Hand Simulator Added to Deck Studio: Test Your Draws Instantly

Building a Commander deck is more than just picking 100 cards—it's about consistency. Today, we're excited to announce that we've integrated our Hand Simulator directly into the Deck Studio. Now you can test your opening hands and analyze your deck's statistics without leaving the brewing interface.

Why Simulate Hands?

Even the best card list can fail if the mana base is off or the curve is too high. A "goldfish" test (drawing sample hands) is the standard way to verify a deck is playable.

Previously, you had to export your list to a text file and use an external tool or shuffle physical cards to test this. Now, it's built right in.

How It Works

Once you've built a deck in the Studio:

1. Click the new Simulate Hand button (next to "Export").
2. A modal will open with a sample hand drawn from your list.
3. You can:
   • Redraw: Draw a fresh 7-card hand.
   • Run Simulations: Perform a Monte Carlo analysis (1,000+ draws) to get hard data.

Key Insights

The simulator provides immediate feedback on:

1. Opening Hand Quality

• Keepability: Checks for land count (2-5 lands) and early plays (CMC ≤ 3).
• Mulligan Rate: Estimates how often you'll need to mulligan based on your land/spell mix.

2. Mana Curve Analysis

A histogram shows your mana curve distribution, helping you spot if your deck is too top-heavy or lacks early interaction.

3. Color Distribution

See a breakdown of color pips (W/U/B/R/G) in your hands vs. your lands, ensuring your mana base matches your spell requirements.

Technical Details

We built the HandSimulator as a standalone, reusable React component that accepts a deck list. By integrating it into the DeckBuilderPanel, we:

• Mapped Data: Converted the Deck Studio's EnhancedBuiltDeck structure (categories + items) into the flat SimCard format the simulator expects.
• Handled Basics: Automatically expanded basic land counts to ensure the deck size is correct (100 cards).
• Kept It Fast: The simulation runs entirely client-side, so there's no server latency. You can run 10,000 simulations in a fraction of a second.

Try It Out

Head over to the Deck Studio, search for your favorite commander, and click Build Deck. Once your list is ready, hit Simulate Hand to see if your brew has what it takes to survive the early game.

Happy brewing!