Against the Odds: 40 Jaces — A Deck Built Entirely of Jace Planeswalkers

Magic: The Gathering players have spent years wondering how far a Jace deck can go. One streamer pushed the idea to its logical extreme: a deck where every card, even the lands, somehow creates a Jace planeswalker. The result, called Against the Odds: 40 Jaces in the Reality Fracture Standard format, finished with a winning record.

The deck’s goal is simple. Reach 25 loyalty on any Jace, then zero Jace, Reality Sculptor to exile everything but the bottom card of an opponent’s deck. The turn after that, the opponent draws on an empty library and loses. The trick is getting there fast enough, since waiting too long turns the plan into a slow death march.

The Plan That Actually Works

The key card is Jace’s Machinations, which accelerates the kill by at least one full turn. The streamer tested the deck during early access, and the Machinations combo sped up the kill and made the plan more viable than imagined. In practice, the sequence went like this:

1. Stick a Jace, Reality Sculptor and either +1 it to empower Jace or -3 to Fog if the opponent had a big board.
2. Untap and +1 Jace, Reality Sculptor again to empower Jace.
3. On the opponent’s turn, stop at upkeep and activate Jace’s Machinations.
4. Machinations adds almost a third of the loyalty needed to win, and its instant-speed trigger means the combo closes before the opponent gets a chance to answer it.

The Machinations acceleration makes the game plan viable in a way the streamer never imagined. Without it, the deck would rely on sheer volume of Jaces to hit the target loyalty, a slow process that rarely wins.

Jace Reawakened and Theorist, Jace Beleren

The deck includes two “real” Jaces from Standard. Jace Reawakened isn’t great, but it’s a Jace, and its looting ability helps clear extra lands or find more Jaces. Theorist, Jace Beleren is the opposite: a powerhouse that makes tokens and draws cards when ahead, and bounces the opponent’s biggest threat while still drawing when behind.

Both add loyalty to the battlefield for the eventual Jace, Reality Sculptor win. Neither is the centerpiece, but both support the combo engine.

Removal, Creatures, Enchantments, and Lands

Every removal spell in the deck is a Jace thanks to the empower mechanic. No Admittance and Countersculpt both deal damage or counter a spell and leave behind a Jace planeswalker. Even the wrath effect, Overwrite the Multiverse, makes a Jace.

There is only one creature, Theorist’s Proxy, a two-drop that empowers Jace three when it enters. As a 0/3, it blocks well against aggro decks in the early game.

Two enchantments round out the mix: Way of the Pyromancer and Way of the Cryomancer. Pyromancer turns Jaces into ramp spells while making a Jace through empower, and Cryomancer lets -3 a Jace to copy the next spell. That allowed using Vraska’s Final Mercy to kill multiple targets or doubling up No Admittance for more damage.

“The best ones might actually be pretty playable.”

The streamer’s initial impression of the “Way of the X” cycle is that they are better than they look at first glance. Both felt surprisingly strong in testing, and the consideration of adding more copies suggests they could see real play.

The Land That Creates a Jace

The deck’s land is Theorist’s Sanctum, which almost always enters untapped thanks to the heavy Jace count. Tapping it for three later in the game makes a Jace token or adds loyalty to an existing token, offering steady card advantage or selection in long control mirrors.

Most matches don’t activate it. When games go long, it becomes one of the best Jaces in the deck.

A Winning Record During Early Access

The streamer played the deck during early access, so the record isn’t the main focus. What matters is how the cards felt, and the Jaces felt shockingly strong.

While a deck that plays exclusively Jaces probably takes the concept too far to be truly competitive, the streamer is now convinced the Jaces could actually be real in Standard. Empower Jace itself plays really well, and having extra cards or being able to surveil away extras made the deck easier to pilot than expected.

The takeaway is that the concept worked. A deck built entirely around Jace planeswalkers, including lands that create Jaces, proved more effective than anyone expected. Jace’s Machinations accelerated the kill dramatically, and the rest of the combo held together.

The streamer’s conclusion is worth repeating: the Jaces felt shockingly strong.

See the video the story is built around at MTGGoldfish.

Jace deck · Magic: The Gathering · MTG deck build · Reality Fracture · Standard