him, but he puts you so far ahead in the blue control deck mirrors. ”
“So if I were to play Tezz again, I’d test Jace heavily to see if perhaps he is better since he costs 4 instead of 5.”
“Jace is better than Tezzeret.”
“I didn’t think Jace was going to be good when he was first spoiled. Oh, how wrong I was. The reason I was wrong about Jace was because I was looking at him with the wrong attitude. ”
“The meta right now is full of Wasteland decks or decks that race for the win on turns 1-4. Having a four-mana spell is reliably strong in the mid-late game against Control mirrors. So with that in mind, I do not want to run Jace maindeck and my sideboard is packed too tightly for me to run him.”
“Jace certainly has proven his merit.”
“Jace shines no matter what situation you’re in. It’s also one less mana, which does come up. I know it doesn’t seem as exciting as “fetch Time Vault, win game,” but Jace is pretty amazing.”
“Obviously people I’m going to be biased as hell… everybody that knows me knows I’ve been running Jace since its release in just about every Vintage deck that supports U.”
“It is important to state why Jace might be better than Fact or Fiction (pure enabler), and also why it might be better than Tezzeret (mostly a win condition). ”
“I think both Jace and Tezzeret are staples and here in Vintage for the long run. ”
“… the reason Jace is good is because it can also control the board. Bouncing Tinker targets, Dark Confidant, Oath targets, Fish creatures, or even Lodestone Golem is something that very few other cards can do without being situational. We play cards like Repeal because they allow us to control the board without being dead in the control mirror. Jace is that kind of card, and boy is it good at all of its functions.”
“*THIS*! If Jace didn’t have its other abilities, it wouldn’t be worth playing. The reason that it also can Bounce is huge, and I’ve even used the fateseal effect AND ultimate.”
“If I were building Oath, I’d probably cut Jace for See Beyond. See Beyond seems so good to me.”
Now, in August 2010, some are calling for the restriction of Jace, including the Vintage Champ himself. I’m nowhere near as strong a player as Owen, but I do play a lot of Vintage and I have this here column, so I’m going to share my thoughts on the subject.
It is likely that Jace is among the best un-restricted cards in Vintage. In fact, I think Jace is the best Planeswalker in existence, and is probably too good in comparison to other Planeswalkers. [As an aside, Patrick Chapin called this waaaay back when, just to back up my previous comments. Jace in all formats, indeed.]
If you think about Standard, you realize how easy it is (or should be) to kill Jace in that format. Blightning, Searing Blaze, Maelstrom Pulse, Lightning Bolt, Bloodbraid Elf, and a format generally based on creature combat — Standard is a much scarier place for Jace than Vintage. In Vintage, creature combat isn’t the norm, burn spells are nearly unheard of, and mana acceleration makes playing Jace in the first few turns of the game easy, albeit often incorrect.
Still, when you first look at Jace with Vintage eyes, you see a four-mana “Sorcery” that doesn’t give you your immediate “money’s” worth, especially compared to the much flashier restricted cards at the same or similar cost: Gifts Ungiven, Fact or Fiction, Tezzeret the Seeker, and so on. Somehow, you have to resolve this card through opposing Wastelands, Null Rods, Force of Will, Thoughtseize, Spell Pierce, and Mana Drain.
What is this really about?
Context.
Jace appealed to me immediately because I play Oath of Druids, and I can only play one Brainstorm. Jace lets me get creatures in my hand back into my deck. It also gives me a draw engine, because I cannot profitably play Dark Confidant in Oath nor can I really use Remora given Forbidden Orchard. Actually resolving Jace in a deck that uses Mana Drain, Spell Pierce, and Force of Will wasn’t that hard for a time, because against MUD you can race a Jace into play quickly or by using Drain mana, or after a Hurks; against Fish, it is as simple as having a few extra mana up when you play the guy.
Even better, once people began to realize that beating an on-board Jace in Vintage was nearly impossible, they started to expend any resources possible to stop it from resolving. In a deck like Oath of Druids, that’s the best thing you can have: an alternate “big spell” to Oath of Druids. With my style of Terastodon Oath, the idea is that every spell is a potential bait spell. The deck is full of bombs. If your opponent counters Oath, there’s still Tinker, and Jace, Yawgmoth’s Will, and Key / Vault, and more Oaths. Because Oath itself runs a similar package of Spell Pierce, Force of Will, and Mana Drain as the other blue decks, it was pretty easy to eventually ram through one of these game-ending spells, especially when opposing blue decks were more interested in tutoring or digging for action rather than having it immediately.
Jace also has the important feature of being a win condition in a deck previously vulnerable to Jester’s Cap effects. While still vulnerable to them, the addition of Jace and Tezzeret meant that Oath was still able to take on a control role and win via Planewalkers even if successfully Capped.
Still, even in Oath, I didn’t really want to run a third Jace. Although resolving Jace against MUD is usually a game-winner if done early, the door to squeeze him in shuts pretty quickly in most games. And although I beat Dredge recently in a game one situation by leading with Lotus, Jace, he generally is too slow for that match-up. With the number of tutors available to me in Oath, two Jace seemed sufficient.
I believe Jeremy Beaver was the first person I saw play three Jace in his Jace Storm deck, which was basically a Drain Tendrils update similar to Oath in some ways. Like Oath, Jace Storm could take a number of roles, going an aggressive combo route or a slower control route depending on the specific game, opponent, and match-up.
Both of these decks, which were so strong earlier in the year, are now poorly positioned. Jace-based Drain Tendrils has to beat MUD without the easy, cheap win condition of Oath of Druids, and needs to beat Dredge despite having only slightly less vulnerability to it than regular Tezzeret. It is also slower than straight TPS or ANT. Oath has similar problems, in that it struggles to keep Oath online due to sideboard hate and metagame shifts, and if opponents are prepared for the deck in their design and sideboard maneuvers, you’re left with a suboptimal control deck, as with Jace Storm. These jack of all trades-type decks flourish in an open, undefined metagame but are vulnerable when opponents’ decks become better, and more dedicated in their purpose.
Interestingly, I really prefer formats which have a “top” deck to those that are completely wide open. One of the reasons I enjoyed Oath last year when Tezzeret was at its height was that I felt I could tune it to beat Tezz (by way of cards like Ancient Grudge, Krosan Grip, and Red Elemental Blast) while preying on the other decks that people used to try and beat Tezz.
It appears that, now, our chief opponent in Vintage looks something like this:
Creatures (8)
Planeswalkers (3)
Lands (16)
Spells (33)
- 1 Sensei's Divining Top
- 1 Brainstorm
- 2 Mana Drain
- 1 Vampiric Tutor
- 1 Yawgmoth's Will
- 4 Force of Will
- 1 Sol Ring
- 1 Demonic Tutor
- 1 Time Walk
- 1 Ancestral Recall
- 1 Mana Crypt
- 1 Time Vault
- 1 Merchant Scroll
- 1 Tinker
- 1 Voltaic Key
- 1 Black Lotus
- 1 Mox Emerald
- 1 Mox Jet
- 1 Mox Pearl
- 1 Mox Ruby
- 1 Mox Sapphire
- 3 Thoughtseize
- 4 Spell Pierce
- 1 Nature's Claim
As I noted two weeks ago, I strongly believed this was the deck to beat headed into Champs, and the deck wasn’t really a secret provided you were watching tournament results:
“On July 3rd, three important decks took the top spots at a Vintage tournament with a number of name pros.
In first place was a deck that is picking up a lot of steam this summer: Tezzeret. That might seem like a strange statement, as Tezz has remained a solid choice for any Vintage tournament. However, the combination of restrictions, new printings, and metagame shifts all took their toll on Tezzeret in 2010. An updated version, which utilizes Trygon Predator and Nature’s Claim, makes a lot of sense when you look at the other top decks. These cards provide resistance to MUD, Oath of Druids, and Null Rod, and are reasonable inclusions for the mirror as well…
This deck has plenty of resistance to combo decks, utilizes both Bob and Jace as draw engines, and can sideboard into a more aggressive build by way of Tarmogoyf. If you’re playing at Champs, this is the style of Tezz you should be testing against.”
The main changes made from the list I’d posted prior to Champs was that some players went sliding even more toward true control by deemphasizing combo-esque cards that enable fast Key/Vault victories and replacing them with another Trygon, Nature’s Claim, and Jace. The trick with Tezzeret decks has always been their shifty ability to morph from dedicated control to Time Vault combo, and every shade in-between. While some leap to label this a new deck, the de-emphasizing of the combo finish doesn’t make this a new deck at all, it just shifts it along the spectrum toward control.
One interesting thing about this deck is that its draw engines can kill you. Jace and Bob don’t just create and hold advantage, they simultaneously can win you the game, and not in the slow, death by a thousand paper cuts way that used to occur with something like double or triple on-board Ophidian.
Regardless, with this change, the format is going to start to shift. The harder the format tilts to a more true control deck being the top dog, the better Dredge gets. If MUD and Noble Fish become less popular in the face of this style of Tezzeret, Dredge can revert to earlier Fatestitcher styles with less fear of Wasteland, or alternately it might not change at all; every Thoughtseize, Nature’s Claim, Spell Pierce, and Trygon is significantly worse than cards that can race you to Key/Vault.
Jace itself is an eminently beatable card should one choose to do so. Off the top of my head, Vendilion Clique is a great option in that you can preemptively get Jace out of someone’s hand or attack into it for lethal if it came down and Brainstormed. If Oath gets hated out by this Tezzeret deck, Noble Fish might consider V Clique.
Oath decks can easily splash red for Lightning Bolt to kill Trygon Predator, Bob, and Jace, or play cards not used previously like Maelstrom Pulse; Show and Tell side-steps Trygon and Nature’s Claim entirely, and might be reasonable to play main-deck. There are two potential options for Oath (along with a third, that the deck becomes untenable, but I hope that isn’t the case): one, Oath can remain mostly the same and add some flexible cards like Thoughtseize, Lightning Bolt, and Maelstrom Pulse along with Show and Tell in the sideboard; two, a new style of Oath might be built to attack Jace decks by way of Wasteland, Chalice of the Void, and Maelstrom Pulse. Powered by Crucible and Ancient Tomb, this version of Oath should have plenty of game against MUD as well, and Wasteland always gives a deck more game against Dredge. Having Nature’s Claim, Thoughtseize, and Spell Pierce leaves one quite vulnerable to Chalice 1.
Noble Fish, in its current form, cannot be a happy camper. The deck is supposed to prey on Tezzeret and Oath of Druids, but suddenly Tezzeret has creatures and a lot of Jace, and Oath of Druids is going to recede in popularity. Thoughtseize hadn’t seen much play lately, and that card is very good as a preemptive weapon against Fish, which reveals all of their conditional counters and can leave them action-less in the face of a deck with a better draw engine. Regardless, there is often a strong Fish deck that emerges once a field settles. Noble Fish can support a red splash for Lightning Bolt without hurting itself all that much. The card that seems a likely cut is Null Rod, which can move to the board (or out of the deck, oddly enough), because it is pretty weak against a Tezzeret deck with Trygon and Nature’s Claim.
I’ve spoken to a lot of people that think a number of MUD builds have a good match-up against 3-Jace Tezzeret, despite the Trygons and Nature’s Claims. The deck is highly vulnerable to Chalice of the Void on one, and has a four-color mana-base. A MUD deck that uses Triskelion can kill Bob and Trygon Predator, and Mono-Red Stax might become viable again, and bring cards like Red Elemental Blast and Goblin Welder along with it.
Finally, looking at that top 8 again, I think there’s a very good chance that if AJ and Jesse had not played in the semi-finals, TPS would have won Champs. Despite Thoughtseize, Spell Pierce, and Force of Will, this new style of Tezz is slower than most previous Tezz decks and also has more dead (or quasi-dead) draws against a Storm deck. And, despite what many seem to think, these decks have more than acceptable match-ups against MUD decks post-board, and I think they’re probably favored against most Oath, Noble Fish, and Dredge decks also, particularly given the skill level of those two people in particular. As I said in my pre-Champs recap, Storm looks to be in a pretty good place right now. The only card people are sideboarding currently is Leyline of Sanctity, which is mostly out of Noble Fish (which I think is going to take a popularity hit) and Dredge, and some people are questioning me on that call also.
For what it’s worth, I still think you’re doing it wrong if you don’t have Leyline of Sanctity somewhere in your 75 of Vintage Dredge.
Again, the point of all this is: context.
Right now, it seems like Jace is insane. It is seeing play in Fish decks, giving them a nice spell to ramp up into, and one which they can protect easily. It is in Oath decks. It is in many Bob Tendrils decks, and obviously it is in Jace Storm or Drain Tendrils. Apparently, it is so good that it knocked Tezzeret out of its namesake deck.
Which, incidentally, begs the question: Do we still call it Tezzeret? Should this deck be called Tri-Jace or Trips Jace or something?
Should Jace be Restricted?
Calling for the restriction of Jace right now, based on the context of the past four weeks alone, is a little crazy to me. The card is obviously very good, and I suspect it is going to define the format on some level for as long as it is un-restricted. When I say format-defining, what I mean is that one of two things may happen:
1 — Jace may really be that good. It might be that no matter how the deck around it changes, that every blue deck plays many Jace. If we get to the point that people start playing Jace Beleren to preempt Mind Sculptor, then we probably have a problem. We’re not at that point yet. If we don’t reach that point, but Jace is still in every blue deck, then we’re back to this old discussion: can a blue card that isn’t Force of Will or Mana Drain be unrestricted, or is the third-best blue card always going to be restricted, for the rest of time?
2 — Jace may really be that good, but he might also be easily defeated by metagame shifts. Decks that prey on slower, tri- and quad-color Jace decks might give Tezz players incentive to skew back toward the combo side of the spectrum, or it could be that the decks that beat this style of deck – maybe a true beat-down deck could actually be playable? — might be vulnerable Oath of Druids. Jace may come to define the format in that it could be a cyclical card, or even style of deck, that ebbs and flows over time and throughout metagames. There’s not really anything wrong with that, as Tezzeret has shifted above and below a threshold of around 20% of the Vintage metagame ever since the restriction of Thirst for Knowledge.
In any case, I would sincerely hope that the DCI doesn’t react by quickly restricting Jace, just as (thus far) a preemptive restriction on Preordain would have been unnecessary. Jace is a very, very good Vintage card. Not only that, it is a very good blue Vintage card.
Thank goodness there’s no Vintage tournament testing room on MTGO and that in Vintage all the gentlemen agree to play the best cards… *cough*
A few months back, I wrote an article about DCI management of the Vintage Restricted list, and suggested that there might be some cards that could come off the list that would help energize the format, making it seem exciting again to outsiders, even if those cards might be a little bit too powerful and possibly might have be re-Restricted later; I’m speaking of cards like Gush, for example, or other cards once broken that might now be borderline, like Flash.
While I still think this is a position the DCI should consider down the line, at the moment, there is a serious return of “Vintage” feel to the format. Jace has revitalized blue decks, serving as a platform for decks across the spectrum of combo, control, and the hybrids in-between. For a lot of people, these types of decks are symbolic of Vintage. Consider: a surface-level review of the top 8 of Champs reveals 2 Mana Drain decks, 3 Workshop decks, 2 Ritual decks, and 1 Suicide / Budget Black deck. Good luck pegging that top 8 in any specific year!
Opposing the Jace decks are a host of Workshop decks, and I think there is still a ton of work to be done to determine the optimal Workshop deck, or decks. Keep in mind that the community is still hugely divided on Metalworker, and on Null Rod, and also largely considered 5C Stax to be out-dated. Vintage is an exciting format right now, and it seems like more Pros than ever are engaged in Vintage. Whether this is good or bad depends on a number of factors, but I mostly think it is a good thing on the whole. It validates the format to have players like LSV, Ochoa, Woods, Sperling, and Turtenwald consistently winning the Vintage events in which they participate. Every time one of these players blows through an event, it helps crush any remaining sentiment that Vintage is all about the die roll or is more luck-based than skill-based. Even better, it means more articles about Vintage, more people working on high-level decks, more interest, more metagame evolution. This is what I wanted for Vintage, and apparently Jace is serving as a catalyst for this.
Why would anyone already want to put a stop to this intriguing, exciting chain of dominos? Let them fall for a while and see what the pattern looks like. If it just spells Jace over and over again for a year, then let’s have a conversation built on the foundation of those results, rather than attempting to theorize only based on a small sample size and limited data.
After all, given the same evidence three months ago, the general consensus on Jace in Vintage was role-player at best.
Stuff that isn’t about Jace in Vintage
So, I thought it might be fun to try to include some conversation-starters in my articles for a while. One thing that always gets people going is making lists. Here’s an example for you:
Top 5 Shows of the 2000s:
1. Arrested Development
2. Six Feet Under
3. Dexter
4. Lost
5. Flight of the Conchords
First, let me talk about some shows that I really wish were on the list. I love The Venture Brothers, and find it to be one of the most sublimely funny shows I’ve ever seen, but I can’t bump anything off that list for it. I like Curb Your Enthusiasm, which is probably the best one-trick pony show of all time, but it’s not quite good enough. The Sopranos, well… we’ll just have to agree to disagree. I tried many times to “see” what everyone loved about that show, but I couldn’t make it work. I’ve never been a huge fan of that genre. The show is great, well acted, etc, just not my thing. The Office, well — had I had an Office job when that show was in its prime, it might be on the list. I’d say it is probably #6. I never was able to work through Deadwood but it might make the list if I had done so. Ditto the Wire.
I think Arrested Development is the best-written comedy ever on TV and has one of the best ensemble casts ever assembled for an American TV show. Six Feet Under has one of the best first seasons ever (surpassed only by Lost and possibly Dexter, off the top of my head) and probably the best finale I’ve ever seen in my life. As far as Dexter, that show’s first season was INTENSE. I’m not sure they’ve matched it yet, but I do think seasons three and four were both better than season two, and they seem to keep attracting terrific talent. Lost is Lost. The show struggled for a time, but probably the best first season of a show I’ve ever seen, and the mirror opening/ending sequence in the opening and closing episodes is sublime. Finally, Flight of the Conchords. If ever a show summed up my sense of humor, that’s probably the one, despite being so short-lived. Still, I’d rather have a show where almost every episode is gold than one that drags on too long.
How about a Magical list — Top 5 creatures in Legacy, right now:
1.Tarmogoyf
2. Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
3. Goblin Lackey
4. Wild Nacatl
5. Progenitus
There’s some close calls on this list, also. I really like Cursecatcher right now, and I think a lot of people are undervaluing its role as the reason why Merfolk is a viable deck, the way Legacy has shaken out. Any number of Dredge creatures would make the list if I didn’t hate Legacy Dredge and think it was terrible. Vendilion Clique sees play off and on, and is one of the best creatures ever for Eternal formats, especially when Jace is popular. Dark Confidant sure seems like it should be on the list, but Bob just isn’t a big player in the format right now. Iona being off a list with Emrakul and Progenitus just shows how much things have changed in the past few months, but I think right now Progenitus makes it as Natural Order is slightly more common than Loyal Retainers for Iona (and Reanimator has fallen off considerably) . Noble Hierarch and Qasali Pridemage are two of my favorite creatures, but I think they’re trumped by the creatures on the list.
Tarmogoyf is still the best vanilla creature ever, and I think is still number one. Emrakul has exploded into this format and I don’t think it’s a fad. Those decks are dangerous, and more consistent than I first anticipated. Goblins is well-positioned, given a format where Merfolk and anti-Zoo decks with Emrakul are the top decks, and Lackey makes that deck go. Wild Nacatl is a 3/3 for G. That’s insane, and Zoo will be a player in this format again. Given Show and Tell, Natural Order, Hypergenesis, and Shelldock / Mosswort all being cheaty ways to get Progenitus into play, that guy makes my list.
I meant to mention it last week, but one of my favorite parts about Gen Con is that I had time to read two books I’ve been wanting to read for some time. Infected was good and I hope the movie does it justice; I wouldn’t say it is on the level of The Road or World War Z, but it is a pretty quick read and an interesting take on a theme you’ve read before, but not quite like this. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, now that was a great book.
No, really. I highly recommend it.
Most articles should have at least one deck list, when possible. I’ve been working on that Survival Madness deck and I have a list I like, but I haven’t tested it much and I’m afraid it’s really good, so here’s the Vintage deck I played last weekend:
Creatures (4)
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (13)
Spells (41)
- 2 Tendrils of Agony
- 1 Brainstorm
- 1 Cabal Ritual
- 1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
- 1 Vampiric Tutor
- 1 Mystical Tutor
- 1 Yawgmoth's Will
- 3 Duress
- 4 Force of Will
- 1 Necropotence
- 1 Sol Ring
- 1 Demonic Tutor
- 1 Hurkyl's Recall
- 1 Time Walk
- 4 Dark Ritual
- 1 Ancestral Recall
- 1 Mana Crypt
- 1 Timetwister
- 1 Mind's Desire
- 1 Merchant Scroll
- 1 Chain of Vapor
- 1 Rebuild
- 1 Black Lotus
- 1 Lotus Petal
- 1 Mox Emerald
- 1 Mox Jet
- 1 Mox Pearl
- 1 Mox Ruby
- 1 Mox Sapphire
- 1 Ponder
- 2 Preordain
Sideboard
This is based on LSV’s list, but I massively changed the main deck by turning the one Top into a second Jace. In the sideboard, I chose bounce spells that hit Leyline of Sanctity because I’m concerned about that card out of Noble Fish and Dredge, two decks I know I’ll face (thus the heavy Dredge hate). My preference would instead be to have a sweeper like Massacre or at least a spot removal, but such is life. I’m banking on a field heavy on Dredge and Trygon Tezz. As I write this it is very late at night, and for some reason I really want to play a sideboard that dodges everything that normally hates on this deck, something like this:
3 Show and Tell
3 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Duress
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
2 Ancient Tomb
4 Leyline of the Void
1 Yixlid Jailer
But, that’s no good. Right? I probably wouldn’t chance it with all the Dredge around here, but I might test it. I finally got to get Emrakul into play a few times and it is awfully addicting.
Despite TPS doing well at Champs, I think Bob Tendrils is the better-positioned deck, and is also more forgiving to a newer pilot. During my mini-tour of the decks of Vintage as the end of 2009, I never got around to playing a Tendrils deck. They’re pretty demanding decks, among the most demanding in Magic actually, despite the fact that really you tend to play the same cards in a limited set of progressions to get to the same end, in patterns that become predictable over time.
Format complexity is an interesting discussion, for another time.
Matt Elias
[email protected]
Voltron00x on SCG, TMD, and The Source