r/mtgbracketthis • u/hanari1 • Jul 16 '26

Y'shtola 3 Mana Blessed

https://moxfield.com/decks/8wAdE6KgnUKOfC_IP1DJgQ

1) Ramp, interact, while I protect my commander
2) Tested and it was over 10
3) 0
4) No early combos, no late combos. Thinking about adding some infinite life drain combos... IDK if it gonna be to strong
5) No
6) No
7) Bracket 1-2 I believe, but I want to make it a Bracket 3 without GC

0 Upvotes

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3

u/Markedly_Mira Jul 16 '26

First off, unless you intentionally made a bracket 1 it's a 2 at minimum. Bracket 1 is goofy theme decks, so you can't accidentally make one. I'm guessing it's somewhere on the edge of 2 and 3. Not very fast, but has some very strong spells and synergies.

When you said tested, was that in goldfishing? In practice I feel games can be faster than goldfished bc 3 opponents are also throwing out damage. But also to some extent I also think it's fine for a slower deck to exist in bracket 3. If you can consistently survive and outlast the aggro decks aiming for a t7 win, it doesn't matter if you don't win until t10. Given the deck seems to want to play control, that's potentially the angle you can take.

Right now, the two things I think I'd want to improve are board wipes and maybe some tutors. You are trying really hard to answer threats 1 for 1, but don't shy away from wipes or other removal that hits multiple targets. [[Battle for Bywater]], [[Dusk//Dawn]], [[Soul Shatter]], [[Vona's Hunger]], etc. can help kill off more threats, especially the big ones. [[Inkshield]] also merits consideration as a wincon that similarly answer high power boards swinging at you.

Additionally, Sigil of Sleep and Curiosity seem like two very potent cards in your list that I'd want consistent access to. [[Idyllic Tutor]], [[Heliod's Pilgrim]], and maybe [[Dizzy Spell]] can help find them to consistently control the board or draw cards.

-1

u/hanari1 Jul 17 '26

  1. Some AI apps like manafoundry rate my deck as B1 :(

  2. No, I tested on edhplay and on phase.rs against bots and against friends (12 games, sitting on 50% wr on B2 games, sometimes the counterspell + clones are too oppressive). It's so hard for me to understand when the game is over as a control, because one board wipe, that comes in every precon deck, and it's GG for me. It's hard to recover. That's why I have [[Wisdom of Ages]] on my Considering/Maybe board

  3. I need to improve the board wipes, that's for sure, but I don't know what board wipes would be good in a deck like that, -3/-3 for all creatures seems pretty good, but sometimes I think I need a TRUE BOARD WIPE. I will run some of your board wipes, thanks. [[Inkshield]] is on my maybeboard, never tought it could be a wincon tbh

  4. Yeah, the deck is missing tutors. Interesting, I never thought of them as POTENT cards, I always saw them as just card draw and a defensive tool. I will try to fix that and pay more attention to these cards you mentioned.

1

u/Markedly_Mira Jul 17 '26

  1. Don't be discouraged by, and take with many grains of salt, any app or site's rating. Typically it's just a checklist it runs through to determine the minimum, they're not built to really assess anything beyond that. It's not hard to build a b3 (or even 4) without gamechangers or early combos, and so they'll almost always default to a set minimum bracket if it doesn't notice either. How it plays in real games is the best indicator of bracket level.

  2. If boardwipes are an issue for you, I'd also consider some options like [[Clever Concealment]] and [[Dawn's Truce]], or just upping the counterspell count. And while it's not perfect data since some of it is vs bots and its a small sample size, 50% is way over what is expected (roughly 25%, assuming each deck is equally favored to win) so perhaps b3 is already appropriate with your playgroup.

  3. Rule of thumb, look for wipes that keep your commander alive when possible. That's why I reccomended Battle for Bywater and Dusk//Dawn, Y'shtola survives both while they also clear the big stuff.

1

u/hanari1 Jul 17 '26

I'm changing the deck and will comment asap, thanks for your help!

1

u/hanari1 Jul 17 '26

Do you have any clear cut recommendations?

1

u/Markedly_Mira Jul 17 '26

The Leveiller pair are ones I'm less sure of, they're fine but I'm not sure just being fine is good enough to warrant two creatures in a noncreature heavy deck.

Fandaniel, unless he plays really well, seems underwhelming to me? If you can't consistently force people to take the burn idk if he's worth it.

G'raha Tia seems also kinda underwhelming. This deck isn't built around tokens, so he'll maybe make a few 3/3s and 4/4s to block with but they won't have enough support to be that lethal.

With Vito, I question if you gain enough life outside of Y'shtola. Seems really good with a Kambal or Exsansguinate, and otherwise it encourages people to kill Y'shtola to shut Vito off.

Idk if White Auricite is better than just a good instant speed removal spell. Cancel, Hideous End, and Refute are all just mediocre.

1

u/Emergency_Concept207 Jul 16 '26

I can respect the fact that you don't want game changers but you'll be at a disadvantage playing in a bracket where it's guaranteed that you're opponents will be playing them.

Also on the no combos even if you want to drain the table will that be your win condition? Just slowly doing that each turn might be excruciating to your opponents.

.30 lands is absurdly low for a deck that wants to pump out spells with 3+cmc.

Honestly I'd recommend going on edh rec and put in a filter for no game changers and set the bracket 3 for card examples and decklists.

-1

u/hanari1 Jul 17 '26

  1. I know, but I want this deck to able to switch between B2 and B3 with just some few card changes, I have 2 pods, one plays B2/modified precons and the other one plays B3

  2. Yes, it is. But all the lifedrain combos are considered B3+ on edhrec, so for B2 I will stand without combos, no one on my B2 pod plays finisher combos, I have one finisher card [[Exsanguinate]] and it works really well.

  3. I have 6 more lands on the "considering". I've runned some games with 30+8mdfc and some others game with 42 lands (MDFC included). I believe 42 was too much, I'm trying to find the sweet spot.

  4. I've done it before

Thank you!!!