MTG Salvation

i went out and bought the commander deck that included Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge.

i played some buddies of mine and i really would like to fine tune this deck. it played very well right out of the box but i was thinking of keeping it still control via discard but i was thinking of adding mill into it just for fun.

the cards im thinking of using are Traumatize, Tome Scour, Nemesis of Reason, Mind Funeral, Jace Beleren, & Jace, Memory Adept to name a few cards im thinking of working in.

i also dont have any of the ally fetch lands for this deck or the original dual lands.

would this be something that could work or should this deck be built around using Jeleva and her ability

I have a Jeleva mill deck too. Here is a link

I have tried playing it a number of times in single player but not really with multiplayer.
You have a good idea for things to include but there may be more that are better.

I find that you need a number of spells that duplicate instants and sorceries as they don't target all opponents

If I were to choose a number of cards that you would NEED for your deck I would suggest.

Consuming Aberration combos of Jeleva and a great multiplayer mill piece.
Psychic Spiral Great mill piece and great way to get more use from your instants and sorceries from Jeleva.
Grisly Spectacle Removal with mill
Breaking / Entering Mill plus creature stealing but only 1 spell can be cast from Jeleva's ability.
Dimir MachinationsMill or Tutor
Gem of Becoming Mana ramp
Vandalblast and Cyclonic Rift are just staple cards for the colors in multiplayer EDH.

so i have been messing around with the build on this deck and since i was interested in adding a mill aspect to this deck heres what i have came up with so far



any input or suggestions you cold provide let me know so i can try them out. im going to be playing this deck saturday with some buddies and i want it to play well, the pre-construct build did well so hopefully it can play well still

I hope it works. In my opinion you are not using Jeleva that well with this deck. If you play her you will be exiling a number of cards that are not instants and sorceries, which will hurt you. Plus a number of your spells are counterspells.

I found out that to use Jeleva decently you need to rely on your spells played for free and hope that your opponents have something that you may use. In my deck I have 46 spells and you are somewhere below 30. Other Jeleva decks have an abundance of instants and sorceries.

If you get a decent amount of Wheel of Fortune type of cards then Nekusar could be a better general. He would deal 7+ damage for each of those cards drawn to your opponents and not yourself.

Quote from phantalien

I hope it works. In my opinion you are not using Jeleva that well with this deck. If you play her you will be exiling a number of cards that are not instants and sorceries, which will hurt you. Plus a number of your spells are counterspells.

I found out that to use Jeleva decently you need to rely on your spells played for free and hope that your opponents have something that you may use. In my deck I have 46 spells and you are somewhere below 30. Other Jeleva decks have an abundance of instants and sorceries.

If you get a decent amount of Wheel of Fortune type of cards then Nekusar could be a better general. He would deal 7+ damage for each of those cards drawn to your opponents and not yourself.

in your opinion what should i cut for more spells? i was thinking of cutting creatures but i am not sure which ones.

i know i would like to keep creatures that will have a ill effect,

as far as free spells what would you suggest to add in the deck

Quote from ablack23

in your opinion what should i cut for more spells? i was thinking of cutting creatures but i am not sure which ones.

i know i would like to keep creatures that will have a ill effect,

as far as free spells what would you suggest to add in the deck

It is hard to really suggest stuff because pretty much all of the things I wanted to put in my deck, so it is best to check that link above somewhere.

I think it really boils down to what you are trying to do with your deck and how you are using your general. If you are playing Jeleva I would imagine the least amount of nonland permanents you have in the deck the better to compliment her abilities. If you want to use her abilities then counterspells would not be useful.

To counteract my lack of use of counterspells I relied more on boomerang spells that could return (almost) any permanent to hands. These can be comboed with your wheel of fortune spell.

Other suggestions are cards that grant extra turns, grant flashback, duplicate spells, and shuffle cards into your library.

I am no master with Jeleva or with my deck building abilities compared to other members on this forum. I get a ton of ideas just checking out threads and seeing cards.

If you need help cutting cards I would start with creatures. In multiplayer TNN isn't going to do what you need, stash him away while he gains value. Look for trades or to sell once he goes over $60.

Thraximundar and Nekusar, the Mindrazer are good cards but they aren't working toward your goal. Your going to want to be spending large amounts of mana on recasting your general. The more spells you exile with her the bigger threat she is, and there is a built in tension for your opponents. If they kill her she comes back only to exile more cards, and thus be a bigger threat.

Thassa too, again another great card that isn't going to add enough to what your trying to accomplish. She will rarely be a creature, the scry 1 while nice adds little and the unblockable ability isn't necessary. If you feel the need for unblockable then just go with Rouges Passageway.

With a milling plan for Jeleva plan on playing the long game. Try to rely less on creatures and more on control spells. Beacon of Unrest could do a lot of work if your filling up graveyards. Maybe look for some more sweapers too, Blasphemous Act would be a good one.

Quote from Sunforged Mystic

If you need help cutting cards I would start with creatures. In multiplayer TNN isn't going to do what you need, stash him away while he gains value. Look for trades or to sell once he goes over $60.

Thraximundar and Nekusar, the Mindrazer are good cards but they aren't working toward your goal. Your going to want to be spending large amounts of mana on recasting your general. The more spells you exile with her the bigger threat she is, and there is a built in tension for your opponents. If they kill her she comes back only to exile more cards, and thus be a bigger threat.

Thassa too, again another great card that isn't going to add enough to what your trying to accomplish. She will rarely be a creature, the scry 1 while nice adds little and the unblockable ability isn't necessary. If you feel the need for unblockable then just go with Rouges Passageway.

With a milling plan for Jeleva plan on playing the long game. Try to rely less on creatures and more on control spells. Beacon of Unrest could do a lot of work if your filling up graveyards. Maybe look for some more sweapers too, Blasphemous Act would be a good one.

i would have no problem cutting Thraximundar, Nekusar, the Mindrazer, True-Name Nemesis, & Thassa, God of the Sea to add spells in there place.

for example i saw on the other mill deck similar to mine i thought Rise of the Dark Realms would be good to add in the deck as well

i have been looking into it and ive been reading its better to run Lightning Greaves over Swiftfoot Boots since you can equip the greaves for free.

Also i was wondering if i should cut Armillary Sphere & Wayfarer's Bauble since i am running very little on the basic lands side.

since im on the subject of mana i was wondering if it looks good or if i should adjust it.

finally as far as more sweepers i was wanting to add the blasphemous act as another sweeper. but i was wondering if Bonfire of the damned would be a good addition as well.

Quote from ablack23

finally as far as more sweepers i was wanting to add the blasphemous act as another sweeper. but i was wondering if Bonfire of the damned would be a good addition as well.

Bonfire is an X spell and X spells doesn't work well with Jeleva. Sweepers like plague wind or chain reaction works much better. All is dust is also another good sweeper, and deals with enchantments as well which is something grixis lacks.

Quote from nightwyrm

Bonfire is an X spell and X spells doesn't work well with Jeleva. Sweepers like plague wind or chain reaction works much better. All is dust is also another good sweeper, and deals with enchantments as well which is something grixis lacks.

so since i keep hearing about running spells with x in it are no good with Jeleva should i just not run anything with an x in the cost even if theres a chance i could draw it before i start exiling cards

Quote from ablack23

so since i keep hearing about running spells with x in it are no good with Jeleva should i just not run anything with an x in the cost even if theres a chance i could draw it before i start exiling cards

Yeah, you should just avoid running x spells and find replacements as much as possible. I run epic experiment in mine just coz it's a unique effect but it's the only x spell I run.

Quote from nightwyrm

Yeah, you should just avoid running x spells and find replacements as much as possible. I run epic experiment in mine just coz it's a unique effect but it's the only x spell I run.

cool thanks for the tip. also from a lot of comments i have seen ive been reading that i want to cut back on the counter spells and replace them with bounce spells. why is it i want to try to cut back on the counters if they dont hurt e and i can use them against my oppenent

Quote from ablack23

cool thanks for the tip. also from a lot of comments i have seen ive been reading that i want to cut back on the counter spells and replace them with bounce spells. why is it i want to try to cut back on the counters if they dont hurt e and i can use them against my oppenent

You can't cast counters from Jeleva since you can only cast spells from her when you declare attackers. It's another card that might take the place of a useful card if exile by Jeleva. I limit my counterspells to ones such as Cryptic Command or Soul Manipulation which has modes which can be cast by Jeleva but counters like Dismiss gets cut. I started a thread on the EDH forum about such counters a few days ago. Unfortunately, there aren't many counters that fit this category.

If you worry about being low on creatures, may I suggest spells that creates creature token such as Rite of Replication, Stolen Identity or Promise of Power. They up your creature count while still being castable by Jeleva.

Quote from ablack23

i would have no problem cutting Thraximundar, Nekusar, the Mindrazer, True-Name Nemesis, & Thassa, God of the Sea to add spells in there place.

for example i saw on the other mill deck similar to mine i thought Rise of the Dark Realms would be good to add in the deck as well

i have been looking into it and ive been reading its better to run Lightning Greaves over Swiftfoot Boots since you can equip the greaves for free.

Also i was wondering if i should cut Armillary Sphere & Wayfarer's Bauble since i am running very little on the basic lands side.

since im on the subject of mana i was wondering if it looks good or if i should adjust it.

finally as far as more sweepers i was wanting to add the blasphemous act as another sweeper. but i was wondering if Bonfire of the damned would be a good addition as well.

Yes, I would cut Armillary Sphere & Wayfarer's Bauble and replace one of them with Gem of Becoming

I agree with adding blasphemous act but not the other one. X spells rarely work with Jeleva. I have 2 in my deck and it is because 1 of them gets shuffled into my library when placed in the graveyard and the other one I usually tutor for before it could get exiled with Jeleva.

My personal preference concerning mana is the more mana I have that comes in tapped, the less they are useful. Usually I need the mana for something, why hinder myself for yet another turn?

I would also probably drop Echo Mage. Your going to dump mana into him only to have him killed or sweeped (possibly from your own spell). Increasing Vengeance is a great spell copy. Also Strionic Resonator is great to double Jeleva's and Charmbreaker triggers.

Other cuts could go to your defenders, Mnemonic Wall is the only one worth keeping.

so with the advice you guys have given me i am thinking of adding in the following cards in place of the cards i am cutting. heres the list i am thinking of adding and as always please let me know your input or if you wanna ask why i made the choices i did.

well these are the cards im thinking of adding

• Rakdos Charm
  
• Meletis Charlatan
  
• Windfall
  
• Spin into Myth
  
• Traumatize
  
• Vandalblast
  
• Biter Ordea
  
• Dimir Charm
  
• Izzet Charm
  
• Gem of Becoming
  
• Disperse
  
• Boomerang
  
• Recoil
  
• Cyclonic Rift
  
• Increasing Vengeance
  
• Plague Wind
  
• All is Dust
  
• Rise from the Dark Realm
  
• Lightning Greaves

To make room for these cards i think i should move out

• Thraximundar
  
• Nekusar, the Mindrazer
  
• True-Name Nemesis
  
• Guard Gomazoa
  
• Thassa, God of the Sea
  
• Echo Mage
  
• Counterflux
  
• Starstorm
  
• Dismiss
  
• Prosperity
  
• Jace, Memory Adept
  
• Molten Disaster
  
• Obelisk of Grixis
  
• Armillary Sphere
  
• Swiftfoot Boots
  
• Wayfarer's Bauble
  
• Uyo, Silent Prophet

im not sure what else i could ct to make room for the few extra cards i would like to add to the deck.

i was also thinking of cutting a land out to make room for Boseiju, Who Shelters All in case i want to play a spell and not worry about it getting countered

so with a lot of the advise and looking at the link to the deck mentioned in this thread heres my second draft on this deck.

so after looking through many Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge decks i here, i was wondering if i should drop the mill all together since i was never planning on using it as a win con it was just in there for fun. if i do drop it what aspect could i replace it with? ive seen graveyard hate, copy spells and such.

i was also wondering why i see so few decks running Nightveil Specter is his ability not good enough to see play in this deck. i think he could see some play since he makes you exile cards from a players library and you can cast them if able.

i am also looking at maybe running Melek, Izzet Paragon since he give you the ability to see whats coming up next and casting it before you draw into it or being able to have another card in the deck that lets you see if you wanna exile cards with jeleva and her casting her.

i still havent been able to play test this deck yet but hopefully i will have a chance to play it in the coming weeks.