Scary two-card combos are becoming a big problem in Magic. The current state of Modern is a scary testament to that statement.
Leyline of the Guildpact is absolutely everywhere. This card is making an alarming appearance across a ton of different archetypes, and its all thanks to its interaction with Scion of Draco. Because Leyline of the Guildpact gives you all land types, and makes all your creatures all colors, Scion of Draco becomes an almost untouchable two-mana 4/4 that is impossible to race.
A similar problem occurred historically with Tibalt, Cosmic Imposter. Thanks to the rules of Cascade at the time, any three-mana Cascade spell could cast the seven-mana Planeswalker. This is thanks to the card being a double sided one, with the two-mana Valki, God of Lies being the front side of it. Cascade would recognize Valki, allowing it to cast the Tibalt side for free.
This interaction completely dominated the Modern format, and forced Wizards of the Coast to errata the Cascade mechanic itself.
That said, a new interaction with Outlaws of Thunder Junction’s two-mana Planeswalker has players concerned that Tibalt is going to haunt the top tables of competitive Magic all over again.
Cheating in Tibalt
If you didn’t hear the news yesterday, a new two-mana Planeswalker is coming in Outlaws of Thunder Junction! Jace Reawakened is the second Planeswalker revealed for the set. The card was originally supposed to be a part of the cancelled Epilogue set that follows Outlaws of Thunder Junction. This explains why there are two Planeswalkers in this set, despite a recent announcement that each Standard MTG set would only feature one Planeswalker going forward.
Jace Reawakened does its best work when you let it set you up for future turns. Both plus effects of this Planeswalker help you find pieces to pull off something spectacular. You either get to dig for what you need, or discount what you want to cast with the new Plot mechanic.
To recap quickly, Plot functions similarly to Foretell from Kaldheim. You exile a card for its Plot cost, and can cast it in a future turn. You can only exile and cast Plot cards at sorcery speed. Cards exiled with Plot are face-up, but they will be free to cast.
If you couldn’t tell, this is the problematic ability when combined with Valki, God of Lies. Any double-faced MTG cards could get massive discounts from Jace’s second ability.
Plotting with the God of Lies
Like the original issue Tibalt, Cosmic Imposter had with Cascade, the issue with Jace’s new Plot ability exists because the front side of this card is a two-mana Valki, God of Lies. If Valki is in your hand, Jace can Plot it with its second activated ability. Next turn, you can cast Tibalt, Cosmic Imposter for free using the Plot mechanic.
Fortunately, thanks to Jace Reawakened’s static ability, this isn’t even nearly as heinous as Tibalt’s previous offense. Generally, the earliest you can cheat out a Tibalt using this strategy is turn five. You can cast Jace on turn four at the absolute earliest. You would then Plot Valki, which comes in as Tibalt on turn five. It still only costs two mana to do all this, which is absolutely disgusting.
Another perhaps underrated flaw is that Valki needs to be in your hand for this to work. When Cascading Tibalt was all the rage, you could cast one from your library without issue. Now you need to draw Valki and potentially have it take up a slot in your hand while you wait until turn four to Plot it.
That said, players have an opportunity to go even further down the rabbit hole with this one. Jace can technically enter play before turn four. The key is not to cast it.
Read More: Tutoring Thunder Junction Spoiler Hits the Internet Early!
Cheating in Jace to Cheat in Tibalt
Jace’s static ability may prevent players from casting Jace Reawakened for their first three turns, but who’s to say that Jace cannot be put into play? There are certainly some ways to do it.
In Standard, and perhaps Pioneer, Restoration of Eiganjo is an option worth considering. If you can ramp this out on turn two, which is perfectly reasonable with something like Elvish Mystic, you can discard Jace Reawakened to the card’s second ability and get it into play that way. This essentially allows your free Tibalt to hit the table on turn three.
In a similar vein, Sevinne’s Reclamation can resurrect a pitched Jace Reawakened for just three mana. This would also allow you to get Jace onto the battlefield before turn four. If you want to go all-in on graveyard synergies, Sevinne’s Reclamation even has Flashback. Sadly, this card is only Eternal legal.
Fortunately, Renegade Rallier is Pioneer legal, and is also capable of returning Jace before turn four. As long as you can trigger Revolt, that is. Getting a turn two Jace with this card may be a bit tough, but turn three is not unrealistic.
Some players are anticipating that Leyline of Anticipation gets around Jace’s static ability. Sure, you can’t cast Jace on your first, second or third turns, but what’s stopping you from casting it on your opponent’s turn?
After looking into Serra Avenger, an MTG card with a similar downside to Jace Reawakened, we can confirm that this interaction does work to cheat Jace in early.
Someone’s Going to Try it
Ultimately, the potential to break Jace Reawakened and get some stupidly early Tibalt, Cosmic Imposters into play is definitely there. Depending on how far you want to go with the interaction (cheating in Jace), things can get pretty ridiculous. Time will tell in regards to whether this is a viable strategy, but Outlaws of Thunder Junction certainly promises some powerful cards.
Read More: Thunder Junction Reveals Missing Two-Mana Planeswalker!
