Overview:

This Sultai Gates deck helmed by Nine-Fingers Keene focuses on assembling a critical mass of Gates to fuel card advantage, mana acceleration, and alternate win conditions. The primary strategy leverages landfall synergies and Gate-specific payoffs like Maze's End, Gatebreaker Ram, and Basilisk Gate to pressure opponents. Keene acts as both a Gate tutor and draw engine, enabling explosive turns once 9+ Gates are assembled. Secondary strategies include token generation via Avenger of Zendikar/Scute Swarm and life drain through Ob Nixilis, the Fallen. The deck balances land ramp, recursion, and moderate interaction to control the board while building toward its win conditions.

Primer:

Core Strategy Execution:

1. Early Setup (Turns 1-4):
   • Prioritize land-fetching tools like Gatecreeper Vine, Open the Gates, and Crop Rotation to find key Gates (especially Gond Gate).
   • Deploy mana accelerants: Sakura-Tribe Scout, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove, Lotus Cobra.
   • Cast Keene as soon as 3-4 Gates are in play to start generating value.

2. Midgame Engine (Turns 5-7):

   • Resolve payoff engines: Guild Summit, Tatyova, Benthic Druid, or Abundance for card advantage.
   • Use Circuitous Route/Explore the Underdark to deploy multiple Gates.
   • Activate Baldur's Gate/Stone-Seeder Hierophant for explosive mana.

3. Win Conditions (Turns 8+):

   • Maze's End: Tutor Gates with Keene triggers and Navigation Orb to assemble 10 unique Gates.
   • Combat: Pump creatures via Basilisk Gate (scales with Gate count) or Blackblade Reforged.
   • Token Swarm: Overwhelm with Avenger of Zendikar/Scute Swarm backed by Retreat to Coralhelm untaps.
   • Life Drain: Ob Nixilis, the Fallen paired with land recursion like Conduit of Worlds.

Mulligan Priorities:

• Keep hands with 2-3 lands, including at least 1 Gate.
• Prioritize early Gate tutors (Gatecreeper Vine, Open the Gates) or accelerators (Sakura-Tribe Scout, Sol Ring).
• Ensure access to green mana for ramp spells. Avoid hands with only high-CMC payoffs.

Key Tips:

• Use Thespian's Stage to copy Maze's End or utility Gates like Baldur's Gate.
• Trade Routes turns excess Gates into card draw while enabling landfall triggers.
• Wilderness Reclamation synergizes with instant-speed land tutors like Crop Rotation.
• Protect Keene with Aqueous Form/Way of the Thief to ensure consistent triggers.

Weaknesses:

Critical

• Land Destruction: Blood Moon or Armageddon cripples the Gate engine with no in-deck answers.
• Graveyard Hate: Rest in Peace shuts off Conduit of Worlds/Bloodghast recursion.

Moderate

• Stax Effects: Ashiok, Dream Render blocks Gate tutoring; Cursed Totem neuters mana dorks.
• Slow Setup: Struggles against decks with faster win conditions (Turns 5-6 combos).

Minor

• Spot Removal: Lacks protection for key creatures beyond counterspells.
• Mana Constraints: Color requirements can be strained before Gate mana comes online.

Most Important Cards:

• Maze's End (Primary win condition)
• Gond Gate (Enables untapped Gates)
• Basilisk Gate (Combat finisher)
• Nine-Fingers Keene (Engine for Gate tutoring/draw)
• Dryad of the Ilysian Grove (Mana fixing + land drops)
• Guild Summit (Card draw engine)
• Conduit of Worlds (Recur key lands/creatures)
• Crop Rotation (Tutor critical lands)
• Tatyova, Benthic Druid (Sustained value engine)
• Ob Nixilis, the Fallen (Alternate damage source)

Attribute Ratings:

Speed: 5/10

• Can threaten Maze's End wins or combat kills by Turns 8-10, but lacks fast combo lines.

Resilience: 6/10

• Multiple recursion engines (Conduit of Worlds, Bloodghast) but vulnerable to land hate.

Consistency: 7/10

• 14 Gate tutors and 10+ card draw engines ensure steady progression.

Interaction: 5/10

• Limited to targeted removal (Beast Within, counterspells) with no board wipes.

Rating Justification:

The deck demonstrates focused casual power with strong Gate synergy and redundancy but lacks the speed (T8-10 wins) and interaction density of optimized builds. Its resilience to conventional removal is offset by critical vulnerabilities to land hate, placing it in the upper casual tiers.

Power level: 5.0 - 5.5