Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Elena, Turk Recruit
Elena, Turk Recruit
Legendary Creature — Human Assassin · {2}{W} · White commander
When Elena enters, return target non-Assassin historic card from your graveyard to your hand. (Artifacts, legendaries, and Sagas are historic.)
Whenever you cast a historic spell, put a +1/+1 counter on Elena.
Build an Elena, Turk Recruit deck →
What Elena, Turk Recruit 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 · etbWhen Elena enters, return target non-Assassin historic card from your graveyard to your hand.
- Triggered ability · cast_spellWhenever you cast a historic spell, put a +1/+1 counter on Elena.
What an Elena, Turk Recruit deck needs
Plays as historic cast trigger. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.
- blink and recursion aimed at the commander itself (its value is its own enter trigger)
- historic spells (its trigger fires on each one you cast)
- counter doublers and proliferate (it grows only itself with +1/+1 counters)
- self-mill, discard and recursion (the graveyard is a resource its text reads)
The Elena, Turk Recruit deck plan
The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.
- 6× Exile a permanent you control and return it — the button a value-ETB deck presses
- 20× A card that is CAST to trigger the commander — reanimating or blinking it does not count
- 8× A permanent whose value is in its enter-the-battlefield trigger — the payload a blink deck reuses
- 6× Put your own cards into your graveyard as a resource
- 6× 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
Best cards for Elena, Turk Recruit
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.
Exile a permanent you control and return it — the button a value-ETB deck presses
- Airbender Ascension2 mana
- Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd2 mana
- Eldrazi Displacer3 mana
- Flickerwisp3 mana
- Touch the Spirit Realm3 mana
- Conjurer's Closet5 mana
- Distinguished Conjurer2 mana
- Felidar Guardian4 mana
A card that is CAST to trigger the commander — reanimating or blinking it does not count
- Chrome Mox0 mana
- Darksteel Citadel0 mana
- Everflowing Chalice0 mana
- Gemstone Caverns0 mana
- Inventors' Fair0 mana
- Lotus Petal0 mana
- Mox Amber0 mana
- Mox Diamond0 mana
A permanent whose value is in its enter-the-battlefield trigger — the payload a blink deck reuses
- Knight of the White Orchid2 mana
- Spirited Companion2 mana
- Solemn Simulacrum4 mana
- Loran of the Third Path3 mana
- Ranger-Captain of Eos3 mana
- Helpful Hunter2 mana
- Loyal Warhound2 mana
- Wall of Omens2 mana
Put your own cards into your graveyard as a resource
- Eden, Seat of the Sanctum0 mana
- Millikin2 mana
- Perpetual Timepiece2 mana
- Ghoulcaller's Bell1 mana
- Palantír of Orthanc3 mana
- Sequestered Stash0 mana
- Excavated Wall1 mana
- Wand of Vertebrae1 mana
Put +1/+1 counters on creatures you control, or multiply the ones already there
- Lae'zel, Vlaakith's Champion3 mana
- Yoshimaru, Beloved Companion3 mana
- Grateful Apparition2 mana
- Metastatic Evangel2 mana
- Generous Pup2 mana
- Martyr for the Cause2 mana
- Charmed Stray1 mana
- Political Triumph1 mana
Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- Path to Exile1 mana
- Swords to Plowshares1 mana
- March of Otherworldly Light1 mana
- Generous Gift3 mana
- Erode1 mana
- Unwanted Remake1 mana
- Angelic Ascension2 mana
- You Cannot Pass!1 mana
Find the exact card the plan needs
- Open the Armory2 mana
- Enlightened Tutor1 mana
- Templar Knight2 mana
- Idyllic Tutor3 mana
- Ranger-Captain of Eos3 mana
- Loyal Tutor1 mana
- Recruiter of the Guard3 mana
- Search for Glory3 mana
Answer a whole board at once
- Vanquish the Horde8 mana
- Wrath of God4 mana
- Day of Judgment4 mana
- Shatter the Sky4 mana
- Split Up3 mana
- Winds of Abandon2 mana
- Depopulate4 mana
- No Witnesses4 mana
Refill your hand
- Esper Sentinel1 mana
- Skullclamp1 mana
- Archivist of Oghma2 mana
- The One Ring4 mana
- Vexing Bauble1 mana
- Caretaker's Talent3 mana
- Enduring Innocence3 mana
- Mentor of the Meek3 mana
Combos with Elena, Turk Recruit
Known combos from Commander Spellbook that Elena, Turk Recruit is a piece of, and how many decks list them.
- Elena, Turk Recruit + Falco Spara, Pactweaver + Sensei's Divining Top + Etherium Sculptor1 decks
- Elena, Turk Recruit + Falco Spara, Pactweaver + Sensei's Divining Top + Helm Of Awakening
- Elena, Turk Recruit + Falco Spara, Pactweaver + Sensei's Divining Top + Cloud Key
- Elena, Turk Recruit + Falco Spara, Pactweaver + Sensei's Divining Top + Stone Calendar
- Elena, Turk Recruit + Falco Spara, Pactweaver + Sensei's Divining Top + Semblance Anvil
- Elena, Turk Recruit + Falco Spara, Pactweaver + Sensei's Divining Top + Ugin, The Ineffable
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