Jeleva, a heleva good Commander

Commander / EDH clayperce

SCORE: 57 | 45 COMMENTS | 9563 VIEWS | IN 33 FOLDERS


GobboE says... #1

Nice deck. Your deck is more single player oriented than mine Spell Scourge (Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge), I think. I really like Supplant Form and Strionic Resonator

I am, myself, not a big fan of Phthisis (to high on black mana to cast easily from hand if need be), Hymn to Tourach (no effect on multiplayer game) or Anticipate (the cards to to the bottom of library, while you might want to stack the top cards).

I would suggest cards that allow you extra turns: while cruel to your opponents (mostly they do not make for fun games) , they give you a big advantage (often even game winning). Especially Time Stretch

September 4, 2015 5:19 a.m.

clayperce says... #2

Thanks tons, GobboE, for your comments!

Yeah, I've almost pulled Phthisis a couple times. I actually kind of enjoy casting it from my hand (using the suspend cost) because it puts a fun clock on the board, and nobody is sure how it might go off. But I wish it had a broader application ... you're totally right about how the deck is still too single-player focused.

Oh, that's too funny about Hymn to Tourach! I love that card and it seemed really in-flavor with Jevela. But I was totally blind to how useless it is in Commander until you pointed it out. I'm gonna miss it for sure, but I'm excited to think about what else I could do with the slot!

Time Stretch will be a GREAT add in the future, but I'm shying away from it for now ... partly because of the cost but mostly because I'm a pretty slow player and my group would probably kill me or doze off if I played it without an immediately obvious win! :-)

Thanks again!

September 5, 2015 1:06 p.m.

I love Jevela! She has a lot of applications outside of her obvious ability to cheat big spells out. I've played with her a lot and use her as my control deck killer in my deck to kill the hermit druid. I recomend trying to play with Doomsday. I know you mentioned no tutors but this card is just so much fun and with Jeleva you pic the cards you want her to cheat out of your deck because they'll be the only ones left! I also like Doomsday for putting a clock on those group games that are taking a little too long and you want to either end the game or try for an insta win through Laboratory Maniac. Anyway, good luck with further upgrades!

September 6, 2015 5:22 p.m.

clayperce says... #4

Thanks EndlessBlackout, that's a really unique and fun win-con! I'll definitely take a hard look at them!

September 6, 2015 11:55 p.m.

griffstick says... #5

I love the command zone

October 26, 2015 1:36 p.m.

clayperce says... #6

griffstick, me too. They're AWESOME!

October 26, 2015 1:38 p.m.

griffstick says... #7

Episode #73 was my idea. I sent them an email about lingo and slang used in MTG. It was really cool when they emailed me back it was even cooler when they made an episode about it and shouted me out as joseph g. magic jargon

October 26, 2015 1:55 p.m.

clayperce says... #8

griffstick, no way!
That's so cool!

I actually listened to that episode just the other day, on a drive up to Dallas!

October 26, 2015 2:02 p.m.

hosshughes says... #9

Nice deck +1! A couple of things I would think about adding: Spellbinder is really great and cheap too. I would cut Clockspinning with only three (if I counted right) suspend cards. I would also cut Nekusar, the Mindrazer and Temple Bell as the card draw is less important to you since you'll be focusing on casting with Jeleva and you're only giving fodder to opponent combo decks.

December 6, 2015 10:01 a.m.

clayperce says... #10

Thanks, hosshughes!
I really like the idea of a Spellbinder, and I agree with you on Nekusar and the Bell. I've become much less of a group hug fan over time, and pulling those will make room for more goodstuff!

I've gone back and forth on Clockspinning though. I'll be all ready to pull it and then I'll combat trick some dude attacking with +1/+1 counters or totally mess with a Planeswalker, and I'll be all I LOVE THIS CARD. Until it whiffs on me again. But I really appreciate the outside look at it, and I feel it's even more on the fence now.

Thanks again!

December 6, 2015 12:23 p.m.

I've been playing with this and i never play control ever. But this was so much fun to play.. dang it.. What are your thoughts about adding Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker?

December 31, 2015 3:05 p.m.

clayperce says... #12

Craby4Tappedout,
I'm so glad you're enjoying the deck! I had a similar experience ... I pretty much hated playing black, until I saw it through Jeleva's eyes!

I think Planeswalker utility is really meta-dependent, so it's hard to say. My group pretty much lives to hate on 'walkers, so I would never run one as powerful as Nicol Bolas personally ... except maybe in some hypothetical 5-color deck with Doubling Season, so I could drop-then-immediately-ultimate him! I think if I had an extra ~$10 to put into the deck, I'd probably get some slightly better lands and either Insurrection or Thassa, God of the Sea off my maybeboard. Or maybe save up for a Scroll Rack.

Do you think your group would let you proxy him for a game or two? If they'll let him make it around the table a couple times, I think he'd be awesome.

December 31, 2015 3:35 p.m.

griffstick says... #13

I like Phthisis and I think about using it all the time never actually add it into my decks. Just wondering when you use this spell its never for it's suspend cost that would not work very well but when you do cast cast it how effective is it and how often does this do leathal amounts of damage.

December 31, 2015 4:14 p.m.

clayperce says... #14

griffstick,
I like the card, but am not in love with it. For whatever reason, I don't think I've ever exiled it with Jeleva, so I've only cast it from hand. Early game it's great, because I can cast with Suspend and it literally puts a clock on the board which totally affects gameplay. I've had folks desperate to play a fatty who've agreed to not beat on me for a few turns if I agreed to not target them when the Suspend came off. And I've had folks deliberately wait an extra turn to play a fatty, just so I'd zing someone else and not them. I can't recall ever casting it late game though ... if I have it certainly wasn't for the win. :-)

Hope this helps!

December 31, 2015 4:40 p.m.

clayperce, I have him already, that's why I kinda want to use him, haha. My budget for decks is a total of $100, including cards I own already. That is a rule we do in our group as to not break banks but keeping thing somewhat even. With that in mind, I am trying to figure out what to upgrade to get to that mark.

December 31, 2015 4:41 p.m.

clayperce says... #16

Craby4Tappedout,
Oh, I'd totally play him them. Worst case, he doesn't live long enough to even get a +3, and you just swap him out for something else next game. Best case, he's the Best Card Evar! :-D

December 31, 2015 4:46 p.m.

So what lands would you upgrade then?

December 31, 2015 5 p.m.

clayperce says... #18

Craby4Tappedout,
Hmm, I'm not actually sure. Broadly, I'd like to get rid of as much as I possibly could that says "enters the battlefield tapped", while still keeping the same amount of color fixing. I think a small investment in land could really speed up the deck. Not a full turn of course, but a lot.

In practice, I'd basically review the Lands part of Epochalyptik's article on Building an EDH Deck, then pull up the Jeleva page at ManabaseCrafter, set the minimum rating to 4-1/2 or 5 stars and the retail price at $2.00 or $2.50, and fiddle around with it for a while ... swapping cards in and out here on TappedOut and Playtest II'ing until I had something I liked.

Sorry I don't have more specifics, but hope that helps!

December 31, 2015 6:18 p.m.

andypants040 says... #19

Insidious Dreams is nice with Jeleva. You can put the spells you want on the top of your library right before casting her.

February 2, 2017 12:33 p.m.

clayperce says... #20

andypants040,
Yeah, Insidious Dreams would certainly be good in a lot of Jeleva decks, but you may have missed this in the deck description: I'm aiming for a 75% build with no tutors.

Thanks though!

February 2, 2017 1:20 p.m.

andypants040 says... #21

Fair enough. I've never heard of 75% deck building before but it sounds cool. It's very similar to my EDH philosophy

February 2, 2017 1:38 p.m.

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