Overview:

This Raff Capashen, Ship's Mage deck focuses on artifact/legendary synergy with flash-enabled threats and graveyard recursion. While it has strong value engines and midrange artifact payoffs, it lacks explosive combos, free interaction, and consistent win acceleration, positioning it as a focused casual build.

Primer:

Core Strategy: Leverage Raff's historic flash ability to deploy sagas/artifacts/legends at instant speed while using recursion engines (Emry, Hanna, Dance of the Manse) to grind value. Win through artifact beaters (Triplicate Titan, Wurmcoil Engine), saga-driven tempo (Kiora Bests the Sea God), or token swarms (Thopter Shop, The Antiquities War).

Key Lines:

1. Flash Sagas: Cast The Antiquities War or Kiora Bests the Sea God during opponents' turns to maximize impact.
2. Artifact Loops: Sacrifice Myr Retriever to Scrap Trawler/Oswald Fiddlebender for recursive value.
3. Reanimation Payoff: Cast Dance of the Manse X=6+ to turn artifacts into 4/4 beaters.

Mulligan Priorities:

• Keep hands with 3 lands + artifact ramp (Sol Ring, Talisman of Progress).
• Prioritize early enablers like Emry or Oswald Fiddlebender.
• Avoid hands without blue sources or graveyard setup.

Critical Interactions:

• Unwinding Clock + Empowered Autogenerator for exponential mana.
• Voltaic Servant untapping Thran Dynamo/Shorikai.
• Teshar reviving small creatures from historic spell casts.

Weak Matchups:

• Fast combo decks outpacing midrange value.
• Graveyard hate (Rest in Peace, Leyline of the Void).
• Stax pieces limiting artifact recursion (Null Rod).

Weaknesses:

Critical:

• No infinite combos or deterministic finishers
• Graveyard dependency with limited protection

Moderate:

• Slow board development (avg. 6+ mana threats)
• Minimal free interaction for combo disruption

Minor:

• Weak to flying swarms (only Dispatch for fliers)

Most Important Cards:

• Dance of the Manse
• Emry, Lurker of the Loch
• Scrap Trawler
• The Antiquities War
• Mechanized Production
• Oswald Fiddlebender
• Unwinding Clock
• Kiora Bests the Sea God
• Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle
• Shorikai, Genesis Engine

Attribute Ratings:

Speed: 5/10

• Earliest impactful plays T3-4 (Emry/Oswald), win attempts T8-10
• No mana-positive rocks or fast combo enablers

Resilience: 6/10

• Multiple recursion engines (3+ graveyard retrievers)
• Vulnerable to graveyard exile and counter-heavy metas

Consistency: 6/10

• 8 tutors for artifacts/recursion
• Redundant historic payoffs but no combo redundancy

Interaction: 5/10

• 7 targeted removal spells (Swords, Path)
• Minimal counterspells/stax beyond Reidane

Rating Justification:

This deck exceeds precon power (rubric 4.0) with synergistic recursion and flash threats but lacks the speed (T8-10 wins vs T7-8 expected at 6.0) and protection of optimized builds. Its artifact value engine aligns with 5.0-5.5 ("Optimized Casual"), but the absence of infinite mana/damage loops and reliance on combat damage prevent higher tiers.

Power level: 5.0 - 5.5