Jacob Frye 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
Partner with Evie Frye (When this creature enters, target player may put Evie into their hand from their library, then shuffle.) Whenever one or more Assassins you control deal combat damage to a player, exile up to one target Assassin card or card with freerunning from your graveyard. If you do, copy it. You may cast the copy.
Complete guide
Jacob Frye is a legendary Human Assassin who embodies the theme of teamwork and recursive tactical strikes. As one half of the Frye twins, he ensures you always have access to his sister while turning your successful combat damage into powerful graveyard re-casts.
The Partner Mechanic
When Jacob Frye enters the battlefield, his 'Partner with' ability triggers. You target a player (usually yourself) to search their library for Evie Frye, reveal her, and put her into their hand. In Commander, this also allows Jacob and Evie to both serve as your commanders, sharing a combined color identity of Blue and Black.
Executing the Takedown
Jacob's second ability triggers whenever one or more Assassins you control deal combat damage to a player. You target an Assassin card or a card with the Freerunning ability in your graveyard. You then exile that card and create a copy of it. Crucially, you must cast this copy immediately while Jacob's ability is still resolving on the stack; you cannot save it for later in the turn.
Important Timing and Costs
Since you are casting a copy of a card, you must still pay all costs associated with that spell, including its mana cost. If the card has {X} in its mana cost, you may choose a value for X. If you choose not to cast the copy, or if you cannot afford it, the copy simply ceases to exist as a state-based action after the ability finishes resolving.
Strategic Considerations
Because Jacob triggers whenever one or more Assassins deal damage, hitting a single player with multiple Assassins at once only generates one trigger. However, if you attack multiple different players with at least one Assassin each, you will get a trigger for each player who was dealt damage, allowing you to recur multiple spells from your graveyard in a single combat phase.
Interaction examples
Jacob Frye
Evie FryeFirst, you activate Evie Frye's ability by paying {1} and tapping her to draw and discard a card. You discard an Assassin card, making Jacob Frye unblockable. Jacob deals combat damage to your opponent, triggering his ability. You can now exile the Assassin card you just discarded to Evie's ability and cast it immediately from your graveyard.
Roaming ThroneWith Roaming Throne on the battlefield naming 'Assassin,' Jacob Frye's combat damage trigger will trigger an additional time. When an Assassin deals combat damage to a player, you can exile and cast two different cards from your graveyard instead of just one.
Solemn SimulacrumIf Solemn Simulacrum deals combat damage to a player while you control Jacob Frye, nothing happens. Because Solemn Simulacrum is a Golem and not an Assassin, it does not meet Jacob's trigger condition. Additionally, you cannot target it in the graveyard with Jacob's ability because it lacks the Assassin subtype and the Freerunning keyword.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : Jacob Frye
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
“Partner with [name]” represents two abilities. The first is a triggered ability: “When this permanent enters the battlefield, target player may search their library for a card named [name], reveal it, put it into their hand, then shuffle their library.”
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #2· Wizards of the Coast
Note that the target player searches their library (which may be affected by effects such as that of Stranglehold) and that the card they find is revealed, even though these words aren’t included in the ability’s reminder text.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #3· Wizards of the Coast
The second ability represented by the “partner with [name]” keyword modifies the rules for deck construction in the Commander variant and has no function outside of that variant. If a legendary creature card with “partner with [name]” is designated as your commander, the named legendary creature card can also be designated as your commander.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #4· Wizards of the Coast
If your Commander deck has two commanders, you can only include cards whose own color identities are also found in your commanders’ combined color identities. If Evie Frye and Jacob Frye are your commanders, your deck may contain cards with blue and/or black in their color identity, but not white, red, or green.
- #5· Wizards of the Coast
Both commanders start in the command zone, and the remaining 98 cards (or 58 cards in a Commander Draft game) of your deck are shuffled to become your library.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #6· Wizards of the Coast
To have two commanders, both must have the partner ability or corresponding “partner with” abilities as the game begins. A creature with a “partner with” ability can’t partner with any creature other than its designated partner. Losing a partner ability during the game doesn’t cause either to cease to be your commander.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #7· Wizards of the Coast
Once the game begins, your two commanders are tracked separately. If you cast one, you won’t have to pay an additional
the first time you cast the other. A player loses the game after having been dealt 21 damage from one of them, not from both of them combined. Command Beacon’s effect puts one into your hand from the command zone, not both.No other card is named in this ruling.
- #8· Wizards of the Coast
An effect that checks whether you control your commander is satisfied if you control one or both of your two commanders.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #9· Wizards of the Coast
The triggered ability of the “partner with” keyword still triggers in a Commander game. If your other commander has somehow ended up in your library, you can find it. You can also target another player, whether or not they have that card in their library.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #10· Wizards of the Coast
You cast the copy while the ability is resolving and still on the stack. You can’t wait to cast it later in the turn.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #11· Wizards of the Coast
Because you’re paying the spell’s costs, if the spell has
in its mana cost, you may choose its value as normal.No other card is named in this ruling.
- #12· Wizards of the Coast
If you don’t want to cast the copy, you can choose not to; the copy ceases to exist the next time state-based actions are performed.
No other card is named in this ruling.
Interactions with other cards
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Legal formats
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