Early Impressions of the Brackets for EDH/Commander

 On Tuesday, 2/11/2025, WotC unveiled their new system for EDH play intending for it to become the new guidelines. Initially the community was critical, dismissing the system as too broad and arbitrary. However as time progressed, more people picked up on the news and began heading to community boards to comment and observe. By the next day, the majority was overall positive with the current system with many understanding WotC is still refining the system before settling on it. 

As someone who has fallen out of interest with the commander format, the new bracket system put out by WotC might be a positive for the format. A lot of players including myself are put off by all of the non game elements of the format like the complication of the rule zero conversation and player behavior when it comes to certain cards being played. It helps manage expectations much better than the community anticipated and I'm looking forward to seeing its impact on LGS play.

Why we need this

Before I dive into my own ego, we need to focus on why they're even investing the time and money first. EDH is one of the biggest (if not the biggest) formats in MTG right now and I don't see this going away for a long time. As someone who prefers limited, the format deserves its popularity with its ability to allow players to maximize their player expression in the game and this is really where all of the problems stem from. Unlike every other format, EDH has managed to cultivate a culture where winning might not be necessarily the goal of yor deck. In fact, playing not to lose is something I see way more often than playing to win. If you have ever gone to anywhere be it conventions, the LGS, some random dude's house, etc., you will quickly recognize the disparity in decks, player skill, and player choices. Often players will hold back from winning the game if they deem it unfun or meanspirited. This culture of not winning games has brought about this oddity and really has players grappling with the question "What is the spirit of EDH?"

The disunity on the answer has created divides in the community on how players should be approaching the format. This has only gotten worse as event organizers began running prized tournaments for the format, often grouping the competitive and casual players into the same pool. The Command Zone created guidelines for players to use before starting a game. It was initially received positively, however its flaws began to show as the language was subjective rather than objective. 

A graphic made based on the Command Zone's prescription

This gave birth to the meme "My deck is a 7" as a lot of these decks had a game plan with good cards. This only created more frustration as it made the conversation even more difficult as everyone had different expectations of what a 7 was. In the big picture of things, it did set the framework for the next iteration.

Enter the WotC

Enter WotC with their approach after taking oversight of the format.

There is a lot I like about what they announced. The biggest improvement over the Command Zone's guidelines is the clarity and objectivity of their system. It addresses the largest complaints regarding the format such as infinite combos, land destruction, and extra turn spells while even maintaining a seperate list of cards that bring out the saltiest reactions from players. I'm hoping this will mitigate a lot of the out of game elements that damper the play experience primarily players whining and complaining about another person's deck. I'm also interested to see if event organizers will start using the bracket system to create events and tournaments from. Though I wouldn't join them, it will add legitimacy to commander beyond being a casual format.

I have two concerns with the system in its current state. Firstly, the distinction between 4-5 and 1-2 are not big enough with the current descriptions. In the case of 1 and 2, both of these are intended for slower games with the only distinction being extra turn spells. I see 1 being obsoleted in the big picture and would rather see them merged it with 2. This way there's less brackets to keep track of. In the case of 4-5, there's need to be a bit more language to divide them. We all understand the spirit of what is being written, but the language doesn't describe it well. This will lead to a lot of feel bad moments when players get hit with the reality of what a 5 really is.

 Going on to the next point, the game changers list needs more explanation on what qualifies as a game changer. Some of it seems legitimate like Drannith Magistrate, but other parts not so much like Demonic Tutor. As it is currently, it just seems like a bunch of cards people get mad at and I don't think that's a good measure for the list. I would want to see an explanation and expansion of the list as it currently stands, there are some unfun (unfun for you) strategies that are still available in 3 as it currently stands, but maybe that's the intent.

The End Step

I very much expect the new bracket system to greatly impact pick up play for the better as it gets fleshed out. Creating a uniformed understanding of definition will mitigate the issues that currently plague the game. We have to remember these are just guidelines and there will always be the outliers that try to deceive people, but those come as a case by case basis rather than a systemic one.

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