Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge

Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge

Legendary Creature — Vampire Wizard · {1}{U}{B}{R} · Black/Red/Blue commander

Flying When Jeleva enters, each player exiles the top X cards of their library, where X is the amount of mana spent to cast Jeleva. Whenever Jeleva attacks, you may cast an instant or sorcery spell from among cards exiled with Jeleva without paying its mana cost.

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What Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge 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 Jeleva enters, each player exiles the top X cards of their library, where X is the amount of mana spent to cast Jeleva.
• Triggered ability · attackWhenever Jeleva attacks, you may cast an instant or sorcery spell from among cards exiled with Jeleva without paying its mana cost.
• Keyword · flyingflying

What a Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge deck needs

Plays as spellslinger. 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)
• cheap instants and sorceries (every one you cast feeds it)
• cheap spells and lands to play off its impulse draw (exiled cards must be played that turn)
• haste, evasion and protection for the commander, and extra combats (its own attack is the engine)

The Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge deck plan

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

• 6× Put haste on the commander the turn it resolves — a tap ability is unusable otherwise
• 6× Exile a permanent you control and return it — the button a value-ETB deck presses
• 22× Instants and sorceries — for a magecraft/prowess commander the spell COUNT is the engine
• 8× A permanent whose value is in its enter-the-battlefield trigger — the payload a blink deck reuses
• 4× Make the commander connect — a body that never deals combat damage never triggers
• 5× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
• 9× Find the exact card the plan needs
• 2× Answer a spell or ability before it resolves
• 1× Answer a whole board at once

Best cards for Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge

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