Artifacts
4 Everflowing Chalice
Enchantments
3 Oblivion Ring
Instants
4 Cancel
1 Celestial Purge
2 Essence Scatter
2 Flashfreeze
1 Negate
1 Path To Exile
Legendary Creatures
1 Iona, Shield Of Emeria
Planeswalkers
4 Jace, The Mind Sculptor
Sorceries
3 Day Of Judgment
2 Martial Coup
2 Mind Spring
4 Treasure Hunt
Basic Lands
3 Island
4 Plains
Lands
2 Arid Mesa
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Halimar Depths
1 Scalding Tarn
4 Tectonic Edge
Sideboard:
3 Baneslayer Angel
3 Kor Firewalker
1 Perimeter Captain
1 Mind Control
1 Essence Scatter
2 Flashfreeze
2 Negate
1 Elspeth, Knight-errant
1 Plains
I was wondering what people think about this. It was one of the best-performing standard decks at the PT and I think it is worth discussing the archtype and how it develops from here.
Things I like:
MOAR LANDS!
Tectonic Edge
Martial Coup
Things I don't like:
1x's in sideboard
only 3 MD DoJ
MD Celestial Purge
MD Flashfreeze
I have played the list though and it is really good and fairly tight. Given the amount of time likely put into testing it by Chapin and his crew I am not going to dismiss any of the choices offhand. I'd like to get everyone's 2 cents though.
Weissman would be proud.
On Jace, the Mind Sculptor: Chapin said as much in his article, and I fully agree. This card is Fact or Fiction all over again. This card is as good as, if not better than Cryptic Command. I wish to add that it may very well be Skullclamp all over again (this depends very much on what is printed in the next four sets, but given that the next block is likely an artifact block, the potential is there). This card is that good.
Some of you will balk at this statement. Some of you also disagreed with me (I remember Adam Tanner being in that camp) when I stated very boldly when Zendikar came out that mono-red was superior to Boros Bushwacker. It was my understanding of Standard as a format (having played it consistently at a competitive level since Onslaught-Mirroden) that led me to make that statement. I believe I have been proven to be vindicated on that front. The aggregate of my personal experience and knowledge of standard has led me to a similarly bold prediction with the new Jace. The card advantage generated by this man is simply disgusting, and is something I feel is only paralleled by one "fair" card that has ever been printed - the aforementioned Fact or Fiction (Ancestral Recall is not fair, sorry). This guy is Intuition + Accumulated Knowledge rolled into one, and that's if you don't untap with him in play.
Standard in the coming year will be defined by two, maybe three pillars. Jace the Mind Sculptor and Bloodbraid Elf are now the two defining cards in T2, with an honorable mention going to Tectonic Edge (all you people who like to play mono-colored beatdown or Vampires can go rejoice at your bad Wasteland).
I played with Fact or Fiction and I played with Skullclamp. The feeling I get when I draw Jace is the same as when I drew those two cards, and the feeling I have when he hits the opposing side of the table is the same feeling I had with those two cards. They can be beat, but BOY is it an uphill battle.
Disbelieve me if you want, but if you want the option to play the best deck in standard for the next two years you should pick up a playset of Jaces, as there is a very good chance the best deck will contain the four mana planeswalker. Jace is for real, you can choose to play him or beat him. I am choosing the former, because I know what it is like to do the latter (I did it with skullclamp).
This card will warp standard more than Bitterblossom/Cryptic Command or Tarmogoyf for the upcoming two years. It may not be played as much as those cards (Ironic that 1UUU in that format was easier to come by than 2UU in this format isn't it?) but it will cast a very large shadow over the decks that don't run it. Have fun with him for the next two years. I have my four.