Nephalia Academy MTG Card

Eldritch Moon (EMN)
2016-07-22 - Number 205

The List (PLST)
2020-09-26 - Number EMN-205

Card sets	Released in 2 setsSee all
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Land

Key Takeaways

Nephalia Academy offers card protection, replacing lost resources to maintain advantage.
It saves mana and time by conserving cards, subtly boosting resource conservation.
As a flexible instant speed ability, it fortifies your strategy against unexpected threats.

Text of card

If a spell or ability an opponent controls causes you to discard a card, you may reveal that card and put it on top of your library instead of putting it anywhere else. : Add to your mana pool.

"May knowledge be our sanctuary." —Yora, academy researcher

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Nephalia Academy is designed to protect your hand from discard effects. By allowing you to draw a card whenever a spell or ability an opponent controls causes you to discard, Nephalia Academy can swing the momentum in your favor by replacing potentially lost resources and maintaining your grip on the game.

Resource Acceleration: This card, while not directly accelerating resources in the form of mana or tokens, offers a different kind of acceleration by conserving valuable card resources. Protecting your hand essentially saves the mana and turns you may have spent drawing into those cards again, keeping you ahead in the resource race.

Instant Speed: The ability of Nephalia Academy to be activated whenever you would discard a card ensures you’re always ready to respond. Unlike sorcery speed effects that need to be executed during your main phases, this ability’s flexibility can be the key to preserving your strategy against unsuspected threats played on your opponent’s turn.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Nephalia Academy forces players to fulfill a discard condition, which could deplete essential cards from their hand, especially detrimental in formats where hand optimization is critical.

Specific Mana Cost: This card’s reliance on a precise mana combination can constrain deck-building options, potentially making it incompatible with more color-diverse or mana-intensive strategies.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a mana value that leans on the higher side, Nephalia Academy may not be the most mana-efficient choice among available options, which could lead to tempo loss or delayed play developments in competitive matches.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Nephalia Academy offers a unique ability that can be slotted into various deck archetypes. It acts as insurance against discard strategies, ensuring that your valuable cards are not lost but rather transformed into potential new draws.

Combo Potential: This land’s effect can be particularly synergistic with decks that capitalize on drawing or putting cards from your library into your graveyard. For example, in a situation where your opponent forces a discard, you can replace that potential loss with an opportunity to strategically place specific cards on top of your library.

Meta-Relevance: With a shifting landscape in competitive play, having a card like Nephalia Academy can be crucial. It’s a non-intrusive addition to your land base that can give you an edge against decks heavy on hand disruption, keeping your key pieces in reach and maintaining card advantage.

How to beat

Nephalia Academy is a unique utility land in MTG that provides protection against discard strategies. When dealing with this academy on the battlefield, it is pivotal to alter your approach. If your strategy heavily relies on making your opponent discard their hand, Nephalia Academy’s ability to replace a card drawn during their next turn can significantly dampen your plan’s effectiveness.

Thus, to effectively overcome Nephalia Academy, consider using exile effects or forced sacrifice to disrupt your opponent’s hand and battlefield presence without triggering the academy’s protective ability. Additionally, focusing on direct damage or alternate win conditions that don’t hinge on hand disruption can sidestep the advantage Nephalia Academy provides. Executing a strategy that does not revolve solely around targeting your opponent’s hand is the key to bypassing the resilience of Nephalia Academy.

It’s crucial to recognize the limitations of your own deck and diversify your tactics, ensuring that a single card, like Nephalia Academy, won’t single-handedly counter your strategy. Adaptability is imperative when facing up against dynamic utility lands, no matter your opponent’s play style.

Cards like Nephalia Academy

Nephalia Academy has a distinctive role in Magic: The Gathering, joining a niche but sturdy lineup of lands that offer players both mana and utility against specific strategies. It bears comparison to cards like Witchbane Orb that also provide protection from targeted discard effects but with a significant difference. While Witchbane Orb safeguards the entirety of a player’s hand and field at the cost of four mana, Nephalia Academy only triggers when an opponent forces a card to be discarded, subtly replacing that card with the top card of your library.

Library of Leng presents another fascinating parallel. The artifact allows players to control their discards by placing them on top of their library, similar to the Academy’s effect, yet without the benefit of generating mana. Conversely, Nephalia Academy provides a land drop and can tap for colorless mana, though it lacks Library of Leng’s ability to preserve hand size. Another relative is Gaea’s Cradle, not in function, but in the way both cards can become key parts of a player’s strategy depending on the game state – be it ramping up mana or protecting one’s hand.

In conclusion, while Nephalia Academy’s effect may seem situational, within the right deck it can serve as both a crucial strategic element and a mana source, setting it apart from other cards with similar protective capabilities.

Cards similar to Nephalia Academy by color, type and mana cost

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Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Nephalia Academy MTG card by a specific set like Eldritch Moon and The List, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Nephalia Academy and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Nephalia Academy Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2016-07-22 and 2016-07-22. Illustrated by Adam Paquette.

#	Released	Name	Code	Symbol	Number	Frame	Layout	Border	Artist
1	2016-07-22	Eldritch Moon	EMN		205	2015	Normal	Black	Adam Paquette
2	~~2020-09-26~~	The List	PLST		EMN-205	2015	Normal	Black	Adam Paquette

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Nephalia Academy has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Pioneer	Legal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Nephalia Academy card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date	Text
2016-07-13	If a spell or ability an opponent controls causes you to make a choice and you choose to discard a card, Nephalia Academy’s ability will apply.
2016-07-13	If you discard a card with madness, you’ll choose whether to exile it or put it on top of your library. If you put it on top of your library, you can’t cast it using madness.
2016-07-13	In a Magic game, cards are discarded only from a player’s hand. Effects that put cards from a player’s library into that player’s graveyard do not cause those cards to be discarded.
2016-07-13	When you apply Nephalia Academy’s effect, the card was still discarded. Abilities that trigger when a card is discarded will still trigger.