The 5 Best Bracket 1 Commanders in Magic Ranked

Captain Sisay | Illustration by Magali Villeneuve

I’m not a high-powered gamer, and I never have been. This may be controversial, but cEDH bores me to tears. Combo decks that look to win as quickly as possible and run all the same cards just aren't in my wheelhouse.

In Commander, I like to live in Brackets 2 and 3, but I have a soft spot for Bracket 1. Games are meant to be fun, and Bracket 1 opens up that definition because it ensures that power creep and Game Changers stay far away.

So what kinds of commanders and deck themes should you run in Bracket 1? I have a five-deck sampler for you! A quick note: These commanders are numbered, but they’re sorted alphabetically by the commander’s name rather than power.

What Is Bracket 1 in MTG?

Kaldring, the Rimestaff | Illustration by Magali Villeneuve

Bracket 1, or Exhibition, is the lowest tier of Commander’s Bracket system. These decks are tuned to a lower power level than preconstructed Commander decks, which average out around Bracket 2. Bracket 1 is for under-powered decks that exist primarily for fun. The focus is more on theme, or the overall experience, while winning is secondary.

This is the perfect place to run those older legendary creatures from before the original Commander precons in 2011, the infamous Legends legends, and meme decks like Ladies Looking Left. You can also run decks that have a story; I saw one deck helmed by Grenzo, Dungeon Warden that’s just lands and walls, where the story is, “I can’t stop building walls!!!” You’re constrained only by the expected power level and your imagination.

Bracket 1 decks don’t use Game Changers, have no mass land denial, and no extra turn spells. They use few tutors, and they don’t have 2-card infinite combos.

What Makes a Commander Good for Bracket 1?

While you can play almost any commander in Bracket 1 if you build your deck with that Bracket in mind, the best Bracket 1 commanders allow for interesting gameplay or fun themes, whether that’s in the deck’s mechanics or its flavor. Under-supported lords are also good to run in Bracket 1, since you care more about running creatures that fit the theme rather than good creatures.

Honorable Mentions

Before I break down a few decks for your consideration, I want to mention a pair of ideas that I kicked around before I settled on these.

I originally wanted to build a deck that I called Syr Gwyn of the Templars with Syr Gwyn, Hero of Ashvale and about 30 Templar Knights. I had all the legendary artifacts from Assassin’s Creed (except Adrestia due to an obvious lack of synergy), plus the three legendary artifacts that combine to make the Vecna token. Turns out, even when you limit the interaction to Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares, and Blasphemous Act, you can build a somewhat strong Bracket 2 deck. That may be because I had so many equipment, and Syr Gwyn makes it a breeze to equip your knights.

I considered a deck helmed by Henry Wu, InGen Geneticist supported by a cadre of scientists. Many scientists are humans, which allows them to exploit your non-humans, and Jackal, Genius Geneticist doubles up both on your scientists and your sac fodder.

Progenitus | Illustration by John Avon

For an art-matters deck, I originally put together a Progenitus deck with John Avon art that was about 75% lands that he has illustrated. Good deck? Nope! But a fine tribute to one of Magic’s best longtime contributors.

#1. Atraxa and the Wrong Counters

Atraxa, Praetors' Voice | Illustration by Victor Adame Minguez

The core of this deck first appeared here on Draftsim as one of our picks for funny Commander decks you could use to mess with the table. I could have used most of the decks in that list, but that wouldn’t be fun, now would it?

I swapped out Lighthouse Chronologist for a Vivid Creek so that the deck wouldn’t have any extra turn cards, then I swapped one basic each to add the rest of the on-color Vivid lands. The remaining deck plays nicely in Bracket 1.

The Commander: Atraxa, Praetors’ Voice

Atraxa, Praetors' Voice is a notorious proliferate commander. An end step trigger that proliferates has so much value and so much flexibility. There’s the poison route, planeswalkers, +1/+1 counters, -1/-1 counters, sagas, time counters, and so much more.

While those other themes allow for high-powered builds, this Atraxa deck looks to proliferate all kinds of lesser-used counters, like level up abilities, charge counters (note that this build is pre-Edge of Eternities), and more.

The Deck

This deck as a few extra proliferation abilities and lots of odd-ball counters that you can proliferate with Atraxa. You have Thallids and other creatures with spore counters, some credit counters, level counters, hatchling counters…. The deck also makes use of Leech Bonder’s untap ability to move counters around, although spore and level counters are the most likely ones you’ll move (given vehicles and mounts, I’d love to see the untap mechanic return sometime).

Because the game needs to end eventually, Darksteel Reactor and Strixhaven Stadium are here as alternate ways to win the game, or at least knock your opponents out.

Combos and Interactions

This deck has no combos as-is, but you can build some into the deck if you choose. Myojin of Cryptic Dreams and Deepglow Skate can go infinite together if your Myojin has two or more indestructible counters when you cast Deepglow Skate.

Higher Bracket Upgrades

You can put Lighthouse Chronologist back into the deck to generate extra turns, and you can add in Magistrate's Scepter for an infinite turn combo with Atraxa and Contagion Engine.

Atraxa can be built at any power level depending on the theme you want. You can also modernize the deck with spacecraft and planets to proliferate charge counters if you want to change the theme to “Atraxa… in Space!” or something.

#2. Captain Sisay Magali Madness

Captain Sisay | Illustration by Ray Lago

Part of the fun of Bracket 1 is to set yourself arbitrary deckbuilding challenges and to stick to them, power level be darned. A friend of mine has a deck that’s all alters, autographed cards, and other visually striking cards, but I thought I’d build a deck entirely out of cards with art from the same artist.

This deck runs only printings of cards that were illustrated by Magali Villeneuve. There’s even a misprint, Kaladesh’s Terrain Elemental, which was mistakenly credited to Christine Choi.

The Commander: Captain Sisay

Captain Sisay is more often built in Brackets 3 and 4 as a legends-matter commander that tutors for them. There are no haste enablers here, so your commander needs to survive a turn to give you any value whatsoever.

The Deck

The cards themselves are a complete mishmash of themes. There’re legendary creatures for Captain Sisay to grab, but many of the creatures and noncreature cards don’t care about the legend theme.

The mana base downright stinks. Magali Villeneuve has only illustrated the stained-glass basics from Dominaria United, plus a Secret Lair Sacred Foundry and Search for Azcanta / Azcanta, the Sunken Ruin. White Auracite is her only mana rock, and I didn’t think that the Kaladesh Inventions Sculpting Steel was good for the budget (the deck's a hair over $300, in part thanks to those gorgeous, expensive basics).

The interaction comes mainly from Oblivion Ring effects, and you have a few combat tricks to swing combat in your favor.

Combos and Interactions

This is true Bracket 1. No combos, and the interactions are fairly straightforward since the deck doesn’t run much in the way of synergy. You could argue that Sisay runs up against the rules of tutoring in Bracket 1, but it's pretty safe if you're not hasting it up or fetching battlecruisers.

Higher Bracket Upgrades

For higher Commander Brackets, just don’t play this theme. You’d have to completely rebuild the deck to your own tastes, like Delighted Halfling to make your legends uncounterable. And of course, if you abandon the Magali Villeneuve theme, you can actually run a proper mana base, ramp package, removal suite, etc.

#3. I Can’t Stop Partying: Gallia Satyr Typal

Gallia of the Endless Dance | Illustration by Johannes Voss

I’ve adapted this Gallia of the Endless Dance deck from the one currently in my collection, which was among the first decks I ever completed. And uh… yeah, it shows. But hey, I needed a deck for my boy Xenagos, the Reveler.

The Commander: Gallia of the Endless Dance

Gallia of the Endless Dance is the only satyr lord in the game, one that’s both an anthem and a haste enabler. Its attack trigger rummages: You have no control over which card you discard, but you also draw more than you lose.

The Deck

This might be a satyr typal deck, but it really doesn’t support these satyrs’ abilities. Some have constellation and other enchantment-matters abilities, but there aren’t that many enchantments in the deck. Others have heroic abilities, but there aren’t a lot of combat tricks to target those creatures and trigger heroic.

At under $100, this deck won’t break the bank; Molten Echoes and Composer of Spring are the most expensive cards.

Combos and Interactions

This is another deck without any combos, but you have a few cards that make combos with persist creatures. Master Chef can team up with Goblin Bombardment or Ashnod's Altar and a persist creature for either infinite damage or infinite colorless mana, alongside triggers like ETB, LTB, death, and sacrifice.

Higher Bracket Upgrades

Gallia Satyrs isn’t going to be a powerful theme until we return to Theros in Magic’s main story, and it still may not get much better even then. You can tune the deck up to Bracket 2 with a few extra synergy pieces.

You can use discard payoffs like Containment Construct and Inti, Seneschal of the Sun, while an attack trigger from Grand Warlord Radha helps to add to your mana pool. Grumgully, the Generous gives every creature in your deck additional counters as they enter. Samut, Vizier of Naktamun pays you in cards whenever your hasted creatures deal combat damage to your opponents.

#4. You Know Nothing (Jorn Snow)

Jorn, God of Winter | Illustration by Magali Villeneuve

Yet another deck that I adapted from my collection, although this one I copied nearly verbatim. My deck contains a Winter Moon for thematic reasons, but that technically counts as mass land denial. Every tool that automatically assigns a Commander Bracket tells me that my deck is a 4 with it and a 1 when I swap it for another Snow-Covered Swamp. (My personal list also has five non-snow basics because I ran out of Snow-Covered Forests and Snow-Covered Islands.)

The Commander: Jorn, God of Winter / Kaldring, the Rimestaff

Both sides of this commander play with snow. Jorn, God of Winter untaps all your snow permanents when it attacks, while Kaldring, the Rimestaff lets you play your snow permanents from the graveyard. I wish that these were two separate cards so that you could use Jorn to untap and reuse Kaldring, but that’s not the world we live in. The good thing is that Kaldring provides a decent, if slow way to recover from a board wipe.

The Deck

Most of the cards in this deck are snow spells or spells that interact with them in some way. There’s also some less powerful cards that are here primarily for flavor reasons, like Early Winter and Succumb to the Cold. A few staple interaction and ramp spells make the deck a little more competitive and consistent, but the snow restriction means that it’s not that powerful overall.

Combos and Interactions

This deck runs the Dark Depths / Thespian's Stage combo since Dark Depths is a snow land. It doesn’t produce mana, so you won’t untap it with your commander’s attack trigger, but this combo is somewhat thematic, and you need a way to end the game eventually. Marit Lage's Slumber is likelier to get you the Marit Lage token, given that you just need 10 snow permanents to trade it in.

Higher Bracket Upgrades

You don’t have to cut the snow theme to power up this deck. The first, most obvious way is to slot in Game Changers like Rhystic Study, Cyclonic Rift, Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy, etc. Tutors are another avenue to make the deck more consistent.

#5. Peter Porker, Coffee Connoisseur

Spider-Ham, Peter Porker | Illustration by Filipe Pagliuso

Sometimes you get an idea and you just have to throw together a deck on the deckbuilding site you use. The idea is that all the creatures in this deck gain Spider-Ham, Peter Porker’s buff, and they’re all “French vanilla”, or creatures with only keyword abilities. They’re all creatures with just a keyword ability or two at most, and some have no abilities at all. I’m so stubborn that I haven’t even allowed myself a Birds of Paradise.

The Commander: Spider-Ham, Peter Porker

Spider-Ham, Peter Porker is a lord of many creature types, but master of none. Every creature in this deck gains Spider-Ham’s +1/+1 buff, though Spider-Ham itself is only a 2/2 if you don’t have any anthems out on the field.

The Deck

I’ve supported the French vanilla flavor of this deck with a bunch of bite spells, especially anything with names like Bite Down, Cosmic Hunger, or Devouring Tendrils. This is probably the most consistently playable deck among these Bracket 1 commanders, but it doesn’t have a huge impact on the board.

Combos and Interactions

There aren’t any true combos in the deck. There’s a potential infinite combo with Tribute to the World Tree if you add Aerie Ouphes, but at most you blow up all the fliers at the table. If you use Ashnod's Altar as your sac outlet instead, you get infinite colorless mana.

Higher Bracket Upgrades

Spider-Ham, Peter Porker can work in higher Commander Brackets if you get rid of the French vanilla restriction. There are plenty of more powerful creatures to run among everything that Spider-Ham supports, like Surrak and Goreclaw, Birds of Paradise, and Ancient Adamantoise.

You can also run creature payoffs like Beast Whisperer that don’t gain Spider-Ham’s buff, while Arachnogenesis is a highly reactive spell that has potential to widen your board immensely. If you focus on just one of its creature types, you can add in typal support like Vanquisher's Banner.

Commanding Conclusion

Syr Gwyn, Hero of Ashvale | Illustration by Lie Setiawan

These decks are just a teaser of what Bracket 1 can be. In the end, nearly any commander can fit Bracket 1 if you build it right. I should honestly build more Bracket 1 decks because they really force you to be creative in your deckbuilding decisions rather than seek out the most powerful cards. If you’re looking for more inspiration, check out The Exhibitionists on the OneShotRPG network on Twitch or on YouTube.

Which commanders and themes do you run in Bracket 1? Have any of my decks given you inspiration for decks of your own? How would you tune these up to higher power levels? Let me know in the comments below or over on the Draftsim Discord.

Until next time, happy brewing!