Graphic by the author

Voting has ended. The polls have closed. Sixty-four legends entered the tournament, and one has emerged victorious. The winner of the 2026 EDHREC March Commandness Tournament and the title of "Best New Commander of the Last Five Years" is:

Henzie "Toolbox" TorreHenzie "Toolbox" Torre (60.8%)

How did a 12-seed take down all of the competition in this tournament? Honestly, we're a bit baffled by it ourselves. But Henzie just has a lot going for him, from being the underdog, to being not hated by any part of the player base, to being an all around fun and unique commander.

Congrats, Henzie!

So, Did My Bracket Win?

Part of the fun of doing a bracket tournament is trying to guess more match outcomes correctly than other people. So now it's time to see who got the most right so the winners can claim their bragging rights.

We'll do this with a typical bracket tournament points system. Correct guesses in each round are worth specific points.

• 1st round wins = 1 point
• 2nd round wins = 2 points
• 3rd round wins = 4 points
• 4th round wins = 8 points
• 5th round wins = 16 points
• Championship = 32 points

Here is the complete tournament with all winners filled in.

March Commandness Bracket Final

And here's my bracket. Green is correct guesses, blue is incorrect.

My March Commandness Bracket Completed. Green = win, blue= loss

As you can see, I did....not so great. My North picks were pretty good, but my West picks were terrible (I'm still angry about Kotis). Also, I got completely shut out of the Final 4.

Let's add up my points:

• 1st round - 21 wins = 21 points
• 2nd round - 6 wins = 12 points
• 3rd round - 5 wins = 20 points
• 4th round - 0 wins
• 5th round (Final Four) - 0 wins
• 6th round (Championship) - 0 wins
• Total points = 52 out of 192 possible

Okay, I guess that's pretty bad. But let us know how you did in the comments below!

Some Stats and Data About the March Commandness Tournament

Let's talk a little bit about the madness behind this whole tournament, starting with a bit of data.

All Participants

First, here are all 64 participants in the tournament. These were selected based off of deck numbers at the time of setup. So the top four commanders were all 1-seed, the next top 4 were all 2-seed, and so on.

The Top 16

After two rounds, here's who was left.

The Final 4

Broken Down By Set

Here are the number of competitors per set. As a reminder, the tournament only pulled from sets released from 2021 to 2025.

Top 16

Final 4

There were a few sets that had no legends with enough decks to compete in the tournament:

• Strixhaven/Commander 2021
• Innistrad: Crimson Vow
• Adventures in the Forgotten Realms
• Foundations
• March of the Machine: The Aftermath
• Doctor Who
• Spider-Man

By Color Identity

Let's look at the number combatants in the tournament for each color identity.

Top 16

Final 4

By Mana Value

Now we'll look at the competitors broken down by mana value. Note for Frodo and Sam that I'm combining their mana values together.

Top 16

Final 4

UB vs Non-UB

Let's see how many competitors were from Universes Beyond.

For all 64 participants, 19 were Universes Beyond, or about 30%.

For the Top 16, there were six competitors, or about 38%.

In the Final 4, there was one UB competitor (Frodo and Sam), or 25%.

Precon vs Non-Precon

Now we'll break down the participants based on whether they came in a precon or main set.

Of all participants, 32 were from precons, which is exactly half.

In the Top 16, nine were from precons, or 56%.

And all four of the Final 4 commanders were from precons.

The Biggest Surprises of the March Commandness Tournament

Now let's talk about some of the events and details from the tournament that felt truly surprising.

Kotis Beating Jodah

In the first round, 15-seed Kotis, the FangkeeperKotis, the Fangkeeper demolished Jodah, the UnifierJodah, the Unifier. Needless to say, this upset a lot of people's brackets. I had Jodah making it to the Top 8!

Sadly Kotis couldn't keep it going into the second round, as he lost to Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIERSephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER.

WUBRG Commanders Fell Fast

Of the 32 possible color identities, five-color commanders - or - were the most represented at the start of the tournament with seven entries. Of those seven, only one made it past the first round, Tom BombadilTom Bombadil. And he lost in the second round.

Both Jodah and Esika losing in the first round were disastrous for my bracket.

Bloomburrow Dominance

Bloomburrow came in to this event with the most set representation, with eight entries, the most of any set. They continued this dominance well into the tournament, with four entrants still in the competition in the Top 16.

In fact, matchups for the Top 4 were so close, that for a day or so it was looking like Bloomburrow would hold three of the Top 4 spots. But Ms. BumbleflowerMs. Bumbleflower and Glarb, Calamity's AugurGlarb, Calamity's Augur both lost some hard-fought battles in their Top 8 matches.

In the end, Bello was the only one who made it into the Final 4. But still, an incredible showing from Magic's most whimsical set.

No Blue in the Final Four

It's pretty crazy to think that a whole color could get shut out of the Final Four, but that's exactly what happened here. Considering I had Bumbleflower and Wise Mothman in the championship, it was especially surprising to me.

What does this say about the popularity of blue? No idea. Maybe nothing! But you're free to discuss in the comments.

Henzie

The winner of the whole thing is certainly the biggest surprise of the tournament. From what I saw, most people were expecting Y'shtola, Night's Blessed to take home the top prize, based on her popularity. But this 12-seed from New Capenna just could not be stopped.

Now here's the question: Could he do it again next year? If we were to run the same tournament next year, but moving forward a year (2022-2026 this time), Henzie should still be eligible to compete.

Speaking of next year...

Do It Again Next Year?

I'd love to get your feedback on this. What did you think of the tournament? Was it fun? Did you do well in your predictions?

Most importantly, should we do it again next year? Sound off in the comments below.