Nyla wants a deck that plays sturdy creatures that also deal with opponents' cards. It also suits a deck that makes an army of small creatures and attacks with all of them.
Mana cost
Black ()
Power / toughness4 / 5
RarityRare
When Nyla enters, exile up to one target creature card from your graveyard. If you do, you lose X life and create X Clue tokens, where X is that card's mana value. (A Clue token is an artifact with ", Sacrifice this token: Draw a card.")
At the beginning of your end step, if you control no Clues, return target card exiled with Nyla to its owner's hand.
Picked for what they do in Nyla's deck. When two cards do the same job, the one with the lower comes first. All of them fit Nyla's color identity.Mana ValueThe total amount of mana a card costs, all added up. A card costing two generic and one green has a mana value of three. Wizards renamed this from "converted mana cost" in 2021, so older cards and articles may still use the old name.Open the full glossary
explain how Nyla works in tricky situations. They come from Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Magic.RulingThe official answer to how a card works in a tricky situation. Most rulings are written by Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Magic, and a few are notes from Scryfall, the card database Magic players use. A ruling explains a card. It does not change what the card says.Open the full glossary
Wizards of the Coast2 Oct 2025
Clue tokens are artifact tokens with "{2}, Sacrifice this token: Draw a card."
Wizards of the Coast2 Oct 2025
Creating a Clue token this way isn't the same thing as investigating. Notably, an ability that triggers whenever you investigate won't trigger because of creating a Clue token this way.
Wizards of the Coast2 Oct 2025
If Nyla leaves the battlefield before you return the card to your hand with the last ability, the card remains exiled without a way to return it to its owner's hand. If Nyla returns to the battlefield as a new object (such as if you airbend it and cast it again), it doesn't maintain connection to cards exiled by Nyla previously, and they cannot be targeted to return by the current Nyla.
Wizards of the Coast2 Oct 2025
Nyla, Shirshu Sleuth's second ability has an "intervening 'if' clause." That means the ability won't trigger at all unless you control no Clues at the beginning of your end step, and the ability will do nothing if you control a Clue by the time it resolves.
Color identityEvery color of mana symbol on a card, in its cost and in its rules text. Your commander's color identity sets the limit for your whole deck: every other card has to fit inside it. A deck led by a green and white commander cannot play a card with any blue in its color identity.Open the full glossaryBPlayers write colors as letters: B for black.MidrangeMidrange decks play solid creatures that also deal with opponents' cards, attacking when it is safe and defending when it is not. They sit in the middle: slower than an all-out attacking deck, sturdier than a deck built to answer everything.Open the Midrange pageValue CreatureA creature that does two jobs: it deals with an opponent's card when it arrives, then stays as a real attacker. Its enter the battlefield ability destroys, damages, counters or bounces something, and it has 3 or more power or an ability like flying that makes it hard to block. Answering your opponent and pressuring them with the same card is what a Midrange deck is built on. Shriekmaw, Meteor GolemOpen the Value Creature pageToken EngineMakes tokens again and again rather than once. A token is a creature or other permanent created by a card, with no card of its own. Something that makes one token gives you a body; something that makes them every turn gives you a board you can keep rebuilding after it is cleared. Grave Titan, Bitterblossom, OphiomancerOpen the Token Engine pageTarget RemovalRemoves a single chosen permanent by destroying it, exiling it or returning it to its owner's hand, however big it is. It is the precise answer to one problem, as opposed to a board wipe that hits everything. Damage and -X/-X can miss a big creature, so they are Damage Removal and -X/-X Removal instead. Swords to Plowshares, Beast WithinOpen the Target Removal pageTokensToken decks fill the battlefield with small creatures made by their cards, then attack with all of them or make them all bigger at once. A token is a creature (or other object) that a card creates, not a card from your deck.Open the Tokens pageETB ValueDoes something useful the moment it arrives: an enter the battlefield ability, which players shorten to ETB. You keep that effect even if the card is removed straight afterwards, which is why these pair so well with flicker cards that make them enter again. Solemn Simulacrum, The One RingOpen the ETB Value pageToken MakerCreates one or more tokens. Different cards make very different ones: creatures Grave Titan, Treasures Smothering Tithe, Clues Tireless Tracker or Food Gilded Goose. This is one of our largest tags, so pair it with an archetype or theme when you are hunting a specific kind.Open the Token Maker pageClues MatterClue tokens are artifacts you can pay 2 mana and sacrifice to draw a card. Making one is called investigate.Open the Clues Matter page
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, Sacrifice this token: Draw a card.")
Open the full glossary
