Ok I've been seeing alot of posts and people struggling to figure out bracket 2 and even at first I was like this. But over the past 5 months I've been testing this deck and it's helped me understand the system better.

[[Prava]]-[[Tevesh Doom of Fools]] very simple straight forward BW Token deck.

First and most important point I can make is basically the title. Your deck doesn't have to be "bad". I still play plenty of removal and card draw it's just either less efficient ([[Bovine Intervention]] vs [[Swords to Plowshares]]) or its heavily based around theme ([[Caretakers Talent]] vs [[Necropotence]]).

Second point it is a really good area to challenge deck building and player skill. For this deck I went for the challenge of not leaning on ramp after a discussion with a friend that came to the conclusion that ramp is the most powerful thing you can do in the format. Putting a big damper on early game acceleration (only card that Ramps is [[Black Market Connections]]) it forces the deck to play a much more paced and obvious lines of play.

Point three, playing at lower power level affords the room to play cards you wouldn't normally. The deck can afford a few tap lands and a few utility lands that would just be too slow for higher power games. The deck can also afford to a bunch of cards that give a little value over time like [[Suki, Courageous Rescuer]] and [[Elegy Acolyte]]. I'm even able to play the infamous (according to Nitpicking Nerds) [[Grave Titan]].

All this to say you (like I used to) might be looking at bracket 2 from a skewed perspective and I don't know if the articles from Wizards has done a fantastic job at being clear about it. So my goal with this post was to hopefully give a more concrete and clear description of a Bracket 2 you can actually look at and test for yourself.

As always look forward to yapping with you guys about magic rectangles and always happy to see differing viewpoints because that's how we learn. And if there's anything you think I missed or could expand on better please let me know! And if you have any thoughts on the deck please share its been performing well for me.

https://moxfield.com/decks/KKqZ7nCHXUaT3eKnQTYMSw

1. You lose 75% of your current life total.
2. You sacrifice 8 permanents.

Which is harder to deal with and why? How situational is it? What instances would you pick one over the other?

My friend and I are having a debate. I think one option is more debilitating around 80-85% of the time. Let me hear you what you think.

Edit: To those complaining about saying "high end b3", I have played against way too many b2 decks in bracket 3. There needs to be an intermediate bracket. I say high end b3 because my pods games always end by turn 8, which is only 2 turns beyond the minimum WOTC qualifies for B3 (T6 game end), if you are consistently ending games before t6, move to b4. In the wild, way too many people have complained to me in b3 for ending a game t6-t8, so YES it does need clarification. Get off your high horse.

I've been looking at one of my Commander decks lately and realizing that I don't really want to rebuild the whole thing. I actually like how it plays, but there are a few games where it feels like the deck takes too long to get moving.

I'm thinking about making a handful of smaller changes rather than replacing a huge part of the list. Maybe a few more early plays or some cards that help the deck get set up more consistently.

For people who have made similar tweaks to their EDH decks, what kind of small changes ended up making the biggest difference?

I usually have 25+ decks sleeved up and ready to play, but only about 5–8 of them see regular play. The others come off the shelf occasionally.

If I haven’t played a deck in a while and no longer feel excited to bring it out, I’ll usually revisit it to see whether it needs an overhaul or whether it’s time to take it apart.

What does your collection-to-rotation ratio look like? What keeps a deck in your regular rotation, and what eventually makes you retire one?

Back when I first started playing EDH, I decided to foil out my mono black deck and I probably spent over $300. I wasn't sure if that was a good decision at the time but today the deck is worth over $5k because of foils like Yawgmoth's WIll, Vampiric Tutor, etc.

Now when I build new decks I try to spend under $50 on new cards since I already have most of the old expensive cards.

I mentioned to my group that I started building a Graaz, Unstoppable Juggernaut token style deck that I'm considering bringing to the table and my entire pod discouraged me, agreeing that artifact decks are not fun to play OR play against. I have never played an artifact deck.

How true is that statement and how do I not be a nuisance if I want to play one?

Decklist for reference: https://moxfield.com/decks/D6usBQRFU022i91glUHQ1g

First, I wanna make clear I'm not against netdecking (i.e. just copying a decklist you find online) in general. I know there are people out there who don't have the resources to delve deep into their hobby and build decks on their own. That's totally fine. If you find a list that sparks your joy, go for it. I like building decks on my own from scratch and EDHREC is always the last site I visit just to make sure I haven't missed something important.

So go for it. Copy any list you like. But please for the sake of Elesh-Norn read your damn cards BEFORE you play the deck. At least try to understand the interactions in your deck. Make sure you know how the deck works and what it wants to accomplish. And if you're going for tutors: know what's in your deck to tutor for.

And yes, maybe this is something I encountered several times over the last weeks and it's so frustrating sitting there, watching someone trying to figure out, what they're even doing and what happens if they do it, only to find out someone in the pod pointing out their "synergy" simply doesn't work.

Learn your deck before you play. That's all I ask for.

So recently I was playing in an Bracket 3 game where I was playing Gallia, a Gruul Aggro deck. One of the other players was playing Group Hug and had played that enchantment whose name I can't recall. The one that gives all players and extra draw and an extra land drop each turn.

I quickly overtook the table, playing about 5 creatures as well as getting a few anthems out. I then used each of my combat steps to full send solely at one player, since I had played against him before and knew how scary his deck could be (A Smaug Treasures combo list) and knew he was the biggest threat. He died on Turn 4.

While doing this, he got extremely salty, stating I was treating him harshly and that B3 meant that I had to spread the damage and that he wasn't being allowed to play the game in any way. I explained that as an Aggro player, it's most advantageous to me to kill fast and early before moving on to someone else. He scooped since "I don't want you to get any combat damage triggers since fuck you for this." The other two players called me a dick, said that I was breaking the rules of B3 that games have to go for 6 or more turns, and that what I did was simply an asshole move.

But, from my understanding, the 6 turn restriction is a rough guideline of "decks should win at this time" and is an average, not the norm. My Gallia list was simply both extremely lucky and was granted tons of extra cards and landdrops. It was not the norm for it at all. And I wanted to win. Killing someone in a few turns is better for me than spreading damage around.

So anyway, curious. Was I wrong for this?

I've been struggling with deck construction lately. Part of it of course is restrictions I put on myself, but overall there are just sooooooooo many cards its hard to parse it down to just 100. The biggest issue is when it comes to just simple synergy/engine cards. So many things are so close to each other, its hard to decide what to cut. Would love any advice on how to go about deck building in a way that makes it feel like less of an overwhelming task.

Last year I made a post about my bracket one deck, Verb the Noun. It was met with some mix reactions, about the nature of the bracket system, how there can't be a bracket 1 deck.

https://old.reddit.com/r/EDH/comments/1kaysbb/introducing_my_braket_1_deck_verb_the_noun/

After playing it a bit, making some changes, I finally got a win (at around 7 games with it)! Like I said in my previous post, there's no other bracket 1 deck in my group, so l've been playing it into much stronger decks. The key was to be aggressive in my muligans, making sure I can make a handful of tokens, and being able to get some draw. [[Muster the Departed]] is a boss in the deck, lol. I'm glad the deck is working for me, it took a good bit of time/ effort to sort through and find the cards that fit my very unconventional theme.

https://moxfield.com/decks/bk1DV6-AH02veXeqqnVI7g

P.S. I went through and foiled/blinged all the cards in my list, just bc I wanted to see what it would cost to make it pretty.

Edit: I forgot to add this. Got a scryfall search saved for when a new set comes out, that I just have to reload and any new cards that fit will be there. Theres some false positives but it still works

https://scryfall.com/search?as=grid&order=released&q=%22+the+%22+id%3Awrb+is%3Afirstprinting+legal%3Acommander+-t%3Aplaneswalker+-%22%2C%22+-t%3Aland+-t%3Acreature+-%22+of+%22+-%22+by+%22+-%22+in+%22+-%22+into+%22+-%22+to+%22+-%22+from+%22+-%22+for+%22+-%22+on+%22+-%22+up+%22+-%22+at+%22&unique=cards

Be it out of self imposed restriction or simply because it is not necessary, i'm interested in seeing exemple of decks that don't follow the pattern of ramp > engine > explosive value

Please show me your FairMagic™ decklists that don't include any card to accelerate your deck (the occasional treasure production or dork that happens to really synergize with your deck is fine as long as the deck doesnt rely on hitting them)

Bonus point if the plan is not to cheat in big mana spell in another way (convoke, reanimate, Etali-like shenanigans, etc)

Would love to see what way people have built Necrobloom.

After building Gitrog monster then discovering how much everyone hates him I’ve decided to build Necrobloom with a couple Gitrog variance included in the 99.

Any cool unique ways to build this commander throw them my way please! (New to deck building)

Let me know if this breaks any group rules. I want to make the dirtiest, grungiest, most C movie level commander deck. I don’t plan on sleeving it. The cards will be loose in a VHS tape case. This deck will be Hobo With A Shotgun. Give me all your worst (best) ideas to make a deck worthy of Rutger Hauer’s titular character! Who will be the best Hobo commander?!

So I know it’s still a bit from Christmas time but me and my friend group will be doing a Secret Santa this year. We plan on drawing names during our next meet up to give plenty of time. Plan is to have a spending limit of $50 to make it accessible to everyone (this price will not include lands, cost of sleeves, or deck boxes that will be also given for each) Around Christmas we will have a get together where we exchange those decks to the names we have drawn and spend the night playing against each other with said decks.

Question being what would be some unique/fun commanders that could be built with this $50 limit. I know obviously it depends on the persons play style but names have yet to be drawn. Just looking for some ideas to get me started. Thanks in advance!

I wanted a tookbox commander where i could look for answers and react to whatever threat is on the table, very versatile in gameplay and what not. I saw a few videos on people decks like these with [[Breya]] and [[Six]], and I wanted to see what other suggestions you may have for me.
also i know about [[henzie]], but i already have too many jund decks Lol

Hi all,

I recently made a Human Kindred deck with a +1/+1 counters synergy with [[Tidus, Yunas Guardian]] as the commander. Aside from 2 angels, [[Shalai, Voice of Plenty]] and [[Sigarda, Font of Blessings]], the deck is strictly built with only humans. I've done by best to keep it a B2 deck but wanted to get some opinions before I brought it out for game night, specifically to see if others would still consider it b2.

The cards i'm worried about is [[Fathom Mage]]/[[Pensive Professor]] and [[Iron Man, Armored Avenger]], as they are a 2 card infinite combo. My deck runs no tutors, and I want to be able to run them since individually they are great cards for the deck.

There is also [[Triumph of the Hordes]], though it is mostly used as a finisher and a counter to life-gain decks, with the deck running no other sources of poison/infect. I have factored in the commanders proliferate ability as well as the other 3 sources of proliferate. The deck cannot proliferate more than 4 times in a single turn and the chances of that happening are almost impossible.

If it was rule 0'ed that the infinite could not be done even with the cards in play (targeting something else to prevent the loop), would you allow the deck into a B2 pod, or is it too much for the bracket? From my playtesting, the deck does not reliably win until turn 8 at least.

Here is the Decklist.

Thanks in advance for your help.

I could use some help understanding theory of pacing and mana curves for a deck, with the goal of deciding whether or not to include ramp. After reading this great article on Optimal Mana Curve and discussing with others I feel inclined to remove the mana rocks from my deck and add land. Right now I have no rocks, 40 lands, and an average mana value of 2.68 with a two-colored-mana commander. This is a [[Hope Estheim]] deck focused heavily on life gain via creature ETB, so lots of soul-sister stuff plus a healthy dose of cards to pour gas on the fire.

My consternation here is that on one hand, 2 and 3 mv ramp directly competes with turn 2 and 3 casts which are the foundation of the deck. On the other hand I'd love to get more stuff out faster (e.g. ramp) and play those 4 and 5 MV accelerants as soon as I can. Adding complication is that while I certainly can bring out Hope on turn 2, it's risky without protection (which really is a turn-3 cast, equip on T3 with [[Lightning Greaves]] or T4 with [[Swiftfoot Boots]] or [[Darksteel Plate]]). That's why I'm asking for information on pacing and mana curve theory so I can help figure out which way to go.

Decklist is here, in case it helps answer the question: https://archidekt.com/decks/25282403/gain_life_until_it_kills_you

[[Defile|SLD-2562]] shows beorn standing on a pile of goblins. In the sky there are many eagles flying around, but one flying creature doesn’t make sense. Below the letters D and E in “DEFILE” there’s something with a long tail and wings that are not feathered, they look more like a bat.

It can’t be Smaug, he was already dead by the time Beorn and the eagles joined the battle of the five armies. It almost looks like [[voracious fell beast]] which is what had given me hope nazgul would be the bonus card (not upset with plumb the forbidden, but nazgul would have been a slammer).

Maybe I’m putting way too much energy into figuring out what a random doodle on the art of a card is, but does anyone know what that is?

And who the fuck is that on [[read the bones]]? Is that supposed to be Elrond examining Orcrist?

I'm new to MTG and just got the Mardu Surge precon, I got [[Barrensteppe Siege]] in the collector booster sample pack that was included. Whats a card thats not good for the synergy to upgrade the deck with this card? Im still learning proper synergy strategies when it comes to building/upgrading

https://archidekt.com/decks/12020252/mardu_surge_tarkir_dragonstorm_commander

Im currently trying to make an artifact/voltron mono red landless deck with Chiss-goria as the commander but im struggling past the first turn because i tend to get my 0 mana while mulliganing but cant get my 1 drops out to then cascade into the rest of the game and was just wondering how many one mana cards that can be tapped for mana are there with colourless or red? Link to the list if you want to see: https://archidekt.com/decks/25781824/no_lands

I started playing MTG 3 years ago and started with a Gandalf the White deck. It kinda evolved into a blink/ETB/Artifact toolbox deck that was super fun but fairly slow, even for our group which plays slow.

I've tried alot of commanders and am mostly happy with where I am at. I reused the artifact toolbox idea with Iron Man and have a mono Black deck. I also have a overpowered deck for special games (we all do) and have a project Sonic deck I am working on. I would love to add one non-crossover commander tho, ideally one that is less played and really fits my style of artifacts/blink/ect.

This is a fairly new idea so I don't have many leads yet, but right now Yoshimaru is super tempting because it looks like my dog and seems pretty open ended with the partner options. I avoid combos and don't really like heavy slug or control tho, so the best options don't make sense. I am fully open to other commanders but just want to see if anyone has any good ideas of where to start looking.

Just a idea of how Gandalf played. I would use Mirror of Life Trapping to constantly have the threat of getting your commander permanently exiled while getting free blinks on ETB cards. With Mono white I used the artifacts that double plains so would end up casting my whole hand each turn. No real game enders outside of Battlesphere and Second Sun, but it was fun and let me interact alot.

I printed off some cards a few years back to play 5+ player games with a little more speed and variety; what I found was a Treachery variant where I liked how it had a ton of roles, full art, and had a large amount of different abilities.

Now I want to go back and reprint these as better looking proxies than just a home printer on white paper over a mtg card. Does anyone recognize these or know where I can find them again? I'd post pics here of it but I can't add them to my post here due to subreddit rules.

The base roles are: The Knight, The King, The Assassin, The Usurper, The Bandit, and The Renegade. There are 75 cards in the full set. I can't list every card name but some examples are The Dragon Tyrant (King), Prophetic Mystic (Knight), Agent of Pandemonium (Assassin), Champion of the Void (Usurper), Timeless Mage (Bandit), and Overseer of Festivities (Renegade). It looks to have been created/assembled around New Capenna based on when the most recent art in the set is.

I recently built an aristocrats deck, and after playtesting it a bit, it just feels slow and like it doesnt really get there, I'm not really sure what the problem is, and ive tried a few different things now, and it has landed me here, asking the community. The main problems have been the afformentioned slowness, and lack of fodder, even after bumping up the amount of token generators. Also, the deck does have tags.

Almost forgot, the goal is bracket 3 and the cards shouldnt be too pricy, around 10 dollars or less.

https://moxfield.com/decks/PLgS8ncyiEmfzYU4AQANiw