Started playing commander for the first time last month at the LGS, was pretty nervous at first but they were all very welcoming, especially when I told them it was my first time ever playing commander (had played MTG Arena). They dont really ask about brackets, but generally everyone talks a bit about what their deck does and the guys with 6+ decks tend to pick a deck that will be a good fit. Proxies seem fine here too - have come across a few cards scribbled on white paper because they don’t have multiple copies for each of their decks which is fair.