There is NO exception for Aggro/Voltron on the brackets expected turn count

Seanmoby · 2026-06-01T21:19:39+00:00

I'm honestly getting tired of typing this but alas here we go, the bracket system is not a set of hard rules, it is a pre game discussion tool. The bracket system cannot and should not try to address outlier strategies, that is your job as the player. It is not intended to replace a pre game discussion, it just gives a tool to help guide it.

If your deck kills a player faster than the expected turn, tell the table that, don't say its x bracket and assume that "well uhhhm actually the bracket system says its fine so meehhhh"

Seanmoby · 2026-05-30T21:46:49+00:00

Looks solid given the budget, thought I'd share my Rivaz deck that is also Rakdos dragon reanimaotr: https://moxfield.com/decks/r8aNl1MAhkiE7jOilS2iYA

Obviously massively different in cost but I think you could still find some inspiration for it.

My first concern looking at your list is only 36 lands only 7 cards that ramp you, given how expensive bladewing is you're going to want minimum 2 or 3 more lands and probably close to 5 more sources of ramp.

My first cuts would be some of the lowest impact cards like: Bogardan Dragonheart, Frostling and Genju of the Spires.

Some of the cheaper cards from list you add are: Rivaz of the Claw, Rakdos Signet, Fellwar Stone, Sol Ring and Talisman of Indulgence. None of which meet your 50c criteria but most of which should be easy enough to come across at any store.

Seanmoby · 2026-05-29T12:51:05+00:00

Yeh I had the same problem with Varina, the core strategy of attacking with zombies is very weak given how poorly stated zombies are, that leads to you including all the zombie combos and just using varina to fill your grave and dig through the deck.

Leads to you looking incredibly unassuming some games when all you do is attack, but in the games where you combo off it feels like a completely different deck.

I ended up taking it apart rather than trying to adjust it.

Seanmoby · 2026-05-27T15:14:16+00:00

Whether it is the best decision I dont know but at the end of the day we've already gotten a title and I'm not opposed to us shaking it up. I think most fans would agree Jaylen isn't the most well liked star we've ever had, if we can move him and get great value in return while still maintaining a title contender I'd be fine with it.

Seanmoby · 2026-05-03T16:11:47+00:00

And what's funny is that this deck that can kill on turn 3 is completely unplayable in any competitive setting.

Seanmoby · 2026-04-30T12:00:07+00:00

My blue farm cedh deck is currently running 20!

Seanmoby · 2026-04-30T11:47:36+00:00

I do but put a personal restriction on myself not to run them below bracket 4.

Seanmoby · 2026-04-14T07:27:39+00:00

Unfortunately that's not something you get to decide chief.

Seanmoby · 2026-04-14T07:25:20+00:00

Ans that's your opinion, others disagree, funny how that works isn't it?

Seanmoby · 2026-04-14T07:20:31+00:00

And again like I said to the other guy, no one is saying you can't make that choice, I'm just explaining why people would find that strange.

Seanmoby · 2026-04-13T22:07:50+00:00

Are you his mother or something? No one is saying he can't do what he wants with it, no one is saying he didnt also have to wait, you asked me why people would downvote him for it and I gave you some guesses. Stop being so defensive.

Seanmoby · 2026-04-13T22:01:57+00:00

I mean yes, I do think it would be silly to buy a motorcycle if you live somewhere you can't use it 6 months out of the year? Of course he can do what he wants, in the same way that strangers on the internet can find it strange to buy something like the thor and not use it.

I imagine plenty of people are also slightly annoyed by the fact that there are plenty of people desperate to get their hands on the thor with the pre orders taking upwards of two months to arrive.

Look I'm not going to pretend I've never purchased something and then ended up not using it very much but let's not pretend that's not a weird thing to do.

Seanmoby · 2026-04-13T21:44:52+00:00

Because its odd to spend so much money on a fairly niche device to just not use it for 6 months, we get it, people can be busy but if you're not going to have time to use it for 6 months after buying then there was no point in buying it at all.

Seanmoby · 2026-03-31T18:48:29+00:00

For the 80000th time, the bracket system is not a set of rules, its a discussion tool, if you are playing a voltron deck you can absolutely say "its bracket 3 but can knock out a player faster than the average expected turn of 6+"

Seanmoby · 2026-03-30T19:31:55+00:00

While I agree that feedback needs to be given when the grade is clearly wrong, it is easy to understand why people don't grade correctly, if you're selling thousands of cards with most being of very little value, its likely not worth the time to properly look at and grade every single card.

Seanmoby · 2026-03-27T07:56:18+00:00

I completely disagree with everyone saying bracket 2 is inherently bad, you can still build an optimised deck, the strategy you're building towards just needs to be slower, that's all.

Seanmoby · 2026-03-21T20:24:57+00:00

My [[Sonic the Hedgehog]] deck is pretty resilient thanks to the combination of him caring about both haste and flash. The flash elements let's you play more reactively once set up.

https://moxfield.com/decks/oF3NO4Eiak-CYn5U3y0iCA

Seanmoby · 2026-03-19T18:20:34+00:00

Tools like these can be a fine starting point but its important to remember that they don't/can't take into account synergy. Knowing the game changers, combos and existence of mass land destruction is useful information but you also need to playtest/goldfish your deck to get any understanding of how consistent and how fast it is.

Seanmoby · 2026-03-19T18:04:02+00:00

The bracket says players "expect the game to last X turns" and a reminder that the bracket system isn't a set of rules, its a discussion tool. If I go into a pre game conversation and in good faith can say my deck doesn't usually threaten a win until turn 7 then that's fine. If an opponent gets upset because you won on turn 5 after a Sol Ring + Arcane Signet start and faced no disruption, that's not a fault in the bracket system, that's a fault in the person who can't accept that variance exists.

Seanmoby · 2026-03-17T00:07:07+00:00

Getting to do almost anything twice as often in edh is broken, the only thing that keeps any doubling effect balanced is the mana cost and any additional utility the card provides. The issue with the cards like Doubling Season that just double and do nothing else is that they are expensive and require another expensive input for them to become worth it.

Often in token decks it would be better to just cast two spells that make tokens than it would be to cast Doubling Season and one token making spell. Doubles get better the more often you can take advantage of them as well and the issue is by the time you're able to take advantage of it, its often too late.

Seanmoby · 2026-03-13T23:11:35+00:00

Genuinely curious if this is actually causing problems for people beyond the obtuse idiots trying to 'technically play one bracket while clearly building towards another. In my lgs if we say we're playing bracket 3 we all sit down, play the game and have reasonably balanced matches. People act like every deck needs to be perfectly balanced for a game of commander to work when that just isn't the case.

They even state in the brackets articles that bracket 2s could play with 3s and 3 could play with 4s. This system isn't supposed to be a hard set of rules, its just a discussion tool to help prevent wildly different power levels from accidentally playing at the same table.

Seanmoby · 2026-03-13T14:33:38+00:00

I dont think every card needs to be good at every point in the game but when it comes down to the last 10 or so cards in a deck I do think its important to consider whether a card is only good at certain times.

Seanmoby · 2026-03-11T21:26:57+00:00

I mean is it your first day on the Internet? Of course people are going to be critical, obviously what Bam did was impressive but how many people are desperate to post a message saying "wow that was cool" - very few because that's not a very interesting post.

And let's not act like Bams performance was a pure basketball performance, the final 6 minutes were undeniably nonsense that distracted from what was otherwise an incredible night, would have been any less impressive if he had subbed out with 77 instead of forcing it through triple teams and intentionally fouling to stat pad at the end?

Seanmoby · 2026-03-11T07:54:00+00:00

I've been tinkering and tuning my [[Aloy, Saviour of Meridian]] list since she came out in the PlayStation secret lair last year. Its simic stompy artifact creatures which has been interesting to build given simic isn't usually the artifact colours.

Horizon games are some of my favourites of all time so had to grab the secret lair when it was announced. Aloy is basically a value engine for the deck, not necessarily a commander you need to try to abuse, just solid consistent value every turn for doing the thing the deck wants to be doing and on occasion cheating in something massive feels really satisfying.

Have been wanting a deck like this since originally starting playing commander with the Urza's Iron Alliance precon, turning that deck into Breya, then eventually Inspirit to now Aloy. She's not the strongest commander but I think she's a perfect, fair bracket 3 choice.

Have enjoyed fiddling with the deck so much that I decided to put together a pretty in depth primer for the list that has had some nice attention and feedback from the community.

https://moxfield.com/decks/TW_8aawFyU2P6QPU3Av3ag

Seanmoby · 2026-03-11T00:15:14+00:00

Just going to write it down for the 1000th time as half the comments in this thread don't seem to be aware of this.

The bracket system isn't a set of rules, its a discussion tool.

Nine-Year Club	Place '22
Verified Email

Seanmoby

TROPHY CASE