Hey Mike!

I love your column and your thoughtful feedback. I had a recent experience at my LGS and I wanted to get your input.

I showed up to my LGS with my two new decks, Bracket 2 Choco, Seeker of ParadiseChoco, Seeker of Paradise and Bracket 3 Ertha Jo, Frontier MentorErtha Jo, Frontier Mentor, with FarewellFarewell as the only Game Changer. I sat down at a table with another experienced player and two newer players. The first game I brought Choco and told the table it's Bracket 2, but I was okay to play against low to mid Bracket 3s. The other players were on a modified Blight Curse precon, ProgenitusProgenitus, and Winota, Joiner of ForcesWinota, Joiner of Forces (new player unaware of her reputation).

The Winota player got off to a fast start, but I held removal and killed Winota on sight. The ProgenitusProgenitus player played Mystical TutorMystical Tutor for SunfallSunfall to wipe the board, then played Enlightened TutorEnlightened Tutor for Rhystic StudyRhystic Study. He used board wipes and sacrifice effects every turn to kill all opposing creature for the rest of the game, then played Narset, Parter of VeilsNarset, Parter of Veils, WindfallWindfall, and Wheel of FortuneWheel of Fortune to refill his hand with more board wipes and removal while preventing all the other players from drawing cards.

At this point, I was quite frustrated. I talked to the ProgenitusProgenitus player and let him know I don't get many chances to play Commander and was hoping for more social games. He responded by saying that he doesn't know which cards are Game Changers or what bracket his decks are. He told me his understanding was that game length was the only indicator of brackets. I told him he's mistaken and to check out the updated bracket information. After that conversation, he switched to a Norin the WaryNorin the Wary deck and the next games were much more fun.

In our final game, I brought out Ertha Jo, Frontier MentorErtha Jo, Frontier Mentor, the Progenitus player was on Gix, Yawgmoth PraetorGix, Yawgmoth Praetor, and the other players were on Gishath, Sun's AvatarGishath, Sun's Avatar and Maralen, Fae AscendantMaralen, Fae Ascendant. The game was going back and forth. It was turn six, we were all around 20-30 life. Maralen had a bunch of Elves, the Gishath player was getting a bit flooded, and Gix had a board of flying tokens from his turn two Bitterbloom BearerBitterbloom Bearer. I had my commander, some mana rocks, small tokens, and a Teyo, Geometric TacticianTeyo, Geometric Tactician which I had plussed to draw myself and Gishath more cards. The Gix player played a Breach the MultiverseBreach the Multiverse, getting back some big scary creatures. On my turn, I tapped out to play an Ascend from AvernusAscend from Avernus, bringing back some planeswalkers that got milled from the Breach, including Gideon, Champion of JusticeGideon, Champion of Justice.

With Ertha Jo doubling his +1, Gideon immediately went to 20 loyalty due to the Gix player's wide board. I used my other planeswalkers to deal with the Gix player's most threatening creatures and passed. I disclosed to the table what the Gideon's -15Gideon's -15 does and that I will likely win the game on my next turn unless he is dealt with.

VERDICT

Thank you for writing and asking me to weigh in on your story. As I mention every week, if folks don't write to me, there's no column, so if you, the reader, want to send me a story, whether it's your own or one from Reddit or a friend's, please send it to amithebolas@gmail.com and I'll get to it here.

Yeah, bud, you kinda stepped in it.

You spent time during and after the first game going over the Bracket System with the ProgenitusProgenitus/Gix, Yawgmoth PraetorGix, Yawgmoth Praetor player. It seems a little hypocritical to do all that and then not disclose that, not only are you playing Gideon, Champion of JusticeGideon, Champion of Justice, but you can get to his mass land destruction ultimate pretty easily. Take a look at the bottom section in the Bracket 3 column, specifically in the NO section.

It says "NO Mass Land Denial". Technically, Progenitus was right. It's a Bracket 4 deck. In the way that we use the Bracket shorthand - which shouldn't replace the Rule Zero conversation but often does - telling the table your deck is a Bracket 3 is technically untrue.

However...

If the conversation had been furthered, I'm sure that disclosing to the pod that there's Mass Land Denial in the deck could've gone over well, especially if it comes off a planeswalker's ultimate. The other two players knew you could close it out and treated it like a backbreaking board wipe. It's little different from a well-timed Ruinous UltimatumRuinous Ultimatum: the writing's on the wall either way. Personally, if someone sits down with a deck with one Game Changer and MLD GideonMLD Gideon, I'm probably going to give it a thumbs up. It's a game and these cards exist.

This is why you don't want to skip the Rule Zero conversation. You get to have a say. The Bracket System isn't a perfect system! It's not the whole conversation, so have one! Talk about your decks and what you get out of the game. Talk about what would tilt you if it came up. Even within the brackets, there are subcategories, right? Does Gideon, Champion of JusticeGideon, Champion of Justice have a place in Bracket 4, aka cEDH Junior? If you're playing the kind of Bracket 4 that's competitive and ignores the cEDH meta, the deck would need to have a pretty good reason to run it and remain powerful enough to compete. But what about the kind of Bracket 4 that just wants to play powerful spells that push out of the third bracket but doesn't hang with Bracket 5?

I don't think a deck that runs an ArmageddonArmageddon for the heck of it necessarily means "Bracket 4 only". Remember that the brackets can fight up or down a class. The difference is you don't get this information from just saying "my deck is Bracket 4". Since everyone inevitably has their own idea of what a bracket is, it's best to chat about it all first.

But yes, you're the Bolas, you misrepresented the deck, technically. The deck is unfortunately not Bracket 3 because of Gideon.

Thanks again for writing in! Have more Rule Zero chats!

P.S. The Gishath player should've held off on casting Raging SwordtoothRaging Swordtooth to keep Gideon in check, but it's all the same, innit?