Nostalgic MTG Mystery Booster Commander Can Steal 40+ Cards At Once

Following another rapid-fire sellout last Monday, Mystery Booster: Commander Edition is now, finally, out in the wild. This means that all the sweet new Commanders from the set, from the funky combo enablers to the stellar typal payoffs, are now fair game, provided you can track down copies.

Of this new batch of MTG legends, few are better suited to the command zone than The Madcap Jester. Not only is this card a fantastic flavor deep cut, but it packs abilities that could propel it as high as cEDH.

The Madcap Jester MTG

Long-time MTG players will immediately recognize The Madcap Jester from Jester’s Cap Jester’s Cap {2}, {T}, Sacrifice this artifact: Search target player's library for three cards and exile them. Then that player shuffles. , one of the game’s most iconic artifacts. While this card is a bit dubious in the current game, The Madcap Jester is far from it, offering a unique, flexible take on a Theft Commander. Thanks to its second ability, you essentially impulse draw every card you exile from your opponents’ decks, which opens up a ton of highly unusual lines.

For starters, any kind of repeatable library exile effect essentially becomes a draw engine in this deck. Cards like Scrib Nibblers Scrib Nibblers {T}: Exile the top card of target player's library. If it's a land card, you gain 1 life.
Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, you may untap this creature. and Psychic Surgery Psychic Surgery Whenever an opponent shuffles their library, you may look at the top two cards of that library. You may exile one of those cards. Then put the rest on top of that library in any order. , normally unplayable, are absolutely fantastic here. You can also lean into burst exile effects like Memory Vessel Memory Vessel {T}, Exile this artifact: Each player exiles the top seven cards of their library. Until your next turn, players may play cards they exiled this way, and they can't play cards from their hand. Activate only as a sorcery. and Ensign Pavel Chekov Ensign Pavel Chekov Strange new worlds — When Ensign Chekov enters, each opponent exiles the top X cards of their library, where X is the number of differently named lands you control. For each opponent, choose a land card that player owns exiled this way. You may play the chosen cards for as long as they remain exiled. as huge draw spells, too.

If you’re feeling particularly funky, you can turn both mill and wheel effects into major extra draw with The Madcap Jester by bringing in other key pieces. With something like Leyline of the Void Leyline of the Void If this card is in your opening hand, you may begin the game with it on the battlefield.
If a card would be put into an opponent's graveyard from anywhere, exile it instead. in play, mill effects like Traumatize Traumatize Target player mills half their library, rounded down. can draw you a huge number of cards in one go. In a similar vein, pairing cards like Wheel of Fortune Wheel of Fortune Each player discards their hand, then draws seven cards. or Memory Jar Memory Jar {T}, Sacrifice this artifact: Each player exiles all cards from their hand face down and draws seven cards. At the beginning of the next end step, each player discards their hand and returns to their hand each card they exiled this way. with Uba Mask Uba Mask If a player would draw a card, that player exiles that card face up instead.
Each player may play lands and cast spells from among cards they exiled with this artifact this turn. will give you full access to everything your opponents should’ve drawn. Notably, your opponents will still be able to play their own cards exiled this way at instant speed, so be sure to lay out disruption like Defense Grid Defense Grid Each spell costs {3} more to cast except during its controller's turn. to prevent that.

Of course, The Madcap Jester can also enable its own ability by attacking, which gives you a reliable source of ‘draw’ even when other options fail. To maximize this, running plenty of Haste granters like Lightning Greaves Lightning Greaves Equipped creature has haste and shroud. (It can't be the target of spells or abilities.)
Equip {0} and Samut, Hazoret’s Champion Samut, Hazoret’s Champion Creatures you control have haste. is a must. You’ll also want to consider ways of making Jester unblockable, like Brotherhood Regalia Brotherhood Regalia Equipped creature has ward {2}, is an Assassin in addition to its other types, and can't be blocked.
Equip legendary creature {1}
Equip {3} ({3}: Attach to target creature you control. Equip only as a sorcery.) or the new Transwarp Hub Transwarp Hub When this Spacecraft enters, mill five cards. You may put up to two artifact cards from among them into your hand.
Station (Tap another creature you control: Put charge counters equal to its power on this Spacecraft. Station only as a sorcery.)
3+ | {T}: Target creature can't be blocked this turn. , since a vanilla 3/2 won’t have clear openings for long in most games.

Once you’ve exiled a nice extra hand for yourself, you can start tapping into ‘cast from exile’ synergies to get even more out of The Madcap Jester. Cards like Passionate Archaeologist Passionate Archaeologist Commander creatures you own have "Whenever you cast a spell from exile, this creature deals damage equal to that spell's mana value to target opponent." and Flaming Tyrannosaurus Flaming Tyrannosaurus Menace
Paradox — Whenever you cast a spell from anywhere other than your hand, this creature deals 3 damage to any target. Then put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.
When this creature dies, it deals damage equal to its power to each opponent. can get you bonus damage each time, for example, while Nalfeshnee Nalfeshnee Flying
Whenever you cast a spell from exile, copy it. You may choose new targets for the copy. If it's a permanent spell, the copy gains haste and "At the beginning of the end step, sacrifice this permanent." (A copy of a permanent spell becomes a token.) and Spider-Verse Spider-Verse The "legend rule" doesn't apply to Spiders you control.
Whenever you cast a spell from anywhere other than your hand, you may copy it. If you do, you may choose new targets for the copy. If the copy is a permanent spell, it gains haste. Do this only once each turn. add a ton of extra value. You can also cast these spells cheaply, with Bilbo, Thief in the Night Bilbo, Thief in the Night Spells you cast from anywhere other than your hand cost {1} less to cast.
Whenever Bilbo attacks, you may cast an artifact, instant, or sorcery spell from your graveyard. If an instant or sorcery spell cast this way would be put into your graveyard, exile it instead. and Dragon’s Smile Dragon’s Smile Flying
Once during each of your turns, you may pay {0} rather than pay the mana cost for a spell you cast from exile.
Whenever Dragon's Smile deals combat damage to a player, that player exiles that many cards from the top of their library. You may play those cards this turn.
Crew 3 offering easy discounts on them.

A Shot at the Big Time?

While The Madcap Jester seems solid for brackets two to four, it could have legs in cEDH, too. Players have been discussing the card’s viability in the format since it was first revealed, which largely comes down to its synergy with ‘exile tutors.’ Praetor’s Grasp Praetor’s Grasp Search target opponent's library for a card and exile it face down. Then that player shuffles. You may play that card for as long as it remains exiled. is already played regularly in cEDH, as a way to poach common combo pieces, and The Madcap Jester turns other cards like Extract Extract Search target player's library for a card and exile it. Then that player shuffles. into comparable effects. Heck, with cards like Sadistic Sacrament Sadistic Sacrament Kicker {7} (You may pay an additional {7} as you cast this spell.)
Search target player's library for up to three cards, exile them, then that player shuffles. If this spell was kicked, instead search that player's library for up to fifteen cards, exile them, then that player shuffles. and Jester’s Cap Jester’s Cap {2}, {T}, Sacrifice this artifact: Search target player's library for three cards and exile them. Then that player shuffles. , you can steal a full combo in one move.

Factor in how devastating Tasha’s Hideous Laughter Tasha’s Hideous Laughter Each opponent exiles cards from the top of their library until that player has exiled cards with total mana value 20 or greater. can be on cEDH’s incredibly low curves, and The Madcap Jester becomes a serious draw engine in the command zone. Thanks to its Grixis color identity, it can also run all the best combos in the format in its own 99. Whether you want to go for Demonic Consultation Demonic Consultation Choose a card name. Exile the top six cards of your library, then reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal a card with the chosen name. Put that card into your hand and exile all other cards revealed this way. and Thassa’s Oracle Thassa’s Oracle When this creature enters, look at the top X cards of your library, where X is your devotion to blue. Put up to one of them on top of your library and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order. If X is greater than or equal to the number of cards in your library, you win the game. (Each {U} in the mana costs of permanents you control counts toward your devotion to blue.) , or Underworld Breach Underworld Breach Each nonland card in your graveyard has escape. The escape cost is equal to the card's mana cost plus exile three other cards from your graveyard. (You may cast cards from your graveyard for their escape cost.)
At the beginning of the end step, sacrifice this enchantment. and Brain Freeze Brain Freeze Target player mills three cards.
Storm (When you cast this spell, copy it for each spell cast before it this turn. You may choose new targets for the copies.) , Grixis has you covered. With how common these lines are in other decks, you’ve got a good chance of grabbing a piece with your exile effects, too.

The Madcap Jester also stands out for its synergy with Hoarding Broodlord Hoarding Broodlord Convoke
Flying
When this creature enters, search your library for a card, exile it face down, then shuffle. For as long as that card remains exiled, you may play it.
Spells you cast from exile have convoke. , another widely played cEDH combo card. Casting Broodlord gives you access to the usual Saw in Half Saw in Half Destroy target creature. If that creature dies this way, its controller creates two tokens that are copies of that creature, except their power is half that creature's power and their toughness is half that creature's toughness. Round up each time. instant-win chains, but it also lets you mix in any of your opponents’ exiled cards, since they’ll also gain Convoke.

This makes Broodlord lines much more interesting, and potentially more resilient, as well, since you can use any countermagic you hit to protect your own line. This does require you to run more creatures than you might normally in cEDH, but there are plenty of strong, synergistic picks here, including Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer Whenever Ragavan deals combat damage to a player, create a Treasure token and exile the top card of that player's library. Until end of turn, you may cast that card.
Dash {1}{R} (You may cast this spell for its dash cost. If you do, it gains haste, and it's returned from the battlefield to its owner's hand at the beginning of the next end step.) and Dauthi Voidwalker Dauthi Voidwalker Shadow (This creature can block or be blocked by only creatures with shadow.)
If a card would be put into an opponent's graveyard from anywhere, instead exile it with a void counter on it.
{T}, Sacrifice this creature: Choose an exiled card an opponent owns with a void counter on it. You may play it this turn without paying its mana cost. .

While the card certainly has potential, The Madcap Jester is far from a sure thing in cEDH. Grixis is a great color combination, but it’s also crowded, with powerful Commanders like Kefka, Court Mage Kefka, Court Mage Whenever Kefka enters or attacks, each player discards a card. Then you draw a card for each card type among cards discarded this way.
{8}: Each opponent sacrifices a permanent of their choice. Transform Kefka. Activate only as a sorcery. and several well-established Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh First strike, menace, trample
Partner (You can have two commanders if both have partner.) Partner decks. Compared to these decks, Jester is fairly fragile given its lack of immediate impact. It also forces you to play support cards that aren’t great on their own, which isn’t ideal in a format where consistency is king.

That said, The Madcap Jester being considered for cEDH at all is fairly exciting and a strong sign the card should be more than good enough to make a mark in the lower brackets. Once the ridiculous early pricing on Mystery Booster: Commander Edition cools down, this should be a great legend to pick up at any level.

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