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Jaya Ballard, Task Mage

Legendary Creature — Human Spellshaper

{R}, {T}, Discard a card: Destroy target blue permanent.
{1}{R}, {T}, Discard a card: Jaya Ballard deals 3 damage to any target. A creature dealt damage this way can't be regenerated this turn.
{5}{R}{R}, {T}, Discard a card: Jaya Ballard deals 6 damage to each creature and each player.

CMC
3
Mana cost
{1}{R}{R}
Color identity
R
Rarity
rare
Set
The List
Price
$0.27
EDHREC rank
#16227
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Jaya Ballard, Task Mage card art
Jaya Ballard, Task Mage trades card advantage for repeated, targeted destruction — she can ping a creature, nuke an enchantment, or torch an entire hand at instant speed, all on a three-mana body you can replay from the command zone. The cost is real: every activation discards a card, so she hemorrhages your hand faster than almost any other commander.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern legal
pioneer not legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

Commander is where Jaya Ballard, Task Mage sees essentially all of her play, and even there she occupies a narrow niche — red spellslinger or discard-matters builds that can turn her self-discard into a resource rather than a liability. In Legacy and Vintage she's technically legal but never sees competitive play; a three-mana creature with no immediate board impact and no protection gets laughed off tables where the game ends on turn two. Modern is the same story — her activated abilities are powerful in a vacuum, but the mana investment per activation is brutal in a format that demands efficiency.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$0.27 bulk tier

At $0.27, Jaya Ballard, Task Mage is firmly bulk, and that price is stable — she's a casual-only card with a small dedicated audience and no competitive demand to spike her. Pick her up for pennies and don't expect movement in either direction.

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Sources

Mentioned

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    Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.