Overview:

This Minthara, Merciless Soul deck focuses on a creature-based strategy that gains value through sacrificing and flickering permanents to accumulate experience counters, buffing the team while maintaining protection through ward.

Primer:

The deck operates on multiple axes, primarily leveraging permanent manipulation through flicker effects (Eldrazi Displacer, Teleportation Circle) and sacrifice outlets (Yawgmoth, Thran Physician) to trigger Minthara's experience counter ability. These counters serve dual purposes: protecting Minthara through an increasing ward cost while pumping the team's power. The deck includes several tutors and card draw effects to maintain consistency and find key pieces.

The secondary strategy involves utilizing efficient threats like Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon and Battle Angels of Tyr that become increasingly dangerous with Minthara's power boost. The deck can pivot between aggressive combat strategies and value-oriented control depending on the game state, supported by a robust suite of interaction spells and protection pieces like Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots.

Weaknesses:

The deck is vulnerable to graveyard hate and exile-based removal, which can disrupt its sacrifice/recursion patterns. Mass enchantment removal can strip away key value engines, and the relatively low creature count makes it susceptible to repeated board wipes. The deck also struggles against go-wide strategies in the mid-game before establishing a significant experience counter advantage.

Most Important Cards:

• Yawgmoth, Thran Physician
• Teleportation Circle
• Eldrazi Displacer
• Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
• Smothering Tithe
• Necropotence
• Mana Crypt
• Black Market Connections
• Hidden Stockpile
• Legion Loyalty

Attribute Ratings:

• Speed: 7/10
• Resilience: 6/10
• Consistency: 7/10
• Interaction: 8/10

Rating Justification:

The deck sits comfortably in the 7.0-7.5 range due to its ability to establish strong board presence by turn 5-6 through efficient tutors, fast mana, and consistent value generation. While it lacks the explosive power of higher-rated decks, it maintains strong interaction and can threaten wins through combat damage or commander damage enhanced by experience counters. The presence of multiple tutors, premium removal, and protection pieces elevates it above typical focused decks but falls short of true high-power builds.

Final power level rating: 7.0 - 7.5