Empower Jace in MTG: Rules, History, and Best Cards

A.L. Walser less then minute ago MTG Cards, MTG Rules

Overwrite the Multiverse | Illustration by Ryan Pancoast

Every set introduces new mechanics, but some get weirder with them than others. Reality Fracture leans odd with empower Jace, a mechanic that makes planeswalker tokens—the first planeswalker tokens that aren’t copies of another game object.

It’s a super cool mechanic with many implications for Magic; for example, these are the first common planeswalkers legal in Pauper! Let’s break down how it works and how you can use empower Jace cards to win your next game.

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How Does Empower Jace Work?

Jace's Machinations | Illustration by Serena Malyon

Empower Jace resembles the amass mechanic from sets like War of the Spark, The Lord of the Rings, and The Hobbit. It’s always associated with a number and appears on different spells and abilities.

When you empower Jace, you’ll add N counters to a Jace token you control. If you don’t control a Jace token, then you’ll create one, then put the loyalty counters on that token. The Jace token has 0 loyalty (all its loyalty comes from empower Jace) and has two abilities: -1 to surveil, -3 to draw a card.

Since Jace is a planeswalker, you can activate your Jace token after you create it. However, empowering Jace doesn’t reset your once-per-turn activation. If you activate the Jace token then empower it, you don’t get to use it again.

However, if you remove all the loyalty counters from a Jace, killing it, then empower Jace and create a fresh token, you get to activate that token since it’s a new planeswalker.

The History of Empower Jace in MTG

Empower Jace was introduced in Reality Fracture to illustrate Jace’s near-omnipotence in the set’s storyline. In FRA, Jace used the power of the Mediation Plane to create the Echoverse, a version of the Multiverse with no Eldrazi, Phyrexians, or Nicol Bolas. Jace had near-complete control over the Echoverse, with eyes everywhere and even the ability to open Omenpaths connected to the regular Multiverse. The Echoverse existed to serve Jace’s vision of the future, and the empower Jace mechanic reflects this.

So far, empower Jace has only appeared in FRA; given the strong flavor ties it has to the set, I doubt we’ll see it much after.

Are Jace Tokens Legendary?

The Jace tokens created by empower Jace aren’t legendary, though that rarely matters because it’s difficult to end up with two Jace tokens.

As for tokens of other Jace planeswalkers, that varies. The two Jaces that copy themselves make non-legendary tokens, but you can create a legendary token Jace with a copy spell like Lithoform Engine.

How Does Empower Jace Work with Token Doublers?

Let’s say you have a Doubling Season and an empower Jace card; how does that work?

Not as well as you’d hope. Assuming you don’t have a Jace, you’ll create a token, and Doubling Season replaces that with two tokens. However, an empower Jace ability only puts loyalty on a Jace token, not each, so you need to pick one to get the loyalty counters. You can’t split them; all the counters must go onto a single permanent. The second Jace just dies to state-based actions as a planeswalker with 0 loyalty counters.

Now, that’s not nothing. The second Jace counts as a creating a token and a permanent leaving play for cards like Mister Fantastic, Reed Richards and Fatal Push. Also, if you control Oath of Gideon, both Jace tokens enter with an additional loyalty counter, so the second Jace doesn’t die.

Can You Empower Another Jace Planeswalker?

Empower Jace only adds loyalty to token Jaces. If you empower Jace while you control, say, Jace, the Mind Sculptor, you can’t put those counters on the nontoken Jace. You’ll create a Jace and put them there.

What If You Make a Token of Another Jace Planeswalker?

Say you end up with a token copy of a Jace planeswalker, either through its native effects (Jace, Cunning Castaway and Jace, Mirror Mage copy themselves) or an outside effect like Lithoform Engine. Since that’s a Jace token, you can empower it with extra loyalty counters. If you have multiples, only one can get the counters.

If you already control a token Jace, you don’t get to make a new token. If you control a token copy of Jace, Cunning Castaway and no other token Jaces, you have no choice but to put the loyalty counters on that Jace, even if your opponent has something like Pithing Needle in play to mess with it.

What Happens If You Lose Your Jace Token in Response to Empower Jace?

You’ll lose any loyalty counters on that Jace, but it doesn’t actually put you that far behind because empower Jace makes another token.

Let’s say you control a Jace with 2 loyalty and cast an empower Jace card. If your opponent uses Shock to kill that Jace, the empower Jace ability will resolve, see that you don’t control a Jace, and make a new one with the loyalty counters.

Because empower Jace is templated such that it creates a token as part of its resolution, there’s no way for your opponent to remove your Jace planeswalker before you put counters on it and waste them. At most, this scenario effectively means your Jace token has two fewer loyalty counters.

There are some empower Jace cards that involve targets, and if those targets aren't valid when the spell resolves, the full spell is countered. For example, you cast Academic Ascent targeting a creature, and your opponent removes it in response. Since there's no valid target, the spell doesn't resolve, and you don't empower Jace at all.

Gallery and List of Empower Jace Cards

Best Empower Jace Cards

Fatehold Charm

Generally, the floor for a good empower Jace card will be 3 and up because that means your Jace draws a card, effectively making the spell cantrip. Fatehold Charm is just below that but that mode cantrips anyway. It’s basically a Serum Visions that can also be a Unsubstantiate.

Jace’s Machinations

Eight is a large number for pretty much anything in Magic. Jace's Machinations enables some great combos and makes a decent sized token. You’re likely to draw two cards off this, especially since you can make this token on a player’s end step and activate that turn. Note that this lets you activate any Jace’s ability at instant speed, not just the tokens.

Overwrite the Multiverse

I struggle to see a world in which you cast Overwrite the Multiverse for fewer than 3 counters so you can draw a card, except bad, corner-case scenarios. That’s a fine floor for a board wipe, but the ceiling goes much higher; imagine a Commander board state where this ends up with nine counters. And since you just wiped the board, your opponents are unlikely to pressure Jace right away, so you can sit back and enjoy the card draw.

Empower Jace Combos

The Elderspell

The Elderspell has a very light synergy with empower Jace: It turns planeswalkers into extra loyalty counters on another one. Empower Jace is a low-effort way to end up with a planeswalker you don’t mind destroying to slap extra counters on a planeswalker worth ultimating, like Professor Onyx.

Kasmina, Enigma Sage + Liliana’s Talent

Kasmina, Enigma Sage and Liliana's Talent specifically combo with Jace's Machinations. They both give the Jace planeswalker additional, powerful abilities that you can use immediately since Machinations adds enough loyalty counters to activate them right away.

Token Copies of Jace

Since empower Jace puts loyalty counters onto any Jace token you control, it’s great with any ways to make token copies of real Jaces that weren’t balanced around throwing a bunch of loyalty onto them in a single turn. Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Jace, the Living Guildpact are notable as cards that probably win the game when you activate their ultimate, though I’m also partial to Jace, Architect of Thought.

Wrap Up

Perfected Theory | Illustration by Marta Nael

I like empower Jace. I doubt we’ll see this mechanic much outside of Reality Fracture, but I love to see Wizards innovate on the design space amass opened. This is probably enough empower Jace, but I hope it opens the door to future mechanics that riff on this idea.

Do you enjoy empower Jace? Are you looking forward to playing with it? Let me know in the comments below or on the Draftsim Discord! If you want more Draftsim, check out our YouTube channel, The Daily Upkeep!

Stay safe and thanks for watching!

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A.L. Walser

A. L. Walser - also known as nissaflamecaller online - has been playing Magic since 2009 and the release of the original Zendikar set. An avid drafter with a bit of a Vorthos streak, his favorite aspect of playing Magic comes from the act of building a deck from nothing.