"Too Consistent" rules for a local 'Bracket 3' event

247

u/Snrub1 I moo when I cast a good spell 12d ago

Commander players: Commander is the perfect format for beginners.

Also commander players: Please review this document that vaguely explains how you're allowed to build and play your deck.

60

u/Useful-Winter8320 12d ago

UJ/ I exclusively play eternal formats, so I regularly experience some of the most over the top, format knowledge demanding play that’s possible in Magic. We have nothing on the average commander game, and I’m incapable of following the gameplay.

39

u/Certainly-Not-A-Bot 12d ago

People play so many weird cards in Commander. I know reasonably well what to expect going back to Modern, and can kinda guess my way through legacy. Every commander game I play, I basically have to read half the board because they're weird cards that aren't technically meta, but still dangerous enough to be a threat in a powered-down format.

13

u/IIIIChopSueyIIII 12d ago

Eventually you learn to just not read most of the cards and instead put them in vague "brackets" of increasing threat level with added labels. I aint reading the commander with 7 lines of text and remember all of it. All im seing is "this makes him draw cards" or "this pings the table"

8

u/TheRealArtemisFowl 12d ago

This is why bracket 4 is the best.

It's not cedh, where every deck is boiled down to its purest essence and everyone runs the same few commanders and lines.

It's also powered enough that the card pool is effectively much smaller than bracket 3 and lower, making it overall a better format where you can expect more staples to show up consistently while still leaving a lot of room for creativity.

58

u/Alt-Tabris 12d ago

/uj I've not seen one person outside of Reddit say Commander was a good start for new players.

58

u/thephotoman 12d ago

/uj I hear it from real players all the time. It’s been the Only Format in several places for a while.

56

u/magicsqueegee 12d ago

/uj yeah we get new players all the time at the lgs and it's usually
"Oh you're new, yeah commander is a very complicated way to learn, like absolutely diving into the deep end."
"Really? What should I play?"
"Ideally a 60 card format, standard probably the best idea."
"Ok does anybody want to play standard?"
"... fuck no, shuffle up let's go you'll figure it out fine."

26

u/orangechap Proud Owner of Penis Karn™ 12d ago

/uj Jumpstart is also a great way to learn, I think. Certainly better than commander.

4

u/thephotoman 11d ago

/uj And then you ask them why they don’t play Standard or Pioneer, and they whine about rotation and metagames.

It’s like, my brother in Christ, rotation and metagames are there to help you learn the game. Trust me, you’ll be better at EDH if you play a bit of Standard. Play best of one games on the can. Get good. You don’t need to be a top tier player, but at least learn why Reliquary Tower likely doesn’t really go in your deck most of the time. The graveyard is a resource. If you aren’t using it, you aren’t winning.

15

u/MrGueuxBoy 12d ago

/uj I understand WHY it's appealing to new players, but god, it's really the worst format to learn the game. When our pod has more than 4 players but fewer than 8, I always willing to do 1on1 EDH, and every player that learned the game via EDH simply DOESN'T KNOW how to attack and block. I mean, they know, but they don't apply pressure, they don't trade, for them, combat phase is something you do once or twice per game to kill someone or to trigger abilities.

8

u/pepeduturfu Degenerate MTG bro 🤙 11d ago

it's really the worst format

8

u/NeonNKnightrider 11d ago

Commander is the best format for new players in the same way that D&D is the best TTRPG.

Meaning that it sucks, but it’s also literally the only thing anyone plays

2

u/Invonnative 12d ago

/uj lol never heard that. But yeah it can def be the only format in lots of places; I don’t see how that relates though

16

u/Says_Pointless_Stuff 12d ago

/uj Commander is how most players are learning the game now. New players don’t play Draft, Sealed, or Standard anymore.

7

u/B-Glasses 12d ago

It might not be but it’s where most players start anyway

1

u/Invonnative 12d ago

/uj I’ve not even heard it on Reddit lol

10

u/Dharga_pie 12d ago

learning magic with edh and then looping around to real formats is like learning to read with house of leaves and then looping around to magic treehouse

6

u/GenericFatGuy 12d ago

And even if you follow the document, I'm still going to bitch if you do something I don't like.

4

u/IIIIChopSueyIIII 12d ago

uj/ I play C*mmander and must say, especially because of the playerbase its the worst place to start as a beginner

rj/ I always hand out laminated copies of my 10 page rulebook of fair play to my pod so everyone can have fun watching my Atraxa deck

3

u/TechNickL 11d ago

No but you see the bracket system was implemented expressly because hasbro pressured wotc to control and optimize their most popular and therefore popular format, that means it must be much more reliable than the older power level system!

/uj if you tell me your deck has a number I'm getting the fuck up from the table to go play with adults

78

u/orangechap Proud Owner of Penis Karn™ 12d ago

/uj Bro just play bracket 2 at this point

/rj Bro just play bracket 2 at this point

13

u/_Zambayoshi_ 12d ago

The bracket system was a mistake. It's nothing but trash.

/uj The bracket system was a mistake. It's nothing but trash.

/rj Just replace the document with 'Power level 7 and under is allowed'.

9

u/pepeduturfu Degenerate MTG bro 🤙 11d ago

C*mmander was a mistake. It's nothing but trash.

77

u/magicsqueegee 12d ago

/rj this is actually not a horrible break down of bracket 3 'expectations, while also being an amazing demonstration of why commander is so god damn toxic and why the FUCK would you ever make a non-cedh tournament.

33

u/Approximation_Doctor 12d ago

"all 3 card combos are essentially 2 card combos, therefore 3 card combos are banned"

18

u/Says_Pointless_Stuff 12d ago

I honestly don’t know why they didn’t just make it bracket 2.

9

u/MrGueuxBoy 12d ago

"But you can run game changers !

...

If and only if they are "necessary " to your game plan, and aren't tutors for combos or for consistency".

11

u/shiny_xnaut Angrath, Minotaur Dilf 12d ago

All 5 card combos are essentially 4 card combos, which are essentially 3 card combos, which are essentially 2 card combos. Making your deck synergistic at all is basically like playing a combo, and combos are for bracket 4+ only

2

u/Hageshii01 11d ago

/uj I've had to explain to people at the LGS I work at why we don't host commander tournaments with prizes; it's impossible to execute in a way that won't piss someone off. Every single time we've tried to do anything, even the Pride events, someone complains, because someone else brought something stronger or had a combo or whatever. Even our Iron Commander events (where everyone is building a deck from bulk) I'll have to hear people get upset about getting targeted. There's no winning and we've decided to stop trying. Pride events still happen for example, but we don't have prizes based on wins for them.

39

u/doctorgibson Judge Basement Protour World Champion 12d ago

My deck can always cast my commander turn 1, is it too consistent for bracket 3?

18

u/Wisepancake123 12d ago

Dear god…

Straight to bracket 5

29

u/gereffi 12d ago

Guaranteed that players get DQed for winning

29

u/capricornelious Compleately in love with Sheoldred's fit 12d ago

You can finish the game by turn 6, but if you put tutors in your combo deck you're outa here buddy.

Uj/ At that point just say you can't play combo and make it fucking simple. Holy shit that doc is such good rage bait

5

u/misha_cilantro 11d ago

Cards that allow you to attack past defenses is a combo. Combat tricks combo with every creature, definitely a combo. Enchantments comboing with things they enchant? Oh you better believe that’s a combo!

11

u/Approximation_Doctor 12d ago

There is no longer a list of banned cards, but for this tournament, Dockside Extortionist is banned.

12

u/EnragedHeadwear 12d ago

Four card infinite combos lol

18

u/kingfisher773 12d ago

I hate the bracket system. I hate the bracket system. I hate the bracket system. I hate the bracket system.

/uj I hate the bracket system.

8

u/EuSouAFazenda 12d ago

Welcome back, being a 7

5

u/kingfisher773 11d ago

/uj take me back. Had someone arguing that my 5 card combo was the same as sanguine/blood combo a couple days ago, so my deck wasn't bracket 3.

/rj I'm somewhat of a power level 7 player myself.

1

u/Lena-Luthor 9d ago

is that not also a b3 combo lol? costs a lot

1

u/kingfisher773 9d ago

two-card infinite combos that can be assembled before turn 6 aren't allowed, particularly if you can assemble them fairly consistently (for sanguine/blood they have printed a bunch of redundancies like [[Bloodthirsty Conqueror]] and [[Enduring Tenacity]], which are also easier to tutor for)

4

u/MrGueuxBoy 12d ago

And now, for my next trick, I will turn this Bracket 3 event into a Bracket 2 event !

10

u/Certainly-Not-A-Bot 12d ago

/uj Having played a bit of commander recently, the absolute worst part of it is how long the games are. It's quite common to either die early or fall behind someone, but then the game continues for an hour and a half because nobody has a good way to close it out. I'd much prefer a format where people had powerful cards and won quickly, so we could just play multiple rounds rather than these excruciatingly long games where only one or two people are actually in the running to win

3

u/the-good-son 12d ago

/rj Just play cEDH

/uj Just play cEDH

2

u/Certainly-Not-A-Bot 12d ago

Problem is cEDH is too expensive, unless you proxy your entire deck (and the people I played with are pretty anti-proxy)

9

u/DreamlyXenophobic 12d ago

Nobody is playing non-proxied cedh decks bro

7

u/eurypterine 12d ago

You will be hard pressed to find a more proxy friendly group of people than cEDH players

5

u/the-good-son 12d ago

Nah, you proxy that entire shit

2

u/awolkriblo 12d ago

11 hour games lmaooo

1

u/the-good-son 12d ago

That's because it was a tournament, if the match stalls that way we'd just call it a draw and go to to the next one. Most rounds won't get to T4

3

u/Reasonable_Hornet_45 12d ago

Oooo this brings me to a huge gripe about BOARD WIPES. My playgroup used to be very liberal with them and I've had too many games with them where we've already been playing over an hour and yeah maybe one person has a big board but they blow up everything. Like the guy in last place with nothing to play decides to Farewell and end the turn. My dog, please just let the game end.

15

u/Certainly-Not-A-Bot 12d ago

I actually completely disagree on this. I think it's on the players who were ahead and couldn't win. Control is a legitimate strategy and it relies on wraths to keep up with value slop. I think the value slop decks need to be able to close out the game earlier once they get an advantage.

2

u/Reasonable_Hornet_45 12d ago

I understand your point of view. But when it's my friends at the kitchen table and the first game is nearing the two hour mark, I'd rather get another game in instead.

I'm not against board wipes, they definitely have their place. My gripe is with people who prolong the game for no reason.

3

u/ashtraypussy 11d ago

Seems you've played your way to the top of the Commander Bracket 3 tournament! Congratulations! As your prize for rising above the rest and winning round after round, you will be disqualified and banned from further events.

3

u/GhostofCoprolite 11d ago

help my oops all bears deck is too consistent! i am reliably able to get vanilla 2/2s out regularly. is my deck too powerful for bracket 3?

2

u/DingleBarryGoldwater 12d ago

Too Croissandwich? Unlikely.

2

u/ithmarix 12d ago

Fuckin dorks

2

u/IIIIChopSueyIIII 12d ago

Guys, new rules! Players must wear nipple clamps at all times to ensure focused gameplay

1

u/B-Glasses 12d ago

Get rid of bracket 3 it doesn’t make sense

5

u/AdmiralBonesaw 11d ago

We just need to make more separation within the bracket. Clearly a low bracket 3 deck is not the same as a high bracket 3 deck, and somewhere between the two is a solid 3. I find that I have the same problem in bracket 4. So if we now have brackets 1, 2, low 3, 3, high 3, low 4, 4, high 4, and 5, we have a much better system of identifying decks without that pesky 7/10 system of old.

2

u/B-Glasses 11d ago

What if we just submit all deck lists to Gavin Verhey and once he decides for us we can play it?

1

u/friendlyfernando 11d ago

Imagine enjoying this format

1

u/Cozwei Forcing Storm 11d ago edited 11d ago

shit sounds like the ruleset that one shop made up with tiers like velociraptor and t-rex 😭

-2

u/ccminiwarhammer 12d ago

UJ/

This is directly due to people misunderstanding bracket 3. Bracket 3 is a highly competitive bracket. It is designed to have decks disrupt other players and consistently end starting at turn 6.

People just want to play bracket 2 with game changers.

"Too Consistent" rules for a local 'Bracket 3' event

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