Mask of the Jadecrafter MTG Card
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 2 |
| Rarity | Uncommon |
| Type | Artifact |
| Abilities | Unearth |
| Released | 2022-11-18 |
| Set symbol | |
| Set name | The Brothers' War |
| Set code | BRO |
| Number | 201 |
| Frame | 2015 |
| Layout | Normal |
| Border | Black |
| Illustred by | Alessandra Pisano |
Text of card
, , Sacrifice Mask of the Jadecrafter: Create an X/X colorless Golem artifact creature token. Activate only as a sorcery. Unearth (: Return this card from your graveyard to the battlefield. Exile it at the beginning of the next end step or if it would leave the battlefield. Unearth only as a sorcery.)
Cards like Mask of the Jadecrafter
Mask of the Jadecrafter brings a unique twist to the world of equipment artifacts in Magic: The Gathering. When we consider its feature of transforming a non-token creature it’s attached to into a Jade Statue creature with “This creature can’t attack or block unless its controller pays 3,” we see an interesting tactical advantage. This ability is in a close realm to that of cards like Grafted Wargear, which equips to a creature and gives a considerable power and toughness boost, yet sacrifices the creature when unattached.
Another card to draw parallels with would be the Neurok Stealthsuit, which like Mask of the Jadecrafter, can be attached at instant speed, a valuable asset for surprising strategic maneuvers mid-combat. However, the Stealthsuit lacks the transformative and restrictive effects on creatures that Mask of the Jadecrafter offers. And then, there’s Cranial Plating, a popular artifact that boosts a creature’s power based on the number of artifacts you control. Different from Mask of the Jadecrafter’s focus on altering creature roles, Cranial Plating accelerates a creature’s offensive capabilities.
Altogether, Mask of the Jadecrafter stands out in MTG for its distinctive approach to manipulating creature dynamics, highlighting the strategic depth and variety available in equipment artifacts across the game.
Cards similar to Mask of the Jadecrafter by color, type and mana cost
Card Pros
Card Advantage: The Mask of the Jadecrafter card is designed to improve your card economy by enabling creature tokens to explore. Exploring not only potentially increases your creature’s power but also gives you the chance to draw additional cards, ensuring a steady flow of options in your hand.
Resource Acceleration: This card really shines by potentially ramping up your mana resources. Each time a token creature it equips explores and reveals a non-land card, it creates a Treasure token. This can significantly boost your available mana, allowing you to play higher-cost cards earlier in the game or execute more complex plays in a single turn.
Instant Speed: Though Mask of the Jadecrafter itself is not an instant, it can lead to instant speed advantages when paired with creatures that can be summoned at any time. The explorations and resultant Treasure tokens can happen during any phase, offering flexibility and reactive play opportunities in response to your opponent’s actions.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: The Mask of the Jadecrafter requires you to discard a card from your hand to trigger its ability. While this can be useful for enabling certain strategies or combos within your deck, it potentially puts you at a card disadvantage, especially if you’re already struggling to maintain a healthy hand size against an opponent’s pressure.
Specific Mana Cost: To cast Mask of the Jadecrafter, you must provide both green and blue mana, which can complicate its inclusion in decks that are not aligned with these colors. This requirement restricts the diversity of decks the card can be seamlessly integrated into, thereby somewhat limiting its overall flexibility across various MTG formats.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: In a game where tempo is crucial, the Mask of the Jadecrafter counts as a three-mana artifact. For this investment, some players could argue that the impact on the board state may not be immediate or substantial compared to other cards with lower mana costs that provide quicker benefits or interactions in a game.
Reasons to Include Mask of the Jadecrafter in Your Collection
Versatility: Mask of the Jadecrafter is a dynamic addition to any MTG player’s arsenal, easily slipping into various deck builds. Its ability to crank out Jade Statuettes offers utility across multiple strategies, making it a flexible card choice for numerous scenarios.
Combo Potential: This artifact is not just a standalone card but a potential combo enabler. Its synergy with mechanics that exploit artifact tokens can escalate the power on your board, opening up innovative avenues for strategy and play.
Meta-Relevance: As the competitive landscape shifts, Mask of the Jadecrafter maintains its impact by aligning well with prevailing trends. Its interaction prominence ensures it can stand up to various meta decks, thus solidifying its position as a card worth collecting.
How to beat
Mask of the Jadecrafter can be a dynamic force in MTG, providing consistent buffs to creatures while also granting valuable mana acceleration. Yet, like any powerful tool, it can be outmaneuvered with the right strategy. Interacting with the card mid-resolution is one key method. This means using instant-speed removal to target the creature it’s enchanting before the Mask’s ability resolves, thereby negating the Mask’s advantage. It’s also effective to run enchantment removal spells, such as Disenchant or Naturalize, which can directly remove Mask of the Jadecrafter from play.
Furthermore, exploiting the creature-type requirement of the Mask can work to your advantage. Since it must attach to a creature that shares a type with the card on top of your deck, stacking your own deck with varied creature types bears the potential of stifling its effect. Lastly, countermagic, like Negate or Dovin’s Veto, can provide an elegant solution to prevent the Mask from ever hitting the board, making it crucial to keep up mana for these responses when playing against decks that utilize this enchanting artifact.
Tactical plays and sideboard choices are paramount when playing against this MTG card. Anticipating and disrupting your opponent’s strategy will make Mask of the Jadecrafter far less daunting, and instead, turn it into an opportunity to outplay and overcome.
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Mask of the Jadecrafter MTG card by a specific set like The Brothers' War, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.
For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.
Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.
Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Mask of the Jadecrafter and other MTG cards:
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- eBay
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
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- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
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Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Mask of the Jadecrafter has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Standard | Legal |
| Historicbrawl | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Alchemy | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Commander | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Future | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Explorer | Legal |
| Brawl | Legal |
| Timeless | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Mask of the Jadecrafter card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2022-10-14 | Activating a card's unearth ability isn't the same as casting that card. The unearth ability is put on the stack, but the card is not. Spells and abilities that interact with activated abilities (such as Defabricate's second mode) will interact with unearth, but spells and abilities that interact with spells (such as Scatter Ray) will not. |
| 2022-10-14 | At the beginning of the next end step, a permanent returned to the battlefield with unearth is exiled. This is a delayed triggered ability, and it can be countered by effects such as Defabricate that counter triggered abilities. If the ability is countered, the permanent will stay on the battlefield and the delayed triggered ability won't trigger again. However, the replacement effect will still exile the permanent if it eventually leaves the battlefield. |
| 2022-10-14 | If a permanent returned to the battlefield with unearth would leave the battlefield for any reason, it's exiled instead—unless the spell or ability that's causing the permanent to leave the battlefield is actually trying to exile it! In that case, it succeeds at exiling it. If that spell or ability later returns the card to the battlefield (as Static Net might, for example), the permanent card will return to the battlefield as a new object with no relation to its previous existence. The unearth effects will no longer apply to it. |
| 2022-10-14 | If you activate a card's unearth ability but that card is removed from your graveyard before the ability resolves, that unearth ability will do nothing as it resolves. |
| 2022-10-14 | Unearth grants haste to the permanent that's returned to the battlefield (even if it's not a creature card). However, neither of the "exile" abilities is granted to that permanent. If that permanent loses all its abilities, it will still be exiled at the beginning of the next end step, and if it would leave the battlefield, it is still exiled instead. |