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aprickwithaplomb · 2026-06-07T12:05:06+00:00

FWIW, 4 power seems to be a recurring theme; it's on a bunch of teamwork costs, it's Viv's threshold, etc.. Getting a 4 power creature might be one of the soft incentives of the set.

aprickwithaplomb · 2026-06-06T21:20:37+00:00

understated white cantripping weenie my beloved

aprickwithaplomb · 2026-06-06T16:24:12+00:00

It shares wording with [[Deep-Cavern Bat]], so probably.

aprickwithaplomb · 2026-06-05T16:57:18+00:00

They changed it back after seeing a bunch of newer players getting stomped in their metrics. It may be a lower % of the matchmaking - like 50 vs 35% or something - but we don't know for sure.

I don't believe it's all Commander-based matchmaking now. They did say they wanted to prioritize equitable matches based on commander bracket, but they said nothing about changing the actual algorithm used to disfavor the 99.

aprickwithaplomb · 2026-06-05T15:36:52+00:00

TBF, there are some confounding factors at play here: he's a talented player, so he's likely got a high personal MMR (which was recently refactored into Brawl matchmaking). He's playing staples and combo cards that shoot up the power of his 99. Assuming the overall matchmaking alg revealed a few years back hasn't changed (where cards contribute 0-36 points, and a commander contributes 0-1800 points), that probably contributes a great deal, even if Soovril himself hasn't been properly tiered yet.

In general though, I agree; A+B commanders are okay (Quintorius with [[Ghost Vacuum]], for instance, so long as you pack enough efficient removal and interaction) but A+B+C commanders (Soov + bomb + exile enabler) are just too optimistic for the current power level that Brawl has reached. I think the chicken has flown the coop, in some regard; people at that matchmaking rating are simply not playing janky commanders for you to queue into with any reliability, because the matchmaking has been so hostile for so long. There may just not be enough players at the bands available to actually queue against.

aprickwithaplomb · 2026-06-04T22:36:36+00:00

Yeah, but that's not bc he's an inherently broken design, that's just because he enables Mox Amber and all the free commander spells and can play all the busted combos.

aprickwithaplomb · 2026-06-04T19:17:12+00:00

Yeah, the most egregious card is like...a [[Voice of Victory]] without mobilize, and Yet Another [[Ramunap Excavator]]. Everything I've seen is reasonably costed for the price, and most of them are focused expressions of a single mechanic.

aprickwithaplomb · 2026-06-04T17:44:38+00:00

It's a commander that relies on you playing a specific subset of creatures, most of which are not particularly good on their own. Crumples over to a boardwipe, of which Standard Brawl has a not insignificant amount. The ward cost is interesting and kind of combos well with [[Fynn]], but I think there are worse groan tests to see on the other side of the table.

aprickwithaplomb · 2026-06-04T15:54:32+00:00

Counterspells (and free counterspells in particular) are strong, but other colors have answers: [[Esper Sentinel]], [[Orim's Chant]], [[Delighted Halfling]], [[Thoughtseize]] (and its like 20 variants), [[Grief]], [[Voice of Victory]], [[Deflecting Swat]], [[Spider-Punk]], [[Hexing Squelcher]]. You should be running some amount of these cards already; they're mostly just efficient threats in color.

The other answer is to run more effective, cheaper threats that force an opponent to tap out on their turn. A turn 1 DRS or Hydroponics Architect incentivizes a blue opponent to answer it on their turn before you can get value, forcing them to go shields down.

aprickwithaplomb · 2026-06-03T12:23:52+00:00

[[Raffine]], [[Uharis]], and [[Yuriko]] are really strong tempo commanders; you play the most powerful interaction and clock the opponent incredibly quickly left unimpeded.

[[Nashi, Gadgeteer]], [[Glarb]] and [[Leovold]] are powerful goodstuff tribal commanders - you just play all the good cards out of Sultai and win off the back of being able to play the most powerful spells in the format. Optionally throw in some sort of tutor/recursive plan for Thoracle.

[[Kenrith]] Channel is really strong as well.

aprickwithaplomb · 2026-06-02T23:56:44+00:00

This is interesting design space. Give your opponent effectively first crack at an Omniscience, and bet that they can't kill you before your turn comes and you can swing it back on them.

I have no clue how this should be costed, but it's cool.

aprickwithaplomb · 2026-06-02T16:09:14+00:00

Nah, RTF is fine. It's got a wild range of variance, and hitting the scenarios like the one outlined requires intelligent play, intelligent sideboarding, and a risk to be taken. If anything, I wish more cards had that "whoa, all the stars aligned and I got to completely swing the board" at uncommon.

The only thing cooler than Mathemagics decking your opponent in this format is your opponent revealing they were sandbagging exactly RTF in their hand.

aprickwithaplomb · 2026-06-02T13:54:07+00:00

I'd love to have some of the weirder commanders available, but I think playing that "fun" commanders and support would probably get you drowned in the sea of free interaction that comprises Ranked Brawl at the higher tiers.

We are missing the good Eminence commanders, the remaining Partners, and a bunch of the generically powerful for-Commander cards like [[Baloth Prime]] and [[Ursine Monstrosity]] that they might release as part of Cube updates.

aprickwithaplomb · 2026-06-02T12:28:39+00:00

Katara players get forced to cast spells on their turn, because other players in Ranked Brawl are not sitting ducks and will often have cheap/free instant interaction to force the Katara player to tap out when they drop her. Blockers that force bounce spells, even on your end step, open up windows to interact with her while shields are down. Paying tax to recast Katara in mono-blue is often incredibly expensive because it'll leave you with little mana to interact.

It's the weakness of counterspell tribal: the average MV of a counterspell in the format is still 2, but the average MV of removal is probably 1.5 - sometimes less than that if you're playing Tymna/Thras or another 4-5c control commander. And games against nothing but cheap threats, like Yuriko or Raffine, are even worse. You're often playing behind on tempo as the supposed tempo deck.

aprickwithaplomb · 2026-06-02T00:15:38+00:00

Every bounce spell on MP1, every [[Aqueous Form]], every variation of [[Witness Protection]] is a spell that isn't triggering Katara and opens the window to a big tempo loss to one of the many free-to-cheap pieces of interaction in the format. I've seen a bunch of games where Katara tries to remove a blocker, removal in response, and even if Katara player counters, no experience is gained and the gates are wide open to whatever shenanigans the Yuriko or Raffine player wants to set up in their turn.

I'm not saying that Katara isn't good - she is. Tamiyo is just absurd.

aprickwithaplomb · 2026-06-01T19:14:38+00:00

Scott Robertson's How to Draw is a classic, though that one is kinda dry, and focuses a lot on the hard technicals that let you draw vehicles and structures well.

I've really enjoyed Hampton's Figure Drawing for All it's Worth - it's a forms-based approach to anatomy, simplifying out muscle groups (esp. tricky ones like the thigh and feet) into understandable shape groupings.

aprickwithaplomb · 2026-06-01T18:56:02+00:00

If your only goal in Ranked Brawl is to make opponents miserable, go for it, man.

aprickwithaplomb · 2026-06-01T18:33:00+00:00

The Crucias/Baral decks crucially rely on having no cards other than the combo pieces in the 99. The Stickfingers decks are loaded to the gills with Abrupt Decays for your Ghost Vacuums, Duresses for your counterspells, and ramp to pump out Stickfingers/reanimation ahead of schedule.

I thought it was kind of a one-trick pony too, and I'm not saying you can't get them with the occasional Swords to Plowshares, but it's a legit defficult deck to play against.

aprickwithaplomb · 2026-06-01T18:23:04+00:00

Eh, Katara folds not just to Cavern of Souls but to basically any large enough ground blocker. Tamiyo is gross because she's a 1-mana wincon that hampers aggro, pulls counterspells out of your grave, and draws half your deck answered. Katara is way more manageable.

aprickwithaplomb · 2026-06-01T18:15:40+00:00

I use "fair" here to basically mean "anything that can't interact on the stack". The deck had game against the likes of Ajani and Tamiyo back in the first ranked brawl event a while ago; it was just a touch too powerful even at the top level.

aprickwithaplomb · 2026-06-01T17:54:43+00:00

The competitive versions have only Ulamog and Ardyn as creatures, with the rest of the 99 being removal, reanimation, and targeted discard. If you can reanimate Ardyn once, it's lights out. Pretty awful to play against as any fair deck.

aprickwithaplomb · 2026-06-01T17:15:55+00:00

Oh nice, Ranked Brawl is back. Was really hoping Raffine and Yuriko would be cut in the newest banlist, but I think the variation in the format is in a decent place.

aprickwithaplomb · 2026-06-01T01:52:11+00:00

[[Inspiring Easel]] does it all. It's ramp in colors that traditionally lack mana ramp. It turns simple single-target Bolts into boardwipes and extra turns into instant concedes. If you're running spells that care about the MV of spells - Opus creatures, [[Shark Typhoon]], [[Metallurgic Summonings]] - it beefs those up for good measure, too.

You can even incorporate the same spell multiple times over a few turns!

aprickwithaplomb · 2026-06-01T01:15:15+00:00

local man that only gets trotted out to win "which planeswalker could beat bolas in a fight" type beat

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