Using ManaDork

ManaDork builds and reviews Magic decks against a live card database — Constructed, Limited, and Commander. This page is the map: where to start each job, what to give it, and what you should expect back.

Constructed

Constructed covers Standard, Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Pauper, and the rest of the constructed family. Describe the deck the way you would to a teammate: an archetype, a combo, a card you want to build around, a budget, a format. Misspellings are fine.

If the request is open-ended, ManaDork offers three distinct strategies first — different colors, engines, or gameplans — and waits for you to pick. Then it builds a legal 60 from the card database: role ranges (threats, interaction, ramp, and so on), a mana base sized to the plan, curve targets, and reasons for the inclusions. You can keep talking after the first list: more aggressive, cut the combos, add a sideboard, stay on a budget, rebuild from a card you like.

Sign-in is required for that conversation. Looking up cards, analyzing a pasted list, shopping, importing a collection, and browsing formats do not need an account.

Limited — Sealed / Draft

Bring the pool in however you have it: paste, upload a file, or import directly from MTG Arena using the ManaDork MTGA Portal. ManaDork reads what that pool actually supports — bombs, removal, evasion, depth — and which color pairs are deep enough to play.

You get strategy options for this pool, then a 40-card deck that only uses cards you opened or drafted, with limited-appropriate land counts and role coverage. The point of Limited here is to build from the cards in front of you, then (if you want) walk that 40 into Arena with the Portal.

Commander

Name a commander. ManaDork helps to build a 99 in that commander’s color identity, singleton, with a thesis for how the deck should play at the table — win condition, supporting engines, interaction density. Rankings and quality signals are the Commander-oriented ones, so the list is aimed at that format’s size and identity rules.

MTGA Portal

ManaDork MTGA Portal is a small desktop overlay for Arena’s limited deckbuilder. It marks ADD and REMOVE on cards in your pool and in-progress limited deck so you can see the recommendation while you click. It is read-only: it does not click, tap, or press buttons in Arena, and it does not play matches. Those marks only appear in the limited deckbuilder, never during a game. It only shows your own pool, limited deck, or collection.

The same Portal install is how you import an Arena collection or a sealed/draft pool into the web app.

A session you can continue

After the first list, the chat stays the session. You can ask for cuts, swaps, a sideboard, a cheaper version, or a second direction. You can share the conversation as a page, send the current recommendation to Portal, and find older sessions in History.

Collection

Import by paste, CSV, or Arena via the Portal. Once a collection is loaded, constructed builds can stay inside what you own, or stay mostly-owned with a hard cap on outside copies. Shop can show which cards in a list you still need. Until you sign in, the collection stays on this device.

Analyze a deck

Paste a list you already have. You get the same measurements the builder uses before it shows you a deck: curve, colors, mana sources, role coverage, and a write-up that is supposed to agree with those numbers. No chat required. Use this when you want a read on a list — holes, land count, whether the plan matches the cards — without starting a build.

Look up a card

Search the same card database the builder uses. You get Oracle text, format legalities, and art. Autocomplete stays in the search field. Prices are not shown here; open Shop when you want cost.

Shop

Shop is the price and buy surface. Look up cards, price a list, and see what you are missing if a collection is loaded. Card costs are not shown on lookup, chat, or the rest of the app unless you come here.

Account

Sign in to talk through a deck, run AI review, Surprise Me, and cheaper rebuilds. Deckbuilding uses your LLM provider key when you have one configured. Keys are stored encrypted and are not shown back.

How ManaDork builds

The six-step process — classify the request, lock a win condition, offer directions when the ask is open, write a plan with land and role targets, search the card database, then measure the list against that plan — is in the app as How it works, after you join.

Alpha

This is early software. Things will break. Current caveats are listed in the app.

What needs an account

Without an account: look up cards, analyze a pasted list’s numbers, shop, import a collection, import a limited pool, browse formats.

With sign-in: talking through a deck, AI review, Surprise Me builds, cheaper rebuilds, and session history.