Magic: The Gathering's Outlaws of Thunder Junction reveals powerful new Jace Reawakened card

Jace Reawakened might be one of the best Magic: The Gathering cards in Outlaws of Thunder Junction. It turns out the planeswalker has his spark back, or perhaps, never truly lost it. Whatever the lore reasons, a very strong version of one of the card game’s primary protagonists is back in a mono-blue form. While it does have one effect that balances out just how powerful it is, I’m not sure if that will be enough.

It depends on how many ways players cheat it into play early, not just in Standard but other formats. Jace Reawakened is inexpensive to cast, offers a trio of powerful abilities, and will make Magic: The Gathering’s Outlaws of Thunder Junction quite interesting.

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Jace Reawakened is an incredibly strong Magic: The Gathering card in Outlaws of Thunder Junction

Jace Reawakened in Magic: The Gathering (Image via Wizards of the Coast)

During a recent Magic: The Gathering Outlaws of Thunder Junction preview, an interesting card came up: Jace Reawakened. We’re starting to see some of the planeswalkers appear again after the multiversal war that ended with the March of the Machines expansion.

This version of Jace Beleren feels incredibly powerful. It is in a set that also features a powerful version of Oko. I’m not sure which is more powerful, but I do think his potential power level is interesting. He casts for 2 blue mana and has a base loyalty of 3, as you can see above. Here are his powers:

• +1: Draw a card, then discard a card.
• +1: You may exile a nonland card with a mana value of 3 or less from your hand. If you do, it becomes plotted.
• -6: Until the end of the turn, whenever you cast a spell, copy it. You may choose new targets for the copy.

Sure, you can’t cast him on your first, second, or third turns, but that doesn’t say anything about playing him. Admittedly, I can’t think of a way to bring Jace Awakened out early with any of the Outlaws of Thunder Junction cards in Magic: The Gathering, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.

Want to cast Thoughtseize for free in the middle of a match? (Image via Wizards of the Coast)

He has two upticks, one which draws/discards, which is always solid value. That makes him a two-mana discard engine, which could be fun in certain Reanimation decks. The +1 is what really makes him interesting to me. Plot is a new mechanic in this expansion.

In short, you cast a card for its Plot cost to play it for free later. Thanks to Jace Reawaked in Magic: The Gathering’s Outlaws of Thunder Junction, you can amass a series of cards that are Plotted without paying for their mana cost at all.

Then, you wrap that all up in a neat bow with his -6, duplicating all spells you cast this turn. If you spend three or four turns building up low-cost, high-value spells, you could easily decimate someone. Imagine it in a Red/Blue spells deck - like the new Commander deck.

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While we cannot truly say if Jace Reawakened is banworthy or overpowered, it certainly has an incredible amount of potential. We’ll have to see on April 19, 2024, when Outlaws of Thunder Junction drops.