Overview:

This Bant (WUG) deck leverages high-efficiency combos, premium interaction, and fast mana to execute multiple game-winning lines. While The Eighth Doctor provides graveyard recursion for historic permanents, the deck primarily operates as a cEDH-level hybrid combo list with redundant win conditions including Heliod, Sun-Crowned/Walking Ballista, Food Chain exiles, and Thassa's Oracle/Demonic Consultation lines. The inclusion of 12 free/cheap counterspells and 6 mana-positive rocks enables both explosive starts and robust protection.

Primer:

Core Strategy:
This deck aims to assemble one of its 4 primary win conditions by turns 2-4 through artifact acceleration and tutor chains while disrupting opponents with stack control. Key phases:

1. Mana Acceleration: Deploy 1-2 fast mana sources (Mox Diamond, Chrome Mox) to enable turn 2 commanders or tutors.
2. Tutor Sequencing: Fetch either combo pieces (Food Chain, Heliod) or protection (Grand Abolisher) based on board state.
3. Win Execution: Protect combo resolution with free interaction (Force of Will, Fierce Guardianship). Secondary lines use The Eighth Doctor's recursion for value grinding.

Mulligan Priorities:

• Keep hands with 1-2 mana sources + 1 accelerant
• Favor hands with blue sources for early counters
• Reject hands without turn 1 play or interaction

Key Tips:

• Use Food Chain with exiling creatures first, preserving The Eighth Doctor for recursion backup
• Displacer Kitten + planeswalkers creates infinite ETBs with mana-positive rocks
• Gaea's Cradle powers Finale of Devastation kills
• Drannith Magistrate locks opponents out of casting commanders

Avoid Traps:

• Overcommitting creatures before establishing protection
• Wasting counterspells on non-game-ending threats
• Revealing combo pieces prematurely without protection

Weaknesses:

Critical:

• Lacks answers to Collector Ouphe/Null Rod shutting off 40% of mana sources
• No backup for Heliod if exiled early

Moderate:

• Graveyard hate (Rest in Peace) limits commander value
• Limited creature swarming against go-wide strategies

Minor:

• High life payment cards (Ancient Tomb, Mana Confluence) vs aggro

Most Important Cards:

• Food Chain
• Heliod, Sun-Crowned
• Thassa's Oracle
• Force of Will
• Mox Diamond
• Demonic Consultation
• Seedborn Muse
• Gaea's Cradle
• Mana Vault
• Enlightened Tutor

Attribute Ratings:

Speed: 9/10

• Turn 1-3 wins possible with perfect hands (T1 Mox Diamond + Food Chain + exiler)
• Average goldfish win by turn 3.5 with 12 mana-positive rocks

Resilience: 8/10

• 14 protection spells (counters/hexproof)
• 3x combo redundancy (Heliod/Ballista, Oracle/Consult, Food Chain)
• Weak to permanent-based hate requiring artifact/enchantment removal

Consistency: 9/10

• 8 tutors + 10 cantrips
• 40% of deck cycles/fetches key pieces
• Multiple overlapping combo lines

Interaction: 10/10

• 12 free/cheap counters (including Force of Negation, Mental Misstep)
• 5 targeted removal spells (Swords to Plowshares, Chain of Vapor)
• Stax elements (Drannith Magistrate, Grand Abolisher)

Rating Justification:

This deck exceeds 9.0 cEDH benchmarks through:

1. Speed: Faster than typical Tier 2 cEDH (T3 vs T4) with multiple T1-T2 win lines
2. Redundancy: 4 distinct win conditions vs 2-3 in lower tiers
3. Interaction Quality: Higher density of free counters than most Tier 1.5 lists

It falls short of 9.5/Tier 1 due to:

• Lack of Ad Nauseam/Peer into the Abyss for instant refills
• No Underworld Breach backup lines

Power level: 9.0 - 9.5