As usual for a modern Magic: The Gathering set, Reality Fracture has no shortage of fantastic Commanders. Between the cycle of Elder Sphinxes and all of the gems packed into the precon, there’s tons to enjoy. Even the set’s story didn’t disappoint, as it ended the three-year Metronome Arc with a suitably large bang.
For better or worse, in this big bang, Jace Beleren died, just shy of 20 years after his debut in Lorwyn. While he did turn evil in the end, Jace has long been a beloved character, so it’s no wonder some MTG players are mourning his death. This, in turn, has given rise to a rather unique new Jace Typal archetype in Commander.
MTG Jace, the Living Guildpact
At its core, the new Jace Typal deck centers on
Jace, Multiverse Architect
Jace, Multiverse Architect
At the beginning of combat on each opponent's turn, they may pay {2}. If they don't, creatures they control can't attack Jaces you control this turn.
+1: Draw two cards, then put a card from your hand on the bottom of your library.
−3: Exile another target planeswalker or creature you control. Reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal a creature or planeswalker card. Put that card onto the battlefield and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
Jace, Multiverse Architect can be your commander.
, and uses as many Jace cards as possible. Admittedly, this isn’t exactly the strongest archetype, but with plenty of Proliferate effects, you can still hit a Jace’s powerful ultimate. When used with
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
+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 their hand into their library.
, for instance, eliminating an opponent is easy; however, not all Jaces are made equal.
Some Jace cards, like Jace, the Living Guildpact, are pretty terrible in the grand scheme of MTG. While each ability isn’t entirely useless, the +1 is only ideal in specific situations, and the -3 is far too costly. The only real upside of this Jace is that his ultimate puts you massively ahead, since it’s a
Timetwister
Timetwister
Each player shuffles their hand and graveyard into their library, then draws seven cards. (Then put Timetwister into its owner's graveyard.)
effect where only you redraw.
While this ultimate is solid, it’s not enough to make Jace, the Living Guildpact popular in Commander. According to EDHREC, there’s only a little more than 5,000 Commander decks running this card right now. Notably, this is after the play bump from Jace, Multiverse Architect, too, who is responsible for around 930 new decks.
Outside of the new Jace Typal decks, Jace, the Living Guildpact is also seeing some play in
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.)
and
Whtz, the Bibliophile
Whtz, the Bibliophile
Rulebreaker — A deck with this commander has no maximum deck size.
{3}, {T}: You draw a card and gain 1 life. This ability costs {3} less to activate if you had 200 or more cards in your starting deck.
decks. While it can do some work in either deck, it’s a niche inclusion in only around 100 decks each.
A Surprise Spike
Despite this rather low play rate across the board, the price of Jace, the Living Guildpact has still jumped recently. This is largely thanks to this Jace’s implicit rarity, since it has never been reprinted. With its original Magic 2015 printing being at mythic, too, supply has always been limited on the secondary markets.
Due to this, it has only taken 62 near-mint sales of Jace, the Living Guildpact over the past month to push its price up. It’s still not hugely expensive, mind, but prices have more than tripled thanks to the new Jace Typal archetype. Previously, you could pick up a near-mint copy of this Jace for $0.98, but now it’s selling for $3.43.
Should this price be a bit much for a terrible Jace card, you can get worse-condition copies for slightly cheaper. Moderately and lightly played copies are currently selling for around $2.75, although supply isn’t plentiful at this price. If you want to go in the other direction, however, there is a very fancy foil that’s also rocketed up in price.
Released exclusively at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con, there’s a stunning “black-on-black” version of Jace, the Living Guildpact. Previously, this prized variant sold for around $20 on TCGplayer; however, it’s now going for $60 and above. While this is a very impressive jump, sadly, it’s unclear how long this new price point may last.
A Dubious Deck
As much as MTG players are mourning and celebrating Jace currently, it’s hard to see this price spike lasting long. Realistically, Jace Typal just isn’t a strong archetype, and Jace, the Living Guildpact isn’t very good outside of that. Technically, you can use it in a generic Superfriends deck, but there are certainly better options you could use instead.
Subsequently, it feels like the price of Jace, the Living Guildpact is bound to drop sooner or later. This will likely happen when new sets like Star Trek and Nauctis: The Sunken Realm are released and interest shifts. This isn’t guaranteed, of course, but it’ll be worth watching the price of this Jace over the coming months.
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