
Phosphor was made to just speed up vanilla behavior (meaning it can be used in stuff like speedruns, etc.) while Starlight completely changes light generations giving much better results in performance (but it can't be used in stuff like speedruns as it changes Minecraft too much). I actually recommend using Starlight instead of Phosphor for performance as it is just better. Quoting: BloodaxeNORDid you try the game with Fabric installed? Using the mods Sodium, Lithium and Phosphor should grant some insane performance improvements, and you can play on vanilla servers without any issues. You can find many more Steam Deck guides on the GamingOnLinux YouTube. Update: how to get Steam Deck and Gamepad controls in Minecraft.

Controller mods were also suggested, but they're rarely updated and often only work with specific Minecraft versions so sticking with Steam Input and just adjusting a few keys is the best choice for that.

Some YouTube comments suggested trying out some optimized modpacks, but really I didn't see a big enough difference in terms of performance or power use to make them actually worth it on Deck compared with vanilla Minecraft when testing on the same map seed.

Install PolyMC from the Discover Software Centre on Steam Deck, or Flathub directly for desktop Linux.You will find this video also on the Steam Deck section of the PolyMC Wiki! YouTube videos require cookies, you must accept their cookies to view.
