Jaya Ballard MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 5 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost5
RarityMythic
TypeLegendary Planeswalker — Jaya
Loyalty 5

Key Takeaways

  1. Jaya Ballard’s abilities offer strong card filtering and red mana ramping to empower quick and potent plays.
  2. Her high mana cost and specific color requirement limit flexibility across diverse MTG decks.
  3. Potent in spell-focused decks, her unique skills make her a valuable addition to any collection.

Text of card


+1: Add . Spend this mana only to cast instant or sorcery spells.
+1: Discard up to three cards, then draw that many cards.
-8: You get an emblem with "You may cast instant and sorcery spells from your graveyard. If a spell cast this way would be put into your graveyard, exile it instead."


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Jaya Ballard is a formidable force that can provide significant card selection. Her abilities allow players to sift through their deck, drawing and discarding cards to engineer the perfect hand. This leads to an equilibrium in card advantage that can often tilt the scales in your favor.

Resource Acceleration: Jaya Ballard not only gives players a boost in card options but also offers resource acceleration. Her ability to add a substantial amount of red mana to your pool can turbo-charge your game plan, allowing for bigger plays, sooner than your opponents might anticipate.

Instant Speed: Her instant-speed interactive abilities enable MTG players to react quickly to changing game scenarios. This grants the ability to adapt to opponents’ moves on the fly, potentially countering threats before they become unmanageable or leveraging opportunities at the most opportune times.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Demanding a card to be discarded can be onerous, particularly when your hand is running on empty. This aspect of Jaya Ballard restricts strategic flexibility, firmly pegging it as a potential drawback in resource-tight scenarios.

Specific Mana Cost: The mana cost for Jaya Ballard is very specific, necessitating a commitment to red mana. Decks not heavily invested in red might find her challenging to play, reducing her versatility across varied deck archetypes.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: When comparing mana efficiency, Jaya’s casting cost can be steep. In the fast-paced MTG environment, where every mana counts, there are alternatives that could offer more impact or value at a lower cost threshold.


Reasons to Include Jaya Ballard in Your Collection

Versatility: Jaya Ballard is a dynamic planeswalker that can adapt to numerous gameplay styles. With her ability to add mana of any color to your mana pool, she seamlessly fits into multicolored decks and can be a powerful asset in enabling a wide array of strategies.

Combo Potential: Her utility doesn’t stop at mana generation. This fiery planeswalker can also exponentially increase the damage of red spells or abilities. This makes her the perfect complement to decks that focus on dealing damage directly or have numerous instants and sorceries.

Meta-Relevance: Jaya Ballard consistently proves her worth in various metagames. Her ability to grant instant and sorcery spells flashback from your graveyard provides lasting value over the course of a game and allows you to outpace opponents in resource attrition battles, a common scenario in many competitive formats.


How to beat

Jaya Ballard is a powerful planeswalker card that can dominate games of Magic: The Gathering if left unchecked. To effectively counter Jaya Ballard, you need a game plan that includes instant removal spells. As planeswalkers are vulnerable the turn they enter play, consider using removal spells like Murder or Hero’s Downfall to eliminate her before her loyalty abilities can be used.

Disruption also plays a key role in battling Jaya Ballard. Thoughtseize and Duress allow you to preemptively deal with Jaya by discarding her from your opponent’s hand. In addition, counterspells such as Negate or Essence Scatter can be timely defenses against her, especially since Jaya’s casting cost is relatively high, requiring specific mana allocation that can be anticipated.

Lastly, should Jaya already be active on the battlefield, applying pressure with fast-paced aggressive decks can divert your opponent’s focus from utilizing Jaya’s abilities to defending themselves, giving you an edge. Applying these strategies should help you minimize the impact Jaya Ballard may have on your game and help secure your path to victory.


BurnMana Recommendations

Dive deeper into the world of MTG with Jaya Ballard, a character that embodies strategic depth and fiery prowess. She is a prime candidate for your collection if you’re a fan of thoughtfully constructed red decks or simply looking to cast a wide net of instant and sorcery spells. With her unique suite of abilities, Jaya can define the ebb and flow of the game, giving you the upper hand when it comes to card advantage and resource acceleration. While her mana cost might require a dedicated strategy, the payoff in powerful gameplay is undeniable. For those ready to ignite their MTG experience with Jaya’s spark, we’re here to guide you through every play. Step into the fold and master the art of the game with us.


Cards like Jaya Ballard

Jaya Ballard is a compelling planeswalker in Magic: The Gathering, highly regarded for her versatility and potential to wreak havoc on the board. Her attributes align closely with Chandra, Torch of Defiance, another iconic red planeswalker. Both excel at dealing direct damage and provide substantial card advantage. Where Jaya shines is her focus on instants and sorceries, granting card draw specifically tailored to these types. Chandra, however, is more flexible, allowing you to exile the top card of your library and play it that turn.

Jaya’s ability to add three red mana echoes the effects found in Chandra, Pyromaster and Koth of the Hammer, who both can ramp your mana in specific conditions. Nevertheless, the exclusivity of Jaya’s mana to cast instant or sorcery spells places her in a niche that supports a particular strategy. This constraint makes her exceptionally synergistic in decks designed around casting a multitude of non-creature spells, compared to the broad mana utility from Koth’s ability.

Overall, Jaya Ballard offers a specialized toolkit that, when placed in the right deck, can outpace similar cards through sheer spellcasting force and strategic depth. Her role as a driver of spell-heavy red strategies cements her presence in MTG, where finely-tuned deck synergy is key.

Chandra, Torch of Defiance - MTG Card versions
Chandra, Pyromaster - MTG Card versions
Koth of the Hammer - MTG Card versions
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Kaladesh (KLD)
Chandra, Pyromaster - San Diego Comic-Con 2013 (PSDC)
Koth of the Hammer - Scars of Mirrodin (SOM)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Jaya Ballard MTG card by a specific set like Dominaria Promos and Dominaria, 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 Jaya Ballard and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Jaya Ballard Magic the Gathering card was released in 5 different sets between 2018-04-27 and 2021-04-23. Illustrated by 3 different artists.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12018-04-27Dominaria PromosPDOM 132s2015normalblackMagali Villeneuve
22018-04-27DominariaDOM 1322015normalblackMagali Villeneuve
32018-10-05Mythic EditionMED RA42015normalborderlessKieran Yanner
42019-12-02Secret Lair DropSLD 10622015normalborderlessFajareka Setiawan
52021-04-23Commander 2021C21 1752015normalblackMagali Villeneuve

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Jaya Ballard has restrictions

FormatLegality
HistoricbrawlLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
OathbreakerLegal
GladiatorLegal
PioneerLegal
CommanderLegal
ModernLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
ExplorerLegal
PennyLegal
TimelessLegal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Jaya Ballard card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

DateText
2018-04-27 Jaya’s emblem doesn’t grant you permission to do anything with instant and sorcery cards in your graveyard except cast them. For example, you can’t cycle instant or sorcery cards with cycling from your graveyard.
2018-04-27 Mana produced by Jaya’s first ability can be spent among any number of instant and/or sorcery spells.
2018-04-27 You choose how many cards to discard while Jaya’s second ability is resolving. You can choose to discard zero cards this way (and then draw zero cards) if you wish.
2018-06-08 Because it’s a loyalty ability, Jaya’s first ability isn’t a mana ability. It can be activated only any time you could cast a sorcery. It uses the stack and can be responded to.

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