Cloud // Ex-SOLDIER
Bracket 2 · Tournament readout

RULE ZERO.read this first.

Rule-zero script, compliance line, swap rationale, and the questions you will actually get asked at a casual pod.

01 // Readout

Bracket 2 readout.

Upgraded FF precon. Naya voltron. Zero Game Changers. No combos, no extra turns. Full Throttle for extra combats only. Kill turn 7 to 9.

// Bracket 2 · casual

Compliance checklist

Classification
Bracket 2 (Casual). Lower-power pod-friendly.
Game Changers
0 / 3. ZERO.
Infinite combos
None.
Mass land denial
None.
Extra turn spells
None. Full Throttle is extra combats.
Fast mana
Sol Ring (exempt) + Arcane Signet.
Tutors
Equipment-specific only: Stoneforge, Steelshaper's Gift, Open the Armory, Nazahn (tutors Hammer on ETB), Stonehewer Giant. No black/blue tutors. No Enlightened Tutor.

01 // Readout

Read this before sitting down for casual pod play. The script is for rule-zero. The compliance is what to volunteer if asked. The Q&A is for the specific questions players run at you across pods.

Compliance checklist

Swaps from B3

The three cards that come out to drop this build to zero Game Changers, and what fills the slot:

Out · GC Enlightened Tutor
In Skullclamp
Lose the instant-speed tutor for any artifact or enchantment. Gain a repeatable card-draw engine: equip a 1/1, sacrifice into a payoff or a sweeper, draw two. The deck has plenty of small bodies (Rebels, Spirits, Germ) to feed it.
Out · GC Smothering Tithe
In Sword of the Animist
Lose the passive Treasure-on-every-opponent-draw engine. Gain a +1/+1 sword that fetches a basic land on combat damage. Combat-damage ramp instead of upkeep ramp. Slower curve, but it stacks with every other equipment.
Out · GC Jeska's Will
In Champion's Helm
Lose the burst-mana + impulse-draw kill enabler. Gain +2/+2 and hexproof from non-legendary sources to the equipped commander. Most pod removal is non-legendary, so this is functional full hexproof on Cloud.

If they ask

Any tutors?
Any Game Changers?
Any infinite combos?
Salt level?
Fastest kill?
What's the wincon?
09 // Glossary

MTG terms that show up above.

Open glossary
Game Changer
A specific card on Wizards' published list. 0 in this Bracket 2 build; up to 3 in the Bracket 3 build.
Bracket
The published power-tier system for Commander: 1 (precon), 2 (casual), 3 (upgraded/standard), 4 (high-power), 5 (cEDH).
Voltron
Stack everything on one creature, swing for the kill. Old metagame slang. Cloud is the textbook voltron commander.
Commander damage
Damage from a commander tracks per-source. 21 commander damage from one source kills the dealt-to player regardless of life total.
ETB
'Enters the battlefield'. Triggered abilities that fire when a permanent comes into play. Cloud's free-equip is an ETB.
Equip
An activated ability on an Equipment card. Pay the cost, attach to a creature you control. Sorcery speed only.
Attach
Putting an Equipment (or Aura) onto a creature. ETB triggers like Cloud's are 'attach', not 'equip', so they bypass the equip cost and the sorcery-speed limit.
Free equip
Equip without paying the printed cost. Cloud's ETB, Puresteel Paladin (metalcraft), Sigarda's Aid, Hammer of Nazahn (ETB), Stonehewer Giant, Forge Anew, Balan.
Treasure
Sacrificial colorless artifact token. Tap, sac, add one mana of any color. Counts as an artifact for Hellkite Tyrant.
Phase Out
Phased-out permanents are treated as though they don't exist until their controller's next untap step. They aren't destroyed, exiled, returned, or stolen. Robe of Stars, Clever Concealment.
Cascade
When you cast a card with cascade, exile from the top of your library until you exile a non-land with a lesser mana value, then cast it free. Nahiri's combat trigger uses similar dig-and-cast mechanics.
Affinity
A cost-reduction keyword: this spell costs 1 less for each Artifact you control. Not in this deck, but the term comes up.
Modified
A creature is modified if it has counters, equipment, or auras on it. Some payoffs scale off this.
Vigilance
Attacking doesn't tap the creature. Red XIII, Samut, Shadowspear-equipped Cloud.
Lifelink
Damage dealt also gains you that much life. Shadowspear, Aerith.
Mindslaver
You control target player's next turn: their draws, plays, attacks. From the Dominion Bracelet attack trigger at 7+ power.
Metalcraft
Active when you control 3+ artifacts. Puresteel Paladin reads 'if you have metalcraft, equip costs you 0'. Trivial to turn on here.
Impulse draw
Exile from the top of your library, you may play those cards this turn (or sometimes longer). Professional Face-Breaker.
Mulligan
Shuffle your hand back, draw 7 again. Standard EDH mulligan: each mull, put one card on the bottom at end of the process.
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