EDH Brackets won’t solve Magic: The Gathering’s social problem

Earlier this week, Magic: The Gathering’s Commander Format Panel unveiled its first stab at a new framework for understanding the massively popular — and financially vigorous — multiplayer format. The CFP’s 17 community members introduced two key tools in a “beta test”: The Game Changers lists, and Commander Brackets.

The article on the MTG mothership goes into granular detail, but here’s the gist: all 100-card Commander (or Elder Dragon Highlander, EDH) decks will fall into one of five distinct categories, ranging from mega-casual “exhibition” decks to the cutting-edge optimization of competitive EDH (cEDH). The gooey middle of this taxonomical cookie is composed of preconstructed decks sold by Wizards of the Coast, followed by “upgraded” and then “optimized” decks.

Deciding where your beloved deck falls requires a combination of factors both dead simple and frustratingly opaque. Including anything from the new Game Changer list of cards that “dramatically warp” the flow of play immediately bumps you up to a 3. Other no-nos include mass land destruction, chaining extra turns and other tricks that hardly ever see play outside of more competitive groups (often referred to as pods). It feels as though you only need to pay attention to one end of this scale depending on your friends’ preferred style.