How to use TurnZero HQ
Getting a deck in without typing it out
Nobody's second deck ever gets built if the first one costs ninety-nine card names typed by hand. There are six ways into TurnZero HQ, and the right one depends entirely on where the deck already lives.
Why this is the whole battle
Every deck tool in Magic has the same failure point, and it is not the tool. It is the ninety-nine card names standing between a player and using it. People abandon a deckbuilder in the first ten minutes, decide the app is not for them, and go back to a spreadsheet, and none of that has anything to do with how good the gauges are on the other side.
So TurnZero HQ has six ways in rather than one, on the theory that the deck already exists somewhere and the job is finding out where. It might be on Archidekt, in a box you bought, in a pile of sleeves on the table, on Arena, on somebody else's public page, or nowhere at all yet.
Paste a link from where the deck already lives
Archidekt, Moxfield and Manabox links are recognized and the list comes across. Those three are where the overwhelming majority of Commander lists actually live, which is the entire reason they are the ones supported rather than a generic text-paste field pretending to handle everything.
A URL from anywhere else is not rejected. It is kept on the deck as a link, so a list on a site nobody has built an importer for is still reachable from the deck it belongs to.
Start from the box you bought
Pick a precon by name and every card in it comes across. That single path covers a player's first deck, and a good share of every deck after it, since most Commander decks in the world started as a precon somebody then changed twelve cards in.
It works because of a data source most card apps do not carry. Scryfall models cards, not preconstructed deck contents, so TurnZero HQ loads the precon lists nightly from MTGJSON as well. That is what makes "what is actually in this box" an answerable question, and it is the question the whole import path depends on. Browse the precon list →
Start from a commander and build outward
When the deck does not exist yet, name the commander. An empty deck now starts with the one card it is actually about, and the Deck Lab has something to measure against: the archetype blueprint, the curve target, and the color identity every other card has to obey. Inside the Deck Lab →
From there the deck is tagged with archetype labels drawn from a fixed list, with live suggestions computed from the cards currently in it. The app proposes the label so nobody has to invent one, which is what keeps decks comparable across a whole playgroup instead of each person inventing their own vocabulary.
Starting from a commander: name the card, build outward
Once a deck is in, it is one tap away at every table
Scan the deck that is sitting on the table
A deck that only exists in sleeves is the hard case, and the answer is the camera. Photograph the pile, keep shooting, then review what was found and send it into a deck or into the library. A hundred physical cards go in at the speed of dealing them. How the scanner works →
Arena decks, which have no link at all
Arena is treated as a place a deck is played rather than as a format, which is the distinction that makes the numbers come out right: a Standard list on Arena is still Standard, and it gets the sixty-card blueprint, the sideboard and the legality checks that go with it.
Since there is no URL to paste, Arena gets its own import path through exported deck text and screenshots. Results are typed in afterward as well, with both final life totals and how the game ended, so games the app could never have watched still count toward the deck's record. Tracking Arena decks and wins →
Copy somebody else's, or claim the one you just rated
Every deck gets a public page on this site, on by default and switchable off. Open one you like and copy it into your account, and it becomes a deck you can tune rather than a screenshot you meant to come back to. Opening a deck you do not own shows a viewer's screen rather than an owner's controls, so you never get a screen of buttons that would fail.
There is one more path, and it starts before you have an account. Rate My Deck on this site takes a decklist, with no signup, and gives it a bracket and a written read. Sign up afterward and that same list is already in the Deck Lab, imported, with nothing retyped in between. Rate a deck now →
Who this is for
Anyone with a decade of lists on Archidekt or Moxfield who is not retyping any of them
New players whose deck is a precon that came in a box last weekend
Players whose decks only exist as physical cards in a deck box
Arena players who want a paper-grade record of a digital deck
Frequently Asked Questions
Which deck sites can TurnZero HQ import from?
Archidekt, Moxfield and Manabox are recognized from a pasted link. Any other URL is kept as a link on the deck rather than being silently dropped, so a list living somewhere else is still one tap from where you need it.
Can I import a precon I bought?
Yes. Pick the box by name and every card in it comes across, from a precon catalog loaded nightly from MTGJSON. This is the fastest path for a first deck, and for the large share of decks after it that started life as a precon.
How do I import an Arena deck when there is no URL to paste?
Arena has its own path, because it has no link to paste: export the deck as text from Arena, or feed in screenshots. Arena is treated as where a deck is played rather than as a format, so a Brawl or Standard list on Arena gets the same blueprint, gauges and legality checks as a paper one.
Why does my freshly imported deck say it is still identifying cards?
Because it is, and saying so is the point. Rather than reporting a ramp count of zero for cards the catalog has not resolved yet, the deck reports how many are still being identified. The gauges never quietly tell you a deck is short on something when the truth is the app has not finished reading it.
Can I copy someone else's deck?
If they have published it. Every deck gets a public page at turnzerohq.com/decks/ by default and can be switched off, and an open published list can be copied into your own account in one tap, at which point it is yours to tune.
Do I need an account to try this?
Not to get a read on a list. Rate My Deck on this site takes a decklist with no account at all, and when you do sign up the list you pasted lands in the Deck Lab already imported, so nothing gets retyped.
Bring the decks you already have.
Paste a link, pick the precon, or point the camera at the pile. Free to start.
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