Everything You Need to Know About the Commander Brackets in MTG

Last updated on March 15, 2026

Power Conduit | Illustration by Todd Lockwood

Oh no, change is coming! Clutch your pearls and run for the hills Magic players!

The Commander format takes its first steps after having shifted from the loving embrace of the Commander Rules Committee to the cold corporate clutches of Wizards of the Coast. Okay, look, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. The employees at Wizards care about their game, and I have full faith they’ll cultivate Commander in a healthy, diligent, and ultimately profitable way. But the concerns are valid.

With this change came the announcement of a “bracket system” that is used to guide the play level at Commander tables. This system is still being tweaked behind the curtains, but there's now a more concrete idea of how this will work, courtesy of Magic designer Gavin Verhey.

What is the bracket system and what is its purpose? Let’s see if I can answer that for you.

What Is the Commander Bracket?

Thassa's Oracle | Illustration by Jesper Ejsing

The Commander Bracket is a system designed by Wizards of the Coast to guide the way players engage with the power level of their Commander decks. “Guide” is the operative word here. The bracketing system gives players expectations around the game, deck contents, types of win conditions, and gameplay. The guide gives players an easier way to talk about how fast and strong their decks are and play against people with similar interests and gameplay goals.

One piece to this puzzle is to determine how long you expect the game to go, so the number of turns before your deck “goes off” helps determine which bracket it lands in.

Why Did WotC Create the Brackets?

The short answer is that Wizard of the Coast’s full acquisition of Commander means they want to put systems in place that make the format more accessible and accommodating to Magic players. Commander has never really had everything nailed down, instead falling back on player sentiment and Rule 0 to oversee how players interact with one another. WotC aims to nail down some of the more fluid parts of EDH, and give a more consistent baseline.

There’s a much longer answer here that involves the events leading up to WotC’s full control of the format. In September 2024, the former Rules Committee that made a lot of the decision points for the format released an extremely controversial ban list announcement. Of the four cards banned, Jeweled Lotus and Mana Crypt caused a bit of an outrage among the player base, mostly due to the high price of those cards. This outrage sparked some distasteful reaction from the community, resulting in threats towards the members of the Rules Committee, which in turn prompted them to hand over their involvement in the format to WotC, a corporation that could take the brunt of backlash like this without its members being in any discernible danger.

With WotC now responsible for the format, the question became: How will they do anything different than what was already being done by the Rules Committee? That answer comes in the form of the Bracket system, which is WotC’s attempt to hammer out some of the wishy-washiness of Commander and lay down guidelines for players to abide by.

What Are Game Changers?

Before discussing brackets, players need to know about the Game Changers. The Game Changer list consists dozens of cards, including a few commanders, that are generally associated with problematic or high-power play and they are not banned. Cards like Thassa's Oracle and Drannith Magistrate tend to cause issues for many players, and power alone is generally not a reason cards are added to the list.

Notably, the Game Changer list serves as a middle ground between cards that are banned and cards that aren't. If a card were to be unbanned, it would be moved to the Game Changer list first, and if it proved unproblematic over time, it would be moved to universal legality. Similarly, if a card became problematic over time, it could be moved to the Game Changer list, then re-evaluated for banning from there.

What Are the Tiers in the Commander Brackets?

The tiers in the Commander Brackets are more about types of cards and effects than individual cards. Before going over individual brackets, one thing to note is that Wizards does not classify individual cards in separate brackets. Wizards takes into account player sentiment and gameplay experiences when they determine how to develop the brackets.

The tiers have titles to make it easier to talk about with other players (ex: “This is a tier-2 Core deck”). Bracket 4 and above have no restrictions.

Bracket 1 — Exhibition Tier

This tier is described as “your ultra-casual Commander deck.” Consider this the “bread-and-butter” tier. Bracket 1 consists of cards that are fine at any power level and shouldn’t spark controversy between players. The main element of an Exhibition deck is that you're not playing any Game Changers, combos, mass land destruction, or extra turn spells. This is what we'd describe as “highly casual,” with a power level that's generally weaker than the average precon.

Bracket 2 — Core Tier

Tier 2, or the “Core” Tier, is in line with average Commander decks with a clear win condition that players have a chance to interact with. It has all the same stipulations as Tier one, with the exception being that extra turn spells are fine in small doses.

Many Commander precons could be classified as a 2 but there is a wide range as they include audiences of both beginners and deeply enfranchised players. Bracket 2 games rarely end out of nowhere and you are likely to see a handful of cards that show up primarily for flavor

Bracket 3 — Upgraded Tier

Bracket 3 is the “Upgraded” Tier, and the first tier in which you should expect to see Game Changers. If your deck has even one Game Changer in it, it's classified as a Tier 3 deck at a minimum, though you can always engage in Rule 0 conversations if you feel like your deck operates in a lower bracket.

Tier 3 is also the first tier where infinite combos are accepted, though with the stipulation that these should be “late game” combos. The idea is that a Tier-3 deck shouldn't be able to combo off in the first six turns of a game consistently. Essentially, this tier is above the power level of the average Commander precon, and still has restrictions.

Bracket 4 — Optimized Tier

Tier 4 is where decks without restrictions find their bracket. If your deck is full of Game Changers, or features mass land destruction/excessive extra turns, chances are you run an “Optimized” deck (not always the most accurate name). Here is where decks can win fast, and only need a couple of cards.

The only restriction in Tier 4 is the Commander ban list. If you have more than three Game Changers in your deck, it qualifies for the Optimized tier.

Bracket 5 — cEDH Tier

Similar to Tier 4, the cEDH tier has no restrictions aside from the ban list. Basically anything goes here, and the expectation is for extremely tuned, high-power gameplay. A fully competitive mindset and tableside behavior that is bent on winning is the norm here.

How Do I Know Which Bracket My Deck Is In?

The Commander Format Panel shared this tool to help players determine the bracket for their EDH decks. (Source)

Your deck's bracket is classified based on the lowest bracket that it meets the criteria for. Basically, you can use the criteria in the brackets above as a checklist to see what kinds of cards and effects you're running, and see which bracket your deck falls into. Once you include a Game Changer you're looking at the Upgraded bracket 3 and above.

Let's go back to that “guide” term, the entire bracket system is meant to be a suggestive guideline, not an inflexible rules system. WotC still wants to encourage pre-game discussion and experimentation. That means a completely janky deck with a single Game Changer can still mingle with other bracket 1 and 2 decks if everyone’s alright with it. It's a discussion you want to have prior to starting the game.

What Bracket Is Sol Ring In?

Sol Ring is not tied to a bracket. Sol Ring is expected to show up in 99% of Commander decks, and while it technically violates some of the issues brought up with other fast mana sources like Mana Crypt, it gets a pass because of its iconic status and pedigree in the format. It’s a defining part of Commander, the same way Power 9 cards like Black Lotus are defining features of Vintage Cube, so it gets special treatment and isn't held to the same standard as similar cards.

Why Isn’t Sol Ring Banned?

“Sol Ring is the iconic card of the format, and it's sufficiently tied to the identity of the format that it defies the laws of physics in a way that no other card does. Banning Sol Ring would be fundamentally changing the identity of the format.” – Commander Rules Committee

Sol Ring’s status in Commander essentially makes it immune to banning. It’s what I call the “original sin” of Commander. Cards like Sol Ring and Mana Crypt probably shouldn’t have ever been allowed in the format, but they’re so ingrained in the game now that it’s hard to do anything about it.

Mana Crypt did in fact get the axe, but Sol Ring’s in a different position. It comes in virtually every single Commander precon, and it’s a poster child of the format. So think of Sol Ring as the snobby spoiled rich kid who gets away with everything and has total immunity because of its status. Should it be banned? Yes. Will it be banned? Definitively, no.

Will Rule 0 Still Exist?

Rule 0 isn’t going anywhere! Remember, the bracket system is meant to be a guideline, not a hard and fast set of rules. Players are still encouraged to have conversations about their decks, and nothing about these brackets stops your playgroup from cultivating the gameplay experience that you want. In fact, if you play with friends who are all comfortable with each other as Magic players, you could ignore the whole bracket system altogether.

Do the Brackets Mean They’ll Unban Cards?

There’s a very strong chance we’ll see a few cards come off the Commander ban list. Things like the Power 9 and the dexterity cards will remain banned. Powerful, “problematic” cards like Dockside Extortionist, Iona, Shield of Emeria, and Prophet of Kruphix could be moved to Game Changer status under this new system, which would allow them to be played in brackets 3-5. Clunky, expensive cards like Biorhythm, Coalition Victory, and Sway of the Stars are great examples. Rhythm and Coalition are on watch after they were moved from the ban list to the Game Changer list, and Sway got removed from the list because of it's high cost.

Since the goal of the bracket system is to give players an opportunity to “opt into” and “opt out” of high-power games, Bracket 3 and above can be used as a tool to monitor extremely powerful cards rather than banning them altogether.

Where this gets really muddy is with Jeweled Lotus and Mana Crypt specifically. There was already heavy backlash over those cards, and the prices have fluctuated wildly since the bans. But what happens if they’re subsequently unbanned and relegated to Game Changer status? Surely that’s just opening the door to even more backlash, right? Not sure I want to be there when or if that happens.

Are the Brackets Good or Bad?

The Commander brackets are generally good and helpful to players. There are some negatives to the bracketing system, but the overall result has been a net positive. They are a much more realistic way of measuring a deck’s relative power level than the 1-10 system that was used for years. Having defined parameters that tell players where their decks lie is a much more consistent system.

I think about this like weight classes in boxing. I’m no expert on the subject, but my understanding is that boxers are paired up against each other based on weight class. You don’t want a heavyweight boxer in the ring with a lightweight, and there are established weights for each class to make sure that doesn’t happen. Similarly, the bracket system makes it less likely that your lightweight EDH deck gets unknowingly placed in a pod full of super heavyweight decks.

There’s always exceptions though, right? Sure. For one, your entire deck can be classified by the presence of a single card. You could play a 5-color Polymorph deck that wants to turn badger creatures into crabs, but put a single Vampiric Tutor in and that deck automatically goes into bracket 3 because it has a Game Changer. That seems wrong for obvious reasons, though that’s where Rule 0 conversations come in handy.

There’s also the new-player hurdle of knowing about brackets and Game Changers in the first place. There are plenty of casual players who aren’t constantly plugged into online Magic discourse who won’t know anything about the bracket system. They’ll show up to casual FNM and end up being completely blindsided about the way their decks are classified. It’s not enough to just know what’s banned, build a deck, and play; you also need to know how the most powerful cards in your deck are classified. Even enfranchised players have to keep up with which cards are on the Game Changer list, especially as cards are adjusted and shifted around over time.

I’m usually in the camp that extra mental upkeep is worth it if it improves the play experience. One way I gauge if the bracket system is successful and an improvement to the format is: if I experience players paired up against players that seek the same gameplay experience. No more “my deck is a 7” nonsense. It was always a 9, Todd.

Wrap Up

Coalition Victory | Illustration by Eric Peterson

With a lot of the fine details about the bracket system out in the open, it's a great time to start offering feedback on the matter, and the Commander Format Panel actively asks for it.

I want to reiterate that I think this system is a net positive and positions Commander well in the long run. It’ll take adjustment and a small amount of mental overhead, especially for new players, but it gives players an easier way to identify the matches they want to play, and gives them better tools to assess their own decks. I love you Magic players, but we’re all pretty bad at doing that.

Do you have any insight or concerns on this topic? Do you foresee a ban list overhaul, or any other positives that might come out of the bracket system? Let me know in the comments or over in the Draftsim Discord.

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