Commander deck builder

Build a Commander deck from what actually wins

Pick a commander and start adding cards. Next to your list sit the staples that raise this commander's win rate in tracked games, the card counts that full decks in your colours really run, and a playtest board. No account needed.

Or paste a decklist or upgrade a precon

Y'shtola, Night's Blessed
Measured staples

What wins games for Y'shtola, Night's Blessed

The cards that raise this commander's win rate the most in tracked games, compared with decks of the same commander that leave them out. This shelf sits next to every deck in the editor.

All staples
Hengegate Pathway // Mistgate Pathway
+7.9 pp
Hengegate Pathway // Mistgate Pathway
Defacing Duskmage // Vandal's Edit
+7.8 pp
Defacing Duskmage // Vandal's Edit
Blind Obedience
+6.8 pp
Blind Obedience
Arcane Signet
+6.6 pp
Arcane Signet
Teferi's Ageless Insight
+6.1 pp
Teferi's Ageless Insight

Win-rate lift is the lower bound of a 95% interval, so a card has to earn its place. How staples are measured

16 cards printed in the last 90 days already in Y'shtola, Night's Blessed decks, on the New cards tab.

Deck skeleton

The counts full decks really run

Lands, ramp, draw, removal and six more categories, each measured as the middle half of full Commander decks tracked on Playgroup in your colour identity. In the editor every category is a chip over your list, amber when you are short.

Lands 35 to 38
Ramp 12 to 20
Card draw 8 to 14

Middle half of 9,606 Five Color decks. Every identity is measured separately.

Playtest

Goldfish it on a real board

One button in the editor opens your deck on the Playgroup Live board in the browser. Draw, mulligan, play it out alone, or seat a sparring deck across the table and see how the list holds up before you buy a single card.

When the deck is real, track its games with the tracker or on Playgroup Live and its win rate, its arch-enemies and its power read come back into the same page.

Bring a list

Already have a deck? Paste it

Any export format, one card per line, with a Commander line above your commander. The editor opens with the whole list in place.

Have an Archidekt or Moxfield link? Drop it on the deck template page and it is checked, then opened here.

Start from a precon

Upgrade a preconstructed deck

Every precon in the tier list opens in the editor with its full list, plus the cards other players cut and add most often.

Browse the precon tier list
Card scanner

Scan the cards on your table

Open a deck on your phone, press Scan and point the camera at a fan of physical cards. Review what it found, fix the odd miss, add the lot. Scanning needs a free account, and it is free while the scanner is in beta.

Free while the scanner is in beta. Once it's out of beta it will be part of the supporter plans.

What is the Playgroup deck builder?

A free Commander deck builder in the browser, with suggestions that come from tracked games instead of deck-site popularity. For every commander it lists the staples that measurably raise the win rate, sets your card counts against the measured skeleton for your colour identity, surfaces new printings other decks of that commander already run, and opens the deck on a real playtest board.

You can start without an account: the deck lives in your browser as a guest brew until you claim it. Lists paste in from any format, Archidekt and Moxfield decks import by link, and once the deck is built, tracking its games with the tracker or on Playgroup Live feeds its win rate back into the same page.

Deck builder FAQ

Do I need an account to build a deck?
No. Pick a commander or paste a list and the editor opens straight away. The deck lives in your browser as a guest brew. Make a free account later and it becomes yours, with the cards you added still in it.
Where do the staples numbers come from?
From games people track on Playgroup with the tracker and with Playgroup Live, not from how often a card appears on deck sites. For each commander we compare decks that run a card with decks of the same commander that leave it out, and show the lower bound of the win-rate difference. A card has to earn its place on the list.
Can I import a deck from Archidekt or Moxfield?
Yes. Paste the list here, or drop the deck link on the deck template page and it is checked against the measured skeleton first, then opened in the editor. Decks on your account can also stay synced with their Archidekt or Moxfield source.
Can I test the deck before I sleeve it up?
Yes. Every deck with a legal list has a playtest button that opens it on the Playgroup Live board, alone or against a sparring deck, in the browser. No install.
Does it work on a phone?
Building does. Tap a card for its actions, search from the bar at the top, and the suggestions open in a sheet. Playtesting is best on a desktop or a tablet because the board needs the room.
How is this different from a deck site?
A deck site knows what people put in decks. Playgroup also knows what happened when they played them. The staples, the skeleton bands and the deck stats all come from tracked games, so the suggestions are about winning, not about popularity.
Can I scan my physical cards into a deck?
Yes, with a free account. Open a deck in the editor on your phone, press Scan, point the camera at a fan of cards and review what it found before adding. Scanning is free while it is in beta.

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