Memory Jar (Original Art)

Memory Jar is a five-mana artifact, that when tapped and sacrificed lets each player exile all cards from their hand face down and draw seven cards. At the beginning of the next end step, each player discards their hand and returns the exiled cards to their hand. Memory Jar was released during the Urza’s Legacy set, in early 1999 – part of the infamous “Combo Winter”. It was meant to be a temporary card-draw effect – a colorless “Wheel of Fortune” variant that let players briefly access a new hand. However, in practice, it enabled absurd combo turns that completely broke the game. It functions as a massive draw engine, primarily used to refill your hand instantly for big combo turns. Although it’s a symmetrical effect, this rarely matters when you’re comboing off. During Urza’s Block Constructed 1999 (Extended), Memory Jar was a key part of the decks that dominated in the weeks surrounding its release (“Combo Winter”). Decks like Jar Combo could win on turn 1 or turn 2 with frightening consistency. The core engine of this deck revolved around cards like Memory Jar, Tinker, Vampiric Tutor and Yawgmoth’s Will, in combination with fast mana acceleration such as Mox Diamond, Mana Vault, Lotus Petal, Lion’s Eye Diamond, and Dark Ritual. This deck would generate tons of mana, activating Memory Jar over and over, while replaying the discarded cards from Jar and LED with Yawgmoth’s Will, killing the opponent with Megrim (whenever an opponent discards a card, deals 2 damage). This deck was so broken, that Memory Jar got emergency banned in Standard and Extended only weeks after being printed. Memory Jar is banned in Legacy and Commander (EDH), and restricted in Vintage. In Vintage, this card was played in Tinker/Welder Combo decks – using Tinker to cheat Memory Jar into play and Goblin Welder to get it back, and combining Yawgmoth’s Will and Tendrils of Agony for a one-turn win. Memory Jar is not on the Reserved List.