Jace

Ah yes, Jace. Often referred to "Jace Christ", Jace seems to be the go-to guy whenever Wizards needs to sell packs without adding too many unexplained dragons. 

Jace Beleren aka "Baby Jace"

This is probably the only Jace you actually want to see on the battlefield because of his +2 ability. I have personally never seen his -10 go off simply because players only really use his -1 and then his +2 to recover. Even if it did go off, it's not that overpowered.

Pros: Not a threat

Cons: Gives opponents card advantage

Rating: 3/5

Jace, Memory Adept aka "Teenage Jace"

Easily the most broken Jace in limited, this version pretty much has one ability: the 0 one. The +1 is nice, but by the turn he comes out, the mill is probably want you're going to want to use. The -7 isn't bad either, it's just that I've never seen it used. Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind decks love this guy.

Pros: Super-powered 0 ability, broken in limited

Cons: Really high cost

Rating: 3/5

Jace, the Mind Sculptor aka "Money Sculptor" or "Papa Jace"

Where do I even start with this card? Despite being banned in Modern and Extended, this guy still goes for a ton of cash ($100 as of writing). Why? Not so much that he gives card advantage (although he does that is spades) it's more of the card control. Brainstorm every turn gives you a lot of power over what is in your hand, the Boomerang lets you control the board, the Fateseal controls your opponent's deck (or your own), and the ult just wins you the game.

Pros: Over-powered, controls everything

Cons: Banned, physically expensive

Rating: 5/5

Jace, Architect of Thought aka "Midlife Crisis Jace"

I'm still not sure what to think of this guy. I still think his +1 is terrible (really, it's just Cumber Stone) and you'll never get his ult off since it takes a minimum 4 turns to get up there. While the other Jaces do take some time to get up there (4, 3, and 5 turns respectively), at least their ults are worth it at that time. By turn 8, your opponent has either won the game or at least has all of their bombs on the table. The other Jaces force your opponents to draw out whereas this Jace just takes one card out (albeit a big one).  I view this card as mini-Fact or Fiction twice, maybe more if your opponent has no creatures or direct damage spells. This card's design is really evident of the negative reaction of the players towards the last Jace.

Pros: 2 Fact or Fictions
Cons: Worthless +1
Rating: 2/5

This was fun! Coming this month: the rest of the planeswalkers. And yes, I'll be giving them all alternate names. Deal with it.

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This is definitely an interesting card. First, it's like Phyrexian Processor in the sense that it turns your life into a creature. Now, this card does have trample whereas the Minions don't, but this isn't very repeatable unlike the Processor. Also, there the restriction of "you can't pay more life than the total number of white cards in play on your opponents' sides and in their graveyards" which is fairly weird and might mean that it might be very small. All in all, it's a decent card for a decent price.

Pros: Black creature with trample, turns life into creature

Cons: Restricted by number of white cards

Rating: 2.5/5

One final note on this card: to my knowledge it is the only creature card in Magic without a creature type. If you check to Gatherer rulings for this card here, you'll see a 2007 ruling that says "this currently has no creature type" which I think is pretty neat!

Vaevictis Asmadi

Old dragon is old, but good nonetheless. Sure, it's a 7/7 flying for 8 and there are better creatures out there for that cost (Griselbrand comes to mind), but there's a big difference with this card: it's has 3 different types of firebreathing meaning that if you have nothing else to play in a turn, it's a 12/7 each turn (3 to pay for its upkeep, 5 for firebreathing). A 12/7 flyer isn't too shabby. However, you do pretty much have to tap out each turn for it to be bigger and it does cost 3 mana to live every turn, so it's a big investment. It can be worth it though.

Pros: Can be pumped up to be huge

Cons: Requires constant investment

Rating: 3/5

Blazing Slavo

This card is either a Lightning Bolt or a Lava Axe and that makes it great. Using this on first turn to target something important like a Birds of Paradise or a Dark Supplicant is always a great use since your opponent might just be willing to take the 5 damage in order to save the creature. Often you can use this card to put your opponent into an unwinable situation. Usually it will be either let you kill them through combat damage by bolting a creature or kill them through the Lava Axe to save the creature. The one problem with this card is that it does allow for the choice, so if you need to kill a creature, your opponent might just take the damage instead. It also won't kill something like a Hypnox.

Pros: Lightning Bolt or Lava Axe, quandary for opponent 

Cons: Gives opponent choice, doesn't kill big things

Rating: 4/5

Thicket Elemental

You'd think thickets would be less threatening, but not this guy! If it was just a 4/4 vanilla for 5, this card would be terrible, but luckily it has that large chunk of text attached to it. It's kind of like Gamekeeper, only better since it doesn't put the revealed cards into the battlefield. In a well constructed deck, this guy will probably bring along either his friend from work Progenitus or his acquaintance Iona, Shield of Emeria. Now, while it's effect is awesome, it does have some drawbacks. Instead of bringing along a cool friend, some mana dork like a Llanowar Elves might get in the way and ruin the party. It also doesn't have any evasion at all, but it doesn't really need it since it does its job by showing up. For 7 mana, you can't really get a much better deal for getting creatures (except for Hunting Pack and Protean Hulk)

Pros: Brings a friends, doesn't put cards in your graveyard

Cons: Might bring a lame friend, no evasion

Rating: 3/5

Razia's Purification

In my review of Shishizaru's art, I mentioned this card for its great art. What I failed to mention was this card is also awesome. It's main awesomeness comes from the word "sacrifice". This gets around 2 major sticking points with certain permanents: indestructibility and regeneration. Day of Judgement and its kin allows for regeneration whilst Wrath of God and co. don't hit Indestructible things. This card sends both Thrun, the Last Troll and Darksteel Gargoyle to the graveyard with the same swipe. Now, this card does cost 6, is at sorcery speed, and allows for choice for your opponents. However, the last point is outweighed by the fact that by turn 6 your opponents will probably have a hard time picking with 3 things to save since they'll be losing at least 3 lands (if they don't care about what's on their field) and considering Rain of Salt also costs 6, I think it's definitely worth it. 

Pros: Hits Indestructible and regenerating permanents

Cons: Pricey, allows for choice

Rating: 4/5

Assassin's Strike

New cards aren't always better and this is a key example of that. It's a Murder with a Cry of Contrition attached, yet it's worse than both somehow. Murder is faster and Cry of Contrition happens twice. Also, even when combined, both of those cards are cheaper. It might be good in draft (in fact, it can really hurt in draft depending on what your opponent has) but it's unplayable outside of that. It does do what it's supposed to do, but it costs too much to be worth it.

Pros: Kills a creature with no restrictions, card discard

Cons: Costs way too much, slow

Rating: 1/5

Teferi's Response

Why? Why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why? This is way too narrow to be playable! This is another reason to NOT listen to the community on Gatherer.  "It counters Rishadan Port". So does land destruction, land bounce, land tap, or just ignoring it. Rishadan Port doesn't need a response. Even back in the day, I fail to see why Strip Mine wasn't used against or instead of the Port. Sorry, sorry; I'm getting back on my pedestal with Rishadan Port. Back to this card. 

This card is nigh unusable. There's not enough targets for this spell. Seriously, run Negate or Trickbind instead. They're more multipurpose. The card draw is nice, but it will never work since you'll never get to cast this.

Pros: Possible counterspell maybe (if it's a Tuesday), card draw if you cast it

Cons: Barely functions, few targets

Replacements: Any other counterspells or Strip Mine if you're using this to counter Rishadan Port

Rating: 0/5 

Junktroller

People don't really see the troll potential in this card (see what I did there?). Your opponent has an Increasing Confusion in their graveyard? Boop! It's on the bottom of their library. Do you have an Idyllic Tutor in your hand but your Eldrazi Conscription is on the top of your graveyard? Shwoop! Now it's searchable.  It also helps that this card is pretty big (it's out of Explosive Impact range) and it's colorless, so it can be run in every deck. It tucks a lot of big reanimator and recursion targets too making it really multipurpose. The only problem is that that is it's only real use. If your opponent has no recursion or anything that relies on graveyards, this card will only help you against milling yourself out slowly, which still isn't bad.

Pros: Colourless graveyard hate/recursion, big 'n' beefy

Cons: Only graveyard hate/recursion, only targets 1 card

Rating: 3/5

Tracker

This guy's kind of like Ulvenwald Tracker except better in most situations. The biggest flaw with Ulvenwald Tracker is that is usually requires a big creature in order to be effective. Even if you put a Basilisk Collar or a Sword of Kaldra on the Tracker himself, he's going to die upon resolution. This card, on the other hand, won't die if the targeted creature no longer exists after it's dealt damage. It's that crucial split in the middle of the ability that makes all the difference. Now, this card is a smidge more expensive than Ulvenwald Tracker, but for slower format like EDH, it's a great source of creature removal in green if used with the right cards. Despite that, it's still a pretty good card.

Pros: Doesn't receive damage if other creature isn't there to deal it

Cons: Slightly expensive when compared to Ulvenwald Tracker, requires another card

Rating: 3.5/5