Commander Deck Ratios by Bracket
How many lands, ramp spells, draw spells and removal do Commander decks actually run at each bracket? We counted them in 6,532 complete Archidekt decks whose owners labeled them Bracket 1 through 5.
The numbers
| Bracket | Decks | Lands | Ramp | Card draw | Spot removal | Board wipes | Counterspells | Tutors | Game Changers | Avg. mana value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 · Exhibition | 1,283 | 37 (35–38) | 10 (6–15) | 8 (5–12) | 5 (3–7) | 2 (1–3) | 0 (0–2) | 3 (1–5) | 0 (0–0) | 3.17 (2.88–3.48) |
| 2 · Core | 1,322 | 36 (35–37) | 13 (9–17) | 10 (7–13) | 5 (3–7) | 2 (1–3) | 0 (0–2) | 3 (2–6) | 0 (0–0) | 3.16 (2.89–3.47) |
| 3 · Upgraded | 1,285 | 36 (34–37) | 13 (10–18) | 10 (7–13) | 5 (3–7) | 2 (1–4) | 1 (0–3) | 4 (2–7) | 2 (0–3) | 3.11 (2.83–3.44) |
| 4 · Optimized | 1,335 | 35 (33–37) | 14 (10–19) | 9 (7–12) | 5 (3–7) | 2 (1–3) | 2 (0–5) | 5 (3–8) | 3 (1–7) | 3.04 (2.67–3.40) |
| 5 · cEDH | 1,307 | 28 (26–30) | 21 (17–25) | 9 (6–11) | 4 (2–6) | 1 (0–2) | 8 (2–11) | 9 (6–12) | 13 (10–18) | 2.20 (2.01–2.52) |
Each cell is the median deck; the range in brackets covers the middle half of decks (25th to 75th percentile). Average mana value counts nonland cards only.
What the data shows
- Brackets 1 to 4 are built on the same skeleton. The median deck runs 35–37 lands, 10–14 ramp pieces, 8–10 draw spells, 5 pieces of spot removal and 2 board wipes at every one of those brackets.
- What changes as the bracket rises is power, not structure. Median Game Changers go 0 → 0 → 2 → 3, tutors 3 → 5, and counterspells 0 → 2 from Bracket 1 to Bracket 4.
- cEDH decks are a different shape. The median Bracket 5 deck runs 28 lands with 21 ramp pieces, 8 counterspells, 9 tutors and 13 Game Changers, at an average mana value of 2.20 against roughly 3.1 everywhere else.
- Removal barely moves. Spot removal sits at a median of 5 from Bracket 1 to Bracket 4 and 4 in cEDH, where counterspells take over much of the job.
How to use this
Compare your list with the middle-50% range for the bracket you are aiming at. Being outside it is not wrong, but it tells you where your deck differs from what other players at that table are likely to bring. For your exact list, the Commander Bracket Calculator counts Game Changers, tutors, combos and interaction card by card, and the Mana Base Calculator checks your land count and colored sources against your curve. For land counts specifically, see how many lands to run.
How we counted
- Decks: 6,532 public Archidekt decks with a bracket set by the deck’s owner, sampled to roughly 1,300 decks per bracket. Only complete decks (98–102 cards with the commander) are counted. The brackets are self-reported and were not checked by us, and the equal sample per bracket means this table shows what each bracket looks like, not how common each bracket is.
- Lands: any card whose front face is a land.
- Ramp, board wipes, counterspells, tutors: Scryfall’s oracle tags for those functions (ramp also includes mana rocks, fast mana and rituals).
- Card draw: cards tagged as a draw engine or repeatable card advantage, plus any card whose text draws two or more cards.
- Spot removal: cards whose rules text destroys or exiles a target permanent, deals damage to a target, gives a target creature −X/−X, or fights. Board wipes are counted separately. This is a text match, so it is an estimate.
- Game Changers: cards on Wizards’ Game Changers list as Archidekt recorded it for each deck.