Explain to a guy on his first week playing magic why Jace the Mind Sculptor is "broken"
>>46734305
>+2
Amazing control. Let's you deny your opponent good draws.
>0
Handfixing. Let's you shuffle away cards you don't want, makes it easy to set up miracles, and drawing 3 gives you plenty of choice
>-1
Situational, but you can keep your opponent from playing their big creatures.
>-12
Speaks for itself.
>>46734305
Five turn autowin
>>46734464
All this, and at 4 mana.
If JTMS were to be printed today, what would WOTC cost him at?
>>46734647
I'm going to rebuild JTMS with two versions:
>Version 1: Where it keeps all 4 abilities, but CMC and loyalty costs are rebalanced.
CMC: 3UU
+1: Fateseal.
-1: Brainstorm
-1: Unsummon.
-10: JTMS ult.
Starting loyalty: 3.
> Version 2: Only 3 abilities.
CMC: 2UU
+1: Brainstorm.
-1: Unsummon.
-9: JTMS ult.
Starting loyalty: 4.
>>46734647
My guess lands in the area of 6. 6 or 7.
>>46734647
UUU
JTMS isn't really broken. It was unplayable for about half the time it was in standard, and was OK in extended/legacy/vintage for a while.
>>46734921
>JTMS isn't really broken
>>46734921
It was unplayable in standard because it was banned.
>>46736286
It was unplayable because Jund and other aggro decks were everywhere. Lightning bolt/wild nactl/bloodbraid all made Jace pretty bad. It's not good against creature decks that can commit more than one creature to the board.
Once wall of omens and Gideon were around Jace got better, but didn't get insane until all the good cards rotated out of standard.
>>46734305
>First week playing Magic
While it sounds pretty obvious, one of the biggest deciding factors of winning in Magic is often card advantage: getting the cards you need when you need them.
Mind Sculptor's +2 allows you to directly screw with your opponent's ability to do that by burying what they may need.
His 0 is basically the opposite. Use it, tuck away two card you have no use for and then crack a fetch land to shuffle those two cards away. Now you have a fresh stack of three new potential game winners on top of your library to look through next turn.
>>46734305
I had been playing Magic for a while and I didn't see what made him so good, until I played with him. He just does everything you want, every single turn.
>>46734921
It is broken with the tools to protect it, which Standard lacked while Jund was in town. After the rotation, and Standard slowed down, Jace dominated.
>>46734760
>+1 brainstorm
Jesus christ
>>46734851
Wouldn't put it past wotc
>>46738947
It would be weaker though.
Mono blue decks don't run JtMS, they run blue to be annoying shits and other colors to actually win the game.
Restricting the color like that would make splashing far more difficult, and make the deck way weaker to aggressive strategies.
Not saying decks wouldn't be made around making him work, but it would be way harder and he wouldn't fit into as many control shells as he does now.
>>46734647
Exactly as he is?
You're looking at 4UU+ honestly.
>>46734305
Jace ends the game on the spot if it resolves on an empty board, though it takes your opponent ten turns to eventually concede.
>>46739578
>board empty
>resolves JtMS
>was playing against burn
>opponent double bolts face and fireblasts
>GG
>"I'm pretty sure it means you need to get some value out of casting a card, even if it gets returned to your hand the next turn/right away. It also applies to most forms of removal. For instance Hero of Bladehold would fail the Jace Test as it creates no value until you can attack with it."
Jace is 4 mana or less and has a minus ability that's pretty much removal. It has conditions, such as improving their hand quality and being not-removal-at-all once they're topdecking, but in the short term it can come down, remove an enemy creature from the board, and then have powerful plus abilities. The only comparable planeswalkers are, what, Ral Zarek? Ajani Vengeant? BG Garruk? Liliana? Liliana is also broken, Garruk's minus used as removal will very likely kill it, and Ral/Ajani have worse plus abilities than JTMS. Jace protects itself and gets you card advantage, for 4 mana. It's just too solid.
>>46739837
You also forgot to mention that the fateseal messes with tutors, if need be gaining extra advantage with his minus off your own creatures, and ruining the opponent's tempo. All in all the fact that you can brainstorm every turn is bonkers.
>>46739578
Yes, if your opponent resolves a 4mana spell, you don't have an answer and tree board is empty, then yes you are likely to lose.
>>46737290
It was "broken" when the only good spells in the format went in one deck. Zen/scars standard was extremely underpowered, with stoneforge/batterskull and jace were the only cards worth playing. Kuldotha red and tempered steel were just bad decks.
>>46739944
Fatesealing doesn't impact game state. Its a very minor effect that just feels bad.
>>46739837
If you resolve Jace and they have exactly one creature, then it's amazing! If they have 2 creatures or more, then it's useless.
>>46739633
>Have countertop up
>counter a bolt with counterbalance, and for the fireblast.
I can do that too.
>>46740674
>Yes, if your opponent resolves a 4mana spell, you don't have an answer and tree board is empty, then yes you are likely to lose.
Wrong. You can beat several 4 mana spells in that situation. It's next to impossible to beat that spell if it's JTMS.
>>46740913
>force the fireblast.
>>46740913
If they untap with a hero of bladehold a couple times, you're dead. If they untap with a Koth twice, you're dead. The top of your curve is going to end the game. Try bouncing that siege rhino, see how well that advances your game plan
