# ScrollVault

> Free Magic: The Gathering deck building tools and competitive strategy guides. Powered by Frank Karsten's hypergeometric mana math and Commander Spellbook combo data. All tools are free with no account required.

Last updated: 2026-09-14

## Tools

- [MTG Mana Base Calculator](https://scrollvault.net/tools/manabase/): Free mana base calculator using Frank Karsten's hypergeometric math. Computes optimal land counts and colored sources for Standard, Modern, Pioneer, Legacy, and Commander (99-card singleton). Import decklists from Moxfield or Archidekt. WASM Monte Carlo cast-rate simulation with 50,000 iterations. Distributional Tipping Point chip shows P50/P80/P95 quantiles per turn — when each percentile of games has enough mana to cast on curve.
- [Commander Bracket & Power Level Calculator](https://scrollvault.net/tools/commander-bracket/): Estimates Commander deck bracket (1-5) using the official WotC system. Validated three ways: 97.6% within one bracket and 75.2% bracket-exact against 1,227 tournament decklists labelled by organisers who never saw our output (engine v378); 99.5% and 99.6% within one bracket across 6,839 player-declared decks on the Bracket 2 and Bracket 3 lists that make up most of Commander; and 100% bracket-in-range with 97.2% bracket-exact on our public 36-deck reference set, ahead of every frontier AI model tested on the same decks (best model 94.4% bracket-exact). Cross-references every card pair against Commander Spellbook's verified combo database. Features: Monte Carlo goldfish clock (1,000 simulated hands measuring four win-clocks — combat, combo, poison, commander damage — "can win as early as turn X, average turn Y"), alternate win condition detection, partner/companion commander support with per-commander 21-damage tracking, foreign-language decklist resolution (Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese), 14-axis synergy analysis with fragility scoring (robust/moderate/fragile), interaction coverage across 6 categories, interaction quality tiers, Game Changers detection (53 cards), opening-hand probability sliders (configurable mana tolerance), Tipping Point chip from WASM Monte Carlo, near-miss combo panel with TCGplayer affiliate buy links, "Why this bracket?" rationale panel with counterfactual narrative, borderline-verdict flagging, deep-link handoff to manabase simulator. Import from Moxfield, Archidekt, MTGGoldfish, or AetherHub.
- [Commander Precon Library](https://scrollvault.net/tools/commander-bracket/precons/): 70 official WotC Commander precons pre-analyzed through the bracket calculator. Filter by bracket and color identity. Each precon has its own analysis page with full passport, signal breakdown, decklist, and one-click "Analyze in calculator" deep-link.
- [Commander Deck Gallery](https://scrollvault.net/gallery/): Curated starter builds and community decklists with automated bracket analysis, synergy detection, and combo identification. Save and share bracket results with shareable URLs and passport images.
- [Articles Archive](https://scrollvault.net/posts/): All published MTG articles organized by category (Strategy, Deck Guides, Set Reviews, Spoilers). 19 articles covering Commander strategy, competitive decks, set reviews, and the latest meta.
- [MTG Draft Simulator](https://scrollvault.net/draft/): Practice booster draft against 7 AI opponents with 167 real Magic sets including Secrets of Strixhaven (SOS). For sets played on MTG Arena, card ratings incorporate real 17Lands win-rate data (GIH WR shown on every pick). 3 packs, 14 picks per pack. Build your deck and export to MTG Arena. Direct link to SOS draft: scrollvault.net/draft/?set=sos
- [MTG Sealed Pool Simulator](https://scrollvault.net/tools/sealed/): Open 6 virtual booster packs from any Magic set. Sort by color, type, or CMC. Build a 40-card sealed deck for prerelease practice.
- [Hypergeometric Calculator](https://scrollvault.net/tools/hypergeometric/): Calculate exact draw probabilities for any deck size. Turn-by-turn odds table, London mulligan modeling, cumulative distribution.
- [Dual Lands Reference Guide](https://scrollvault.net/tools/lands/): Searchable reference for all 48 dual land cycles in Magic. Filter by color pair, format legality, ETB speed, and land type. Includes TCGPlayer pricing.
- [Opening Hand Simulator](https://scrollvault.net/tools/hand-simulator/): Simulate MTG opening hands with full London mulligan support. Paste any decklist, draw sample hands, track statistics.
- [Deck Price Checker](https://scrollvault.net/tools/price-checker/): Instant price totals for any Magic decklist. Per-card market prices from Scryfall/TCGPlayer with mainboard, sideboard, and type breakdown.

## Guides

- [How Many Lands in MTG?](https://scrollvault.net/guides/how-many-lands.html): Land count guide using Frank Karsten's formula (19.59 + 1.90 x avgMV for 60 cards). Colored source tables for 60-card and Commander formats. Based on 3.75 million Monte Carlo simulated games.
- [Commander Land Count Data](https://scrollvault.net/guides/commander-land-count-data.html): Research piece with 3.75M Monte Carlo games across 5 archetypes and 15 land counts. Interactive Chart.js visualizations. Full methodology disclosure.
- [Commander Brackets Explained](https://scrollvault.net/guides/commander-brackets.html): Complete guide to the official WotC 5-bracket Commander power level system. Bracket 1 (Exhibition) through Bracket 5 (cEDH). Game Changer rules, turn expectations, what forces each bracket.
- [Game Changers List](https://scrollvault.net/guides/game-changers.html): Full list of 53 official Game Changers. Last list change: February 9, 2026. Page reviewed 2026-09-13; the list is unchanged through the August 10, 2026 B&R announcement. Organized by category with bracket implications.
- [How to Build a Commander Deck](https://scrollvault.net/guides/commander-deck-building.html): Step-by-step EDH deck building guide. Choosing a commander, mana base construction, the 10-10-10 framework (10 ramp, 10 draw, 10 removal), power brackets, budget tips.
- [MTG Manabase Guide](https://scrollvault.net/guides/mana-bases.html): Frank Karsten's mana math explained. Hypergeometric probability for colored sources, Karsten table, format-specific recommendations.
- [Dual Lands Guide](https://scrollvault.net/guides/dual-lands.html): Every dual land cycle explained — fetch lands, shock lands, check lands, fast lands, pain lands, and more. Format legality, speed comparison, budget alternatives.
- [Sideboard Strategy Guide](https://scrollvault.net/guides/sideboard-guide.html): How to build and use sideboards in competitive MTG formats.
- [MTG Formats Explained](https://scrollvault.net/guides/formats.html): Overview of Standard, Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Commander, and Limited formats.
- [Standard Rotation Guide](https://scrollvault.net/guides/standard-rotation.html): Current Standard rotation schedule, which sets are legal, and when rotation happens.
- [Banned & Restricted List](https://scrollvault.net/guides/banned-list.html): Current banned and restricted cards across all major MTG formats. Current as of the August 10, 2026 B&R announcement; verified against Scryfall on September 10, 2026. Next announcement: October 12, 2026. Each format section links to Scryfall live legality queries for self-verification.
- [MTG Arena Beginner's Guide](https://scrollvault.net/guides/arena-beginners-guide.html): Getting started with Magic: The Gathering Arena.

## Methodology & Research

- [Commander Bracket Validation](https://scrollvault.net/methodology/bracket-validation.html): Public accuracy report on a 36-deck authoritative reference set (WotC-published precons B1-B3 + community-canon cEDH archetypes B5; B4 deliberately preserved as honest gap awaiting community-corroborated provenance) plus a separate 14-deck community-labeled cohort that stress-tests the fuzzy B1/B2 and B3/B4 boundaries. Engine on the core set: 97.2% bracket-exact, 100% bracket-±1, 100% bracket-in-range, 100% power-in-range. Separately measured against 1,227 organiser-labelled tournament decklists (engine v378, 2026-09-11): 75.2% bracket-exact [72.7, 77.6] and 97.6% within one bracket [96.5, 98.3], macro recall 71.6% over 4 classes against an always-Bracket-3 baseline of 73.9% exact. Cross-validation against frontier AI models on the reference set (best model: 94.4% bracket-exact). Every reference deck has a clickable source URL. Reproducible run instructions on the page itself.
- [We Simulated 5 Million Mana Bases](https://scrollvault.net/posts/tipping-point-5-million-simulations.html): Cornerstone post introducing the Tipping Point metric. 5+ million Monte Carlo MTG game simulations across Commander, Modern, Pioneer, and Standard. Tipping Point = the turn at which the probability of having enough mana of the right colors to cast your curve-supportable spells reaches 80%. Empirically validates Karsten's land-count formula at 1-3% match for tournament Modern; extends his work to Commander's free mulligan, Sol Ring's 2-mana output, MDFCs, and cycling lands. Includes 6-question FAQ on methodology.

## What Makes ScrollVault Different

Most bracket calculators check each card against a banlist. ScrollVault cross-references every card pair against Commander Spellbook's verified combo database, runs a 14-axis synergy analysis, evaluates interaction coverage across six removal categories, scores interaction quality by CMC tier, measures synergy fragility (robust vs fragile engines), and computes card quality using EDHREC popularity data. The bracket rating is based on how cards work together, not just what they are individually. Beyond bracket assignment, ScrollVault is the only MTG tool publishing per-deck Tipping Point readings backed by a real WASM Monte Carlo engine — competitors emit heuristic labels; we simulate 10,000-50,000 games per analysis.

## Full Content

- [llms-full.txt](https://scrollvault.net/llms-full.txt): Complete site content in Markdown format for AI agents.