MTG Salvation

Introduction.
Hi people of mtg savation! I'm chessythief and I'm addicted to EDH/Commander.
I play at a local card shop, White Lion Games, and on Thursdays we play EDH for $5.00 winner of the night gets a very large store credit. We play cut throat, nasty, no holds bar, commander and any given night we have around 20 people all wanting to win.
I run 3 decks:
I started with Lazav, Dimir Mastermind
Got bored of losing so I made Zur the Enchanter {Link will be added as soon as tappedout starts working again.}
I was winning so often I started to get hated off of every single table. I began trying to think of a new general whom even if hated on was somehow so powerful it would still win and that's when they spoiled Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge.
I was in love. The deck below is what I had in mind minus 4-5 cards the minute I saw this general. I ordered the cards I didn't have from my local shop and waited.
The pre-con decks came out and the bloodbath began. It took a bit of tweaking and even now I'm soon to cut Sheoldred, Whispering One for another clone maybe Evil Twin but I'm also considering Tunnel Vision to place a card from a deck on top of it before I cast my general. Rupture Spire also soon to be cut. I'm a semi-budget player and can't afford cards over $20 and usually buy an expensive card for one of my decks once every month or so.

I decided to post this here to see what you guys thought of the deck and if you had any suggestions.
Win cons:
Infinite turns
Kiki-Jealous
Army of the Damned - Reverberate
Stealing creatures from others decks and battle field.
Knowledge Exploitation - Tooth and Nail - Time Stretch
Bribery

You have a very interesting deck. I am not sure why you chose Jeleva as your commander. It seems like her abilities are used sparingly otherwise it will really hinder your deck.

his list looks fine to me, what are you talking about?

he's saying that the deck doesn't actually need jeleva and most of the time won't want to cast her. All of the win cons listed don't require her to ever hit the field.

I'd run a better Grixis commander at the helm like Thraximundar or even Bolas, just to have a finisher in the CZ.

running a well rounded grixis commander that will allow you to disrupt your opponents and get a little extra value out of your spells is hardly a reason to not pick jeleva. The best list I've ever played against basically just runs jeleva for value and owns with things like teferi's veil enchanting her and sphinx bone wand.

if the spells get too bulky without her and you somehow lose her you'd be in a lot of trouble.

Jeleva tends to dump a lot of sorceries in the graveyard. I might consider if you can fit a Past in Flames in.

Quote from Psion

Jeleva tends to dump a lot of sorceries in the graveyard. I might consider if you can fit a Past in Flames in.

I think she exiles the cards, so you can't exactly retrieve them.

Quote from Trooper501

Quote from Psion

Jeleva tends to dump a lot of sorceries in the graveyard. I might consider if you can fit a Past in Flames in.

I think she exiles the cards, so you can't exactly retrieve them.

When she casts a spell, the spell goes to the GY afterwards.

Actually, after you cast the spell off Jeleva, it goes to grave, so that works.

I'm also relatively new to the forum, and I also play Jeleva, and I've been reasonable pleased with her abilities but I feel like you kind of need to build around her. Like, you have 29 total targets for her, and only 25 of them actually do something when you play them off Jeleva.

My experience with Jeleva is that, if you exile even something relatively decent, such as a Bribery, 95% of the time, she will not see your next untap phase since she dies within 3 of your opponents turns. Haste is really good with her since it significantly reduces the possibilty that she gets shot down before she even gets one free spell. The worst feeling is when you exile something good, only to have Jeleva die because your opponent kills her as soon as they untap. Your not gurranteed to hit every time so I suggest you make the most out of when she does exile something sweet. I went overboard with the haste stuff by adding stuff like Fervor and Hammer of Purphoros and it's usually the first thing I tutor for.

Also, you really need so many cookie cutter infinite combos? How good is Hellkite Charger or Peregrine Drake when you've exiled Sword or Dead Eye with Jeleva?

My opinion is that she's not terribly good if your not building around her, and you probably would be better off with some scary beater as general if she's just a source of value.

Quote from Vandar

he's saying that the deck doesn't actually need jeleva and most of the time won't want to cast her. All of the win cons listed don't require her to ever hit the field.

I'd run a better Grixis commander at the helm like Thraximundar or even Bolas, just to have a finisher in the CZ.

That's basically what I meant. Thanks Vandar!

Quote from BatHickey

running a well rounded grixis commander that will allow you to disrupt your opponents and get a little extra value out of your spells is hardly a reason to not pick jeleva. The best list I've ever played against basically just runs jeleva for value and owns with things like teferi's veil enchanting her and sphinx bone wand.

if the spells get too bulky without her and you somehow lose her you'd be in a lot of trouble.

Wouldn't using Teferi's veil make it so that Jeleva cannot use the cards that she exiled?

why would Teferi's veil do that? Phasing isn't the same as blinking or anything.

Because after years of playing I still can never understand phasing. I think after years of having a friend play it wrong and make up rules, then I learn how it is done, I can never remember how to actually use it.

I just remember the rules as it pertains to me--similar confusion.

I do know however that phasing 'remembers' jeleva's exiled cards. so you declare attacks, attack with jeleva, get your spell trigger, then phase her out at the end of combat--she comes back your next turn (escaping when most players have the best chances of killing her so you don't get another trigger off her), and then hopefully you'll get another attack trigger out of her.