Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Jack of Hearts, Volatile Hero

Jack of Hearts, Volatile Hero

Legendary Creature — Alien Human Hero · {1}{R}{R} · Red commander

Flying, haste When Jack of Hearts dies, he deals damage equal to his power to each creature. Power-up — {4}{R}{R}: Discard your hand, then draw three cards. Put two +1/+1 counters on Jack of Hearts. (Activate each power-up ability only once. Reduce the cost by his mana cost if he entered this turn.)

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What Jack of Hearts, Volatile Hero actually does

Read off the card by the same engine the Forge and Analyzer use — this is the mechanical classification, not a summary.

• Triggered ability · deathWhen Jack of Hearts dies, he deals damage equal to his power to each creature.
• Activated ability{4}{R}{R}: Discard your hand, then draw three cards. Put two +1/+1 counters on Jack of Hearts.
• Keyword · flyingflying
• Keyword · hastehaste
• Keyword · power-uppower-up

What a Jack of Hearts, Volatile Hero deck needs

Plays as death value. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.

• sacrifice outlets and recursion for the commander (its own death is the payoff)
• counter doublers and proliferate (it grows only itself with +1/+1 counters)
• mana rocks and dorks beyond the curve (its ability turns spare mana into value)

The Jack of Hearts, Volatile Hero deck plan

The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.

• 19× Mana from a NONLAND permanent — a commander that doubles nonland mana gets nothing from lands
• 10× Sacrifice a creature for no mana, repeatably
• 12× Put +1/+1 counters on creatures you control, or multiply the ones already there
• 5× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
• 9× Find the exact card the plan needs
• 1× Answer a whole board at once
• 7× Refill your hand
• 2× Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
• 11× Get ahead on mana

Best cards for Jack of Hearts, Volatile Hero

Ranked by an engine that reads what each card does — its real cost, its delay and how reliably it works — rather than counting how often other people play it.

Build this deck in the Arcane Forge →

Arcane Foundry is free to join and every tool is included: the Arcane Forge deck builder, the ARCANE Analyzer that scores a deck by simulating games rather than counting staples, a card scanner, a collection vault, and live webcam Commander tables. Read the guide · Browse all commanders · Pricing