mtg_python_deckbuilder/docs/releases/v2.6.0.md

MTG Python Deckbuilder v2.6.0

Summary

• Card tagging system improvements split metadata from gameplay themes for cleaner deck building experience
• Keyword normalization reduces specialty keyword noise by 96% while maintaining theme catalog quality
• Protection tag now focuses on cards that grant shields to others, not just those with inherent protection
• Web UI improvements: faster polling, fixed progress display, and theme refresh stability
• Protection System Overhaul: Comprehensive enhancement to protection card detection, classification, and deck building
  • Fine-grained scope metadata distinguishes self-protection from board-wide effects ("Your Permanents: Hexproof" vs "Self: Hexproof")
  • Enhanced grant detection with Equipment/Aura patterns, phasing support, and complex trigger handling
  • Intelligent deck builder filtering includes board-relevant protection while excluding self-only and type-specific cards
  • Tiered pool limiting focuses on high-quality staples while maintaining variety across builds
  • Improved scope tagging for cards with keyword-only protection effects (no grant text, just inherent keywords)
• Tagging Module Refactoring: Large-scale refactor to improve code quality and maintainability
  • Centralized regex patterns, extracted reusable utilities, decomposed complex functions
  • Improved code organization and readability while maintaining 100% tagging accuracy

Added

• Metadata partition system separates diagnostic tags from gameplay themes in card data
• Keyword normalization system with smart filtering of one-off specialty mechanics
• Allowlist preserves important keywords like Flying, Myriad, and Transform
• Protection grant detection identifies cards that give Hexproof, Ward, or Indestructible to other permanents
• Automatic tagging for creature-type-specific protection (e.g., "Knights Gain Protection")
• New metadataTags column in card data for bracket annotations and internal diagnostics
• Static phasing keyword detection from keywords field (catches creatures like Breezekeeper)
• "Other X you control have Y" protection pattern for static ability grants
• "Enchanted creature has phasing" pattern detection
• Chosen type blanket phasing patterns
• Complex trigger phasing patterns (reactive, consequent, end-of-turn)
• Protection scope filtering in deck builder (feature flag: TAG_PROTECTION_SCOPE) intelligently selects board-relevant protection
• Phasing cards with "Your Permanents:" or "Targeted:" metadata now tagged as Protection and included in protection pool
• Metadata tags temporarily visible in card hover previews for debugging (shows scope like "Your Permanents: Hexproof")
• Web-slinging tagger function to identify cards with web-slinging mechanics

Changed

• Card tags now split between themes (for deck building) and metadata (for diagnostics)
• Keywords now consolidate variants (e.g., "Commander ninjutsu" becomes "Ninjutsu")
• Setup progress polling reduced from 3s to 5-10s intervals for better performance
• Theme catalog streamlined from 753 to 736 themes (-2.3%) with improved quality
• Protection tag refined to focus on 329 cards that grant shields (down from 1,166 with inherent effects)
• Protection tag renamed to "Protective Effects" throughout web interface to avoid confusion with the Magic keyword "protection"
• Theme catalog automatically excludes metadata tags from theme suggestions
• Grant detection now strips reminder text before pattern matching to avoid false positives
• Deck builder protection phase now filters by scope metadata: includes "Your Permanents:", excludes "Self:" protection
• Protection card selection now randomized per build for variety (using seeded RNG when deterministic mode enabled)
• Protection pool now limited to ~40-50 high-quality cards (tiered selection: top 3x target + random 10-20 extras)
• Tagging module imports standardized with consistent organization and centralized constants

Fixed

• Setup progress now shows 100% completion instead of getting stuck at 99%
• Theme catalog no longer continuously regenerates after setup completes
• Health indicator polling optimized to reduce server load
• Protection detection now correctly excludes creatures with only inherent keywords
• Dive Down, Glint no longer falsely identified as granting to opponents (reminder text fix)
• Drogskol Captain, Haytham Kenway now correctly get "Your Permanents" scope tags
• 7 cards with static Phasing keyword now properly detected (Breezekeeper, Teferi's Drake, etc.)
• Type-specific protection grants (e.g., "Knights Gain Indestructible") now correctly excluded from general protection pool
• Protection scope filter now properly prioritizes exclusions over inclusions (fixes Knight Exemplar in non-Knight decks)
• Inherent protection cards (Aysen Highway, Phantom Colossus, etc.) now correctly get "Self: Protection" metadata tags
• Scope tagging now applies to ALL cards with protection effects, not just grant cards
• Cloak of Invisibility, Teferi's Curse now get "Your Permanents: Phasing" tags
• Shimmer now gets "Blanket: Phasing" tag for chosen type effect
• King of the Oathbreakers now gets "Self: Phasing" tag for reactive trigger
• Cards with static keywords (Protection, Hexproof, Ward, Indestructible) in their keywords field now get proper scope metadata tags
• Cards with X in their mana cost now properly identified and tagged with "X Spells" theme for better deck building accuracy
• Card tagging system enhanced with smarter pattern detection and more consistent categorization