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This is a generic list of the various tiers of each brawl commander. Five tiers - tier one is the top of the format, the cream of the crop, and have many online versions fully teched out. Tier two decks can tangle with the tier one decks, tier three is playable but possibly not the best in the color combination (example: Dovin Baan is a powerful planeswalker, but is immediately bumped down to tier 3 because of the power level of Teferi, Hero of Dominaria). tier four is fringe/crazy decks, and tier five is purely unplayable.
TIER 1:
TIER 1.5:
TIER 2:
Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter
TIER 2.5:
TIER 3:
TIER 3.5:
TIER 4:
TIER 4.5:
TIER 5:
Each of these decks defines a certain archetype and is the best in that certain archetype. We won't know how good each of the decks are without much more testing, but some of them are obviously better than others. The tier one decks are clearly set aside from the others, for reasons mentioned with each deck. Let's break the tier one decks down first:
Muldrotha, the Gravetide Muldrotha is a powerhouse commander; some consider it the most powerful deck in the format. Sultai colors are incredibly powerful, and the synergies achieved with the deck are very powerful. It's fun to cast Ravenous Chupacabra from the graveyard, and sacrifice it to Apocalypse Demon every turn. Here's a list by Josh from Game Knights, Episode 17:
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/jlks-muldrotha-brawl-l-game-knights-17/
Tezzeret, Master of Metal This is a very interesting deck. It requires a full suite of blue/black control, and only two or three artifacts in the mainboard. The goal is to play Tezzy and plus him for a few turns, getting any number of artifacts such as Paradox Engine, Oracle's Vault and Gilded Lotus, then using them to gain large amounts of card advantage and overwhelm them. Here is a list by mtggoldfish user @do_less :
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1129230#paper
Hazoret the Fervent Monored is one of the most powerful decks in the format. Hazo is the best monored commander, with the most reach and the quickest clock; it's also a free win against creature decks that can't remove it. This deck plays all the little red aggro creatures, and goes up the curve with Glorybringer and Rekindling Phoenix. To see an example, here's a list by Adam Yurchik:
https://decks.tcgplayer.com/magic/freeform/adam-yurchick/hazoret-brawl/1317056
The best control commander in brawl (RIP Baral), in the best control colors in brawl. This deck can beat every creature deck; they have to play well against other control decks to win. Still very powerful. Here's an article by Pro Tour Champion Joel Larsson on Teferi, Hero of Dominaria and Shanna, Sisay's Legacy:
https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/mastering-brawl-shanna-and-teferi/
Now, we go to the tier 1.5 decks. These are all competitively playable decks, but there could be something that does the same thing a little bit better in tier 1, or it's just not as powerful/in worse colors. Let's go through them.
Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca Merfolk are cool, and this general is very powerful. It draws a lot of cards, and if Deeproot Waters is drawn, the deck starts to go crazy. The deck is fast, low to the ground, and can draw a lot of cards and look an awful lot like merfolk-ball. The merfolk tribal synergies are sweet, but it's slightly worse than the Huatli, Radiant Champion turn five ultimates, and Kumena's payoffs are slightly worse than the Huatli emblem. Here's a sweet deck tech by MTGOTraders:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_VQAxqu-DM
Shanna, Sisay's Legacy Shanna is a great deck. It can beat some of the tier 1 decks easily. People view her as a worse Huatli, Radiant Champion for the go-wide, since there is much more creature removal than planeswalker removal in the format. See the deck tech of Shanna, Sisay's Legacy under Teferi, Hero of Dominaria's breakdown ^^^^^^.
Tier two decks are more unexplored, but still more powerful. These all have the potential to be very powerful if someone tests the deck a lot. Here are the tier two lists:
Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter
Tier 2.5 decks are all commanders that can still sit and play with the tier one decks. They're just slightly worse than the tier two decks, but they can all have the same spicy synergies, or their own style that players can skillfully pilot. Here are the tier 2.5 decks:
Mono-Blue Sphinx! Now, how many sphinx cards are legal in standard? Not too many. Other than that? Deck's great. The correct way to run this is Arcane Adaptation and with a storm/spellslinger type list. Here's one from tappedout user llusydh:
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/sphinx-storm-brawl/
Tier three lists usually lose to the tier one lists, and some of the tier 1.5 lists, but can usually play against the two and 2.5 lists. These are more for people who like the commander and wanna build around, but some of them have very few decks for them online, and would need much more testing to confirm the tiers. Here they are:
Tier 3.5 decks are the very bottom of the decks that still need a lot of exploring. Some commanders in this tier are just strictly worse versions of cards in higher tiers. Here they are:
Rashmi is a build-around. This deck runs things like Reason // Believe and I love it. It isn't incredibly powerful, but this deck can do some real fun things out of nowhere. Here's a good list by MTG pro Gavin Verhey:
https://decks.tcgplayer.com/magic/freeform/gavin-verhey/rashmi-brawl/1316865
This is more of a build-around card, but not playing colors is tough in this format. It is powerful, but it will never beat a colored list. That being said, here's a decklist from MTGSalvation user VolatileAce :
Tier 4 decks aren't competitively playable. The list gets smaller as the tiers get lower and this is the last stop if you're a casual player; these decks can be fun, but they're not gonna beat The Scarab God or Huatli, Radiant Champion any time soon. Here they are:
Pia Nalaar Pia is just so much worse than the other commanders that she's not worth thinking about unless you want to play red artifact-synergies, and there aren't as many good artifact payoffs. Here is a link to a real solid list by tappedout that shows that tier 4 commanders can still be very powerful:
https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/black-hawk-down-pia-nalaar-brawl-primer-1/
Tier 4.5 decks are basically trash. You can pump them full of good cards and they still won't be good. Here they are:
Padeem, Consul of Innovation Sweet, your artifacts are hexproof! The only way this commander is playable is in a super-artifact centered deck, which would be better in U/B with either Tezzeret. If you wanna play monoblue artifacts, and your playgroup has a lot of hate, this is your guy. Here's a brew by Hyedris:
https://deckstats.net/decks/48786/949268-padeem-brawl-impress-me-/en
Valduk, Keeper of the Flame Fun build-around, but not enough auras in monored to make him good - the equipment plan can work if the opponent's deck flounders. Here's a list by mtggoldfish user @ComokaziJeff:
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1072587#paper
Chandra, Bold Pyromancer
Just a worse Chandra, Torch of Defiance
. I would never build a deck around this unless it was my only legendary card I owned, and then I would switch formats.
Hallar, the Firefletcher Kicker is a cool mechanic, but it takes a lot to get this guy going, and standard doesn't have it right now. But here's a deck list anyway.
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1031285#paper
A 2/4 for 4 is pretty bad. Making your opponents pay more to attack just doesn't do enough. Not worth listing a deck tech.
This is the only one that's this low that's playable, but that's only if you run every construct card, and you won't have a winning deck without colors. Fliers are hard to deal with, etc. look at the Karn, Scion of Urza brawl lists and you'll understand.
Tier 5 decks are competitively unplayable. They suck. There is no reason to be playing these cards except for flavor. Here they are!
Yargle, Glutton of Urborg 9/3 is fun, and flavorful, and bad. Commanders are better if they have abilities.
Urgoros, the Empty One This is a very bad rate when Demonlord Belzenlok is a commander. Not playable.
Tetzimoc, Primal Death "Reveal from your hand"?? This can't go to your hand! No reason to play a creature like this.
THANK YOU FOR READING PLEASE COMMENT DECKLISTS/TOURNAMENT FINISHES AND I WILL EDIT AS NEEDED
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| Date added | 6 years |
| Last updated | 6 years |
| Legality | This deck is not Standard Brawl legal. |
| Rarity (main - side) | 1 - 0 Uncommons |
| Cards | 1 |
| Avg. CMC | 3.00 |
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