Commander Staple Power Bracket Rankings: Community Votes Revealed

Rhystic Study art
Artwork by Paul Canavan

This week, a survey shared on Reddit received over 225,000 votes classifying various Magic: The Gathering Commander cards into the appropriate Commander Power Brackets.

The poll was started last week through the EDH subreddit, which has over 295,000 subscribed members.

WotC announced the new Power Bracket system developed alongside the now-disbanded Commander Rules Committee to facilitate Rule Zero conversations on deck power levels. WotC has not yet conducted an official survey of community rankings.

There are four Commander Power Level Brackets, going from 1 to 4, with Level 1 being the weakest power and Level 4 being the strongest power. A Commander Deck is considered to belong to the Power Bracket of the most powerful card in the deck. So if you have 1 Power Level 4 card and 98 Power Level 1 cards, your deck is still considered a Power Level 4 Commander Deck.

For full details on the Commander Power Bracket system, read our explainer guide here.

Without further ado, here are the results of the community poll for which Commander Staples belong in which Power Bracket. These are not official placements, but an initial survey of where the EDH & Commander community feels these cards should be placed.

Commander Power Bracket 4 Cards

Power Bracket 4 cards Commander

The following cards were voted by the community to belong in the highest Power Bracket 4 tier:

As we can see, Commander players voted for high-powered tutors, card draw, and free mana spells into the Power Level 4 bracket. Perhaps the most surprising in this tier is Deflecting Swat, which sees play at quite a few casual tables.

    Commander Power Bracket 3 Cards

    Commander Power Bracket 3 cards

    The following cards were voted by the community to belong in the Power Bracket 3 tier:

    The Commander Power Level 3 Bracket has most of the usual overpowered casual cards such as Smothering Tithe, Jeska’s Will, and Teferi’s Protection. If these votes stick, the majority of Commander decks would likely be classified as Bracket 3.

      Commander Power Bracket 2 Cards

      Commander Power Bracket 2 cards

      The following cards were voted by the community to belong in the Power Bracket 2 tier:

      The Commander Power Level 2 Bracket cards are the true casual cards that have some power, but are widely accepted at any Commander playgroup. Cards like Heroic Intervention and Krenko, Mob Boss make this tier.

        Commander Power Bracket 1 Cards

        Commander Power Bracket level 1 cards

        The following cards were voted by the community to belong in the Power Bracket 1 tier:

          In the lowest Commander Power Bracket, we see the typical casual table Commanders. The vast majority of cards printed for the 99-card deck would also likely appear at this power level.

          A total of 1,519 respondents voted in this survey of power levels, with 225,201 total votes cast on individual cards. Of all the staple Commander cards voted on, the average respondent named nine cards to the Power Level 4 Bracket, 13 cards to the Power Level 3 Bracket, 22 cards to the Power Level 2 Bracket, and 55 cards to the Power Level 1 Bracket.

          For a full list of how each card was rated in the power level survey, check out the poll results here.

          Stay tuned to MTG Insider for more Magic: The Gathering Commander news, listicles, updates and more!

          ALSO READ: Top 10 Most Fun Commanders To Play Against

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          Brian McCormick, an avid Magic: The Gathering player since the release of Mercadian Masques in 1999, began writing about the game in 2015. In July 2023, he founded MTG Insider. His love for MTG and all things fantasy & sci-fi previously led him to co-found MTGRocks.com and Epicstream.com.