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docs(roadmap): add I-28, a sourced guide to building for each bracket #1296

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docs(roadmap): add I-28, a sourced guide to building for each bracket
KaelSensei Nov 8, 2026
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docs(references): correct the Game Changers history and bracket table
KaelSensei Nov 8, 2026
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docs(landscape): record online play as adjacent, starting with MainTable
KaelSensei Nov 8, 2026
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25 changes: 16 additions & 9 deletions .agents/skills/mtg-learn/references/commander-guide.md
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Expand Up @@ -134,20 +134,27 @@ With 4 players building boards, someone will wipe eventually. Build with recover

Before shuffling, Commander groups have a **pregame conversation** to set expectations. This is where the bracket system comes in.

### The Bracket System (Official since 2024)
### The Bracket System (beta since February 2025; rules as of October 21, 2025)

| Bracket | Name | Power Level | Game Changers | Feel |
| ------- | ---------- | ----------- | ------------- | ---------------------------------------------- |
| 1 | Exhibition | Low | 0 | Precons, jank, fun-first. Games go 10+ turns |
| 2 | Core | Medium | 0 | Upgraded precons, focused strategies. 6+ turns |
| 3 | Upgraded | Medium-High | Up to 3 | Optimized but still casual. 4+ turns |
| 4 | Optimized | High | Unlimited | High power, fast mana, compact combos |
| Bracket | Name | Game Changers | Mass land denial | Extra turns | Two-card combos | Expect to play at least |
| ------- | ---------- | ------------- | ---------------- | ----------- | ------------------ | ----------------------- |
| 1 | Exhibition | 0 | None | None | None | 9 turns |
| 2 | Core | 0 | None | No chaining | None | 8 turns |
| 3 | Upgraded | Up to 3 | None | No chaining | None before turn 6 | 6 turns |
| 4 | Optimized | Unlimited | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed | 4 turns |
| 5 | cEDH | Unlimited | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed | Any turn |

**Game Changers** are specific cards designated by Wizards of the Coast that dramatically warp games. They include things like fast mana (Mana Crypt), free counterspells (Force of Will, Fierce Guardianship), powerful engines (Rhystic Study, Smothering Tithe), and efficient tutors (Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor).
- **Intent comes first.** The checklist is a floor: a deck that meets it but plays stronger should "bracket up". Bracket 1 is theme-first; Bracket 5 is built for the competitive metagame.
- **The turn numbers are minimums**, not when games usually end.
- **Tutors are no longer restricted** (since October 2025); the most efficient ones are Game Changers instead. Precons are no longer automatically Bracket 2.

**Game Changers** are specific cards designated by Wizards of the Coast that dramatically warp games (53 cards as of February 9, 2026). They include fast mana (Mana Vault, Chrome Mox), free counterspells (Force of Will, Fierce Guardianship), powerful engines (Rhystic Study, Smothering Tithe), and efficient tutors (Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor). Mana Crypt is not a Game Changer: it has been banned in Commander since September 2024.

For how to build a deck for each bracket, with sources, see `docs/product/guides/commander-deckbuilding-by-bracket.md`.

### What to Say in a Pregame Conversation

- "My deck is Bracket 2, it's an upgraded precon. I run a Meren aristocrats deck that wins through draining opponents with Blood Artist effects."
- "My deck is Bracket 2 — Core. It's a Meren aristocrats deck that wins through draining opponents with Blood Artist effects."
- "No infinite combos, no stax. My most powerful card is probably Grave Pact."
- "I can win around turn 8-10 if unanswered."

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47 changes: 33 additions & 14 deletions docs/product/competitive-landscape.md
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Expand Up @@ -169,20 +169,39 @@ YouTube, podcasts, Discord and Reddit remain distribution channels. The March 20

---

## 8. Implications For The Roadmap

The November 2026 additions are I-14 through I-21 in [`roadmap.md`](./roadmap.md):

| Initiative | Job | Priority | Why it is separate |
| --------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| I-14 Verifiable natural-language search | English or French description to a visible, editable Scryfall query | Next | DeckCheck Smart Search and Farseek. This is search, not another deck generator |
| I-15 Rule 0 sheets and pod profiles | Shared intentions, combos, extra turns, resource denial, proxies and house rules | Next | CommanderSalt, DeckCheck DTI and EDHREC salt describe the table. They do not guarantee a balanced game |
| I-16 Decks from a collection | Rank lists and commanders by coverage, free copies and missing cost | Next | SuperBrew and Mana For Cards Discover. Depends on I-06. This is not reconciliation of a deck the player already chose |
| I-17 Precon path and tiered upgrades | Dated official list, diff from the box, reversible budget bundles | Next | EDHREC precon upgrades, DeckCheck and Farseek. This is not a copy of I-02 |
| I-18 Per-deck new-card radar | On-demand legal candidates for one deck, with a sourced explanation and a diff | Later | DeckCheck reports and EDHREC set pages. Notifications wait until the on-demand flow is validated |
| I-19 Offline game-night viewing | A chosen deck, primer and tokens, readable with no network | Next | ManaBox offline search. Read-only. A multi-device offline editor waits |
| I-20 Collaborative review | An invitee proposes a patch. The owner accepts or rejects it | Later | Archidekt collaborators. Live co-editing waits |
| I-21 Probability bench | Seeded multi-turn hand samples compared across snapshots | Later | Deckstats and Archidekt odds. I-07 logs and manual comparisons stay as they are |
## 8. Online Play: Adjacent, Out Of Scope

Online play stays a non-goal. These products are recorded so the boundary is explicit, and so a French audience overlap is not mistaken for a competing deckbuilder. Read on 8 November 2026 without signing in.

**MainTable** ([maintable.app](https://maintable.app)) is a free, ad-free browser table for Magic, launched in French with an English interface, and promoted through sponsored French Instagram and Threads posts. Its core is online play: Commander tables for three to eight players, duels, matchmaking, spectators, judges, voice through Discord and the Treachery variant. Players apply the rules themselves; an optional automated mode built on the Forge engine is labeled alpha ([rules guide](https://www.maintable.app/fr/mtg/pages/guide/rules/), [features](https://maintable.app/fr/mtg/pages/guide/features/)).

- **Overlap with MagicAIBuilder:** a deckbuilder with legality checks, a declared bracket plus an estimate from mass land denial, extra turns and tutors, a Game Changer search filter, curve and indicative EUR budget, co-occurrence card recommendations, solo testing, collection import, public decks, and — since Beta 2.20.0 on 2 November 2026 — owner-approved suggestions on public decks, the same job as I-20 ([versions](https://www.maintable.app/fr/pages/versions/)).
- **No overlap:** no AI, no explanation of card choices, no Rule 0 sheet, no bracket-based matchmaking, no cross-deck purchase planning.
- **Publisher and size:** WIZCARD EI, a French sole proprietorship that also runs a card shop, with a sister collection site, TCGEM ([terms](https://maintable.app/fr/pages/legal/terms/), [TCGEM](https://www.tcgem.app/)). Alpha 1.0.0 shipped on 8 October 2026 and Beta 2.0.0 on 1 November. On 8 November it showed 45 ranked players, a 17-member Discord and three public decks. No revenue model is stated.
- **Interoperability:** it imports pasted Moxfield, Archidekt, Cockatrice, MTGTop8, Magic-Ville and plain-text lists, and exports to the same formats. It has no public API. Our existing Moxfield and text exports should paste into it; that was not verified, because it needs an account.
- **Legal posture:** it presents itself as fan content under the [Wizards Fan Content Policy](https://company.wizards.com/en/legal/fancontentpolicy) and uses Scryfall images. Wizards has acted against rules-implementing clients before, so its longevity is uncertain.

**Playgroup Live** lets a host set a bracket on a lobby and reported 26,212 games in October 2026 ([page](https://playgroup.gg/commander-en-ligne), updated 7 September 2026). **TableCommander** is a free virtual tabletop launched in January 2026 ([about](https://tablecommander.com/about)). **SpellTable**, owned by Wizards, remains the webcam reference; it was not re-verified in this pass.

**What follows for the roadmap:** nothing new to build. I-20 gains a second shipped reference next to Archidekt. A dedicated MainTable export is not worth adding while it has no API and few users; check once, with an account, that a pasted Moxfield export imports cleanly. A partnership through `/api/v1` is worth revisiting only if it grows.

---

## 9. Implications For The Roadmap

The November 2026 additions are I-14 through I-21 and I-28 in [`roadmap.md`](./roadmap.md):

| Initiative | Job | Priority | Why it is separate |
| --------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| I-14 Verifiable natural-language search | English or French description to a visible, editable Scryfall query | Next | DeckCheck Smart Search and Farseek. This is search, not another deck generator |
| I-15 Rule 0 sheets and pod profiles | Shared intentions, combos, extra turns, resource denial, proxies and house rules | Next | CommanderSalt, DeckCheck DTI and EDHREC salt describe the table. They do not guarantee a balanced game |
| I-16 Decks from a collection | Rank lists and commanders by coverage, free copies and missing cost | Next | SuperBrew and Mana For Cards Discover. Depends on I-06. This is not reconciliation of a deck the player already chose |
| I-17 Precon path and tiered upgrades | Dated official list, diff from the box, reversible budget bundles | Next | EDHREC precon upgrades, DeckCheck and Farseek. This is not a copy of I-02 |
| I-18 Per-deck new-card radar | On-demand legal candidates for one deck, with a sourced explanation and a diff | Later | DeckCheck reports and EDHREC set pages. Notifications wait until the on-demand flow is validated |
| I-19 Offline game-night viewing | A chosen deck, primer and tokens, readable with no network | Next | ManaBox offline search. Read-only. A multi-device offline editor waits |
| I-20 Collaborative review | An invitee proposes a patch. The owner accepts or rejects it | Later | Archidekt collaborators, and MainTable's owner-approved suggestions since 2 November 2026. Live co-editing waits |
| I-21 Probability bench | Seeded multi-turn hand samples compared across snapshots | Later | Deckstats and Archidekt odds. I-07 logs and manual comparisons stay as they are |
| I-28 Deckbuilding guide by bracket | Sourced guidance for each of the five brackets, and a check of the open deck against one | Next | Wizards publishes rules without guidance; EDHREC and the press publish guidance without evidence labels; nothing in French |

Open work on the editor, production safety and collection ownership stays ahead of this expansion. Start I-14 and I-15, test demand for I-16 and I-17, and specify the I-19 cache alongside them.

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