(Rhet-Tomb MysticRhet-Tomb Mystic | Art by Irina Nordsol)

Friendly Greetings, and welcome to the premier issue of Bracketeering! I'm John Sherwood, Commander Bracket convert. When Wizards of the Coast first teased the idea of Commander Brackets, I was a skeptic.

I seriously doubted a bracket system would ever work. The announcement of the Commander Bracket Beta and the subsequent discussion in the Commander community changed my mind.

I felt inspired to think differently about deck building, and I'm sharing my refreshed perspective in this new series about using sideboards to play a Commander deck in multiple brackets.

Commander Brackets

Let's briefly review the Commander Brackets. The Commander Bracket Beta is a two-part method of grading and talking about Commander Decks.

Part one is the five brackets, which define deck levels on a spectrum of social to competitive gameplay.

Part two is a list of Game Changers; cards with major impacts on the Commander ecosystem.

The chart below was posted by Rachel Weeks of the Commander Format Panel. In my personal opinion, this is the best summary of the Commander Bracket Beta.

Commander Bracket Beta Chart from Rachel Weeks

These brackets provide a framework for expressing a desirable Commander gameplay experience. Since the announcement of the bracket system, many Commander players have been excited to rate their existing decks, and build new decks within the parameters of a given bracket.

For those of us leaping into bracketeering: These new brackets also give us an opportunity to import a deckbuilding concept from other formats: sideboarding.

Why Sideboard?

For those who are unfamiliar, Magic formats that play best-of-three matches use a sideboard to tune a deck between the games of a match.

Now, I'm far from the first person to suggest sideboards for Commander, however I believe the new bracket system presents a perfect opportunity to adapt the concept for our format. A sideboard can fit in your deck box, taking up less space than multiple decks when you're traveling to play.

Building a sideboard can cost less money than building another deck. Maybe you have one commander or one theme that you really love, and you want to be able to adapt to the power of your pod.

Commander continues to be a dynamic format as the card pool expands outward and upward. A sideboard could be a great way to keep a deck's original feel, while also keeping up with new toys and power creep.

Ground Rules

Before we jump into the meat of the series and start Bracketeering our first deck, I'm going to lay out two guidelines for the series going forward.

First, our sideboards will not exceed twenty-five cards. This is consistent with other eternal formats in which a sideboard of fifteen cards equates to 25% of the deck.

Second, our sideboards will contain cards to enable a deck to shift up or down one bracket. This also means most of the decks in the series will begin in the Core (2), Upgraded (3) or Optimized (4) brackets.

Eternal Might

The recent release of Aetherdrift featured a preconstructed Commander deck themed around the undead of Amonkhet. Eternal Might is a Zombie theme deck seated firmly in the Core (2) Bracket.

The deck contains no combos, no Game Changers, and there is only one non-land tutor. Here's the whole deck list for reference:

Being centered in one of the most supported creature types, it should be easy to sideboard up into the Upgraded (3) Bracket. The real challenge for Bracketeering a Zombie deck will be stepping it down into the Exhibition (1) bracket.

Upgrades

Andy Zupke published a great Upgrade Guide for this deck, which was very handy for preparing this article. I'm going to shamelessly borrow some of his ideas for our sideboard.

Three of Andy's picks are Cleaver SkaabCleaver Skaab, Endless Ranks of the DeadEndless Ranks of the Dead and Rooftop StormRooftop Storm.

Endless Ranks of the Dead and Cleaver Skaab are both strong synergy pieces for Eternal Might's token subtheme. Rooftop Storm is an archetypal pillar for Zombies; powerful as an engine or combo piece.

Speaking of combo pieces, let's talk about a couple cards that are already in the deck. We've already got GravecrawlerGravecrawler, a one drop that loops like a teenage summer soundtrack.

The precon also comes with Corpse KnightCorpse Knight as a combo payoff. Plugging Gravecrawler into Commander Spellbook yields some winning cards for the upgrade portion of our sideboard. Ashnod's AltarAshnod's Altar, Carrion FeederCarrion Feeder, Grimgrin, Corpse-BornGrimgrin, Corpse-Born and Phyrexian AltarPhyrexian Altar are all sacrfice outlets for looping that Gravecrawler.

Combos become more prevalent as we move up from Core (2) to Upgraded (3), and inluding multiple sacrifice outlets will help this deck consistently field a combo.

Another way we can make our combos more consistent is to tutor for the combo pieces. As an Esper deck, Eternal Might has access to the best tutors, but Demonic TutorDemonic Tutor, Imperial SealImperial Seal and Vampiric TutorVampiric Tutor are Game Changers.

Sideboarding too many Game Changers would push this deck into Optimized (4) instead of our target Uprgraded (3) bracket. To accurately hit that Upgraded (3) target, let's look at some EntombEntomb effects dump our Gravecrawler in the bin.

Two of my favorites are Buried AliveBuried Alive and Lively DirgeLively Dirge. Buried Alive is outstanding value for mana, entombing three cards for one mana each. Lively Dirge does double duty as an entomb effect or reanimation spell.

Game Changers

Since we're sideboarding this deck into the Upgraded (3) Bracket, we're allowed up to three Game Changers in this sideboard. One easy pick in this category is Bolas's CitadelBolas's Citadel.

This card provides card advantage, a sacrifice outlet and pressures our opponents' life totals while matching the deck's Egyptian-inspired aesthetic.

A deck that goes wide like Eternal Might should be able to leverage Cyclonic RiftCyclonic Rift for a win. Flooding the battlefield with Zombies and Rifting blockers out of the way is a tried and true recipe for victory.

Mana Base

Eternal Might follows the precon pattern of slow, clunky lands. This is fine for an Exhbition (1) or Core (2) deck, but we want better tempo when we're bracketeering for Upgraded (3) game.

The precon contains six lands with cycling, and five of them are deserts that enter tapped. The deserts are thematic, but the deck doesn't have enough discard payoffs to justify their downsides at higher power tables. If you have the means to sideboard premium lands, then go for it.

Regardless of budget, a basic land is almost always better than a land that enters tapped. I would side out those deserts for basic lands, plus a Contaminated LandscapeContaminated Landscape and Crypt of the EternalsCrypt of the Eternals.

These lands are budget friendly, produce mana without entering tapped and they can fix colors in a pinch. Crypt of the Eternals has the added bonus of matching the deck's flavor.

Downgrades

I'm hesitant to call this section Downgrades, but I don't know what else to call it. I'm open to suggestions. Drop your positive-spin Downgrade synonyms in the comments please.

In the meantime, I'm going to sideboard some cards that will increase this deck's thematic consistency; possibly at the expense of strategic consistency.

I'm a sucker for set mechanics, and I fell hard for Amass drafting War of the Spark. The original Amass mechanic thematically represented the army Nicol Bolas raised on Amonkhet.

There are eleven Amass cards that are not in the Eternal Might precon, and that gives us an avenue to double down on the deck's flavor. A lot of these cards were balanced for limited play, which should help the deck let off the gas and bask in warmth of Amonkhet's suns.

I'm adding all of them except Toll of the InvasionToll of the Invasion and Crush DissentCrush Dissent. I personally feel targeted hand destruction like Toll of the Invasion doesn't belong in the social-forward atmosphere of an Exhibition (1) game.

Before The Lord of the Rings set improved Amass, I had a Kess, Dissident MageKess, Dissident Mage Amass deck. Even in that jank pile, Crush Dissent was frequently a dead card, and I don't wish dead cards on anyone. Fortunately we still have nine other Amass Zombies cards for Exhibition (1) gold.

The Sideboard

Archidekt's card packages are a great tool for building and upgrading decks. I created this Eternal Might Sideboard as a Card Package, so anyone can add it directly to their deck without searching for the individual cards.

What did the mummy say to the editor?

"That's a wrap."

Bracketeering will be back next month with another deck and another sideboard. In addition to precons, Bracketeering will sometimes feature average decks from EDHREC's top commanders.

Comment below there's a deck you'd like to see featured in this series. Bracketeering a reader-submitted deck is also a possibility. Until next time, may your brews be fresh and your games be fabulous.