Gifts UngivenGifts Ungiven | art by Chris Rahn

Welcome back folks! Matt Morgan of the EDHRECast here once again. The last time I was here we discussed the new Commander Bracket system.

We all felt a huge shift in player language for categorizing their decks as a result of that announcement.

Today marks the first major update to the system since its introduction in February.

The official announcement today brings some clarity on the language and intent to the different brackets, updating the Game Changer list, and potentially most impactful unbanning of cards.

Today marks the first time since September of 2021 when WorldfireWorldfire was unbanned for cards coming back into the format.

(please note, some unbanned cards or Game Changers mentioned in this article may continue to have a "Banned" banner as EDHREC's backend systems update their status)

Five Commander Cards Unbanned

For many players, the Commander Bracket announcement's most exciting changes will be the unbanning of the following five cards:

Several of these cards have hot topics for many conversations long since their banning, especially Coalition VictoryCoalition Victory which has garnered more support over the past few years. Coalition VictoryCoalition Victory provides players with an instant "I win," button provided they're able to jump through the appropriate hoops.

On the other hand, cards like Sway of the StarsSway of the Stars and Braids, Cabal MinionBraids, Cabal Minion provide ways to either invalidate or increasingly elongate the game to that point.

Panoptic MirrorPanoptic Mirror and Gifts UngivenGifts Ungiven are sure to be combo pieces for players setting up their wins in the coming turns, or potentially that same turn.

Each card has now been relegated to Game Changer status, the list of cards that are contained in Bracket 3 and above.

A Philosophical Shift in the Commander Bracket System

All of these cards likely benefited greatly from the shift to the Commander Bracket system.

In brackets 3, 4, and 5 is where high impact cards reside as Game Changers as the announcement clarifies.

This means there will automatically be some amount of regulation to where these show up.

In the more socially-focused brackets, cards like Coalition VictoryCoalition Victory have been a contentious. This is due to the cards ability to "win out of nowhere," and as a result of one card resolving.

The Commander Format Panel seems to be leaning more into the thought that some amount of board presence plus an eight mana sorcery is enough to warrant an unbanning.

There's a reasonable argument that Gifts UngivenGifts Ungiven will be the most immediately adopted card into current decks.

Gifts Ungiven existed in Modern for a long while as a way to create a no-win situation. In a broader format like Commander, Gifts UngivenGifts Ungiven will likely be used to tutor for cards that don't matter if they're in the hand or graveyard like The MimeoplasmThe Mimeoplasm.

Players will face a personal decision tree around having Gifts Ungiven in a Bracket 3 decks where the amount of Game Changers is limited. The other cards unbanned also will benefit from the shift to the Commander Bracket system.

New Cards Added to the Game Changers List

The additions to the Game Changer list could be one of the hottest topics of the Commander Bracket system changes.

Today's announcement contains the following changes to the list of Game Changers, keeping them in Bracket 3 Upgraded and above:

White

• HumilityHumility
• Teferi's ProtectionTeferi's Protection

Blue

• Consecrated SphinxConsecrated Sphinx
• IntuitionIntuition
• Narset, Parter of VeilsNarset, Parter of Veils

Black

• NecropotenceNecropotence
• Orcish BowmastersOrcish Bowmasters

Red

• Deflecting SwatDeflecting Swat
• GambleGamble

Green

• Crop RotationCrop Rotation
• Food ChainFood Chain
• Natural OrderNatural Order
• Seedborn MuseSeedborn Muse
• Worldly TutorWorldly Tutor

Multicolor

• Aura ShardsAura Shards
• Notion ThiefNotion Thief

Lands

• Field of the DeadField of the Dead
• Mishra's WorkshopMishra's Workshop

Removed

• TrinisphereTrinisphere
• Trouble in PairsTrouble in Pairs

This brings the total number of Game Changers counting the newly unbanned cards up to 60 total.

While the omission of some cards still might be discussed, many of these additions feel more administrative to bring consistency to the list.

Players definitely noticed green's Worldly TutorWorldly Tutor and other tutor effects being left off the original list of Game Changers while Demonic TutorDemonic Tutor and Enlightened TutorEnlightened Tutor were included.

Other cards like Teferi's ProtectionTeferi's Protection and Seedborn MuseSeedborn Muse feel more at home on the Game Changer list due to their abilities to make immediate impact.

There are a few new themes that could be picked up from this list of updates as well. Narset, Parter of VeilsNarset, Parter of Veils, Notion ThiefNotion Thief, and HumilityHumility all have the ability to create generally unfavorable game states in social-focused pods.

Green being hit significantly in today's announcement feels appropriate, considering very few of these cards are used regularly in friendly pods (or at least used in a friendly manner!).

Protean HulkProtean Hulk being a long time banned card itself finds it's way back into a contained status as well, with "Hulk piles," being common ways to chain combos together.

Also worth mentioning is the removal of TrinisphereTrinisphere and Trouble in PairsTrouble in Pairs from the Game Changer list. Trouble in PairsTrouble in Pairs is a powerful draw engine for white decks for sure, but can pale in comparison to some cards like Guardian ProjectGuardian Project and The Great HengeThe Great Henge in green (which are not Game Changers).

Personally, I struggled putting Trouble in PairsTrouble in Pairs in a Game Changer tier ABOVE The Great HengeThe Great Henge, so I am glad to see it taken down.

That isn't to say none of these aren't worth the discussion, I actually think The Great HengeThe Great Henge SHOULD be a Game Changer. But that is discussion for another day.

A Little Housekeeping

Gavin's article goes on to discuss some clarity and shares early feedback Wizards received around the Commander Brackets.

An overwhelming amount of folks seemed to have given the brackets a shot at Magic Con Chicago in February, an astounding 87% of people per the announcement.

These people said the brackets were helpful in some sort of way, which is a higher percentage than players who play Sol RingSol Ring. No, seriously, 84% of decks contain Sol Ring per the EDHREC data.

More important than the adoption rate information, the article gave helpful insights into the process with the Commander Bracket system.

This included behind the scenes processes and clarity on the intent of putting your decks into different brackets. The updated Commander Bracket visual that was shared by CFP member Rachel Weeks after the original announcement contained important nuances that today's announcement addressed.

The clarity of play intent is certainly a welcome addition and piece of feedback for players.

One of the major pieces of criticism of the Commander Brackets after the initial launch of the beta was a lack of addressing the "gamification," that could still be done. The original announcement mentioned there's unfortunately very little in execution to address bad actors, and today's article brings this up again.

The intent behind building a deck carries a huge amount of weight. While you could build a deck that could technically be considered Bracket 2 Core, if it's meant to be a Bracket 4 Optimized deck then you should feel comfortable bracketing up.

This piece of feedback and encouragement from Gavin and the rest of the Commander Format Panel is great to hear. Providing and listening to that feedback is what led to these changes being considered in the first place, so you should continue voicing your opinion where you can, whether it be online or at future Magic Con play tables.

Moving Forward

With all of the changes to the Game Changers, it's easy to ask "what's next?" Gavin's article wraps up with some details on many heavily discussed cards and the thoughts as to why they were not included in this update. In our coverage of the initial Commander Brackets beta launch, many of you responded with some cards that could have been included, many of which I personally agree with.

The updates bring explanations for many of these cards like FarewellFarewell, Mana DrainMana Drain, and my personal favorite candidate: The Great HengeThe Great Henge.

Seeing Gavin Verhey and the CFP be so open to feedback from the community should be very encouraging to all players. Like Gavin mentioned on a recent episode of the EDHRECast: Commander is a slow-moving format, so there shouldn't be any rush in the process.

This sentiment is carried through in one of the closing notes from today's announcement: no further bans or unbans for the rest of 2025.

This could change if for example, another Nadu, Winged WisdomNadu, Winged Wisdom comes along, but we can hope nothing like that emerges any time soon.

I am reassured that the team is taking a measured approach to managing the format and has been willing to hear out what the community thinks.

I personally don't agree with everything that has been included on the Game Changer list, but I also trust that the format's best interest is at the heart of all of these decisions. Community feedback and the panel's experience have worked doubly hard to ensure that Commander remains accessible for higher and lower level players.

These decisions were made with the help of the Commander Format Panel:

• Attack on Cardboard
• Bandit
• Benjamin Wheeler
• Charlotte Sable
• DeQuan Watson
• Deco
• Greg Sablan
• Ittetu
• Josh Lee Kwai
• Kristen Gregory
• Lua Stardust
• Olivia Gobert-Hicks
• Rachel Weeks
• Rebell Lily
• Scott Larabee
• Tim Willoughby
• Toby Elliott

That covers everything from today's announcement. With all of these changes, do you feel like the format is heading in the right direction?

Is the concern that the Game Changer list is growing too large?

Let us know in the comments below what you think of today's announcement and what you would do differently!