Overview:

This Alandra, Sky Dreamer deck is a mono-blue card draw engine focused on generating Drake tokens and leveraging hand size for combat victories. It utilizes incremental draw triggers, extra turns, and hand-size synergies to overwhelm opponents. While lacking infinite combos, it employs stax elements like Propaganda and Dissipation Field to control the board while building towards decisive turns with pumped Drakes or alt-win cons like Laboratory Maniac.

Primer:

Core Strategy: The deck aims to trigger Alandra's abilities 2+ times per turn cycle using forced draw effects (Teferi's Ageless Insight, Howling Mine) and extra turn spells (Time Warp, Temporal Mastery). Key phases:

• Early Setup (T1-4): Deploy card draw engines (Rhystic Study, Consecrated Sphinx) and protection (Propaganda). Use Trophy Mage/Transit Mage to find Venser's Journal or The One Ring.
• Midgame Acceleration (T5-7): Chain extra turns to trigger multiple Drake generations per round. Activate Sphinx of the Second Sun for double upkeep phases to maximize Alandra's triggers.
• Endgame: Swing with 10+ pumped Drakes or force a win through Laboratory Maniac/Jace, Wielder of Mysteries once the deck is nearly empty.

Mulligan Priorities:

• Keep hands with 3+ lands and at least one card draw engine (Howling Mine, Faerie Mastermind).
• Prioritize early protection (Counterspell, Disallow) over reactive answers.
• Avoid hands lacking blue sources or requiring T4+ setup.

Key Tips:

• Time Teferi's Ageless Insight to resolve after establishing baseline draw engines.
• Use Lighthouse Chronologist's extra turns during opponents' end steps to maintain priority.
• Sakashima the Impostor can copy Alandra for exponential Drake generation.

Avoid Traps:

• Don't overcommit Drakes before having Dissipation Field or Cyclonic Rift protection.
• Resist casting Omniscience without sufficient counterspell backup.

Weaknesses:

Moderate:

• Vulnerable to enchantment removal targeting key engines (Rhystic Study, Teferi's Ageless Insight)
• Slow recovery from board wipes clearing Drake tokens
• Limited redundancy for extra turn effects

Minor:

• Susceptible to graveyard hate (affects Archaeomancer/Frantic Search recursion)
• No native answer to Drannith Magistrate-style stax

Most Important Cards:

• Teferi's Ageless Insight
• Rhystic Study
• Consecrated Sphinx
• The One Ring
• Psychosis Crawler
• Omniscience
• Cyclonic Rift
• Sphinx of the Second Sun
• Venser's Journal
• Propaganda

Attribute Ratings:

Speed: 6/10

• Can achieve soft locks (e.g., Dissipation Field + Propaganda) by T6-7
• Extra turn chains enable T8-10 decisive Drake swings

Resilience: 5/10

• 7 counterspells provide moderate protection
• Vulnerable to resolved enchantment removal/board wipes

Consistency: 7/10

• 12+ persistent draw engines ensure regular triggers
• Limited tutors (3 artifact tutors) for key pieces

Interaction: 6/10

• 8 targeted counters/removal (Counterspell, Imprisoned in the Moon)
• Lacks free interaction (e.g., Fierce Guardianship)

Rating Justification:

This deck operates at the high end of optimized casual (5.5) due to strong synergy density and multiple win paths, but lacks the speed (T8-10 vs T7-8) and protection density of focused decks. It outpaces upgraded precons through card quality and combo-adjacent lines (extra turn chains), but folds to early stax. Matches best at 5.0-5.5 tables.

Power level: 5.0 - 5.5