Let's be real. Everyone's experience is different. I have only the experience I have - I haven't played everywhere with every group of people. I have, however, played a lot of games of Commander. I've sat down at tables - long before the world of Brackets or Rule Zero - and crushed the table with what my normal group would call a "fair" deck. I've been told I'm playing with someone who makes fun budget decks and been Stone Rained twice in the first four turns. I've watched a table of precons get run over by a hyper-tuned reanimator deck. And I've sat at tables where everyone said their deck was a 6 on a scale of 1-10, and no one was close to right.

So my experience tells me Bracket 3 is where most Commander decks land. Bracket 2 seems to be where the committee wants them to land, but they don't. People optimize. They tune up their precons. They build a Commander because they see strong interactions. They put in combos because they think they're cool or fun. They run Sol Ring as a default.

Because that's what we do. We're not trained to think of Magic as a social event. It's a competition, and the goal is to win. Winning = success, and losing = failure. So we try to win. Yeah, we're not as competitive as cEDH (where the goal is to win efficiently and effectively). We have fun and play cards we think are cool - but we're still trying to win.

The point of the Brackets, though, is to think about what Bracket you want to build to, then build your deck. So even if Bracket 3 is the "default", let's take a look at what makes it tick, shall we?

Check out the other articles in this Bracket Series here:

• Building Commander Decks for Bracket 1 by Mark Wischkaemper
• Building a Commander Deck for Bracket 2 by Mark Wischkaemper
• Building to Bracket 4 in Commander by Nigel Kurtz
• Building to Bracket 5 in Commander by Nigel Kurtz

What is Bracket 3?

From the most recent Commander Bracket System update:

Bracket 3 (or Upgraded) players expect:

• Decks to be powered up with strong synergy and high card quality; they can effectively disrupt opponents
• Game Changers that are likely to be value engines and game-ending spells
• Win conditions that can be deployed in one big turn from Hand, usually because of steadily accrued resources
• Gameplay to feature many proactive and reactive plays
• Players should be able to play at least six turns before the game ends

So... we build a deck, fill it with synergy and use our best deck-building practices. We're actively trying to win, we're just not doing it at absolutely all costs.

A few years ago, I wrote an article designed to help new deck builders figure out some basic structures for building a Commander deck that works. I called them my Top Five Deck-Building Tips for Beginners. I refer to them a lot, and frankly, it's the basis for basically every deck I've built for the last few years. Looking at them now, they're designed to build the beginning framework of a Bracket 3 deck. (There's no guarantee following them will do that, but they are designed to help you build a deck which will both work and attempt to win decently effectively.)

The first thing to consider is no card is off-limits when building to Bracket 3. Rhystic Study? The One Ring? All fair. Game Changers are allowed and even expected, because why would you run something worse when you can run Rhystic Study?

Second, as my deck-building tips article says, you want to build in ramp, interaction, and card draw. Brackets 1 and 2 can absolutely avoid those things if desired, or at least give them less attention, but Bracket 3 needs to be propelling forward towards an endgame, whether that's winning in the red zone, comboing off, or locking up the board state.

The primary difference is we're not going for the hyper-win. We're likely not running tried-and-true top-level Commanders which win on turn four. We're upgrading a precon, or we're building to a Commander we saw in a new set and trying to see if it can win at tables. We're focused, but we're not mean about it.

How do we build to this Bracket?

Most likely, we ramp. And we certainly run Sol Ring.

Sol Ring is incredibly efficient and incredibly powerful. That's why I argue you shouldn't run it in Brackets 2 and 1 (even if it's allowed), but once you get to Bracket 3, the gloves are off. Explosive starts are absolutely allowed here, and Sol Ring is one of the best ways to get them.

We're also going to run tried-and-true, efficient removal spells.

And under no circumstances do we run much weaker versions of things because they're on-theme.

We might be running a Villain deck, but not that card.

I really want to build a Bracket 3 deck, I swear

Okay. It starts with mana. Let's make that Villian deck around Doctor Octopus, Master Planner as an example.

Building to Bracket 3, we need an honest assessment of what we're trying to do - how are we going to win, and what do we need to get there? We have a seven-mana Commander who puts up a good wall, pumps our Villainous team, and draws us more cards. We just have to get to him - and stay alive meanwhile - to set up a nearly unstoppable board state.

This means ramp. And only the best for us here: cards like Arcane Signet, Talisman of Dominance and Fellwar Stone.

We'll likely run up to 50 total mana sources, aware we'll draw right past them once our engine is running.

We'll probably want some additional card draw, and we'll run efficient spells and methods - Rhystic Study, Divination, stuff like that. Same with removal: we'll want to remain in control of the board, and because we have so far to go with our Commander mana-wise, we can stop to Wrath on the way. Plenty of options in Blue and Black.

We'll surely run some countermagic, possibly even Mana Drain if we have one, and some spot removal as well. We'll choose some cool Villains as the final strike force and call it a deck.

So... what now?

Good question. Let's take a look at a few Commanders and other cards and see if we can nudge them in a Bracket 3 direction.

This is a great Bracket 3 Commander. It's not wildly overpowered, but it's decent stats on a pile of good abilities. Combine this with a few Allies and some Doran-style effects (where Creatures do damage equal to Toughness) and you have yourself a decent little deck. With really effective use of removal and just the right mix of offense and defense you'll be able to ward off your opponents long enough to run them over with your team of Allies.

Get a load of Marton Stromgald. This is a killer Token/Swarm deck that can win very, very quickly with just the right draw. Build it as a Goblin deck with a different Commander or a random Token deck, and run ways to get him through no matter what, and bam. You're winning on turn 6 - just like Bracket 3 says.

Throw a load of things that Exile stuff, loads more to play that stuff, and a few spells that chip away at people's life totals, you'll find yourself winning a lot in very cool, very powerful ways. Powerful, clever, and grindy for the win - this deck wants ten turns, not six.

Bloodbraid Elf is the sort of powerhouse which can be used in multiple ways. She makes a ton of sense in your Bracket 1 Angry-People-With-Blades deck of course she's in your Bracket 2 rampless Maelstrom Wanderer deck; and she makes perfect sense in an Elves Kindred deck, a Cascade value deck, a single-attack-win deck built around Xenagos, God of Revels... the lists go on for Bracket 3.

So does Brainstorm. This is quick, very strong, and useful at every single step of the game no matter your goals or gameplan. If you're in Blue and you're in Bracket 3, you're probably running Brainstorm.

Similarly, The Soul Stone could be used in any of the Brackets (I'd be surprised if it weren't already in cEDH lists), but it's almost a shoo-in for Bracket 3. Assuming you're in Black and want to ramp (you do), the only reason not to run this is if you're Creatureless.

A good way to think of it is this: in Bracket 3, we want to win, but we still want everyone to have fun. We're not necessarily going to let everyone do their thing, and we're not going easy on the guy who stumbled on mana, but we're also not running mass Land Destruction or locking up the board.

Bracket 3 is, I think, the most comfortable Bracket for most random builders. In general, players want to win and optimize. Most people have to actively choose to build to Bracket 1 or 2, but Bracket 3 comes instinctively, because it's what we've done since we first started playing Magic: figure out how to make our cards work together better to win. However, because it's a casual format and no one wins any packs or anything, we don't drop the extra bills for superfast mana like Ancient Tomb, sticking with Sol Ring and Arcane Signet instead.

And as long as everyone at the table is on the same page, it's super fun. You sharpen your brain, think deeper and more strategically, attempt to threat-assess correctly and design the line of play least likely to be countered. Victories are sweet because the competition is stronger. Defeats are well-fought and often heart-breaking. It will be common for the game to swing back and forth, where anyone can win at any moment. Often, games will be shorter, meaning you can pack an extra game or two into your session.

Thanks for reading.