As the finale of the three-year Metronome Arc, it’s fitting that Reality Fracture ends things with a bang. Not only is there plenty of story significance, but there are plenty of great cards, too. Even the set’s main new mechanic, Empower Jace, quickly got players excited, devising ways to exploit it.
Thanks to all of these elements, it’s little wonder that MTG Reality Fracture has caused plenty of price spikes. The Empower Jace mechanic, in particular, has recently been causing some curiously delayed spikes, following the reveal of the Multiverse Reforged precon. While it took some time, now, cards like Jace, Cunning Castaway are up significantly, having spiked over 700% in price!
MTG Jace, Cunning Castaway
Released as part of 2017’s Ixalan, Jace, Cunning Castaway is a very unusual Planeswalker in MTG. Mediocre plus and minus abilities are nothing new, of course, but Jace’s ultimate is decidedly unique. Rather than offering tons of card draw or a potent Mill effect, this Jace just creates two copies of itself.
On its own, this ability just lets you use Jace’s first two abilities even more, for extra looting and bodies. Given this isn’t exactly the highest skill ceiling, it’s no wonder Jace, Cunning Castaway doesn’t see much play in Commander. According to EDHREC, this Jace appears in fewer than 8,000 decks, but it used to be even less popular.
Now, since the Empower Jace mechanic specifically cares about token versions of Jace, this Planeswalker is suddenly a lot more interesting. Using cards like
Jace’s Machinations
Jace’s Machinations
Until end of turn, you may activate loyalty abilities of Jace planeswalkers you control on any player's turn any time you could cast an instant.
Empower Jace 8. (Put eight loyalty counters on a Jace token you control. If you don't control one, first create a blue Jace planeswalker token with "[−1]: Surveil 1" and "[−3]: Draw a card.")
and
Overwrite the Multiverse
Overwrite the Multiverse
Exile all creatures. Empower Jace X, where X is the number of creatures exiled this way. (Put that many loyalty counters on a Jace token you control. If you don't control one, first create a blue Jace planeswalker token with "[−1]: Surveil 1" and "[−3]: Draw a card.")
, stacking up Loyalty on Jace, Cunning Castaway is trivial. Even then, you’ll still need extra support to make Jace go the distance.
Thankfully, on top of cards like
Ichormoon Gauntlet
Ichormoon Gauntlet
Planeswalkers you control have "[0]: Proliferate" and "[−12]: Take an extra turn after this one."
Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, choose a counter on target permanent. Put an additional counter of that kind on that permanent.
existing already, Reality Fracture delivered a new support cycle. Alongside cards like
Way of the Cryomancer
Way of the Cryomancer
When Way of the Cryomancer enters, empower Jace 5. (Put five loyalty counters on a Jace token you control. If you don't control one, first create a blue Jace planeswalker token with "[−1]: Surveil 1" and "[−3]: Draw a card.")
Planeswalkers you control have "[−3]: When you next cast an instant or sorcery spell this turn, copy that spell. You may choose new targets for the copy."
, you can easily give this Jace exciting new abilities. As if this wasn’t enough, Reality Fracture also printed
Tam, the Possibility
Tam, the Possibility
Planeswalker spells you cast cost {1} less to cast.
{W}{U}{B}{R}{G}, {T}: Proliferate X times, where X is the number of planeswalker types among planeswalkers you control. (To proliferate, choose any number of permanents and/or players, then give each another counter of each kind already there.)
as a new arguably best-in-slot Superfriends Commander.
With all this in mind, it’s no wonder Jace, Cunning Castaway has spiked in price. The only thing seemingly holding it back was the mysterious precon, which many expected to be a Superfriends deck. With no reprint in the precon, however, Jace, Cunning Castaway quickly spiked properly.
A Pretty Pricy Planeswalker
Because of its low play rate in Commander and lack of competitive appeal, Jace, Cunning Castaway has long been inexpensive. Prior to the reveal of the Empower Jace mechanic, for instance, you could pick up copies for around $1 easily. Even after around 150 near-mint copies were sold after the mechanic’s reveal, prices didn’t explode overnight.
Curiously, as players waited for Reality Fracture’s precon to be revealed, prices had already begun to dip. Once Multiverse Reforged was unveiled on the 16th, however, sales picked back up, depleting the market’s supply and causing this price spike. As a result, a near-mint copy of Jace, Cunning Castaway will now cost you $9, which is a 725% increase since early September.
Unfortunately, even if you don’t care about card condition, there aren’t amazing savings to be found right now. At best, you can pick up a lightly played example for $8.15, but there’s nothing below that. Should you want to show off, however, this Jace does have a promo variant from San Diego Comic Con 2018, which is now selling for $55.
Suspect Synergy
As much as MTG players are enjoying Jace, Cunning Castaway right now, this spike’s potential feels rather dubious. Not only is the long-term potential of Empower Jace somewhat doubtful, but this Jace isn’t really even needed. Realistically, a deck focused around Empower Jace can easily function on its own, as Cunning Castaway doesn’t even provide redundancy, since it always needs support.
With this in mind, it feels like Jace, Cunning Castaway has technically synergy rather than actual synergy. As a result, it’s hard to see this card becoming a mainstay in Commander going forward. Hell, even now, the play bump this Jace has seen is marginal, with just over 350 new decks using it.
In theory, while it does seem that Jace, Cunning Castaway is destined to fall in price, nothing in MTG is certain. Investors could easily hold what they’ve bought to control the market, keeping prices high for as long as needed. Alternatively, should eager players be behind this spike, this card may simply end up being surprisingly rare and expensive.
Ultimately, as is often the case with MTG finance, we can only really wait and see what happens. Currently, it’s not clear how long we’ll be waiting, either, since this spike is such a weird one. Potentially, we could see a drop once Star Trek cards take over the spotlight, but that remains to be seen.
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