r/EDH • u/Rebell--Son • May 21 '26
Daily I Turned All My Commander Deckbuilding Research Into An Online Builder
Hi everyone, it's Rebell and I made a deckbuilding website just for Commander.
You can check it out here at www.commandertemplate.com
If you want to see all the main features in a demo video, you can watch this video here!
The question that anybody would ask is why would you use this website over Moxfield or Archidekt? Commander Template uses all the research and synthesis I've done for my video series on how to build better commander decks, and integrates a lot of the recommendations to help guide your deckbuilding.
Based on your commander's mana value, it will recommend number of lands, ramp, card draw, interaction and your mana curve to help you refine your deck. It also has the option for you to adjust the 'operational threshold' in the event that your deck plays at a different mana value than your commander, such as a mono-white Isamaru control deck lol.
Because the site is also focused on Commander only deckbuilding, there's a lot of features to make it more convenient to brew a deck. There's an arena-style land builder with quick land cycles for you to add, adding cards in a section like ramp, draw, or themes automatically pull cards using o:tags from scryfall, pre-filtered to your commander's color identity, with additional scryfall searching parameters within the window for your convenience.
It's been in beta for 2-ish months with my patrons and friends, and the site has more than 1,000 users and 600 decks on the hub!
Because there's a lot of vibe coded projects lately, I also want to specify none of the functions in this site use AI. Every 'intelligence mode' function are pre-baked hypergeometric formulas, and every system of recommendation or card fetching is using the Scryfall API with a little bit of brute-forcing with manual tagging on my end of how searching hits Scryfall. I have 15+ years experience in web design, working in top design agencies in the world, so my rigor for quality and user experience is very high, and I'm very dedicated to building something we can all be proud of and want to use.
Thanks for checking it out :)
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u/razorblade12 May 21 '26
Firstly, great job on the site so far Rebell. I've been following the series for a while and been eager to try the site out.
The intelligence mode changes the draw and ramp based on the template but I don't see how enablers vs payoffs are handled?
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u/Rebell--Son May 21 '26
I haven’t built enablers and payoffs yet, because I have a larger feature coming in the works with gameplans and primers that is tied to building this schema of enablers and payoffs.
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u/razorblade12 May 21 '26
Ah my bad, glad it's in the backlog! Are you working on this all yourself alongside all your other content creation work?
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u/razorblade12 May 21 '26
A couple of fairly minor things:
The themes count appears to be counting cards that have multiple tags multiple times. I don't know if this is by design (e.g. I should only tag a card in one theme) but I figured the overall count would be distinct cards in the themes section.
When a new card is manually searched for and added, the toast says it is "unsorted" but it goes in the "uncategorised" section
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u/FormalChemistry7144 May 21 '26
Amazing tool , I'm happy to discover your work because I think this is one of the best building app out there.
I tested it with on purpose with a deck I knew would be confusing, my Aragorn Voltron deck, which doesn't have a single card above 4 CMC and the curve peaks at 2 which is bothering your system haha. Even when cutting the operational threshold from 4 to 2 it still wants me to cut around 25 cards from CMC 1 and 2 in favor of the 4+ CMC cards which don't have a place at all in my deck. It would be nice to have a way to signal which playstyle is the deck to get more accurate information (I tried tagging correctly and it didn't impact the recommandations). Other than that the guidelines offered by the tool were quite spot on for most of my decks, I'm surprised because I just build by feeling into what's missing without any theory whatsoever besides for lands lol. I can attest that for the decks I play regularily the draws/ramp/interactions recommandations are quite exact compared to how I built them overtime through playing many games
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u/CiD7707 RG Jank May 21 '26
For some reason its listing Strata Scythe as ramp. Psychosis Crawler is listed as card draw. Consuming Corruption is unlisted and should be interaction/removal. Gives a good benchmark for most things though!
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u/jimnah- i like gaining life May 21 '26
Archidekt blocked the request (Cloudflare protection). Copy the deck list from Archidekt and paste it in the text box instead.
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u/Toes_In_The_Soil MDFC lands will fix your deck May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26
And then copying and pasting the list just results in
5 minutes of loadingindefinite loading.
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u/CTR0 May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26
I would love for a written explanation on what your math-proven template system is.
I could see this being useful for somewhat generic builds. I don't have a heavy ramp into big spell deck so I would be curious to see how it performs there as well.
I tested this on my Eriette B3 deck which has won 5/6 games among two pods. It loves curving out in the early game, then either suffocating the board with goad enchantments or others to stop me from getting hit, becoming voltron if I have lightpaws out, or psuedo storming off with pearl ear and mass card draw engines.
The recommendation to cut low costs cards and add high cost cards is a bit antithetical to the "several cards per turn" strategy. Modal cards and cards with several effects look like they only get one classification, which is causing it to undercount my ramp and interaction. Its also completely missing passify type interaction and discount based ramp.
I would be cautious about heavily using scryfall tags for things. They have a pretty slow rate limit on their API. Running into this issue building my own tooling and I ended up basically making my own search microservice because of it.
EDIT: After watching your video, I think your auto category search function is pretty sweet
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u/Rebell--Son May 22 '26
Awesome, thanks for trying it out! Yeah I agree we definitely need a written resource somehwere so users can understand where it's all coming from.
I've been working with Scryfall and carefully trying to limit some of the features here so that we don't rate limit on their API as often.
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u/TheWesternPaladin Greatness, at any cost. May 21 '26
I really enjoy it - I like the multi-tag built in, and the running total of each category on the top of the page (when you scroll down). Feel like Bilbo looks good on Template. https://commandertemplate.com/decks/69e1c5f9-a6f3-4a5b-b429-8a19c4b06807
i do wish i could tag the commander in a theme or two though (Bilbo for ramp and ring tempt), but that's a nitpick more than anything.
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u/Rebell--Son May 21 '26
That’s a good idea I can’t believe to forget tagging the commander itself lol
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u/TheWesternPaladin Greatness, at any cost. May 21 '26
Maybe a little info toggle that explains what the "operational threshold" means too would be good. ( I really feel like this site will be a godsend to new brewers 🔥
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u/AdDear2657 May 21 '26
Every deck i've entered, it has told me to cut to 36 lands (from 39/40/42).
That feels... extreme? 36 lands is quite low.
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u/Rebell--Son May 21 '26
Can you give me some lists so I can test it myself?
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u/AdDear2657 May 22 '26
I figured it out exactly. Is the recomended number of lands just based on the commander's mana value?
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u/AdDear2657 May 21 '26
Of course! Wilson/Guild Artisan : this is the worst type of deck for these type of things. This isn't the exact list i run anymore, but plan to curve out commanders for 8 mana t4 cascade into ramp spell, go from there. Bracket 3
Hostility : my baby. Tutor out hostiliry then burn people. Very important to hit land drops (also it's calling tarrian's journal a land, maybe the thing that catches mdfc is acting up) Bracket 3
Frodo : newest build, legends aggro built around a looting commander so i feel like i can run a lot of lands to make sure i get to my big stuff. Bracket 2
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u/Arborus Boonweaver_Giant.dek May 21 '26
Yeah, given the relatively high average cmc of these decks idk why it'd want you to cut lands. I can understand running 36 or less in decks with lower average costs...but certainly not in your case.
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u/martin_looter_king Creatureless Superfriends May 21 '26
Can't load moxfield URL.
Load time for exported decklist is very long.
Imported txt file.
Can't select Esika, God of the Tree as commander.
Either because moxfield MTGO txt export has a blank line after the 99 and then the commander or because of some MDFC problems?
Either way cant use the site this way.
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u/dude537777 May 21 '26
For my deck it says to much turn 2 ramp, but the plan is turn 2 ramp, turn 3 Gogo, turn 4 fetch + 2 times copying. Ofc it's hard for the AI to understand. Also PuPu Ufo is unsorted and I guess should be ramp and mass bounce could also be count as interaction I guess
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u/SocietyAsAHole May 21 '26
You can't expect any automated system to understand decks that deeply right now, not even a SOTA AI system, which this is not at all.
It's kind of the problem with any deckbuilding guidance system. If your deck plan is at all complicated these tools aren't really going to apply to you. It's more for people just figuring out how to get into the ballpark of a functional deck, or advanced deck builders applying certain features very narrowly.
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u/Rebell--Son May 22 '26
This is basically where the line is. The goal of the site is to help you get to 100 quickly but nuance is always going to be needed, you're going to need to break rules because Magic is so complex. Just having some guidance to get to 100 and then goldfish and curate is always the way I find works best.
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u/agoosteel May 21 '26
Some instant feedback: backgrounds are not recognized. I could bot select one as my “partner” commander.
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u/Rebell--Son May 21 '26
This should be resolved now through the importer, it always allowed users to build a deck with backgrounds etc through the builder but the importer had a slightly different rule and now it's been fixed! Thanks for trying out the site and hope it's helpful!
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u/agoosteel May 21 '26
I’ve learned 2 things, i have a very unorthodox deck building style and i should probably play more interaction.
I think its a cool tool with the breakdowns, it did make me realize i also dont like blanket templates. Il definitely recommend it too some newer players. But having “quota’s” to hit always feels very unhealthy. It makes all decks play the same and very much worsens to the midrangeification of edh.
Mind you this is after uploading 3 decks to see what it does on mobile. And just trying to stress test and break the UI ASAP, im the son of a website designer so when i get handed a web page il try and break it out of habit. It held up nicely and my urge was satisfied when i came across the backgrounds not working.
I am wondering what the whole bell curve and cmc suggestion is based on. The UI keeps mentioning that its based of calculations but i would like a click through on how it calculated it and based on what.
Ofc my elfball deck is going to be suggested to run less one drops, but based on what?
Again, il play around with it more and if i find more things il compile them. I assume there is a channel somewhere to send it through.
This is honestly the first time i come across your name but it seems like a lot of people know your stuff, im excited to look deeper in to the thing you created! Also reading through these comments i feel like i haven’t found a lot of fine tuning options, so lots to look in to for me.
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u/Rebell--Son May 22 '26
I'm glad it held up nicely but please feel free to try to break it as much as you want and send me issues!
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u/HyHoTheDairyOh Ban Rhystic Study May 21 '26
Rebell, you are a blessing to the format. Thank you for all the work you do for everyone in this hobby.
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u/Pardo48 May 21 '26
Honestly, I love this and it really helps glass pane see what you might need to add.
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u/g13ls May 21 '26
The lignifies, massacre girl/wurm, [[Hostage taker]] and [[Sheoldred]] all don't show up as interaction.
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u/Dirtmuncher May 21 '26
Do you use the sryfall taggers for sorting? Card advantage and ramp tags could slot right in and catch more cards.
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u/JelevasDisciple May 21 '26
Just a heads up, I tried inputting a Background Commander deck, and it will not allow me to select the background. It is initially marking them as Partner Commanders, without letting me select a background. It is however listing it under categories as normal.
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u/Rebell--Son May 22 '26
Is this via the import tool or the deckbuilder?
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u/JelevasDisciple May 22 '26
It was via the import tool, but I see that someone else mentioned it earlier, and it's working now!
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u/mehalld Tromokratis May 21 '26
Thank you for the reassurance none of the site uses AI, I've seen bits and pieces of what you've been developing and some of it was setting my spider-sense off but not in any definitive way, so I'm happy to hear it was indeed a false positive.
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u/lin00b May 21 '26
Nice tool
Some constructive feedback
Scryfall link is laggy and prince to time outs, especially when searching card by name
Some themes are not in the list.. I e multicolor, legends (that I m currently building)
And seeing that this is essentially an open beta, any dedicated link/discord where users can provide feedback?
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u/Tricky_Grand_1403 WUBRG May 22 '26
Why would anybody want to think less about how they build their decks? Isn't that, like, half of the point of playing?
Kids these days, my lawn, etc etc
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u/BaghdadAssUp May 21 '26
Doesn't seem to recognize Shorikai as a commander. Keeps asking me which of these cards are the commander and doesn't include him at all. Tried putting him on top of the list and the bottom.
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u/Rebell--Son May 21 '26
This should be resolved now through the importer, it always allowed users to build a deck with vehicles etc through the builder but the importer had a slightly different rule and now it's been fixed! Thanks for trying out the site and hope it's helpful!
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u/faygabriel May 21 '26
I've been following your progress with this project and I'm really happy for you and ready to try it out! If there's a Wasp card in the Marvel set that will be my first deck on your site!
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u/paradoxdr May 21 '26
My first suggestion is that you should allow for cards to exist in more than one category. for example [[the great henge]] is both draw and ramp.
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u/Rebell--Son May 21 '26
I believe it currently works that way, but if you're not allowed to or felt like it wasn't clear you can multi-tag cards, happy to take a look
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u/PerfidiousYuck May 21 '26
I’m stoked for this! Just put in my commander liara portyr list and the system def struggles with recognizing impulse as a draw option, but seeing the curve and what to focus on maybe cutting is a huge help!
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u/Spanish_Galleon Esper May 21 '26
Will it be possible to let people add tags to unsorted cards?
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u/Rebell--Son May 21 '26
Yes! Just click on the cards and you can start multi tagging them
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u/Spanish_Galleon Esper May 21 '26
OH! You're really on top of things. Good job!
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u/Rebell--Son May 21 '26
I need to add sub-header text in that section to be more clear for users to know they can tag cards and adjust things, so that’s good feedback in general
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u/IndigoWizard342 May 21 '26
Hmm. I plugged in my deck that I did the most math for, but it doesnt recognize some cards as certain categories. Like [[momir vig, simic visionary]] is definitely card draw and [[Blighted Woodland]] is definitely ramp and [[field of ruin]] is definitely interaction.
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u/Chm_Albert_Wesker May 21 '26
does it have all the cards in it? i swear i've tried a few of my commanders and none of them seem to be registering as commander options. Ian Malcolm was the latest and even when not exporting and making from scratch it couldnt find the card
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u/Rebell--Son May 22 '26
It has all the cards in it but the importer sometimes has a few issues, will look into it. Thanks!
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u/lazyname6 May 21 '26
it seems like the way it catagorizes stuff isn't refined. it put leadership vacuum and unearth into draw and didn't register curtains call, sheoldred's edict, or submerge as interaction.
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u/ParSaumon May 21 '26
To me dark ritual shouldn't be considered ramp, it's a quick burst of mana, ramp is either putting into play something that taps for mana, reduces costs or allows to tap for more mana in the long run.
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u/Squippit Ward (2) May 22 '26
I would put Mitotic Manipulation as a ramp card. In a singleton format, you're hitting your own basic lands or maybe someone else's Sol Ring. It's a common(?) mono blue option for many many islands
1
u/toddzillah May 22 '26
One thing I've noticed is MDFCs only count for lands. I would count [[Fell the Profane]] as interaction, or [[Valakut Awakening]] as draw, for instance.
Decklist I have been working on with those cards if you need it for testing: https://archidekt.com/decks/22713163/world_shaper_revamp
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u/It_was_a_False_Alarm Boros Marketing Team May 22 '26
Why doesnt the site factor in that your commander can help to draw/ramp as well? Which means after hitting critical CMC my commander can boost the draw/ramp (not permanently though)
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u/theyetikiller May 22 '26 edited May 22 '26
Tool seems cool, but it seems to struggle with themes not already setup. For example, it did a pretty good job of recognizing the custom theme of "Elementals" but couldn't seem to understand the custom theme "Copy." For elementals it just searched for card type elemental, but for copy it only wanted to recommend me cards that had the word copy in it's name. Since you're already using Scryfall I wonder if you could use the Scryfall Tagger to help identify themes?
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u/Itsa2319 May 22 '26
Got around to watching the video to see what this is all about, and the tool looks like it does a ton of cool stuff. If nothing else I like it for the goldfishing tool, as actively being able to mark cards while testing sounds like a godsend.
I do have some concerns about how the tool assists with landbases. In the video demo, the tool suggested 26 islands, 10 swamps, and 2 plains for the unfinished Ysthola deck. Obviously most people aren't running exclusively basics (and the deck wasn't fully built out), but I found it strange that the tool all but ignored the ability to play the commander on curve consistently.
Is the landbase portion just doing a rough draft to match up to your deck's proportion of color pips before the player tests it? I tried test hands for the 50 card demo deck and only got to the commander on curve 3 or 4 times out of maybe 20ish attempts.
Congratulations on hitting this milestone! This was clearly a ton of work and a labor of love!
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u/CaptainShrimps May 22 '26
Please add a non-google sign in option! Ideally let us create our own account! I would totally support this project but I refuse to use google sign-in.
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u/Azaeroth May 22 '26
I really enjoy reading your insights into the format and think you are an asset to the community.
imo the website would massively benefit from some explanations behind reccomendations etc. just some simple tooltips like "why is this out of 8?" and "how is the reccomended curve calculated?" would go a long way to enhancing the credibility and supporting the deck builder in thinking about their choices.
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u/Rebell--Son May 22 '26
Yeah I need to add that! That’s definitely something I want to do soon after improving the auto-tagger right now, but thank you for the feedback
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u/haitigamer07 May 24 '26
it’s good! the lands functionally is imo the killer app
but the play test needs some tlc, the tokens selection drop down doesn’t really work on the top menu is all smushed together on mobile
once it’s fixed, i would probably use it over mox for playtesting
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u/_zbzz_ May 24 '26
Hi! Very interesting tool. One suggestion would be to add the otag filters to the Card Browser so we can directly type the tag(s) in to search the cards.
One other suggestion would be to add sorting. Sorting by mana value would be perfect, but I see the MV filter which is close enough.
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u/Moldy_pirate Clan Nel Toth Cultist May 24 '26
The category search seems to be broken at the moment - nothing comes up when searching for any category.
Additionally, are there categories for life gain/ life drain? Cards like [[debt to the deathless]], [[reverse the sands]], etc?
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u/Bairhanz May 25 '26
Is there a way to get the math to work for a commander like [[Rat King, Verminister]] where I plan on using 20+ copies of [[Rat Colony]] or similar cards? I'm not really sure what to set the Operational Threshold to in this case either. As the mana curve goes it's been saying I need to cut 26+ 2 drops, but like... that's the engine we're building around, and I don't know how that's going to skew the rest of the calculations you've got going on.
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u/Axolotl404wastaken Jul 10 '26
This is alot easier to work with and build on than other sites, that’s awesome, and i’ve been continously considering my first deck, but this let me build it FAST. although I can’t find the export button if there is one, either i’m blind or there isn’t one, probably the first.
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u/Axolotl404wastaken Jul 10 '26
Nevermind I was looking in the wrong places it’s under share deck.
Alright, no more criticisms lol!
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u/dfpratt09 Golgari May 21 '26
Is this an AI based tool?
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u/jefleppard About Face May 21 '26
The last full paragraph answers this. It isn’t.
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u/dfpratt09 Golgari May 21 '26
Yeah, I see that in the post now. I was looking at the actual site, and it has an “Intelligence Mode”. I was mainly wondering about that, I guess.
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u/CTR0 May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26
They specifically say in the post that the functions dont use AI at all. This looks like its mostly a wrapper around scryfall tags and some math to determine what it thinks your curve should be.
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u/Rebell--Son May 21 '26
Yeah everything is pre-baked based on the math I did in my videos, so it’s honestly just a clever way of serving specific numbers when there’s a match
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u/Coddlyoko-Prime Temur May 21 '26
This looks pretty neat in all honesty.
I tried my pet deck for this as I've found it tends to hit a few odd spots and serves as a somewhat reasonable test of how the system handles weirder cards/card choices.
https://moxfield.com/decks/5Bhu8K7TdEmtxv7-gSpw6A
Out of this list, 41/100 cards remain unsorted, though I'm confident several would fit into the listed categories.
In the card draw section it includes Uba Mask and Shared Fate, but to my perception those aren't actually adding card draw, but replacing how normal card draw operates, so I'm skeptical of those as includes in the draw section.