Commander Brackets on Magic Online

Posted on Feb 11, 2025

As many of you know, in a September 2024 announcement, the Commander Rules Committee handed off management of the Commander format to Wizards of the Coast. Wizards subsequently formed the Commander Format Panel, a 17-member group of individuals in the worldwide Commander community who worked with WotC to help provide feedback and craft the Commander experience under WotC management.

One of the things called out by Wizards of the Coast in both the articles linked above was the desire to introduce a more objective approach to deck power level and to provide additional guidance and a shared language that players could use to find the kinds of matchups they're looking for when they sit down to play Commander. The articles outlined a promising idea for a “bracket” system to serve this purpose that they have been iterating on since.

Today, on behalf of Wizards of the Coast and the Commander Format Panel, Gavin Verhey revealed where they landed on this system with the announcement of the Commander Brackets matchmaking system!

Magic Online is a place where Commander is often played in the Open Play queues between players who don’t know each other or what kind of deck they are bringing. This is exactly the kind of environment the committee had in mind when developing this system. Many tabletop Commander players won’t need this system because individual playgroups can create their own house rules and social contracts that suit their needs. For strangers on Magic Online looking to maximize their fun, this system can be a big help. Make sure you check out Gavin’s article with the details, and then come back here and we’ll tell you how this will impact Commander on Magic Online.

A Common Language for Commander

The good news is that players can opt into the Commander Brackets matchmaking system out of the gate on Magic Online via the honor system among friends, and via game-creation notes when seeking a game with any available players. Just add your target bracket to the description when creating a Commander game, and keep a lookout for the requests of other players in the games you join.

The better news is that we will be implementing deck validation against the Commander Brackets wherever it is programmatically possible and appropriate to do so! As it is presented in Gavin’s article today, some bracket distinctions—such as intent-based use of extra-turn spells—are not enforceable programmatically. Some deckbuilding restrictions—such as “no cards from the Game Changers list”—are enforceable programmatically. In between are areas like “Mass Land Denial” and “intentional two-card infinite combos” which don’t have exhaustive lists from WotC, but for which reasonable lists could be developed.

Right now, the system is in beta and subject to change, but if it survives beta in roughly the current form, we expect to offer bracket validation based on Game Changer count and the presence of any of the Mass Land Denial spells called out by WotC as examples of the land-denial cards that cross the line:

These are cards that regularly destroy, exile, bounce, perpetually keep tapped, or change what mana is produced by four or more lands per player without replacing them. Examples in this category are Armageddon, Ruination, Sunder, Winter Orb, and Blood Moon. Basically, any cards or common game plan that messes with several of people’s lands or the mana they produce should not be in your deck if you’re seeking to play in the first three brackets.

From there, we will consider expanding the list of bracket-crossing mana-denial cards to include other offenders, and we will consider creating a list of bracket-crossing two-card combos that would also be enforced by deck validation. We would only take this step after listening closely to Magic Online Commander players and working directly with the Commander Format Panel on the list of inclusions.

All told, we are thrilled that Commander deck power has some new structure around it. We think it will be a boon for digital Commander play, and we hope it will be embraced by the Commander community as a tool to help players find the games they want. We are already underway in the work of bringing deck validation for Commander Brackets to Magic Online in anticipation of it eventually exiting beta and becoming an official matchmaking framework for Commander. We hope you join us for some Commander on Magic Online and share your feedback on the Commander Brackets matchmaking system with both the Magic Online team and the Commander Format Panel!

Bracket Breakdown

Thank You Commander Format Panel