The new Bracket system requires us to look at deckbuilding slightly differently. Yes, you can build a new deck and then figure out which Bracket it's in, but honestly, if you do that, you're very likely to wind up with a whole bunch of decks in the same Bracket. In order to build outside your norm, you need to be fully intentional about how you're building your deck. This mini-series is designed to help you figure out how to build to a specific Bracket - we're going to go with the first three, since I'm not a cEDH player, but my friend Nigel is going to help out with the other two! Let's get started with Bracket 1.

Check out the other articles in this Bracket Series here:

• Building to Bracket 4 in Commander by Nigel Kurtz
• Building to Bracket 5 in Commander by Nigel Kurtz

What is Bracket 1?

From the most recent Commander Bracket System update:

Bracket 1 (or Exhibition) players expect:

• Decks to prioritize a goal, theme, or idea over power
• Rules around card legality or viable Commanders to have some flexibility depending on the pod
• Win conditions to be highly thematic or substandard
• Gameplay to be an opportunity to show off your creations
• Players should be able to play at least nine turns before the game ends
• Everyone should have the chance to show off their deck

Okay, great. What do we do with that?

First, my read is the point of the deck isn't to win. The deck might be able to win, and if you're playing with other Bracket 1 players you should have a decent chance of winning. But the goal is to do something else entirely.

Also, this means a bunch of other rules which matter a great deal to the other Brackets... kind of go away here.

Say, for instance, your deck consists of nothing but cards with images of people reading, and you want to run your Wilds of Eldraine: Enchanting Tales copy of Rhystic Study, a known Game Changer. In Bracket 1, it's allowed - you're not abusing the card or warping the game. You're running a Merfolk who's reading a book (how are those pages not disintegrating?).

I also read this as a way to understand intent: you're not going into the game trying to win. You want people to look at your cool cards or see your cool theme. Once that's happened, you've already won. Whoever still has a life total when you pack up doesn't really matter.

How do we build to this Bracket?

When building to Bracket 1, you need to determine if your initial idea will even fit into Bracket 1. Assuming you don't start out saying "I'm going to build a Bracket 1 deck", think honestly about what you're trying to do. Take Gisela, Blade of Goldnight.

If the first cards you pull are Quietus Spike, Stoneforge Mystic, and Sol Ring, you're building to a theme for sure - make your opponents have half their life - but that's definitely not in the spirit of Bracket 1. That deck is trying to win games quickly and aggressively, and while you may well showcase your deck on the way, you're not giving others the chance to do so. On the other hand, if the deck is built around art with characters holding swords, now you're talking. It might still win, and Gisela's ability might still be relevant, but you're not actively pursuing it and, more to the point, you're showing off all the cool versions of cards you've found with people holding swords. (Maybe make your own alt-art card turning Zurgo Bellstriker's clapper into a sword?)

I really want to build a Bracket 1 deck. I swear.

So we've decided to build a Bracket 1 deck. It starts with mana. Skip all the normal ones, like Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, and Mind Stone. Look to three- and four-mana solutions to ramp, and not highly optimized ones, if you run ramp at all (does it fit your theme?). Make sure any ramp you run fits what you're trying to show off - people standing in lines, furniture, or glassware. The point isn't to ramp, it's to fit the theme!

Or maybe you decide to build a deck around Archelos, Lagoon Mystic, with art entirely by Dan Scott.

(I can get why you'd want to - that art is cool.)

You get some funny card draw in the form of Immortal Coil, Magnifying Glass and Karametra's Acolyte for ramp, and, thank goodness, Terramorphic Expanse for color fixing.

But he's never done any basic Lands, so you're either out of luck or have to break the theme just for basics (though you could do something fun like White-border-only or pick another artist for the Lands). The point is, though, you build differently.

Rather than building with a clear, even sub-optimal gameplay for winning, you're instead building to showcase something. A fun example might be the deck I built designed to turn the entire board state into a petting zoo - I suppose that deck wins, but that deck tells a story.

So... what now?

You know you want to build a Bracket 1 deck. Let's throw out some ideas and some cards, old and new, which might spark something for you.

Sure, she can be a powerhouse, but what if you did something really silly with it, like nothing but 5+ power Creatures and Lands? Make them goofy ones, like Yoked Plowbeast or other cards designed for limited. Or insist every one have a different Creature Type, so you can't run all the Dragons.

We're allowed to break rules, right? So Pinkie Pie can be run in a deck with nothing but smilers. That could be hilarious or creepy, depending on which route you go with it.

I love the idea of a Doc Ock deck which runs a bunch of other Villains... then sacrifices them to put cards in the 'yard. So you're getting to his 8/8 form, but you're doing it by doing what Villains do - turning on each other. Can an 8/8 Commander be a problem? Sure, but you're not racing to it, you're being a Villain. Take your time, tell the story. Awesome.

This seems like fun. Big reanimate? Creatureless deck? How about all Creatures aside from this and a Commander? Surely there's something someone can do with this.

Chaos styles of play are fun for a subset of players: enter Scrambleverse. That's great, but if you're going to do something like this, check with your pod carefully first - more often than not, I've seen the Chaos player either get hated out or just asked not to play that deck again. That said, for the right playgroup, stuff like this can be a source of great hilarity.

Psychic Battle is similar to Scrambleverse, but a little more controlled, as long as you don't just run a ton of high-Mana Value cards to overrun the effect. Play this and let the chaos reign!

There's got to be something with bizarre combinations, right? A deck with nothing but unlikely pairings of Creatures could be absolutely delightful to see play out. A playground for someone artistic who wants to alt their cards, too.

Let's finish up very clearly. A Kindred deck is not inherently a Bracket 1 deck (anyone who's played against Slivers knows what I'm talking about). But some Kindred decks are - especially when they have very little or no support, or when they're not about Creatures. That's why I'm bringing up Tolls of War.

A deck which tells a story or unravels a mystery would be a great example of a Bracket 1 deck. Think of it like a Case card, but instead you make the entire deck be about solving the case. How would you do that?

There is a lot of fun to be had in Bracket 1. It's casual, yes, but more important - it's relaxed. It's fun. It's celebratory! You get to cheer on your friends as they do something cool, and they get to tell you how cool what you did was. Everyone goes home telling the stories about what people pulled off - "Dude, you should have been there! Frankie managed to get every Creature in their deck on the 'field, then immediately sacrificed them all to make a pile of food tokens, then they gave us all cupcakes!" - rather than who won or lost.

Thanks for reading.