Jace

Commander / EDH* Mono-Blue

excasteal

Instant (25)

• 1x Arcane Denial
• 1x Blue Sun's Zenith
• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Cryptic Command *list*
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Dig Through Time
• 1x Dispel
• 1x Dramatic Reversal
• 1x Fact or Fiction
• 1x Flusterstorm
• 1x Frantic Search
• 1x Glimmer of Genius
• 1x High Tide
• 1x Impulse
• 1x Mental Misstep
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Negate
• 1x Spell Pierce
• 1x Stifle
• 1x Stroke of Genius
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Turnabout
• 1x Twincast
• 1x Whir of Invention

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
• 1x Tezzeret the Seeker

Enchantment (2)

• 1x Back to Basics
• 1x Rhystic Study

Artifact (16)

• 1x Basalt Monolith
• 1x Caged Sun
• 1x Extraplanar Lens
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x Grim Monolith
• 1x Helm of Awakening
• 1x Isochron Scepter
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Memory Jar
• 1x Mox Opal
• 1x Paradox Engine
• 1x Rings of Brighthearth
• 1x Sapphire Medallion
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Staff of Domination

Creature (10)

• 1x Aphetto Alchemist
• 1x Baral, Chief of Compliance
• 1x Kefnet the Mindful
• 1x Palinchron
• 1x Phantasmal Image
• 1x Snapcaster Mage
• 1x Spellseeker
• 1x Torrential Gearhulk
• 1x Trinket Mage
• 1x Trophy Mage

Commander (1)

 ^Flip

Sorcery (12)

• 1x Compulsive Research
• 1x Deep Analysis
• 1x Enter the Infinite
• 1x Fabricate
• 1x Gitaxian Probe
• 1x Merchant Scroll
• 1x Mind's Desire
• 1x Ponder
• 1x Preordain
• 1x Serum Visions
• 1x Temporal Mastery
• 1x Windfall

Land (32)

• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 28x Snow-Covered Island

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Maybeboard

Instant (1)

• 1x Capsize

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Hello everyone, this is my "budget" build for Jace High Tide. It is a combo control deck built to maximize the utility of High Tide and other mana doublers as well as Jace's abilities to consistently loot and flashback key cards. "Budget" essentially translates to "I don't own a candelabra" as well as a few other expensive pieces, but it still plays pretty well. The mantra of the deck is: all roads lead to infinite mana.

Why Play Jace?

Jace is a highly underrated commander, which is understandable given his competition in the mono blue commander pool. Jace is often overshadowed by Teferi, Arcum Dagson, Azami, Baral and even Kess (despite her grixis identity). So what makes Jace stand out?

Other Mono Blue Options

Teferi

Teferi, Temporal Archmage is essentially a stax commander with a very powerful infinite combo of which he himself is a part of. The deck focuses on controlling the game until it can reach this combo. While he is more explosive than many other stax commanders due to being part of the combo himself, he is still a slower commander to play due to the mana intensive nature of the combo.

Arcum

Arcum Dagson is not really a mono blue commander so much as he is a mono brown commander that splashes blue. He is a Tinker in the command zone (a card that is otherwise banned in EDH), allowing him to do some pretty funky things. Arcum excels at being a combo control commander that relies heavily on artifact synergy to win the game. Of all the top mono blue commanders, he relies on artifacts the most, so if you love anything brown (or grey), you may like Arcum.

Azami

Azami, Lady of Scrolls is essentially a tribal wizard commander with a very strong combo and control game. At a competitive level she is the closest to tribal you get while still being a typical mono blue commander. If you like wizards, you may like Azami.

Baral

Baral, Chief of Compliance is a very powerful control commander, and is perhaps the closest comparison to Jace. He, like Jace, is only two mana, which is a very alluring train in of itself. Unlike Jace, baral makes instnat and sorcery spells cheaper to cast, and also allows you to loot any time you counter a spell. This makes for a fantastic control shell with the most common win condition being a polymorph combo, wherein you polymorph Baral into an eldrazi titan or Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur, whichever is more suited to your metagame (eldrazi being more powerful in 1v1 and the praetor sometimes being better in multiplayer). The key difference between Baral and Jace is that Baral wants to play a more hard-lined control deck whereas Jace appreciates spell slinging more like a storm deck.

Pros and Cons

Pros Show

• Consistent looting ability in the command zone
• Planeswalker in the command zone
• Can flash back spells, such as high tide
• Has a built-in win condition
• CMC 2
• Strong in both 1v1 and multiplayer

Cons Show

• Mono blue/lack of support colors
• High tide mana base/lack of utility lands
• Reliance on artifacts to ramp
• Generally weak board state
• Weak to land destruction

Deck Construction and Strategy

Show

High Tide Jace is built around the card High Tide, a powerful card that sets up explosive turns by flooding our mana pool with blue mana. A mono blue High Tide package includes a mana base full of Basic Islands (or Snow Islands) to take full advantage of it's effect, as well as ways to untap those lands. Because High Tide is only one card in our deck, we also run additional mana doublers in Extraplanar Lens and Caged Sun. We could also run Gauntlet of Power, but we are greedy so we don't want to give our opponent's any benefit from it's symmetrical effect. Extraplanar Lens is technically symmetrical, too, but if we play Snow-Covered Islands as our basic lands then most of the time we will be the only ones benefiting from it, as our opponents likely won't be playing snow lands in their mana base. The rest of the deck is devoted to draw spells to find high tide or our other combo pieces and control spells (countermagic, bounce, etc.) to keep the game under control while we dig, and protect our own combo when we go off. Note that I did not say "control the game," I said "keep the game under control." It is important to understand that we are not a control deck. This deck is designed for multiplayer, and there is too much for us to handle without being at a horrific card disadvantage the entire time. It is important to understand that we only need to counter direct threats to us. That is, a combo that wins the game or disruption aimed to destroy our key permanents (doublers and lands) or something that will kill us. We are trying to win in a rather non-interactive way, so taking care of the board state isn't really a priority for us unless we are dying. Okay, so we want to generate lots of mana while not interacting with our opponent and then... do what, exactly? Draw our deck, of course! The primary gameplan of this deck is to find a way to go infinite (or at least very large) and ultimately draw our deck, then win via Blue Zun's Zenith. Laboratory Maniac is another option, certainly, but I like Blue Sun's because it is useful even when we aren't winning, as it is just a draw spell at worst. If we want to go infinite, why even bother with high tide? High tide is our stepping stone to infinity. A high tide turn can allow us to dig incredibly deep to set up any number of our multitude of combos, or at worst provide an incredibly high value turn that positions us well moving forward. Our artifact-based mana doublers provide us permanent value that we can abuse over the course of multiple turns to dominate the game, too.

Combos Show

Infinite colorless Mana

• Basalt Monolith + Rings of Brighthearth
• Dramatic Reversal + Isochron Scepter + Mana Rocks

Infinite {U} Mana

• High Tide + Palinchron and 6+ lands
• Caged Sun + Palinchron and 6+ lands
• Extraplanar Lens + Palinchron and 6+ lands
• Palinchron + Phantasmal Image
• Deadeye Navigator + Palinchron
• Dramatic Reversal + Isochron Scepter + colored mana rocks

Card Choices

Tutors

• Fabricate - Arguably the most important tutor in the deck. This grabs any artifact you need in any situation. Most common targets are combo pieces or Staff of Domination for a mana sink, but it can also grab mana rocks or Extraplanar Lens or Caged Sun or even a Memory Jar if absolutely necessary.
• Trophy Mage - Grabs a more limited range of fabricate targets. Most common targets are Basalt Monolith, Rings of Brighthearth, Extraplanar Lens and Staff of Domination. Also comes with a body which can chump block.
• Trinket Mage - Grabs primarily mana rocks (Sol Ring, Mana Crypt, Mana Vault) but also grabs Candelabra of Tawnos and Voltaic Key in non-budget lists. Like it's sister, Trophy Mage, has the added benefit of being a body that can block for you.
• Drift of Phantasms - Grabs any 3-cmc card from the deck. Can grab anything trophy mage can grab, as well as Rhystic Study and Back to Basics when needed or even a draw spell like Stroke of Genius or Blue Sun's Zenith. In a pinch it can be a blocker on the ground, but the times in which this happens are rare.
• Tezzeret the Seeker - The best planeswalker in EDH can grab us any cmc 4 or less artifact when played, but can also tick up to grab anything else given enough time. A slow roll to Caged Sun but an immediate Extraplanar Lens, combo piece or Staff of Domination straight into play.
• Whir of Invention - Instant speed Tezzeret, essentially. Improvise sometimes is relevant with our mana doublers and such but generally doesn't contribute too much.
• Mystical Tutor - Grabs half of the deck. Can grab a mana sink draw spell or a counterspell with a draw engine on board or even just a Temporal Mastery. Don't be afraid to tutor for another (artifact) tutor, but also don't feel obligated to play it when you have nothing you need to grab.
• Merchant Scroll - Limited version of Mystical at sorcery speed, but puts the card into hand. Cheap and effective.
• Spellseeker - Amazing new tool that can grab anything from a high tide to a counterspell. It grabs most of the important spells in our deck, be it for combining off or for utility.

Draw Spells

• Blue Sun's Zenith - The most important draw spell in the deck, which also serves as our primary win condition. Stroke of Genius but costing XUUU, it can be reused and is a way to shuffle our library, and when we have infinite mana we can draw ourselves then use it to deck our opponents.
• Stroke of Genius - BSZ but only costing X2U, which is more flexible with our mana base when we aren't going infinite yet. It can also draw our entire deck to start the BSZ chain or can just draw lots of cards when needed. Note that while it can't be flashed back for value by snapcaster mage, it can be cast with Jace for whatever X we dump into it because Jace doesn't actually give it "flashback," but is rather just a yawgmoth's will for one target.
• Dig Through Time - This card is amazing. It is banned or restricted in every other format, and for good reason. Jace's looting and our constant spell-slinging combined fills our yard very quickly, and it can even be flashed back by Torrential Gearhulk. Talk about value.
• Fact or Fiction - A classic blue staple that is even better in commander when people decide to play politics. Give the option to the most unassuming player at the table or to someone who is trying to stop another player from winning and you're golden. Even if you don't get the split that you want, you can always flash back any non-permanents you toss in the bin so it's sort of a win-win for you. Or, you know, just convince someone to split 5-0.
• Frantic Search - This card is bonkers already, as it is essentially a free double loot, but it can be even better in our deck as it can actually ramp us if we have a mana doubler in play. It's an instant but don't be afraid to play it on your main phase when you are digging or even ramping during your turn. It can also be a great way to hold up a surprise counterspell for someone if you cast it using sol ring and an island, for example.
• Glimmer of Genius - Not the most impressive spell in our deck since we don't really care about energy, but I'll play it over Foresee for that instant speed any day. It digs deep but it could easily be one of the first to cut in favor of Intuition or Time Spiral something (if you have the budget).
• Impulse - The best at what it does: cheap, instant speed and digs deep. We play it every day.
• Compulsive Research - Sorcery speed but boy is it powerful. Doesn't get much better than pay 3 to draw 3. Even if we don't discard a land, we love to flash back stuff so it really isn't an issue.
• Deep Analysis - The first line of text makes it sound strictly worse than Glimmer of Genius in many ways, but what is really valuable here is the flashback cost. 1U and 3 life to draw 2 is great. Even so, 3U to draw 2 at sorcery speed isn't exactly exciting. What makes it really shine in our deck, though, is that we can loot it away with Jace and just cast it for 1U instead.
• Windfall - Windfall is always good, even when you have the most cards at the table. Obviously you want to gain card advantage with it but sometimes you just want to draw a new hand, and this does it great. I can't afford Timetwister or Timespiral, but even if I could I would probably still play Windfall in addition to them.
• Memory Jar - Brown wheel of fortune? Yes please! Sometimes this is even better than wheel, as it strips your opponents hands without putting them in the graveyard to use later, so sometimes you can just win for free even when your opponents had countermagic in hand.
• Ponder - Does this even need explanation? Banned in modern and one of the most format-defining cards in legacy, this card does it all and for just one blue mana.
• Preordain - Basically a worse ponder but still good enough to be banned in modern. It's good. We play it.
• Serum Visions - The not-banned-in-modern version of preordain, we play it mostly for redundancy since we can't play a full set of ponder and preordain, but in some situations when you know the top card of your library you will want to be playing this over preordain anyways. It's still good so we will play it, too.
• Gitaxian Probe - provides us with perfect information about our most threatening opponent and draws us a card for free. If you ever are in a scenario in which you want to pay U instead of 2 life you have already lost the game anyways.
• Brainstorm - Entire articles have been written about this card. It is the most defining card in legacy, and the reason why we are playing fetchlands in a mono blue deck (aside from also filling our graveyard). I won't go into too much detail, as you should already know how powerful this card is. We play it. End of story.
• Enter the Infinite - If we can resolve this, we win the game. There are almost very few situations in which we cant win when we draw our deck on our turn, even if we are tapped out. I'm hesitant to even call this a draw spell as it is more of a win condition, and when we don't have a reasonable way to cast it we often just discard it. Still, it draws cards. A lot of them.
• Kefnet the Mindful - Draw engine on an indestructible stick, which can even bounce lands to replay in some niche situations when we want to do that. Sometimes it can even block for us. Draws our deck when we go infinite. Not the most competitive card in the world, but I like it.
• Staff of Domination - Really only superb when we have infinite mana, but can still hang around and draw cards when we are patiently waiting. Sort of like Kefnet except that we can find it with our artifact tutors.

Countermagic

• Counterspell - The tried and true hard counter for everything.
• Arcane Denial - Especially good in 1v1, another hard counter that draws you a card. Your opponent doesn't draw the two until the next turn (as do you) so it isn't an issue during counter wars.
• Cryptic Command - The card that does everything and more. "If you have a cryptic command in hand and can resolve it, you can't lose the game this turn" is a mantra I stand by in modern, as if this is the case and you lost you probably misplayed. This isn't as true in commander, but the sentiment holds. It does so much and more, so we play it.
• Flusterstorm - The classic anti-storm card that counters a lot more than just storm cards. I've seen many a game go down where one player can win through any and all countermagic, except flusterstorm. The card is powerful and increasingly becomes a necessity the more competitive your metagame becomes.
• Dispel - Counters counterspells, haymakers and win conditions alike, all for the cost of one blue mana. Similar to flusterstorm, the card becomes much more powerful at higher power level tables.
• Spell Pierce - Same argument for dispel and flusterstorm: the more mana-tight your opponents are, the larger the impact this has. In competitive tables the early turns are vital, and as everyone starts trying to force through early setups this becomes almost a negate. Sometimes, even if the spell resolves through it, making your opponent tap out to resolve it is still strong.
• Negate - Hard counter for noncreature spells, which are often the most important spells anyways.
• SwanSong - Incredibly important as another cheap counter. Essentially a 1-mana negate in many scenarios, the bird doesn't really matter so we play it.
• Stifle - This sounds ruthless, and it is. It seems like it would be a dead card too often than not, but boy is it important to protect against Strip Mines, Deathrite Shamans, Arcums, Protean Hulks, and a handful of other threats that destroy us. Disallow might be the more versatile spell, but we can't afford to play 3 mana countermagic at competitive tables to begin with, and stifle lets us protect ourselves against turn 1 strip mines or other problematic early threats.
• Mental Misstep - Remember how I said we are ruthless? Yeah, we really are THAT ruthless that we play this card. In 1v1 you can use this much more liberally to counter a sol ring or whatnot but even in multiplayer it is often a crucial counterspell in counter wars. It counters stifle, dispel, swansong, spell pierce, and even mental misstep (misstep countering misstep, the classic), not to mention sometimes even the spell that we are trying to fight over in the first place.
• Snapcaster Mage - Yeah, this can sometimes be a counterspell when we have one in the grave already, and has the flexibility to do anything else, too. Pretty sweet.
• Torrential Gearhulk - Same as snapcaster.

Ramp

• Sol Ring - The best of the best of mana rocks.
• Mana Crypt - Arguably better than Sol Ring since it lets us cast Jace on turn 1, but the random bolts do add up if the game goes on long enough and someone is on the damage path to victory. Still on the same tier as Sol Ring, though. 10/10.
• Mana Vault - Ramps harder than Sol Ring but needs something to untap it consistently, like Tezzeret or Aphetto Alchemist. The boost is worth the 1 life per turn when we aren't using it, though, as 1 damage per turn adds up much more slowly than 3.
• Basalt Monolith - Solid mana rock that becomes even better with Tezzeret in play and goes infinite with Rings of Brighthearth.
• Grim Monolith - Same as Basalt but can only go infinite with power artifact (which I don't play due to budget concerns). Still fantastic.
• Helm of Awakening - The symmetrical effect sometimes hurts us but it helps us enough that it is worth playing. Also works great if playing the Top+Future Sight combo, making it draw your deck for free.
• Baral, Chief of Compliance - Non-symmetrical helm of awakening that can even loot for us if we counter something. Super solid for our spell-slinging strategy.
• Sapphire Medallion - Yet another cost-reducer that hits all of our non-brown spells. Very nice for our mono blue deck.
• Sky Diamond - A pretty bad mana rock, all things considered, but a necessary evil when not playing moxen because we need a blue-producing mana rock for the Dramatic-Scepter combo. Replace with Mox Diamond/Opal or Chrome Mox if you can.
• Tezzeret the Seeker - Can untap our mana rocks for a hefty amount of ramp.
• Caged Sun - Blue mana doubler. We play all islands so it works wonders.
• Extraplanar Lens - Same as Caged Sun but symmetrical if we don't play Snow Covered lands. If you have enough of them, play them to be greedy.
• High Tide - The namesake of the deck, this card creates absurd value turns and win turns when we go for it. Can also be flashed back with Jace or Snapcaster (or even Gearhulk, though it's rather expensive at that point) and copied by Twincast and Echo Mage for absurd turns.

Win Conditions and Mana Sinks

We win though Blue Sun's Zenith most of the time, and can use it, Stroke of Genius, Kefnet the Mindful, Staff of Domination, or Enter the Infinite to draw our deck to do so. The infinite mana combos are outlined in the combo section, and that is how we fuel these draw engines. We can also win by slow-rolling through damage or Jace emblem mill, which can work in less competitive environments but is a weak strategy at competitive tables.

Utility

• Aphetto Alchemist - Untaps Jace, our mana rocks, and Echo Mage. Very strong card in our deck.
• Echo Mage - Copies high tide and draw spells multiple times, but takes a lot of mana investment to make work. Still testing it, but is probably cuttable in favor of more powerful individual spells.
• Twincast - Blue Reverberate is great at copying high tide and other spells.
• Snapcaster Mage - The best blue 2-drop ever printed, can counter spells, draw cards, or even high tide, depending on what is in our yard and what the situation calls for.

Options and Upgrades

Upgrades Show

These cards are all essentially on my acquire list. If you have these cards or proxies aren't an issue, play them. Candelabra of Tawnos. If you are familiar with Legacy, you should know that this is a staple of the archetype and a playset is required for legacy high tide strategy. Luckily, EDH is a singleton format, so only one is required. This card is fantastic as it allows for some truly degenerate value, especially in conjunction with a way to untap it. If you can play the Candelabra, be sure to include a Voltaic Key in your list, as the pair go great together. Mind Over Matter may also be worth considering, as it is viable choice as is and only gets better with the candelabra. Force of Will, Pact of Negation, Mana Drain. These are all no-brainers. Replace the weaker countermagic with these, as they are all crucial as you play in more competitive environments. The only reason I do not have them is because I have been prioritizing other formats lately. I intend to pick them up soon, though. Mox Diamond, Mox Opal, Chrome Mox. Mox Diamond is another reserved list rare that costs a small fortune to some people. Chrome Mox isn't nearly as expensive but is still pricey in its own right. Both are obvious upgrades for the deck, as the ability to cast Jace on turn 1 is invaluable. Furthermore, it makes a bad card like sky diamond unnecessary. Mox Opal is actually a card I own but do not play in this list since I am just shy of having enough artifacts to turn it on consistently. Metalcraft is never going to happen on turn one for you to cast Jace except with free mana rocks that do the same thing, so it is a preference of whether or not to play it. If you are running the other two moxen and a candelabra package then it likely is worth playing. Intuition. This card is nuts. If you have it, play it as it is one of the best blue tutors available. Sensei's Divining Top. Not that expensive since its banning in Legacy, and is definitely worth playing if you have one. I just haven't gotten around to grabbing one yet. If you do play it, you may consider Future Sight to draw your deck with it.

Build Options Show

Jace has a number of different ways he could be built, based on preference. One such way is to take as many extra turns as possible. Jace decks have been know for abusing his -3 and other recursion pieces to Time Warp their way to victory, playing every legal time walk spell in the format. The strategy is effective but requires an entirely different build. Another way to build Jace is as a control deck. He may be outshined by Baral now in that role, but he still offers all the utility he offered before Baral was printed, and cards like Inexorable Tide can help reach his ultimate very quickly. The problem with his ultimate is that it is a slow roll win condition in 1v1 and even more so in multiplayer, making it fairly ineffective without ulting him multiple times - no small feat to accomplish. A more reliable win condition involving eldrazi titans and Jin Gitaxias is also possible, however, using mana doublers as a means not to combo out but to power out a behemoth, as opposed to polymorphing Baral.

Date added	7 years
Last updated	2 years
Exclude colors	WBRG
Key combos	Deadeye Navigator + Palinchron Basalt Monolith + Rings of Brighthearth High Tide + Palinchron Dramatic Reversal + Isochron Scepter Palinchron + Phantasmal Image Extraplanar Lens + Palinchron Caged Sun + Palinchron
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	14 - 0 Mythic Rares 30 - 0 Rares 13 - 0 Uncommons 15 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.88
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U, Emblem Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, Energy Reserve, Morph 2/2 C
Folders	EDH