Adapting Your Decks to the Exhibition Bracket (1)

(<a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Delina, Wild Mage|AFR|138" href="#" target="_blank">Delina, Wild Mage</a> | Art by <a href="https://www.artstation.com/wisnutan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wisnu Tan</a>)
Friendly greetings and welcome to Bracketeering, the series about sideboards for Commander Brackets. With two announcements on April 22nd, 2025, Wizards of the Coast updated the Commander <a href="https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/announcements/commander-bans-and-restrictions-april-22-2025" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ban List</a> and <a href="https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/announcements/commander-brackets-beta-update-april-22-2025" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Game Changers List</a>. Basically, the Bracket system is still a beta test, and there are no major system changes at this time. A total of twenty-three cards joined the Game Changers list, including five previously banned cards. This is our first Bracketeering article in the updated environment, and I'm excited to put my money where my mouth is.
This week I'm bracketeering my very own <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Delina, Wild Mage" href="#" target="_blank">Delina, Wild Mage</a> deck, and I'll show a picture of the cards and sleeves to prove it. This deck is my happy place, my touchstone for a fun Commander game. If I'm playing two games of Commander in a session, then one of those games will be with Delina. I want to make sure I have the tools to match this deck with as many pods as possible.
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Delina, Wild Mage|AFR|317"></div></div>
<h2>Roll the Dice</h2>
Since the advent of Commander Brackets, I've listed my Delina deck as Core (2). Technically this deck fits the criteria for Upgraded (3) since <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Gamble|SPG|24" href="#" target="_blank">Gamble</a> joined the Game Changer list. Gamble is in the deck because I have one, and it matches the flavor of Delina leaving things to chance.
Here's my deck list:
<div class="edhrecp__deck mtgh"><span class="edhrecp__deck-s" name="Delina" site="edhrec" archidekt_link="" cards="[Commander]
*1 Delina, Wild Mage
[/Commander]
[Artifacts]
*1 Arcane Signet
*1 Cloak of the Bat
*1 Coldsteel Heart
*1 Cursed Mirror
*1 Dolmen Gate
*1 Ebony Fly
*1 Fire Diamond
*1 Glittering Stockpile
*1 Key to the City
*1 Liquimetal Torque
*1 Manifold Key
*1 Mind Stone
*1 Ruby Medallion
*1 Sol Ring
*1 Sonic Screwdriver
*1 Vexing Puzzlebox
[/Artifacts]
[Sorceries]
*1 Anzrag&#039;s Rampage
*1 Cosmotronic Wave
*1 Gamble
*1 Hazardous Blast
*1 Ignite the Future
*1 Light Up the Stage
*1 Mizzium Mortars
*1 Reckless Impulse
*1 Seize the Spotlight
*1 Vandalblast
*1 Wrenn&#039;s Resolve
[/Sorceries]
[Creatures]
*1 Ardent Elementalist
*1 Breya&#039;s Apprentice
*1 Caves of Chaos Adventurer
*1 Charming Scoundrel
*1 Dire Fleet Daredevil
*1 Ganax, Astral Hunter
*1 Ghirapur Gearcrafter
*1 Goblin Welder
*1 Harmonic Prodigy
*1 Imperial Recruiter
*1 Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar
*1 Krenko&#039;s Buzzcrusher
*1 Myr Battlesphere
*1 Patron of the Arts
*1 Pia Nalaar
*1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
*1 Plundering Barbarian
*1 Professional Face-Breaker
*1 Siege-Gang Commander
*1 Swashbuckler Extraordinaire
*1 Thopter Engineer
*1 Trumpeting Carnosaur
*1 Wily Goblin
*1 Wyll, Blade of Frontiers
[/Creatures]
[Enchantments]
*1 Barbarian Class
*1 Echoing Assault
*1 Frenzied Fugue
*1 Goblin Bombardment
*1 War Cadence
[/Enchantments]
[Instants]
*1 Chaos Warp
*1 Invoke Calamity
*1 Lightning Bolt
*1 Wild Magic Surge
*1 You Find Some Prisoners
*1 Zoyowa&#039;s Justice
[/Instants]
[Lands]
*1 Access Tunnel
*1 Arena of Glory
*1 Barbarian Ring
*1 Castle Embereth
*1 Demolition Field
*1 Den of the Bugbear
*1 Dwarven Mine
*1 Forgotten Cave
*1 Great Furnace
*1 Maze of Ith
*27 Mountain
*1 Rogue&#039;s Passage
*1 Shivan Gorge
*1 Terrain Generator
[/Lands]"></div>
While this version of the deck might technically be an Upgraded (3), I can assure you it rarely performs at that level. There's a wild range of variance baked into this dice-rolling legend.
Delina's attack trigger and lack of evasion require effort to get the game plan up and running. To be honest, playing Delina is an uphill battle, even at Core (2) tables where disposable blockers are plentiful. Although the challenge and variance are part of the fun for me, I do want to play this deck more often in more places. Making a sideboard will help me do that.
By the time my new sideboard is complete, my main deck will be firmly Core (2) and I'll have a tool box for playing comfortably in any pod from Exhibition (1) to Upgraded (3).
<h2>Improving the Odds</h2>
I know from experience that it'll take more than a <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Gamble" href="#" target="_blank">Gamble</a> to give this deck a fighting chance in Upgraded (3) games. Delina needs to attack more frequently and be unblockable to punch at a higher weight class. I like cards like <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Manifold Key" href="#" target="_blank">Manifold Key</a> and <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sonic Screwdriver" href="#" target="_blank">Sonic Screwdriver</a>, but paying mana every turn for those activated abilities is less efficient than one-time investments in quality Equipment. Cards like <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Brotherhood Regalia" href="#" target="_blank">Brotherhood Regalia</a>, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Prowler&#039;s Helm" href="#" target="_blank">Prowler&#039;s Helm</a>, and <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Trailblazer&#039;s Boots" href="#" target="_blank">Trailblazer&#039;s Boots</a> can help keep Delina alive in combat.
Red is the color of extra combat, and I already own copies of <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Seize the Day|ODY|220" href="#" target="_blank">Seize the Day</a> and <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Aggravated Assault|WOT|39" href="#" target="_blank">Aggravated Assault</a>. <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Port Razer" href="#" target="_blank">Port Razer</a> is in 59% of Delina decks, because any copies she makes have a chance to chain multiple combat steps together.
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Port Razer"></div></div>
If I'm sideboarding for an upgraded game, some of my pet cards will have to side-out. For example, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Invoke Calamity|NEO|147" href="#" target="_blank">Invoke Calamity</a> is dead-in-hand too often for Upgarded (3) gameplay. <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Manifold Key|TSR|398" href="#" target="_blank">Manifold Key</a> can be exchanged for any of those Equipment I mentioned. Sadly, I rarely reach the seven mana to cast <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Myr Battlesphere|DDU|57" href="#" target="_blank">Myr Battlesphere</a>. The rest of the swaps will require some hard choices, but some likely candidates will be four-mana creatures competing to be cast on the same turn as Delina.
<h2>Digging a Hole</h2>
<a href="https://youtu.be/ytWz0qVvBZ0?si=_ijXrHLVYh-bGVjS" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Brothers of the mine, rejoice!</a> A playset of <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Seven Dwarves" href="#" target="_blank">Seven Dwarves</a> has been living rent free in my head and card collection since 2019. I had these cards in very early drafts of my Delina deck, but I cut them for token producers. If I'm being completely honest, I love the flavor of the card, but deep down I know bulk common bears need more upside to dig in for the win in Commander.
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Seven Dwarves"></div></div>
Recently, <a href="https://cardgamer.com/author/stevenseiter/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Steven Seiter</a> of EDHREC sister site Card Gamer mentioned the card <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Spy Kit" href="#" target="_blank">Spy Kit</a>, and I realized it's a pseudo-anthem for Seven Dwarves. Then I remembered <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Psychic Paper" href="#" target="_blank">Psychic Paper</a> from Universes Beyond: Doctor Who also manipulates card names. It all happened so fast; one moment I was casually conversing on Discord, and the next I was adding cards to my <a href="http://www.cardsphere.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cardsphere</a> wants. One thing led to anther and I sleeved up my playset of Seven Dwarves for a Bracketeering sideboard.
<div id="attachment_149923" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/20250429_155256-scaled.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-149923" class="wp-image-149923 size-large" src="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/20250429_155256-1024x551.jpg" alt="A sleeved deck with Delina, Wild Mage in the Command Zone, and a Seven Dwarves sideboard displayed face up." width="1024" height="551" srcset="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/20250429_155256-1024x551.jpg 1024w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/20250429_155256-300x161.jpg 300w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/20250429_155256-768x413.jpg 768w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/20250429_155256-1536x826.jpg 1536w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/20250429_155256-2048x1102.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>These bad boys will be looking for games on Spelltable soon.</div>
I'm not ready to put down the shovel yet. If I'm going to sideboard for an Exhibition (1) game, I need to know what stays in the deck and what I'm siding out. The bracket guidelines call for few tutors in the lower brackets. In the Exhibition (1) bracket specifically, I believe tutors should narrowly support the theme of the deck. My <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Gamble" href="#" target="_blank">Gamble</a> will stay in the sideboard, because it's a Game Changer and because it's too broad. <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Imperial Recruiter|MH2|281" href="#" target="_blank">Imperial Recruiter</a> is in the main deck and it can stay there, because the power limitation narrowly includes my Seven Dwarves. <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Dwarven Recruiter|ODY|186" href="#" target="_blank">Dwarven Recruiter</a> and <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Pattern Matcher" href="#" target="_blank">Pattern Matcher</a> are siding in.
In total, I need to side out 11 cards from the main deck. Conveniently, I have seven creature cards in the main deck that produce creature tokens. Those seven will swap right out for the Seven Dwarves. Of the remaining four swaps, one of these should be <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Krenko&#039;s Buzzcrusher|MKM|136" href="#" target="_blank">Krenko&#039;s Buzzcrusher</a>; it's not true Mass Land Denial, but it's MLD-adjacent. I'm also siding out <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Frenzied Fugue|C16|18" href="#" target="_blank">Frenzied Fugue</a>, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar|CMR|188" href="#" target="_blank">Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar</a> and <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Dire Fleet Daredevil|RIX|99" href="#" target="_blank">Dire Fleet Daredevil</a>.
<h2>LFG</h2>
This sideboard is only 18 cards. Eleven of them are specifically for the Exhibition (1) Seven Dwarves theme. There's only seven cards specifically included for Upgraded (3) games. Playtesting will tell if that's enough.
<div class="edhrecp__deck mtgh"><span class="edhrecp__deck-s" name="Bracketeering Delina Sideboard" site="edhrec" archidekt_link="" cards="[Creatures]
*1 Dwarven Recruiter
*1 Pattern Matcher
*1 Port Razer
*7 Seven Dwarves
[/Creatures]
[Artifacts]
*1 Brotherhood Regalia
*1 Prowler&#039;s Helm
*1 Psychic Paper
*1 Spy Kit
*1 Trailblazer&#039;s Boots
[/Artifacts]
[Sorceries]
*1 Gamble
*1 Seize the Day
[/Sorceries]
[Enchantments]
*1 Aggravated Assault
[/Enchantments]"></div>
I'm more excited than ever to play this deck. There's room to grow, and I'm hoping to eventually fill the Sideboard out to 25 cards.
Bracketeering will be back later this month with a sideboard for a recent precon. If you have suggestions for my Delina Sideboard, or a deck you'd like to see in this series, then tell us in the comments below.

bracket 1

Adapting Your Decks to the Exhibition Bracket (1)

Building Delina, Wild Mage for Multiple Commander Brackets