During Tarkir: Dragonstorm spoiler season, one of the first cards previewed, Mox Jasper, garnered a lot of mixed reactions. Moxen have historically had a massive impact on a variety of Constructed formats, however, some like Mox Tantalite have failed to make noise in any non-Commander format. Early on, it seemed like Mox Jasper was going to join Mox Tantalite as a Constructed dud.
Yet, over the past couple of weeks, archetypes in both Modern and Pioneer have emerged that make great use of the card. Mox Jasper is quite restrictive, but we’re finally starting to see the card live up to the hype.
Mox Jasper in Modern
Arguably, the most exciting shell that Mox Jasper has been popping up in is Modern’s Song of Creation combo. We recently covered a more traditional version of Song of Creation combo in Modern, but this variant of the deck is very different.
This decklist is built to abuse a really cool Changeling package that adds a whole new dynamic to the Song of Creation shell. Both Mothdust Changeling and Universal Automaton are one-mana creatures that enable Mox Jasper to tap for mana right away. Universal Automaton is an artifact, too, so it helps turn on Metalcraft for Mox Opal and reduces the cost of Emry, Lurker of the Loch.
In addition to maximizing Mox Jasper, these Changelings also allow you to abuse Magda, Brazen Outlaw. Mothdust Changeling lets you tap any of your creatures at will. With Magda out, tapping any of your Changelings or Magda will net you a Treasure token.
At first, these inclusions may seem a bit out of place, however, all of these cards only enhance the explosiveness of Song of Creation. Getting to utilize 12 total Moxen (Mox Opal, Mox Amber, and Mox Jasper) instead of eight makes it easier for you to play Song of Creation ahead of schedule.
From there, your goal is to keep chaining cheap spells together to churn through your library. With access to 12 Moxen and four copies of Mishra’s Bauble that all cost zero mana, it’s tough to fizzle once you get your engine rolling. Eventually, you’ll win the game by simply resolving Thassa’s Oracle.
Giving up Malevolent Rumble and Shifting Woodland does make it a bit tougher for you to rebuild if Song of Creation gets countered. That being said, Magda does give you some extra grinding power.
Once you have five Treasures in play, you can search up Korvold, Fae-Cursed King as an elite finisher and card advantage machine. If Magda sticks around, you’ll be able to flood the board with Treasures, which can be sacrificed on a whim to grow Korvold and draw you more cards.
This Changeling Song of Creation deck boasted back-to-back undefeated runs in Magic Online Modern Leagues. Even if the deck is a little less resilient, Mox Jasper makes this archetype faster, stronger, and more consistent. We’re excited to see how it performs moving forward.
Mox Jasper in Pioneer
Meanwhile, in Pioneer, Mox Jasper has helped improve the mono-blue Rona, Herald of Invasion combo. This deck isn’t new to Pioneer by any stretch, but the addition of Mox Jasper makes the combo more reliable.
There are a few different combo lines present in this deck involving Retraction Helix. With Rona and Mox Amber in play, you can target Rona with Retraction Helix.
Then, you bounce Mox Amber to your hand, replay it (untapping Rona at the same time), float a blue mana, and repeat this process over and over to net infinite mana. Between Stock Up and Sea Gate Restoration, you’ll be able to dig far for Aetherflux Reservoir to end the game.
If you have access to Valley Floodcaller instead of Rona, you can target Valley Floodcaller instead with Retraction Helix. Mox Amber won’t tap for mana since you don’t control a legend, but because Valley Floodcaller untaps any grows all of your Otters whenever you cast a noncreature spell, casting Mox Amber over and over will set up a lethal attack.
Adding Mox Jasper into the mix does a couple of things for the deck. First, with additional Moxen in the deck, you can execute the previous combo line more frequently. If you have Mutavault in play and animate it before going off, you can even generate infinite blue mana as you bounce and replay Mox Jasper repeatedly. This is helpful in the event your opponent has a slew of chump blockers at the ready.
Second, the presence of Mox Amber makes it easier to win a fair game without Retraction Helix. Since Valley Floodcaller pumps all of your Otters, you can sometimes set up a window where you cast Valley Floodcaller on your opponent’s end step, animate Mutavault during your turn, and cast a flurry of spells to enable a big attack. Thundertrap Trainer and tokens from Stormchaser’s Talent are Otters, too.
It took a little while for Mox Jasper to catch steam in this shell. At this point, Mox Jasper has become a staple of nearly every successful Rona combo decklist over the past few weeks.
Mox Jasper in cEDH
Mox Amber is definitely at its best in Pioneer, yet we’d feel remiss if we didn’t discuss its role in cEDH and Duel Commander. Over the past month, multiple players have had success with The Ur-Dragon in these competitive Commander formats.
Tarkir: Dragonstorm brought a bunch of cheap Dragons like Magmatic Hellkite to the table, which makes playing a competitive Dragon deck more realistic. The Ur-Dragon’s ability to reduce the cost of these Dragons even further helps the cause.
With enough Dragon support, Mox Jasper becomes one of your strongest cards. Once you slam your Dragon, Mox Jasper allows you to hold up interactive elements like An Offer You Can’t Refuse.
Mox Jasper is still a very fringe card in the competitive Commander sphere. Regardless, the fact that it’s gaining traction in a variety of different environments shows that it may be more powerful than many players gave it credit for out of the gate.
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