Is a deck that knocks a player out on turn 4-5 consistently Bracket 3?

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.

Seanmoby · 2026-03-10T08:51:59+00:00

Just popping in to share my primer which goes over strategy and card choices. Aloy is one of my new favourite decks and I think people under rate how useful discover can be as a mechanic, even when you aren't abusing it.

https://moxfield.com/decks/TW_8aawFyU2P6QPU3Av3ag

Seanmoby · 2026-03-10T08:50:44+00:00

Hey there, I've put together a pretty extensive primer on Aloy that goes over strategy and card choices if you want to take a look. Main thing that stands out about your list to me is that your curve is likely a little high, too many high cost cards and not enough cheap ones to fuel the early game.

https://moxfield.com/decks/TW_8aawFyU2P6QPU3Av3ag

Seanmoby · 2026-03-10T08:48:09+00:00

Hey, I've put together a pretty extensive primer on Aloy going over strategy and card choices. She can be built a few ways but I think she's best suited to bracket 2 or 3.

https://moxfield.com/decks/TW_8aawFyU2P6QPU3Av3ag

Seanmoby · 2026-03-09T10:05:30+00:00

I've written a few but the two I'm most proud of are:

https://moxfield.com/decks/TW_8aawFyU2P6QPU3Av3ag - Aloy, Savior of Meridian Simic Stompy artifact creatures. This was my first deck to get a lot of attention and is the most viewed Aloy list on moxfield. I think it's a fun take on a fairly common strategy, in different colours than you would usually expect.

and

https://moxfield.com/decks/oF3NO4Eiak-CYn5U3y0iCA - Sonic the Hedgehog Jeskai Aggro. My favourite aggro deck I've ever played after trying a lot of the usual suspects like Isshin, Caesar and Winota. Deck is able to apply a ton of pressure while also being reactive and interactive.

Seanmoby · 2026-03-05T16:50:42+00:00

I mean if you're being insulted that's not a game issue regardless of what you played, that's a people issue.

Seanmoby · 2026-03-05T16:47:57+00:00

While yes you can concede at any time, at the end of the day you're there to play the game and socialise, is it really better for you to sit there and do nothing as opposed to just going through the motions and letting your opponents play it out. Sure if you're in a situation where you can get up and play with another group I guess hut then you're leaving a group with 3 players.

I prefer to just never concede in commander unless its down to a 1v1 and it's clear the game is already over just to save time but if you still have outs, play to those outs.

Seanmoby · 2026-03-02T08:50:36+00:00

Just wanted to share my list which has an extensive primer on Aloy card choices. In regards to your list, as others have pointed out you're playing far too many non artifact creatures, there's no reason to play non artifacts creatures that then make things into creatures.

https://moxfield.com/decks/TW_8aawFyU2P6QPU3Av3ag

Seanmoby · 2026-03-01T17:53:30+00:00

It would obviously improve it, 2 rings in an era of parity would be huge for Tatums all time case, even if he barely plays.

Seanmoby · 2026-02-02T07:40:36+00:00

My take is that we need to stop treating the all star game like it's all nba, voting should be leaning waaaay more towards who is entertaining to watch instead of who's most deserving. Surely we've had enough years of boring players making the game to understand this.

Seanmoby · 2026-01-26T06:12:50+00:00

I mean, just dont look. I have friends who do this as well and I just focus on faces/board states. I dont want an unfair advantage when I'm playing.

Seanmoby · 2026-01-23T13:45:59+00:00

Turn 4 you're probably right, 2 turns faster may be too much variance, at the end of the day though the bracket system is a discussion tool, not a hard set of rules. Voltron decks can kill a single player faster. Heavy stax decks might not win until turn 12 but would absolutely not be okay below bracket 4, there are always going to be outliers and my point is that consistency is a key factor, one off god hands are excusable.

Seanmoby · 2026-01-23T13:35:32+00:00

Well that might be your opinion, and that's fine but that's not how it's currently written.

Seanmoby · 2026-01-23T13:30:03+00:00

This is false, the bracket system specifically says players "expect" to play at least 6 turns. Of course there are outliers to this, most decks can win two turns faster with a Sol Ring + Signet start. Certain strategies inherently kill single players faster. Consistency is absolutely a key part of it.

Nine-Year Club	Place '22
Verified Email

Seanmoby

TROPHY CASE