WOTC Introduces New 5 Bracket System for Commander

Commander's Herald • February 11, 2025

News
Key art | copyright Wizards of the Coast via MyNewsDesk

Wizards of the Coast has announced major changes to the Commander power level system and a new Game Changers list. This system is now defined by a set of 5 brackets, each with their own deckbuilding restrictions. Let's break down the nitty gritty details of what each bracket means for your next brew and beyond!

How does the Commander bracket system work?

Bracket 1: Exhibition

  • Experience: Throw down with your ultra-casual commander deck! 
  • Deckbuilding: No cards from the Game Changer list.
  • No intentional two-card infinite combos, mass land denial, or extra turn cards.
  • Tutors should be sparse.

Bracket 1 is the start of the Commander format for many people. These are fun, light decks that typically focus on someone's favorite kindred creature type, cards with cool art, or simply a random stack of 100 cards from a starter kit or bulk bin.

Bracket 2: Core 

  • Experience: The easiest reference point is that the average current preconstructed deck is at a Core level.
  • Deckbuilding: No cards from the Game Changer list.
  • No intentional two-card infinite combos or mass land denial.
  • Extra turn cards should only appear in low quantities and not intended to be chained in succession or looped.
  • Tutors should be sparse.

Precons are one of the most popular products that Wizards produces, and their defined home and relative deckbuilding power level is here. Note that some precons printed in the last few years have Game Changers (see the list after the bracket section) in them, which can affect their current bracket level.

Bracket 3: Upgraded 

  • Experience: These decks are souped up and ready to play beyond the strength of an average precon.
  • Deckbuilding: Up to three cards from the Game Changer list.
  • No intentional early game two-card infinite combos.
  • Extra turn cards should only appear in low quantities and not intended to be chained in succession or looped.
  • No mass land denial.

Bracket 3 is the middle of the road for upgrades, later turn combos and extra turn cards. There might be a couple cards that integrate well with one another and synergize with the rest of the deck, but they aren't necessarily going to overpower the entire table in one turn or show up in high quantities. There's room to experiment here without getting too crazy, and these decks must be sure to balance consistency and overall power level.

Bracket 4: Optimized 

  • Experience: It's time to go wild!
  • Deckbuilding: No restrictions (Other than the banned list) 

Game Changers will be your loose cannon here in Bracket 4. Built to win and synergize with all cards in the deck, Bracket 4 decks and cards all have an integrated purpose, whether that's combos, tutors, and utilizing each card's effects to fulfill the deck's primary win conditions.

Bracket 5: CEDH 

  • Experience: This is high power with a very competitive and metagame focused mindset.
  • Deckbuilding: No restrictions (Other than the banned list) 

Defining cEDH in its own bracket is a wild card, but this is the hyper competitive, "Spike" bracket for those who want it. Bracket 5 takes the lack of restrictions from Bracket 4 and optimizes them even further. As the announcement says, "Winning matters more than self expression," in Bracket 5.

What are the Commander Game Changers?

Per Wizards, Game Changers are specific cards that warp the format by destroying/reassigning resources, consistently chaining infinite or non-interactable combos, and searching for highly synergistic cards at a rapid rate. The full list of Game Changers includes:

Commander Game Changers List

White

Blue

Black

Red

Green

Colorless

Multicolor

Challenging the stats

See what the EDHRECast has to say about the new system:

Per EDHREC, there are some interesting deckbuilding stats for the Game Changers specifically, using aggregate data from both Archidekt and Moxfield.

The chart below shows how many Game Changers are included in decks on average:

(open image in new tab to view full size)

Here we can see that most decks aren't playing any Game Changers at all! This most likely tells us that players are already self-appropriating their decks into personal brackets for their playgroup, and that the new bracket system will be useful for slotting in decks that may only have one or two Game Changers.

As noted by EDHREC, "80% of decks are playing three or less Game Changers, making Bracket 1 to Bracket 3 decks occupy a significant percentage of decks."

The chart below shows the average number of Game Changers over time:

(open image in new tab to view full size)

What do you think of the new bracket system? Will your playgroup be using the Game Changers list as written, or with some group-specific changes or additions? Let us know below!