Jeleva, Nephalia's ScourgeJeleva, Nephalia's Scourge | Art by Cynthia Sheppard

This week on Precon Remastered, where we remake old precons into something that would go toe-to-toe with today's releases, we're taking on one of the most notorious preconstructed Commander decks of all time.

Yup, we're talking about that precon. Mind Seize earned its infamy off the back of one card: True-Name NemesisTrue-Name Nemesis (henceforth known as TNN). The new card became an all-star in Eternal formats (read: Legacy and/or Vintage), and took them by storm.

eBay listings were selling the entire deck except TNN. The precon was sold out everywhere, and was absurdly marked up. Back then, it caused an absolute uproar, and was eventually heard. The precon had been printed more frequently, driving down the price, and TNN was eventually reprinted at least once or twice.

Jeleva, Nephalia's ScourgeJeleva, Nephalia's Scourge is the obvious choice to run this precon. Nekusar, the MindrazerNekusar, the Mindrazer is exceptionally strong, but it doesn't do much here. And as much as I love ThraximundarThraximundar, he's just sitting there, menacingly.

The Rules of Precon Remastered

Here are our rules for remastering precons:

1. The value of the deck cannot exceed $120. This will apply to the reprints only, which gets to my first personal quirk.
2. Every card unique to the original precon stays in the deck. All those new cards that get released with precons remain in the list.
3. The land package should closely reflect what we get in precons these days (and, in my humble opinion, they're actually pretty good).
4. For at least until 2020, we're not tied to a particular set, so we're free to choose whatever we want. You can be assured I have ideas for 2020 and beyond, though.
5. Universes Beyond cards are not added. No exceptions, unless they have a in-universe variant.

With that out of the way, let's take a good look at what the Mind Seize precon looked like originally.

Original Mind Seize Precon Deck List

Mind Seize? More Like Mind Split

With Jeleva, Nephalia's ScourgeJeleva, Nephalia's Scourge at the helm, we can see that she needs us to run a ton of big, splashy spells that she can cast easily. Here's the problem: Because of each Commander 2013 precon having an identity crisis, the deck is split between trying to make Jeleva work and some support for the other commanders.

What we'll need to do is streamline the deck so that it's more focused. Worse still, Jeleva has to attack to get her trigger, and the precon doesn't provide many ways to protect her, let alone give her haste.

Also, there are 22 instants and sorceries in the deck, which is not an ideal number here. Amongst them are a few X-costing spells that don't work with our commander at all (because X will be zero when cast with Jeleva's ability). The main priority, on top of protecting Jeleva and sorting out that mana base, is to bump those numbers up. 22 is such a rookie number, after all.

The new cards don't really support our strategy all that much, but we unfortunately have to keep them in. For instance, Terra RavagerTerra Ravager mainly belongs in a more aggressive deck, while the three Curses have more niche applications.

Meanwhile, Eye of DoomEye of Doom is a much slower, inverted Oblivion StoneOblivion Stone. Hooded HorrorHooded Horror would've been much better if it were cheaper to cast. Even then, it's still better off elsewhere.

Mind Seize Remastered

Talk About a Glow-Up

Now, if you ask me, that looks much better! I've upped the instant/sorcery count on top of cutting the X-spells. Cards like Rise of the Dark RealmsRise of the Dark Realms and Aminatou's AuguryAminatou's Augury now grace our lineup. I kept some of the better hits from the stock list because at least they can still work here.

But now, amongst them, we have more ways to protect Jeleva, Nephalia's ScourgeJeleva, Nephalia's Scourge, like Return the FavorReturn the Favor, which can also copy spells. EvacuationEvacuation bounces the board, and works with our commander because then, if you had ran out of cards to cast with her ability, we can reset her ability! The bad news is that she'll hit each player for four cards, but it's still something. The same goes with Riptide LaboratoryRiptide Laboratory.

On top of better lands and ramp, I threw in both Lightning GreavesLightning Greaves and Lavaspur BootsLavaspur Boots to ensure that Jeleva, Nephalia's ScourgeJeleva, Nephalia's Scourge is protected, and can attack the turn she enters. We also have BrainstoneBrainstone, which functions like BrainstormBrainstorm (also in the new 99). We also have a few other spells like it, so be sure to use those before dropping Jeleva to ensure we always hit a target. Superior options would be great if you've got the money, like Sensei's Divining TopSensei's Divining Top.

Meanwhile, Harmonic ProdigyHarmonic Prodigy will double up on both of Jeleva's effects, making it especially potent here.

A Scourge No More

In a way, it's a bit of a shame that Jeleva fell off into obscurity, because she's capable of some big plays, so here's hoping I was able to revamp (hehe) some interest in her. I guess that's power creep for you. Anyway, tune in next time when we stumble upon our next entry in my other series with yet another typal commander.