• For a card's behavior: look up its oracle text via

  scryfall-lookup

  or read it from the hydrated cache. Training data is not oracle text.
• For a rule's behavior: look it up via

  rules-lookup

  (

  --rule

  ,

  --term

  , or

  --grep

  ) and quote the verbatim text. Training data is not the CR.

TodoWrite

in_progress

completed

1. Parse deck + set commander(s)
2. Hydrate via scryfall-lookup --batch
3. Baseline diagnostics
4. Commander Interaction Audit
5. Archetype detection
6. Combo + near-miss detection
7. EDHREC research
8. Rules verification pass
9. Draft Strategy Guide
10. Rules Audit subagent + revise

Edit

• Absolute paths only.

  uv

  rebases the working directory to the skill install; relative paths resolve against the wrong root.
• Cache directory:

  <working-dir>/.cache

  for hydrated card data.
• CR file:

  <working-dir>/comprehensive-rules-YYYYMMDD.txt

  .
• Bulk data:

  <skill-install-dir>/default-cards.json

  .
• Output:

  <working-dir>/STRATEGY-GUIDE.md

  .

1. CLI (

   rules-lookup

   ,

   rulings-lookup

   ) — routine claims. Default to this when a claim can be verified from one rule number, one glossary term, or one narrow regex. Examples: "does shroud block self-targeting?" →

   rules-lookup --term shroud

   ; "is the free first mulligan a Commander rule?" →

   rules-lookup --grep "first mulligan"

   .
2. Skill tool (

   Skill(rules-lawyer, ...)

   ) — nuanced claims. Escalate when (a) the claim spans two or more rules and their interaction is the load-bearing part, (b) the relevant rule's prose is thin and a section slice is needed, or (c) verification requires reasoning about layers, replacement-effect ordering, or stack timing across triggered and activated abilities. The rules-lawyer skill carries its own Phase 1/2/3 escalation discipline (including subagent dispatch) that you do not duplicate here.

.txt

parse-deck <path> --format <commander|brawl|historic_brawl> \
    --output <working-dir>/deck.json

format

--format

parse-deck

commander

commanders

//Commander

• Single commander:

  set-commander <deck.json> "Name"

• Partner / Friends Forever:

  set-commander <deck.json> "Name1" "Name2"

• Commander + Background:

  set-commander <deck.json> "Commander" "Background"

set-commander

parse-deck

"What power bracket are you piloting this at? (1-5 / casual / upgraded / optimized / cEDH, or

auto

.) This determines how the guide weights politics, combo prominence, and threat assessment."

auto

deck-stats

combo-search

• 0 GC, 0 infinite combos, curve ≥ 3.5 → Bracket 2 (casual)
• 1-2 GC, 0-1 combos, curve 3.0-3.5 → Bracket 3 (upgraded)
• 3+ GC, 2+ combos, curve ≤ 3.0 → Bracket 4 (optimized)
• All fast tutors + free interaction → cEDH (Bracket 5)

auto

legality-audit <deck.json> <hydrated.json>
deck-stats <deck.json> <hydrated.json>
mana-audit <deck.json> <hydrated.json>
card-summary <hydrated.json> --nonlands-only
card-summary <hydrated.json> --lands-only

• legality-audit

  must PASS. If FAIL, surface the violation and ask the user how to resolve (the guide can't be authored against an illegal list). Don't propose fixes — that's deck-wizard's job.

• deck-stats

  gives the Game Changer count, curve, color sources, ramp count, and alternative-cost cards. Record alternative-cost cards (suspend, foretell, evoke, escape, flashback, adventure) — these evaluate at their alt cost in the strategy guide, not their printed CMC.

• mana-audit

  may return WARN or FAIL — note it but don't propose fixes. The guide can call out the mana base as a tuning consideration.

• card-summary

  is for your reading; do not paste it verbatim into the guide.

• Evasion stacking: menace + "can't be blocked by more than one creature" = unblockable. Any blocking restriction combined with a conflicting blocking requirement may create unblockable.
• Damage multiplication: double strike + combat damage triggers = double triggers. Double strike + lifelink = double life. Trample + deathtouch = 1 damage kills, rest tramples over.
• Protection stacking: ward + hexproof, indestructible + regenerate. Identify which are redundant vs. complementary.

• A +1/+1 counter source on a commander whose trigger scales with power.
• A token creator that increases a count used by another card's scaling.
• A theft effect where stolen permanents change type to match a tribal count.

• Commander copies: Helm of the Host, Spark Double, Clone effects, Mirror March, Followed Footsteps. Non-legendary copies bypass the legend rule and retain all triggered + activated abilities.
• Ability copiers / trigger multipliers: Strionic Resonator, Rings of Brighthearth, Panharmonicon (for ETB commanders), Teysa Karlov (death triggers), Isshin (attack triggers), Seedborn Muse (extra activations).

combo-search <deck.json> --hydrated <hydrated.json> \
    --output <working-dir>/combo-search.json

• Game-winning combos (result contains "infinite" or "win the game"): flag prominently. These are central to the guide's "win conditions" and "combo execution" sections.
• Value interactions (non-infinite synergies): note as context.

Read

description

• Bracket 1-2: intentional two-card infinite combos are prohibited by the bracket policy. If the deck has an infinite combo, the guide flags it as a bracket compliance issue and asks the user whether to treat it as an unintended line or a real wincon.
• Bracket 3: infinite combos allowed but should not reliably fire before turn 6. Guide notes timing.
• Bracket 4 / cEDH: no restrictions. Combo lines are central in the guide.

• what the closed combo would do. This is informational, not a recommendation to change the deck.

edhrec-lookup "<Commander Name>"

edhrec-lookup "<Commander 1>" "<Commander 2>"

• Confirm the deck's archetype identification is reasonable.
• Spot cards in the deck that EDHREC flags as high-synergy (these get prominent placement in the guide).
• Spot cards EDHREC marks as commonly included that are NOT in this deck — note as "deliberate omissions" in deck notes.

1. Use

   card-search

   with the commander's mechanics keywords to find synergistic cards in the color identity.
2. Look up the archetype rather than the specific commander.
3. The guide proceeds without the "community comparison" callouts.

web-fetch

1. Title + identity block.
   • Deck name (commander[s], color identity, format).
   • One-sentence archetype label (e.g., "Politics-driven aristocrats", "Voltron with reanimator subtheme", "Stax-control with combo finish").
2. Core loop. 3-5 sentences describing how the deck wins. Derives from Step 4 (commander interaction audit) — name the multiplier, the engine pieces, and the terminal effect.
3. Win conditions. Ordered by likelihood:
   • Primary plan (the core loop's terminal event).
   • Secondary plan (engine grind / commander damage / pump alpha-strike).
   • Tertiary plan (combo, if present and bracket-allowed). Each plan gets 2-4 sentences naming the cards involved.
4. Mulligan guide. What a keepable hand looks like. Reference the free first mulligan rule (CR 800.6) once. Common shapes to mulligan into. Common shapes to mulligan away from.
5. Turn-by-turn pacing. T1-T8+ sketch. What to deploy each turn range. Where the deck shifts from setup to harvest. Bracket-aware: faster brackets need a shorter setup window.
6. Threat assessment. Cards / decks to fear (sorted), cards / decks to eat for breakfast. Bracket-aware: Bracket 4 fears specific cards (Drannith, Null Rod, Cursed Totem) where Bracket 2 fears mass removal.
7. Common lines + stack tricks. Stack ordering on key sequences. The pre-wipe sequencing question (sac iteration vs. one wipe). Commander damage math. Equipment timing. Every claim in this section gets a CR citation.
8. Deck quirks. Borderline mana base, single Game Changer, weird reprint names (e.g., Paradise Chocobo = Birds of Paradise), suspended self-sac clauses (Endrek Sahr). Things that surprise a first-time pilot.
9. Cheat sheet. A bulleted per-turn checklist: "Did a token die → Joel triggered. Did opponents fight → Karazikar drew. Did a token enter → Mirkwood Bats / Impact Tremors fired." Strip names to the triggers a pilot needs to remember.
10. Appendix: Verified card interaction notes. A list of the rules- adjacent claims with their CR citations. This is the audit trail — the Rules Audit subagent (Step 10) verifies against this list.

• Politics scripts (triggered by goad + opponents-create-tokens): scripted lines for steering opponent attention, who to curse first, when to deploy goad effects.
• Aristocrats sequencing (aristocrats-drain + sacrifice-outlet): the pre-wipe-iterate-sacs question with sac-trigger vs. death-trigger asymmetry called out. Per-payoff trigger count.
• Combo execution (game-winning combo present): step-by-step stack ordering of the combo, required board state, protection options, near-miss completions.
• Voltron commander damage math (voltron-shaped commander): base power → equipment stack → growth-per-turn → turns to lethal. Hexproof / shroud / protection tooling.
• Token doubling math (tokens + token-doubler): with N doublers out, M token producers fire X tokens. Includes Chatterfang/Parallel Lives stacking semantics.
• Extra-combats / extra-turns sections: mana flow + threat density needed to make these worthwhile.
• Reanimation lines (reanimate density): which graveyard fillers feed which reanimators, exile-vs-graveyard differentiation.
• Mana-pump payoffs (big-mana): the X-spell finisher line, the Kessig Wolf Run line, the Helix Pinnacle line.
• ETB multiplication (Panharmonicon-likes): which ETB triggers in the deck benefit most, ordering on the stack.

• Cite CR rules verbatim, not paraphrased. Quote the rule number
  • the trimmed sentence: "Per CR 903.9a: 'If a commander is in a graveyard or in exile and that object was put into that zone since the last time state-based actions were checked, its owner may put it into the command zone.'"
• Reference cards by full oracle text when the behavior is load-bearing. Paraphrase only for obvious cases (Sol Ring).
• Adapt tone to experience level (see table below). If not stated, ask the user during Step 1 acquisition or default to intermediate.
• No emojis. No marketing fluff. The guide is a reference document.

You are a Rules Audit agent for an MTG Strategy Guide. The guide is at

<absolute-path-to-STRATEGY-GUIDE.md>

. The deck's hydrated card data is at

<cache_path>

. The CR is at

<working-dir>/comprehensive-rules- YYYYMMDD.txt

.

Your task: for every rules-adjacent claim in the guide (stack timing, replacement effects, commander-zone behavior, keyword interactions, intervening-if clauses, layers, trigger ordering, oracle text quotations), verify the claim against:

1. The card's actual oracle text via

   scryfall-lookup "<name>"

   or by reading the hydrated cache.
2. The relevant CR rule via

   rules-lookup --rule <n>

   /

   --term <keyword>

   /

   --grep "<regex>"

   .
3. For multi-rule reasoning, escalate to the rules-lawyer skill via the Skill tool — the rules-lawyer skill's own escalation rules apply.

Return a JSON report at

/tmp/audit-claims.json

with this shape:

{
  "errors": [
    {"section": "...", "claim": "...", "cr_says": "...", "fix": "..."}
  ],
  "unsupported": [
    {"section": "...", "claim": "...", "needed_citation": "..."}
  ],
  "verified": [
    {"section": "...", "claim": "...", "cr_rule": "...", "match": "exact|paraphrased"}
  ]
}

Be specific. If the guide says "the trigger goes on top of the spell," cite CR 603.3. If the guide says "shroud means can't be targeted," cite CR 702.18a. Errors are claims that are factually wrong. Unsupported claims are factually fine but need a citation added. Verified claims are correct and cite-defensible.

Do NOT propose strategic / deck-tuning changes. Your scope is rules verification only.

• Errors: edit the guide in place to correct each one. Quote the CR text in the edit.
• Unsupported: edit the guide to add the missing CR citation.
• Verified: no action.

• User asks to add / remove / rewrite a section →

  Edit

  the existing

  STRATEGY-GUIDE.md

  file. Don't regenerate from scratch.
• User reports a rules error you missed →

  rules-lookup

  the relevant rule, fix in place, note that the Rules Audit missed it (this is a signal that the audit charter may need sharpening over time).
• User reports the deck changed (different cards) → restart the pipeline. The SHA-keyed hydrated cache will rebuild automatically; the guide gets rewritten.