Last updated on August 29, 2025
Knowledge and Power | Illustration by Jung Park
The idea of power levels in Commander is a point of contention for some Magic players. While I can definitely see the merit of being able to measure the relative power of your deck, a 1-10 scale is a somewhat nebulous rating system with a lot of room for subjectivity. One player might consider their weakest deck a two or a three simply because it loses consistently in their own play group. However, they might have a very competitive play group, and the deck is more than twice as strong as a precon.
From this confusion, Wizards of the Coast organized a Commander Format Panel to help the Magic community formalize a way to identify relative power levels of decks. This way it’s easier for players to appropriately gauge how well their deck stacks up in a group of new players. While the method isn’t perfect, it’s better than a simple guess on a deck’s power level with no real process behind it.
Today I go through a popular way to determine power levels and show you examples of what each power level typically means. This process is imperfect, and I suspect there’ll never be a 100% accurate way to do this. If you have suggestions for how this process could be improved, I encourage you to leave a comment and join the discussion on the r/EDH subreddit where players often work on issues like this.
Brackets vs. Tiers vs. Power Level
Revelation of Power | Illustration by Eric Deschamps
Tiers are a more general term into which the Commander brackets and power levels fall. The aim of tiers is to help make a more formalized category for each power level and make it easier to determine where your deck falls. There are five tiers with two power levels in each of them and they roughly equate to the Commander Brackets.
Bracket 1: Exhibition / Unfocused Tier
Power levels 1 and 2 fall into the Unfocused tier. This is where decks without a very clear win con tend to end up. These decks can be a result of poor deck construction, but they can also be intentionally bad/funny EDH decks that are simply trying to pull off one very convoluted series of events.
Bracket 2: Core / Focused Tier
Power levels 3 and 4 make up the Focused tier. These decks have a clearer goal for winning the game, but they still aren’t all that strong. These are very casual decks and where a lot of budget decks and Commander precons fall.
Bracket 3: Upgraded / Tuned Tier
Power levels 5 and 6 are in the Tuned tier. This is a tier for decks that are still more casual but have a good amount of synergy and a consistent land base and is solid on how many lands it has. You’ll see upgraded precons falling into this category a lot, especially if players just upgrade the land base to be a bit quicker.
Bracket 4: Optimized / Powerful Tier
Power levels 7 and 8 are considered the most powerful decks that are still meant for casual rather than competitive play. These decks run maybe one or two miscellaneous pet cards just for fun, but mostly they’re pretty well-tuned for what they want to do. They’re slightly less efficient than the highest tier decks either because of budgetary restrictions or because their game plan takes a little longer to win.
Bracket 5: Competitive / cEDH
Power levels 9 and 10 are the Competitive tier or what players refer to as cEDH decks. These decks have no room for a card that doesn’t help them win or even a less efficient version of one. These decks tend to be very expensive because they require perfectly tuned mana bases and the most efficient card for any given effect.
Does a Turncount Help Me Determine My Deck's Power Level?
Yes, a turncount is the number of the turn on which you expect your deck to win, and determined by how fast your deck is.
The basic idea is that you play your deck enough times to get a reliable sample size and note which turn it consistently wins on. The lower the turncount, the higher the power level of your deck.
For example, if your deck wins between turns 0 and 4 consistently, it’s likely a competitive tier deck. While this is a nice method in theory, it isn’t without its flaws.
You need to play a deck a good number of times to make an accurate determination based on turncount. Every player has a chance to start a game with a lucky hand that sets them up for an early win, and every player has kept a three-land hand just to never draw another land for five or more turns. Games like this throw off your turncount, so the more you play the better before you can make an accurate power level measurement. It is best to find players you are comfortable with to navigate multiple play sessions until you can figure it out.
Another issue with the turn count strategy is that it doesn’t take win rate into account. You might have a super grindy stax commander deck or control deck that doesn’t win the game until turn five or six, but still has a higher win rate than a deck that wins on turn three but only 10% of the time.
It’s also important to consider which decks you tested it against. Just because you win a lot early on doesn’t mean you have a Competitive tier deck if you happen to go up against Unfocused or low power decks which rarely win.
I think the most helpful way to determine your deck’s power level is to look at the breakdown deck and gauge the capabilities of your deck.
Power Level 1
These are decks that meet the legal requirements to be played in Commander, but not much else. The best example I can think of is when I first learned about Commander, I threw a deck together by picking a legendary creature I liked and then just crammed a bunch of cards from their color identity from my collection into the deck without any clear goal.
Even in more casual games, a deck at this level isn’t going to win all that often. If you win with a power level 1 deck, it’s likely that your opponents just left you alone long enough for you to squeak out a victory once they’d finished taking each other out.
Power Level 2
A level 2 deck is slightly more cohesive than a level 1 deck but still lacks a strong winning strategy. It’s more likely to depend on a few very specific cards for some janky Commander interactions without really having a consistent way of finding them. These could also be decks that have too many ideas put into them instead of just one clear strategy with ways to make it consistent.
Power Level 3
This is where I’d put the cheaper preconstructed Commander decks like the Starter Commander Decks from late 2022, or the supplemental Commander decks released alongside sets like Kaldheim that weren’t up to the same standard as a regular Commander product release. For homebrew decks, these would be decks that have an idea of what they want to do and ways to do it but suffer from having a poor mana base. Within the 99, you usually see budget options of stronger cards, like a Darksteel Colossus instead of a Blightsteel Colossus, or a Tranquil Cove instead of a Hallowed Fountain.
Power Level 4
This is where you see the better precons and strong but limited decks. These decks have some splashy cards, but not a super consistent way to find them. You’re unlikely to see any infinite combos, but there’ll be some decent interactions built in. Mana bases are still subpar at this level.
Power Level 5
Level 5 decks are essentially if you took a precon upgraded a few cards, and gave it a more efficient land base. You’ll see some bond lands or shock lands, allowing multicolor decks to play a bit faster. Decks at this level also have a basic understanding of important elements that all decks need like card draw and removal and more specific cards that help support their basic strategy.
Power Level 6
Level 6 is the first place you’ll see some infinite combos or other deliberately constructed win conditions. You see fewer tap lands at this stage, and if you do it’ll be something like scry lands that give you an additional benefit or lifegain dual lands if they tie in with the deck’s strategy.
Power Level 7
At this point, you stop seeing as many cards that don’t strictly adhere to the theme of the deck. Such decks are solely focused on winning the game, and usually through one or two very specific means. You see more format staples like Rhystic Study, Sylvan Library, or Vampiric Tutor, and tap lands are largely gone by this point.
Power Level 8
By the time you reach power level 8, every spell in your deck is carefully chosen to work towards your winning strategy. There are no pet cards or generally good cards that don’t really fit with what you’re trying to do. You also have a very efficient mana base with fetch lands and dual or tri lands that can be searched for. The biggest distinction between power level 8 and cEDH decks is that they’re still slightly lower budget and lack some of the superefficient and very expensive cards like the original dual lands.
Power Level 9
Level 9 is the first tier that’s typically considered cEDH. These decks prioritize perfectly crafted mana curves that waste no time or cards, and two-card combos to win the game are much more likely here. You’ll usually either have a card to play or a means of responding to your opponents as soon as you take your first turn.
Power Level 10
A power level 10 deck is one that runs like a well-oiled machine. There’s plenty of interaction so you can stop your opponents from pulling off their game-winning combos, and you’ll also have a quick way to win the game yourself. Another important aspect of a perfectly built cEDH deck is that you have the best tutors available in your colors and multiple ways to retrieve your game-winning cards if they’re countered or removed, so there isn’t an easy way to take you out of the game.
These are typically decks where budget is no problem, so you see Reserved List cards like the original dual lands or Timetwister. Fans of PreDH might find these decks a bit soulless as they’re simply concerned with winning the game as quickly as possible.
Power Level Calculators
Let's assume you have a rough draft of a Commander deck that is cut down to 100 and you've goldfished a few hands to see how it feels. Folks smarter than myself provide calculators that can give you a sense of how powerful your deck is without needing to shuffle up and work through several games with patient friends, hundreds of decision points, and countless other factors.
You generally import a decklist and it spits out numbers to help you estimate powerful interactions in your deck. It may give you a number of infinite combos or call out how many game changers you have.
A tool like this generally helps you categorize your deck and can show you the types of cards that signal to your opponents the strength of your deck.
Commanding Conclusion
Apex of Power | Illustration by Svetlin Velinov
Power levels can be a helpful way to compare the relative power of your deck to those of your opponents. When used correctly, this ranking system’s goal is to create games that are more fun for everyone. A good game is usually when each deck involved has around the same chance of winning and nobody steamrolls the competition. That said, it is still worth it to have a rule 0 discussion with your playgroup to make sure everyone is on the same page.
One negative side effect numbered brackets or power levels is that it makes more casual decks seem “worse” than others. This can somewhat defeat the original intention of the format as a fun place to play the cards you like but don’t have a home elsewhere. If you have more fun building decks specifically around themes or cards that you love, that's the correct weight class to build for. Not every one wants to play competitive Commander and that's good.
What is your opinion on power levels? What kind of cards determine relative strength? Do you find turncounts a reliable way to measure a deck’s power level? What about a player's ability, should that factor into the bracket/power level discussion? Let me know in the comments or on Draftsim’s Twitter.
Thank you for reading and see you next time!
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