The popular trading card game Magic: The Gathering isn't just a series of cards. It also has deep lore, explored in novels and comics since the mid-1990s. By now, the game has a huge cast of heroes, villains, and everything in between. All five colors of mana and many different types of magic (and sentient races) are represented among the planeswalkers. We get the lion-man Ajani Goldmane, the beautiful but cunning necromancer Liliana Vess, the dragon-loving Sarkhan Vol, and much more.

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Some planeswalkers are centered around blue mana, and chief among them are two men: Jace Beleren, and Tezzeret. Both of them are quite important in the current storylines of Magic: The Gathering, and once they arrive on a plane, its fate will never be the same again. Counting both the lore of these characters and their gameplay mechanics, who is the supreme blue-centered planeswalker: Jace or Tezzeret?

10 Jace: The original squad

Jace Beleren by Aleksi Briclot

Planeswalkers have been in the lore since the Brothers' War, but they didn't become a card type until 2007's expansion set Lorwyn. In this set, five odd people appear among the Celtic-inspired kithkin and fairies: walkers from another world!

They stood out in both appearance and gameplay, and there was one for each color. Jace was the blue one, and he was joined by Ajani, Liliana, Garruk, and Chandra. Many more planeswalkers have been seen since, but there's only one original cycle of five!

9 Tezzeret: Tough as nails

man with lightning sparking behind him
Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas by Aleksi Briclot

A lot of what we know about Tezzeret comes from the lore of the Shards of Alara block, as well as Matthew Stover's tie-in novel Test of Metal. Tezzeret grew up in the slums of Esper, having little but the clothes on his back and a tough attitude.

No matter how often his enemies trampled on him, no matter what setbacks he faced, Tezzeret always triumphed. He pummeled the wealthy artificer Silas Renn in a duel, and he even escaped the clutches of an imitation Nicol Bolas. Whether in a duel of artifacts or a good old scrap, no one gets the best of Tezzeret!

8 Jace: the ultimate modern planeswalker

Jace, the Mind Sculptor by Jason Chan

Time to think about the cards in-depth. Jace got a reprint in the Worldwake set, the infamous Jace, the Mind Sculptor (or Jace TMS). This was the first planeswalker with four abilities rather than three, and even today, this card is a powerhouse.

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It was even banned in the Modern format for a time, but now it has free reign once again and appears in decks such as UWx Control builds or even as sideboard tech for grindy matchups. He can fateseal 1, unsummon something, dig for cards, or reduce an opponent's library to just a few cards and thus secure their doom!

7 Tezzeret: Add some black mana to the mix

Jace and Tezzeret both deal with blue mana primarily, with the former using illusion and mental magic and the latter being an innovative artificer. But in gameplay, Tezzeret proves more flexible, having several cards that are blue-black and not just mono-blue.

From Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas to Tezzeret, Master of the Bridge, this planeswalker can use black-based abilities to get the edge over any opponent. He can drain life, kill creatures, and more, powers that are forbidden to blue-only planeswalkers like Jace.

6 Jace: He's the living guildpact

Jace, the Living Guildpact by Chase Stone

Ravnica is one giant city, but that doesn't mean that law and order always win the day. As the Guildpact's term comes to a close, all ten guilds are fiercely competing for the Guildpact and its power, and the maze runners will do anything to win.

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But Jace won't stand for this anarchy. With his incredible mental power (and some outside help), he melds the mind of all ten maze runners and becomes the living guildpact himself! Peace has returned to Ravnica, and Jace can act as the mediator between all ten guilds. A true hero!

5 Tezzeret: The right hand of Bolas

Tezzeret often acts on the orders of Nicol Bolas, but he's not an unthinking tool. He nearly escaped Bolas' clutches in Test of Metal with his incredible ingenuity, and he easily walked among the Phyrexians on New Phyrexia to monitor the situation there.

Later, he enforced Bolas' will on Kaladesh and infiltrated the great fair to seize all inventions for the sake of the Consulate. Now, at last, he's the master of the inter-planar bridge, making Bolas' eternal army invasion possible. When Tezzeret arrives, things are about to get ugly! Watch out!

4 Jace: Cards for days!

While Tezzeret splashes black mana for some extra powers, Jace stays in blue, and he makes the most of it. Many Jace planeswalker cards have been printed, and they're all engines for card draw.

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No matter how dire the situation, Jace planeswalkers will draw you right out of it, and some even have mini Fact or Fiction effects or include scry in their abilities. And with the new legend rule, you can control several different Jaces at once and draw cards like a maniac! Now your options are limitless.

3 Tezzeret: He loves the artifacts

All decks like to draw cards, to Jace planeswalker cards can benefit pretty much any deck that can pay for the blue mana. Tezzeret's cards, meanwhile, care about artifacts. This limits his options, but those options are very strong!

Artifacts are well known for their outstanding variety and synergy, and any metal will soon bend to Tezzeret's will. With his various cards, you can tap or untap artifacts, morph them into huge creatures, tutor for them, and drain life according to how many you have! No Esper deck is complete without Tezzeret leading the charge.

2 Jace: He's a nice guy

Jace does have his dark moments, but overall, he's a real hero to the entire Multiverse. He was a founding member of the Guildpact, which is the MtG equal of The Avengers, and only death will stop his quest to vanquish evil across the worlds.

He's patient, polite, and will always save innocent lives at any risk. When things took an ugly turn on Innistrad, he and Tamiyo were soon on the case and uncovered Nahiri's apocalyptic plan. Jace also called out for more planeswalkers to help fight off Nicol Bolas' invading army, and he even played a role in destroying the horrific Eldrazi titans on Zendikar for all time.

1 Tezzeret: A creative mind

This, if nothing else, describes Tezzeret's entire being. His schooling is limited, but he learned the true depths of artifice while on the road, and his skills are astonishing. He also grew up poor and disadvantaged, so he's long since learned to use anything (and anyone) to win. At school, a teacher asked him why he had junk and scraps in his work shelves, and young Tezzeret explain that those were not scraps, but items he didn't yet have a use for. The professor was very impressed.

Later, even when he didn't have the clothes on his back, Tezzeret gathered bits of etherium hidden in his hair and built a syringe that connected to his heart. He ground up the magic crystal known as sangrite, slowly fed the powder into his bloodstream, and gained temporary powers! That put him right back in the fight in true style.

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