Messenger Jays
Creature — Bird
Flying
Council's dilemma — When this creature enters, starting with you, each player votes for feather or quill. Put a +1/+1 counter on this creature for each feather vote and draw a card for each quill vote. For each card drawn this way, discard a card.
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- The List
- Price
- $0.35
- EDHREC rank
- #14282
Messenger Jays is a five-mana 2/4 flyer that draws you a card when it enters — a passable rate in Limited, a below-curve slot in Commander. The effect is real but the cost isn't competitive enough to earn a 99-card slot when cheaper draw-on-ETB options exist.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Messenger Jays is legal in Commander, Legacy, Vintage, Pauper, and Oathbreaker, but the only format where it sees any real play is Pauper, where common-only card draw at common rarity has genuine scarcity value. In Commander, five mana for a 2/4 flyer plus a single draw is too slow — the format is flooded with two- and three-mana cantrip creatures that do more. Legacy and Vintage have zero interest in this rate. Pauper is the honest home: the common pool thins out draw options fast, and Messenger Jays at least replaces itself on a relevant body.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.35 bulk tier
At $0.35, Messenger Jays sits firmly in bulk territory, and nothing about its demand profile suggests that changes. It's a fine pickup if you're building Pauper on a shoestring, but there's no scarcity or competitive pressure to move the price.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.