Thrasios, Triton HeroThrasios, Triton Hero | Art by Josu Hernaiz

Take a look at the Commander Bracket system and you'll notice that most of the brackets are pretty clearly differentiable. Whether it's the number of Game Changers allowed or the presence of combos, each bracket has its own strategy and niche plainly carved out.

Well, until you get to the upper end, that is.

Bracket 4 and Bracket 5 are, strictly speaking, indistinguishable. Neither bar Game Changers, nor do they place restrictions on the kinds of effects that can be run. Spend enough time playing in dedicated circles of either bracket, however, and you'll quickly realize just how different the two are.

So, just how big of a deal is the cEDH label that Bracket 5 carries, and what makes these two brackets different? Let's dive in.

The Role of Commanders

First off, the namesake of the format: commanders.

When it comes to every bracket but 5, commanders serve a central role as the binding force of a deck. Be it a planeswalker, a Vehicle, or just a good ol' legendary creature, commanders are the stars of all but the highest brackets.

They enable potentially broken synergies and serve as the signpost for a deck's game plan.

Bracket 4

In Bracket 4 specifically, decks are fine-tuned to maximally capitalize on the commander's resources while simultaneously shoring up its pitfalls.

An excellent example of this is The Ur-DragonThe Ur-Dragon, one of Magic's most popular commanders ever. This commander is all upside; it may have a prohibitively high cost of , but thanks to its eminence ability you'll be racking in a discount to all of your Dragon spells regardless of whether or not you even cast The Ur-Dragon in the first place.

And, if you do cast it, the reward for such a high investment is a game-ending threat capable of drawing massive amounts of cards, churning out permanents for free, and dealing critical amounts of damage.

Really, all that the Ur-Dragon asks is that the deck it helms be full of Dragons. What's not to love?

Bracket 5

Moving to Bracket 5 - cEDH - and the role of a commander changes substantially. No longer is the question "What can my deck do to support my commander?" Instead, cEDH players have to ask themselves "What can my commander do to support my deck?"

There are, of course, some exceptions to this rule - Magda, Brazen OutlawMagda, Brazen Outlaw, for example - but by and large the card pool of hyper-powerful cards and strategies is substantially more limited in comparison to Bracket 4.

In order to fully explain this, it's important to understand the concept of card quality.

Card quality is a way of evaluating the value of a card in a vacuum; that is, without consideration of the commander or any other particular special conditions.

For example, Thassa's OracleThassa's Oracle has terrible card quality unless your library is empty; paying for a worse version of scry is a terrible rate.

Underworld BreachUnderworld Breach, meanwhile, has much better card quality; paying for a quasi-repeatable Yawgmoth's WillYawgmoth's Will is already broken in and of itself, regardless of whether you take a moment to consider the myriad combos it unlocks.

Moving back to commanders, and this card quality notion has substantial impact on the range of possible leaders for decks.

Sure, The Ur-Dragon supports a Dragons deck like no other, but what's the average card quality of a Dragon in a world where decks can win on turn one? Pretty low.

More broadly speaking, any card that's only good because of the commander can be thought of as having a lower card quality, something which can prove to be hugely detrimental to a strategy unless the commander is both readily castable and maximally exploitative of that card (e.g., Magda, which costs and can win nearly out of nowhere).

Outlets and Engines

Because of this card quality dilemma, the role of commanders in cEDH has essentially been reduced to that of two options: outlets and engines.

Outlet commanders enable a guaranteed way to win the game, provided the path to get there has been achieved. These are things like Thrasios, Triton HeroThrasios, Triton Hero or The Master of KeysThe Master of Keys - two commanders which both serve as options for infinite mana to be converted directly into a win.

The second type, engines, is fairly self explanatory. These are the commanders that are essentially unnecessary to the actual victory condition of a deck and instead serve to bolster either of cEDH's two primary resource systems: card advantage and mana advantage.

Rograkh, Son of RohgahhRograkh, Son of Rohgahh, for example, is an engine commander. It "unlocks" early-game mana advantage through cards like Mox AmberMox Amber and Infernal PlungeInfernal Plunge.

Finally, as a bit of a side note, it's also important to point out that some commanders take engine to a more abstract level, instead providing access to colors rather than mana or cards themselves.

Silas Renn, Seeker AdeptSilas Renn, Seeker Adept is the go-to example of this: a commander that essentially is never cast in cEDH, but serves a critical role as a partner commander which broadens the card pool which a deck otherwise wouldn't have access to.

The Role of the Meta

So, you've picked a commander and now you want to build a deck. What comes next? Well, for each of the two brackets we're talking about today, the answers to that question are very different.

Bracket 4

When it comes to Bracket Four, once you've picked a commander, all you need to do next is build the best version of that Commander deck that you can think of, without any consideration for the other decks you'll be playing against.

Sure, if you're playing mono-red you might throw in a copy of Blood MoonBlood Moon in order to mess with your opponents, but beyond easily abusable lock pieces like this a Bracket 4 deck doesn't really need to pay any attention to other decks (before the game starts, that is).

The only thing that matters is maxing out your own strategy

Bracket 5

Bracket Five, meanwhile, takes the opposite approach. This is a competitive format after all, so deck construction necessarily implicates an awareness of the other decks you might be playing against.

Additionally, as we saw with the significantly limited number of competitively viable commanders, the number of potential strategies a cEDH deck is going to play against is actually comprehendible. This is a stark contrast to Bracket 4, where the sheer volume of potential opponents makes the notion of fine-tuning against any particular deck or strategy nonsensical.

Looking at recent tournament data, and it's easy to find examples of top-performing decks in cEDH, and as such it's easy to find examples of what to look out for when crafting your own responses.

Importantly, this doesn't mean that decks are full of niche includes which only work against some set of the meta, even if that meta is massive (it feels like every day cEDH gets a new graveyard deck and still Grafdigger's CageGrafdigger's Cage barely sees any play).

Rather, quite like guessing your opponent's next move in a game of rock-paper-scissors, answers tend to come as shifts in play patterns and the density of effects like clones or interaction.

Is the format full of noncreature counterspells? Time to push the envelope by building a deck with barely any instants that wins by casting Apex DevastatorApex Devastator. Is Rhystic StudyRhystic Study the first card any and everyone tutors up? Time to double down on enchantment clones. Is midrange the go-to strategy? Let's see if we can outpace it with Turbo.

The Pace of Play

Finally, it's time to talk a bit more about the mantra of cEDH: Play to win.

Bracket 4 is played whenever folks want to let loose with their strongest, favorite deck. Bracket 5 is played in tournaments with a timer, where each round counts and contests are best-of-one. This environmental shift has an indelible effect on the structure of decks; in cEDH, there are no pet cards, no cut corners, no extra allowances.

By sitting down to play the game, you're consenting to a contest where you could lose before your first turn, and that's just that. Bracket 4, meanwhile, has a bit more leeway here.

By playing in Bracket 4, you're necessarily tossing by the wayside the protective guardrails which allow for Commander games to naturally go long. These are the rules that ensure everyone has the greatest likelihood of getting to do "their thing" when they sit down to play.

As you move further and further up the Brackets, this protective system begins to break down, leaving more autonomy to the players.

Sure, when everyone plays on the same Bracket then there undoubtedly exists a greater chance for players to counteract each other in meaningful ways and thus prolong the game of Magic, but the window in which game-ending threats first begin to materialize moves ever closer to the first turn as you approach Commander's highest bracket.

At Bracket 4, players exist on a precipice: You have every tool at your disposal necessary to build a deck that can end the game reliably on turn one. However, since the expressive, casual nature of Commander is still the focus at this point, players are socially incentivized to build decks which take some time to get their threats going.

This doesn't mean turn one is safe - expect plenty of fast mana and threatening engines at this Bracket - but it's all building up for a grander project, something more akin to a board game night.

At Bracket 4, all bets are off and - from the moment the game starts - everyone is trying to end it. This can be in the slowest fashion possible a la stax or the quickest possible a la turbo, but regardless of the game plan everyone still has an immediate goal that's set from the beginning.

Everyone is sitting down to have fun, no doubt, but the fun here is had from the blitz of razor-close games and explosive victories coming out of nowhere.

This difference also has implications for the kinds of social interactions which emerge as part of a cEDH game. Love it or hate it, politics is a key part of Bracket 5 in a way that's wholly unique from the other Brackets.

The rest of Commander is absolutely a social game, full of decisions made by groups and factions, but - given the emphasis on winning - Bracket 5 puts these interactions under a microscope, heightening the importance of strategic deals, information sharing, and more.

Savvy players can snatch a draw from the jaws of defeat by persuasion, a skill that's all the more crucial in a setting where players are fighting for points and prizes.

Wrap Up

Brackets 4 and 5 share the same card pool, strategic restrictions, and rules sets. They're the pinnacle of power in Commander. However, that power is used in very different ways across the two Brackets, so much so that entering a game of three decks from one Bracket with a deck from the other is oftentimes an alienating experience.

If you have a pet deck that you want to maximize, then Bracket 4 is for you. Go out there and win your games with the best your commander can be.

If you want to fight for a victory with a honed deck crafted just for the tournament arena, then cEDH is for you.

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