Jace Beleren is one of those cards players keep asking about. Here is, in plain words, what its official text says, the rulings published by Wizards of the Coast, and the combos players actually run.
Official card text
+2: Each player draws a card. −1: Target player draws a card. −10: Target player mills twenty cards.
Complete guide
Jace Beleren is the classic blue planeswalker, offering pure card advantage and a powerful mill finisher. For just three mana, he provides consistent utility by manipulating how both you and your opponents interact with your libraries.
Card Advantage Mechanics
Jace Beleren focuses on three loyalty abilities: a symmetrical draw, a targeted draw, and a massive mill effect. The +2 ability helps Jace gain loyalty quickly while giving everyone a card, while the -1 allows you to keep the extra cards for yourself or force an opponent to draw. His ultimate, the -10, aims to end the game by emptying twenty cards from a player's library at once.
Step-by-Step Resolution
When you activate the +2 ability, the effect applies to every player currently in the game in turn order, starting with the active player. If you use the -1 or -10 abilities, you must choose a target player as you activate the ability. If that player becomes an illegal target before the ability resolves, the entire ability fails and no cards are drawn or milled. For the -10 ability, if the player has fewer than twenty cards left, they simply move their entire remaining library into their graveyard.
Strategic Implementation
Jace is best utilized when you can break the symmetry of his +2 ability. Because his loyalty cost for the symmetrical draw is a high +2, he is surprisingly difficult for opponents to remove through combat alone. He serves as an excellent engine in control decks that want to reach a specific win condition while keeping their hand full of answers.
Common Pitfalls
A common mistake is forgetting that the +2 ability is mandatory for all players; you cannot choose to have only yourself draw. Additionally, remember that milling twenty cards with the -10 ability does not automatically win the game; the opponent must still attempt to draw from an empty library or lose through other means, unless you have specific win-condition cards on the field.
Interaction examples
Narset, Parter of VeilsIf you control Narset, Parter of Veils and activate Jace Beleren's +2 ability during your turn, you will draw a card, but your opponents will not draw any cards if they have already drawn one during the draw step. This allows you to gain loyalty and card advantage while denying resources to your enemies.
Jace, Wielder of MysteriesIf your library is small, you can target yourself with Jace Beleren's -10 ability to mill twenty cards. With Jace, Wielder of Mysteries on the battlefield, you can then use Jace Beleren's -1 ability on yourself. Because your library is now empty, Jace, Wielder of Mysteries' static ability replaces the draw and wins you the game immediately.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : Jace Beleren
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
If there are fewer than twenty cards in the targeted player's library, that player puts all the cards from their library into their graveyard.
No other card is named in this ruling.
Legal formats
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Meta decks with Jace Beleren
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