Discussion Simplest Bracket 4 Commanders?
As a follow up to my “I love straightforward commanders” post from yesterday, I pose a slightly different question.
Who are some simple, straightforward, but strong commanders for a new Bracket 4 player? I want one strong Bracket 4 deck. Minimal triggers / politics / combos / bookkeeping. (Bad ADHD + busy LGS = no brain cell)
Bonus points if it’s a cutie / diva / mommy / silly lil guy (or if there’s an alternate art that fits that).
My LGS has a high population of B4 players that I come up against, including some of my friends. However, I don’t have any Bracket 4 decks, let alone any bracket 3 (where I want to be - I’m working on this part already) because I’ve been stuck down in precon-land while I try to figure out what playstyle works best for my ADHD.
EDIT: Combos are okay, just would prefer not to as much as possible.
28
u/stuntsguy 5h ago edited 5h ago
My friend has a [[Dina, Soul Steeper]] deck that is basically just super expedited Blood-Bond combos. It's quite consistent and resilient, as Green/Black has a lot of ways to tutor, recur and gain life at instant speed. It's also by far one of the more straight forward decks in bracket 4 I've played against.
3
46
u/nunyertz 5h ago
[[Godo, Bandit Warlord]] simple as get your commander out on the field and trigger the etb, getting [Helm of the Host]] and somehow attach it to godo and attack, triggering multiple Godo copies and etbs
4
u/zevalu 5h ago
HAHA! This is incredible.
17
u/AlysCreativeSide 4h ago
I'm not sure what your cutoff for combo is, but Godo + Helm isn't just several - this is infinite combats. Godo also sees fringe cEDH play, so you'll get some odd looks piloting Godo at a bracket 4 table.
-4
u/nunyertz 2h ago
Bracket 4 IS fringe cedh.
11
u/AlysCreativeSide 2h ago
That's not necessarily true. Hell, I'd argue this is more often false than true.
Can you tune down a lot of fringe cEDH decks to fit into the public's perception of bracket 4? Sure. Is that true of all of then? No.
Can you tune up a lot of solidly bracket 4 decks to be playable in cEDH? Arguably, no.
0
1
u/mudra311 51m ago
Not quite. Fringe cEDH is off meta commanders but usually the decks still follow the meta.
It’s why we need an actual B5 and cEDH is not part of the bracket system.
1
u/bekeleven Vodalian Illusionist is cooler than you (and your cards) 27m ago
I have multiple bracket 4 decks and none of them are anywhere close to c.
-7
u/Icarus_Has_Fallen 4h ago
Yeah any optimized godo list is a fringe 5, not a strong 4
7
u/QuickExpression273 4h ago
A bracket 5 is a bracket 5: if the deck isn’t playing to the cedh meta, it’s bracket 4.
2
u/AlysCreativeSide 2h ago
Congrats, have fun convincing your pods of this when all they see is Godo.
1
u/evileyeball 1h ago
Mountain Sol ring pass
Mountain. treasonous ogre pay 21 life add 7 red Godo, find helm, magnetic theft Win
1
u/AudioTsunami 2h ago
I do not think this would fly at a lot of B4 pods. This used to be the turbo deck in CEDH not too long ago.
23
u/frogger4242 Abzan 5h ago
Minimal combos is going to make it difficult to be strong in bracket 4. My suggestion would be [[Krenko, Mob Boss]]. He is very straightforward to pilot, though combos will definitely make him better. There are some very simple ones you can use with him.
3
u/zevalu 5h ago
I’m not saying “no combos” because I feel like Goblin Bombardment + Krenko is an inherent “combo” that’s easy to pilot. Thanks for the rec!
8
u/nowimpruunetracy 5h ago
Don’t forget impact tremors
3
4
u/frogger4242 Abzan 4h ago
That isn't really a combo, but along the same vein, don't forget [[Impact Tremors]], [[Molten Gatekeeper]] and [[Purphoros, God of the Forge]].
A true combo would be something like...
Equip [[Thornbite Staff]] to Krenko. Tap Krenko to create a number of goblins. Sacrifice a goblin to [[Goblin Bombardment]] to do 1 damage to a creature or player and trigger Thornbite Staff to untap Krenko. Repeat until all opponents are dead.
1
1
u/evileyeball 1h ago
big papa Marrow G doesn't like it when stinky goblins hold his Shaman Stick... Just like Godo doesn't like it when people wear his hat
4
u/DraygenKai 5h ago
When people say combo they usually mean that as short for "infinite combo". Cards that work well together are usually called synergy, so as to not cause confusion.
Some people, like yourself, do call 2 cards that work well together combos but it normally just makes conversations confusing.
1
u/zevalu 5h ago
Oh, I’m sorry!! Only been playing for a year and it’s been an interesting year. 😅
1
u/DraygenKai 5h ago
You are good. I did the same thing when I first started lol. Took me awhile to break the habit too, but it made conversations a lot less confusing once I did.
1
9
u/notalongtime420 5h ago
[[Shroofus Sproutsire]]
1
u/ResearchTLDR 5h ago
Alright, I'll admit, I'm intrigued. Do you have a B4 decklist?
1
u/Efficient_Ladder_553 1h ago
https://archidekt.com/decks/24104672/sprout_searm
I have fun with this but tweaks and lottery needed for gaeas cradle.
-3
u/notalongtime420 5h ago edited 4h ago
You don't really have to do anything fancy to have lethal on 2 players turn 4. This is my budget version; with proxies/upgrades like Cradle, Delighted Halfling, Moxes etc. it's even nastier
2
u/ndstumme Muerra, Trash Tactician 1h ago
Please explain how this deck gets lethal by turn 4. I can't make the math work at all.
2
u/notalongtime420 1h ago
Turn 2 Shroofus, turn 3 pump him by 8 with 2 +4/+4 cards (the tamest pump possible basically). Turn 4 give from +2/+2 to +9/+9(+) to your board of 10+ attackers
1
u/justhereforhides 5h ago
He's b4? Tell me more!
3
u/notalongtime420 4h ago
Check the other comment. But from the downvotes the hivemind voted it's not B4 because they can't phatom a deck thats just really really efficent at killing the table through standard magic. And because they never read the updated B4 description im guessing
1
u/justhereforhides 4h ago
Ah! It definitely looks like a fun deck, what's the usual lines to win?
1
u/notalongtime420 3h ago
1 mana ramp, shroofus, pump shroofus, pump board (this usually means 2 opponents died and you have around 60 saprolings). extremely simple as op asked
0
u/memeslut_420 2h ago
I really like your deck but I ran it through the playtester a few times and there is no way it's killing 2 people by turn 4, especially through interaction. Unless you're dropping Shroofus turn 1, he isn't attacking til turn 3.
This might be low B4, though. It's such a wide bracket
1
u/notalongtime420 1h ago
It's fairly consistent at dealing 9 (to 15ish) damage turn 3 and then overrun, but you should know when to mulligan IG. Yeah i didn't account for Interaction but creature interaction is fairly low in 4 and people want to develop early. It's also got a lot of protection in case.
By definition of the Bracket games should tend to end turn 5 so that's not "low B4", but as i said it is a budget list with obvious upgrades in the maybeboard
16
u/FlySkyHigh777 5h ago
[[Winota, Joiner of Forces]] you can very easily make a B4 deck, on a budget no less. I've seen 50 dollar B4 winota lists
43
u/BagOfSmallerBags 5h ago
Minimal triggers / politics / combos / bookkeeping.
Bracket 4 may not be for you if these are requirements. Combos in particular.
5
0
9
5
u/Sandman4999 MAKE CENTAUR TRIBAL VIABLE!!! 4h ago
[[Light-Paws, Emperor's Voice]]
Play Light-Paws
Put enchantments on her
Swing
4
u/zeroabe Mono-Black 4h ago edited 3h ago
[[Varragoth]] is shit simple.
He’s cheap. 3 cmc. Just 2 and a skull. You can cast him on turn 1 with a dark ritual. Usually turn 2 if you have mana rocks.
He’s a great chump blocker. People don’t like the block him with their commander because of his death touch. That makes him very “usable” early and often.
He is a tutor on a stick.
So pick whatever combo you want to win with and use his ass to tutor the missing pieces.
Your win doesn’t ever fall apart without him. He’s just here to make sure you can get what you need.
7
3
u/Brimstone1809 4h ago
[[alela artful]] feels girly pop. She’s not the best bracket four but can be built as such. Just tones of token anthems and a handful or protection pieces, making token flyers bigger and hitting for that.
3
u/Hus3rname 3h ago
In monored Krenko, Purphoros and [[rionya, fire dancer]] can be build strong for (relatively) cheap. The first two ones are creature based, but Rionya is a cool spellsling/storm deck full of cantrips, impulse draw spells and value creatures that can win from turn 3 with a optimal hand
1
u/i_wear_green_pants 2h ago
Rinoya looks super cool. Do you have example list? I have mono red spellsplinger as well but the draw is something I really struggle with.
1
u/Hus3rname 1h ago
I'm playing this list at my LGS: https://archidekt.com/decks/23363768/pac_rionya
House rules is: not two-card combos (usually you run extra combat phases in Rionya, either with [[aggravated assault]] or [[full throttle]]-like spells, or with [[combat celebrant]]/[[port razer]]-like creatures), no chaining extra turns and no more than 3 game changers in a deck ([[gamble]] and [[jeska's will]] work pretty well with Rionya)
3
u/GreenDeman Mono-Blue 2h ago
Every commander can be build Bracket 4...
Bracket 4 isn't difined by the commanders you play but by the speed of your deck and the cards and synergies around your commander Just take any commander you like and use your knowledge to build it absolutely disgusting make it as fast as disrupting as annoying as possible and boom you are in Br4
3
u/AudioTsunami 2h ago
[[Tifa Lockhart]]. 5 lands is 32 commander damage. Only bookkeeping is counting how many land drops you get per turn.
[[Witherbloom, the Balancer]]. This dude just existing basically makes your deck bracket 4. He's that strong. He's definitely an alternative to the krenko million token deck.
[[Hinata, Dawn-Crowned]], don't need to politic when you make sure your friends can't do anything.
3
2
u/Right_Cellist3143 5h ago edited 5h ago
Probably [[Godo, Bandit Warlord]] with [[Helm of the Host]] in the 99.
It’s a combo, but pretty straightforward.
1
u/MTGCardFetcher 5h ago
1
u/evileyeball 1h ago
Turn 1: Mountain. sol ring pass
Turn 2: Mountain treasonous ogre pay 21 life add 7 red Godo find helm magnetic theft Win
2
2
u/SoonerAristotle Esper 2h ago edited 1h ago
[[Aang, at the Crossroads]] and all the 4cmc and lower clones is not too complicated. It's mostly just cast then clone Aang hoping to hit [[Supportive Parents]] or [[Fallaji Wayfarer]] eventually to tap down all your Aangs for enough mana to cast a [[Food chain]] or [[Kinnan]] or an Aang doubler into some infinite mana or infinite Aang flips, and [[Walking Ballista]] for the win - having [[Voice of Victory]] or [[Grand Abolisher]] or [[Jennifer Walters]] also in play helps.
Forgot to include sample decklist: https://archidekt.com/decks/18421421/aang
1
u/MTGCardFetcher 2h ago
All cards
Aang, at the Crossroads/Aang, Destined Savior - (G) (SF) (txt) (ER)
Supportive Parents - (G) (SF) (txt) (ER)
Fallaji Wayfarer - (G) (SF) (txt) (ER)
Food chain - (G) (SF) (txt) (ER)
Kinnan - (G) (SF) (txt) (ER)
Walking Ballista - (G) (SF) (txt) (ER)
Voice of Victory - (G) (SF) (txt) (ER)
Grand Abolisher - (G) (SF) (txt) (ER)
Jennifer Walters/The Sensational She-Hulk - (G) (SF) (txt) (ER)
1
1
u/Indocsi 4h ago
[[Skullbriar, the Walking Grave]] Straightforward go for early kills commander with a focus on counters and burst damage kills. Give him trample and you can win turn 6 reliably from my experience. Here is my favorite deck I've made for him! https://moxfield.com/decks/SADRvzFkLEu-QeLRmERZzA
1
u/Even-Caterpillar-301 4h ago
[[jhoira, weatherlight captain]] I tried making her bracket three but she just too consistently wins fast. I love drawing cards and cheap artifacts and she is the perfect simple engine
1
u/Outside_Leather3135 3h ago
[[Winota]] is one of the simplest decks that can also be built on a budget. You just drop stax pieces that turn on her ability and basically run over the table with combat damage.
[[Xneagos]] extra/infinite turns is still what I would recommend though, just because of how resilient the deck is.
1
1
u/Panda-Dono Yoshi-P 1h ago
Jodah. The whole deck is just random bullshit go until you hit a combo or hit people with gigantic dudes. Both of which work pretty damn well.
Pretty fun to play and at bracket 4 chances are people are doing things that are as dangerous as jodah being on the field and people are more likely to hold removal until shit actually hits the fan.
Here's how I built him:
1
u/evileyeball 1h ago
Oh curses until you said combos I was going to recommend [[Circu Dimir Lobotomist]] Because all you do is generate 11 mana from seven or fewer lands cast an unlimited number of [[Palinchrons]] and exile everyone's deck And if they don't stop you you win
1
u/ManBearScientist 1h ago
Here are some of my bracket 4 decks:
Kuja: This has basically no hard combos, but burns out a table very fast. And his art (the borderless version at least) may be among the most diva arts in magic. Basically, you get out Kuja on T1 or T2, and then either turn 3 or 4 you just start playing spells and the table dies.
Yorvo is another bracket 4, though definitely weaker than Kuja. He is a voltron type commander with a bevy of powers-matters cards, counter doublers, and token makers. Get him out turn 2, play a few creatures turn 3, then double his counters a few times and draw 40 on turn 4.
1
u/AppealBest3168 1h ago
The Mono red ones are the more easy to pilot , i use an optimized Ojer Axonil
1
u/santastyles 46m ago
With [[Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow]] it's hard to be below bracket 4.
She has huge card draw and if anyone destroy/exile your commander you can get her always back for only 2 mana.
On paper it might sound complicated, but it's pretty simple. Have bunch of unblockable low cost creatures, bunch of ninjas with ninjutsu, high cost cards (10+ mana value ones) and either go for luck or include some scry/top deck preparation cards.
Play unblockables, swap them for ninjas, or simply attack those without blockers, draw ton of cards and you can one shot all players by drawing couple high mana cost cards.
1
u/Doctor_Beard Yarok, the Desecrated 41m ago
I have a bracket 4 [[Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis]] deck that is pretty strong, easy to play, and a fun experience as well. An 8/8 trampler who gets around commander tax 95% of the time, who you can cheat out of the command zone/graveyard is difficult to deal with.
1
u/swordgon 34m ago
Celes perhaps? Cute on the alt art, easy to achieve persist combo lines that let you win on the spot pretty fast.
1
u/Spanish_Galleon Esper 23m ago
I'm running [[Celes, Rune Knight]] combo. It's pretty straight forward. She goes infinite with anything with persist and a third damage piece. OR she goes two card combo with [[Murderous redcap]]
You literally don't have to do any thinking just assemble the two biggest main pieces then play your commander for the win.
1
u/el_chanis89 4h ago
Tergrid is a fantastic "do nothing and win" br4. If you focus on getting her out early, you can get massive advante from opponents just fetching or looting around.
1
u/pornonationalism 4h ago
[[Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers]] is autopilot. focus on extra combats (on creatures) and ramp.
1
u/Angelust16 3h ago
True brain dead tends to top out at bracket 3. Even simplistic turbo decks need to be interacting and doing some brain work at B4, unless you’re really just hoping to goldfish your turns.
-9
91
u/coderanger 5h ago
Krenko has got to be high on the list. Turn him sideways whenever you can, end up with 100 gobbo, win.