RULE ZERO. read this first.
The rule-zero script, a two-Game-Changer disclosure, the backup-combo readout, the go-wide clock, and the salt management for a Bracket 3 Selesnya token pod on Zuko, Redeemed.
Bracket 3 readout.
Bracket 3 Selesnya token go-wide on Zuko, Redeemed (the Avatar: The Last Airbender print of Rhys the Redeemed). Two Game Changers: Mana Vault and Teferi's Protection, under the cap of three. One backup two-card combo, Karmic Guide plus Reveillark plus Phyrexian Altar, played late as insurance and not tutored for. No mass land destruction, no extra turns, no Stax. The primary plan is to flood the board with Hares and token doublers, anthem it up, then swing wide with Craterhoof, Triumph of the Hordes infect, or a Sphere Grid trample team. Average kill turn 6 to 8.
Compliance checklist
Read this before sitting down at a Bracket 3 Zuko pod. The pregame above is the script to say out loud. The compliance list is what to volunteer if asked. The Q and A below handles the specific questions players tend to run at a token deck. The headline disclosures are two Game Changers and one backup combo that is not tutored for.
Game Changers
Two, under the Bracket 3 cap of three. Each earns its slot without bending the deck toward Bracket 4.
Everything else has been checked against the current list. Sol Ring is bracket-exempt and not a Game Changer. Skullclamp is in the deck and is explicitly not a Game Changer. Smothering Tithe is not in this deck. Nothing else in the 99 is on the list.
The backup combo
There is exactly one infinite loop in the deck, and it is the insurance line, not the plan.
It is assembled late, only after the go-wide combat plan has been answered. The deck runs no card that searches for these pieces, so it is a bonus, not a target. Eerie Interlude protects the loop from a wipe mid-assembly.
If they ask
MTG terms that show up above.
Open glossary
- Game Changer
- A specific card on Wizards' published Game Changer list. Bracket 3 allows up to 3. Bracket 4 has no published cap but a higher count weights rule-zero conversations.
- Bracket
- The published power-tier system for Commander: 1 (precon), 2 (casual), 3 (upgraded/standard), 4 (high-power), 5 (cEDH).
- Voltron
- The strategy of stacking equipment, auras, and counters onto a single creature (usually the commander) to one-shot opponents through commander damage.
- Commander damage
- Damage from a commander tracks per-source. 21 commander damage from one source kills the dealt-to player regardless of life total.
- ETB
- Short for 'enters the battlefield'. Any triggered ability that fires when a permanent enters play is an ETB trigger.
- Equip
- An activated ability on an Equipment card. Pay the equip cost, attach to a creature you control. Sorcery speed only.
- Attach
- The keyword action for putting an Equipment or Aura onto a creature. ETB triggers that attach an equipment for free bypass both the equip cost and the sorcery-speed limit.
- Free equip
- Attaching an equipment without paying its printed equip cost. Common enablers include ETB-attach clauses on the equipment itself, Sigarda's Aid (instant-speed attach), Puresteel Paladin under metalcraft, and 'whenever this enters' triggers on equipment-themed commanders.
- Treasure
- Sacrificial colorless artifact token. Tap, sacrifice it, add one mana of any color. Counts as an artifact for triggers and metalcraft.
- Phase Out
- Phased-out permanents are treated as though they don't exist until their controller's next untap step. They aren't destroyed, exiled, returned, or stolen. A common protection effect.
- Cascade
- When you cast a card with cascade, exile from the top of your library until you exile a non-land with a lesser mana value, then cast it for free.
- Affinity
- A cost-reduction keyword. 'Affinity for artifacts' means the spell costs 1 less to cast for each artifact you control.
- Modified
- A creature is modified if it has counters on it, or has an equipment or aura you control attached to it. Some payoffs scale off the modified condition.
- Vigilance
- A creature with vigilance doesn't tap when it attacks. Common in white. Often granted by static effects (Brave the Sands) or equipment (Shadowspear).
- Lifelink
- Damage dealt by a creature with lifelink also causes its controller to gain that much life. Common in white and black. Often granted by Shadowspear, Vampiric Link, and similar.
- Mindslaver
- A 'Mindslaver effect' lets you control an opponent's next turn: their draws, plays, and attacks. Named for the Mindslaver artifact; some commander-specific triggers replicate the effect.
- Metalcraft
- A Mirrodin-block keyword that activates when you control three or more artifacts. Metalcraft cards typically grow stronger or gain abilities while the condition is on.
- Impulse draw
- Exile cards from the top of your library, then you may play them this turn (sometimes longer). Strong in red and red-adjacent decks; common examples include Light Up the Stage, Outpost Siege, and Bonecrusher Giant's adventure.
- Mulligan
- Shuffle your hand back, draw 7 again. Standard EDH mulligan: each successive mull, put one card on the bottom at the end of the process (the 'London' mulligan).
Sections 00 to 08: thesis, wincons, opening hand, turn-by-turn, kill math, mistakes, protection, tokens.
Naya equipment-aggro on Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER. Free attach on ETB makes him a built-in voltron. Three brackets: B2 swords-and-Skullclamp, B3 with Smothering Tithe and Jeska's Will, B4 leans on Mana Vault for T2 Cloud.
Orzhov lifegain that turns into drain. Heliod-Ballista and Sanguine-Exquisite as the disclosed infinites, Aetherflux as the storm backup, thirteen Game Changers in the 99. Bracket 4 only.
Fallout precon dialed up. Dogmeat fetches a Junk token off every creature ETB, then the Junk pile feeds Dogmeat back into voltron commander damage. Bracket 3.
Golgari go-wide grind. Tokens and counters feed a sacrifice-drain engine, with Biorhythm and a one-sided Ezuri swing as the finishers. Three Game Changers, no infinite combos. Bracket 3 only.
All 100 cards with live Scryfall prices, sideboard, and the bracket toggle.