Overview:

This Y'shtola, Night's Blessed deck focuses on lifegain, enchantment synergies, and incremental damage through noncreature spells. It combines stax elements, poison counters, and a classic Exquisite Blood/Sanguine Bond combo to pressure opponents. The deck leverages Y'shtola's triggered abilities to chip away at life totals while building value engines through card draw and recursion.

Primer:

Core Strategy:
This deck aims to control the board with high-value enchantments and interaction while draining opponents via Y'shtola's noncreature spell triggers. Key phases include:

1. Early Setup: Deploy mana rocks (Sol Ring, Arcane Signet) and value engines (Rhystic Study, Smothering Tithe).
2. Midgame Pressure: Cast MV3+ noncreature spells (Farewell, Cyclonic Rift) to trigger Y'shtola's drain while establishing stax pieces (Grand Arbiter Augustin IV, Sphere of Safety).
3. Win Conditions:
   • Assemble Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond infinite combo
   • Poison counters via Norn's Decree/Vraska's Fall + proliferate (Karn's Bastion)
   • Lifegain/drain synergy with Queza, Augur of Agonies and Sheoldred, the Apocalypse

Mulligan Priorities:

• Keep hands with 3+ lands and early ramp
• Prioritize opening with card engines (Black Market Connections) or key protection (Teferi's Protection)
• Avoid hands without interaction or payoff enablers

Key Tips:

• Sequence high MV spells post-Y'shtola to maximize damage
• Use Hall of Heliod's Generosity to recur critical enchantments
• Lithoform Engine can copy game-ending triggers
• Delney, Streetwise Lookout doubles Y'shtola's draw/damage triggers

Avoid Traps:

• Don't overcommit to board before wipes
• Protect Phyrexian Unlife - it enables risky life payments
• Save counterspells for combo disruption or key stax removal

Weaknesses:

Critical:

• Relies on easily removed enchantments (Exquisite Blood/Phyrexian Unlife)
• Limited poison counter redundancy (3 primary enablers)

Moderate:

• Slow recovery from mass enchantment removal
• Commander-dependent damage engine

Minor:

• Vulnerable to fast aggro before stax establishes

Most Important Cards:

• Exquisite Blood
• Sanguine Bond
• The One Ring
• Rhystic Study
• Smothering Tithe
• Force of Will
• Cyclonic Rift
• Teferi's Protection
• Phyrexian Unlife
• Sheoldred, the Apocalypse

Attribute Ratings:

Speed: 6/10

• Can threaten T6-7 wins with perfect combo draws, but typically closes T8-10 through incremental drain. High MV spells limit early explosiveness.

Resilience: 7/10

• 8 counterspells + 6 targeted removal provide strong interaction. Recursion (Hall of Heliod's Generosity, Academy Ruins) mitigates key piece loss.

Consistency: 5/10

• 4 enchantment tutors + 5 draw engines provide moderate combo redundancy. Heavy reliance on 2-card combo without dedicated demonic tutors.

Interaction: 8/10

• Premium counters (Force of Will, Disallow) and versatile removal (Anguished Unmaking, Void Rend). Lacks free protection beyond Teferi's.

Rating Justification:

This deck exceeds precon-level synergy (4.0) through optimized interaction and combo potential but lacks the fast mana/tutor density of cEDH. Compared to 6.0 "Focused" decks:

• Slower than T7-8 aggro but matches interaction quality
• Stronger stax/resilience than 5.5 decks but weaker than dedicated combo
• Lacks deterministic T5 wins but pressures consistently

Power level: 5.5 - 6.0