Brawl is coming.
Heralded as the “standard Commander”, brawl is a 60-card highlander
format with a commander slot. Which is
to say, 59 cards in your maindeck with no repeats besides basic land, and one
commander creature or Planeswalker who’s color identity your deck must match
precisely. Games start at 25 life for a
1v1 match, with the first mulligan being free. Which you probably already knew
but just making sure. Up until recently,
Brawl was always a “oh hey that’s cool” format, but if I was playing in paper,
why wouldn’t I just play EDH? But with MTG
Arena offering constructed Brawl queues soon (tm) my interest has been
renewed.
So this is the first in my series of articles on the Brawl
format, looking at what cards you need to look out for, what decks you’ll be
likely to face, and how to optimize your decks to the next level.
What credentials do I bring to talk about this? I’ve been
playing Magic for 10 years, EDH for 9 of them (and I still call it EDH so you
know I’m OG), write reviews for Type 4 (I’m a little behind on those), and play
EDH biweekly at my LGS, where I win 4-player pods over 25% of the time, so you
know I’m good.
Also I’m the only person I’ve seen writing on the format, so
you know, you’re stuck with me.
OK let’s get started by looking at the commanders that I
think are likely to be good (or at least playable) in the upcoming format! If you’re building a deck, I’d advise picking
from this list, as options not on it are likely to be wildly overcosted and underpowered.
White:
Ajani, Strength of the Pride
Gideon Blackblade
God-Eternal Oketra
Sephara, Sky’s Blade
Tomik, Distinguished Advokist
Mono-White is, as always, pretty weak, but there’s some
solid options. Best among these are
likely Ajani and Oketra, as both put out pretty solid threats. Sleeper here is likely Sephara, who I see as
likely being very very scary if you get your nut draw. Tomik is likely to be good if you want to
beat down, with Gideon being another potential option for that same
strategy. It’ll just depend how low you
want your curve, but whichever one you play the other will likely be in your deck.
Blue:
Artemsis, All-Seeing
Gadwick, the Wizened
God-Eternal Kefnet
Jace, Wielder of Mysteries
Mu Yanling, Sky Dancer
Narset, Parter of Veils
Blue has some solid control finishers in Artemsis and
Kefnet, along with excellent value machines in Jace, Narset, and Gadwick. If there is a blue skies option, Mu Yanling
is likely to be great there. However, in
general, I think playing mono-blue is a mistake with how much better options in
two colors exist. That said, I think
Artemsis is a real threat and you should definitely kill it on sight.
Black:
Ayara, First of Locthwain
Davriel, Rogue Shadowmage
Liliana, Dreadhorde General
Massacre Girl
Rankle, Master of Pranks
Syr Konrad, the Grim
Black is primarily based off the strength of its synergy
commanders, though some just have brute power.
Ayara, Davriel, and Konrad all do some fun stuff that encourages
building around them, though with Standard’s limited card pool I’m not sure how
well you’ll be able to do any of those things.
On the other side, Rankle, Liliana, and Massacre Girl all scream
power. Liliana will likely be for the
most controlling builds, with Massacre Girl following closely behind (wrath on
demand is pretty great). Rankle looks to
be a midrange curve topper that offers a lot of options, all of which are
situationally great. Plus, haste.
Notably absent is Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord, but I don’t
see a vampire deck getting there in new Standard, especially not in mono-black.
Red:
Chandra, Acolyte of Flame
Chandra, Awakened Inferno
Chandra, Fire Artisan
Ilharg, the Raze-Boar
Krenk, Tin Street Kingpin
Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion
Sarkhan the Masterless
Torbran, Thane of Red Fell
Red offers mostly midrange and control options weirdly
enough, but Torbran can be a pretty great aggro finisher, and Krenko can become
a monster very fast (pro tip: play the other in either deck). The Chandras all offer slightly different
things, with FA giving you Howling Mine followed by Fireball, AoF offering you
a cheaper midrange card with a lot of options, and AI being a great control
finisher that can act against the best card in the format (we’ll get to him).
Ilharg will be interesting as an option that you won’t need to pay tax for all
the time, as well as cheating out very scary things, like Drakuseth. Neheb is basically Chandra FA but a dude if
you want that instead. And if you want
to play dragons, I guess Sarkhan can do that, as well as boosting your other
planeswalkers.
Green:
God-Eternal Rhonas
Nissa, Who Shakes the World
Questing Beast
Syr Faren, the Hengehammer
Viven, Arkbow Ranger
Vivien, Champion of the Wilds
Green has a lot of real good cheap to mid options. Questing Beast is clearly a great card, and
Syr Faren is a 2 drop you’ll have every game if you want that. Nissa offers a great ramp midpoint, while
Rhonas offers you a way to just kill people.
The Vivens all offer pretty good card advantage, with AR offering sideboard
tutoring… if that’s actually a thing (which I don’t actually know, but hope
is).
Notable exclusion is Yorvo, but he doesn’t do anything that
Questing Beast doesn’t do better besides maybe get bigger if you play more
green creatures… with no other abilities.
UW:
Teferi, Time Raveler
Aight, I’mma be real with you. This card is nuts. If you told me “hey they banned a card from
Brawl” I would 100% guess Teferi. If you’re
playing UW, you play him, there are no other options. Maybe, MAYBE you can ocassionally play Dovin,
Grand Arbiter if they print some insane skys card, but why would you bother
when Teferi is just so strong of a card.
Do whatever you want with him, but this guy is the warping influence
over the entire format and if you don’t have a plan to deal with him, welp
better luck next time.
UB
Ashiok, Dream Render
Etrata, the Silencer
Lazav, the Multifarious
Tezzeret, Master of the Bridge
In contrast to UW, all the Dimir options are useful. Ashiok is the most exciting to me as a millmander
in a format where people start with 1 less card in their deck: exciting! Tezzeret offers a home for a lot of artifact synergies
(but given a lot of those cards are in white you might want an upcoming
option), and Etrata has the text “that player loses the game” on it. And if they can’t interact with her, she
kills at 8 mana. Lazav is the least
useful, but I can see him being an interesting one to use, and 2 mana isn’t
bad.
BR
Judith, the Scourge Diva
Rakdos, the Showstopper
One for aggro, one for control. Not too much to say here, RB does some
interesting stuff but overall you know what cards you want in your deck, so
pick the option that best helps you out there.
GR
Domri, Anarch of Bolas
Domri, Chaos Bringer
Grumgully, the Generous
Nikya of the Old Ways
The Domri’s and Nikya both fuel midrangey, more ramping
decks, though depending on how big you want to go will alter your decision on
which is best. Grumgully, on the other
hand, fuels an anti-tribal deck, and there is no shortage of good non-Humans. Plus, 3 mana 3/3 is nothing horrible.
GW
Ajani, the Greathearted
Emmara, Soul of the Accord
Huatli, the Sun’s Heart
Trostani Discordant
Lots of different possible archetypes here. Huatli for the Sir Mix-a-lot deck, Trostani
for a token/anthem deck, Ajani for similar but more Planeswalker aligned, and
Emmara if you want something a little faster. Also sorry Tolsimir fans, there
aren’t nearly enough wolves to make his ability worth it.
WB
Kaya, Orzhov Usurper
Sorin, Vengeful Bloodlord
Teysa Karlov
Sorin provides you lifelink for racing pretty well, along
with some reanimation to fuel you later in the game. Kaya, on the other hand,
will grind with the best of them, allowing you to turn your removal into some
life and an eventual kill. Remember their
adventures count too! Teysa, on the
other hand, is a full synergy commander and will play as such. If the pieces are there she’ll be good, but
if not… eh.
UR
Niv Mizzet, Parun
Ral, Izzet Viceroy
Ral, Storm Conduit
The Royal Scions
Niv is an excellent control finisher… if they don’t have Teferi. Ral IV is similarly good, but a mana cheaper,
which might give him the edge. Ral SC on
the other hand has some weird combos possible with him, so watch out for
those. The Royal Scions will likely be
the choice if you want a more creature heavy deck, with them giving some combat
stats and digging past mana flood.
GB
Garruk, Cursed Huntsman
Izoni, Thousand-Eyed
Storrev, Devkarin Lich
Vraska, Golgari Queen
Garruk offers a late game stream of 2/2s and death, though
his ult might land a little flat for control decks. Izoni provides a graveyard deck with an army,
and she is quite fine being bounced by Teferi.
Storrev is a good aggro finisher, while Vraska provides some interesting
grinding possibilities… while also killing Teferi. Overall a good mix.
RW
Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice
Feather, the Redeemed
Tajic, Legion’s Edge
All on the faster side, as one would expect from this color
combo. Feather players know the deck
they want, though whether its good or not will depend on if there’s a critical
mass of such pump effects. Aurelia
provides a good finisher for aggro decks, while Tajic offering a decent point
on the curve. While not as a commander,
Nahiri is an important consideration for some decks in the format in the main.
UG
Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner
Oko, Thief of Crowns
Prime Speaker Vannifar
Roalesk, Apex Hybrid
Tamiyo, Collector of Tales
Zegana, Utopian Speaker
Wow there are a lot of good UG options. Kiora and Zegana offer card advantage engines
in Planeswalker bodies, while Oko and Roalesk are excellent midrange tools. Tamiyo and Vannifar will likely prove to be
powerful combo cards, and while I’m not smart enough to figure out how to break
Vannifar, given my love affair with UG decks in the past standard I’m likely to
start on Tamiyo.
3 colors
Alela, Artful Provocateur
Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God
Korvold, Fae-Cursed Kind
Rienne, Angel of Rebirth
Chulane, Teller of Tales
Kaalia, Zenith Seeker
Syr Gwyn, Hero of Ashvale
Omnath, Locus of the Roil
Kethis, the Hidden Hand
Kykar, Wind’s Fury
Yarok, the Desecrated
Oh boy the 3-color dudes.
The real issue with these will be your mana, as the loss of a fair
number of dual lands hurts, a lot. But
other than that, you’ll play these if you want their abilities or their color
identity. Looking over the list, I
expect Alela, Bolas, Korvold, Chulane, Omnath, and Kethis to all be the standouts,
though the rest are all certainly playable.
If you played the Brawl event at all, you already know the power of some
of these guys.
5-Color
Kenrith, the Returned King
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Golos, Tireless Pilgrim
Each of these guys offer a slightly different look at a
5-color deck in the format. Golos fixes
your mana while allowing you to play a lot of strong cards in any color as long
as you get the WUBRG necessary. Niv is
far more restrictive, but the possibility of drawing 10 cards is certainly
compelling, and there’s no shortage of good options. Kenrith is the most exciting to me,
especially at 6 mana as a 5/5 trample haste creature. 2W gain 5 and 4B to necromancy are big game
(though do not target your opponent’s creatures). Overall, the mana for these guys might end up
being easier than the 3-color decks
Colorless
Please don’t.
And there you have it, a complete list of all the commanders
I’d consider playable in Brawl. Overall,
I think the early format is likely to be focused around Teferi, Bolas, and
Omnath decks, with the four Brawl deck guys all being in high play. Personally,
I’m interested in Ashiok, Tamiyo, and Kenrith, and will definitely be trying
out some mono-black and Kaya action.
Join me again next time, where I look through the currently legal cards
and point out the staples you’ll want for your collection
<3
Frezon
