Commander bracket calculator & checker

What Is a Commander Bracket?

A Commander bracket is a power-level tier in the official Wizards of the Coast bracket system — a shared language for telling your pod how strong a deck is before the game starts. Brackets run from 1 (Exhibition) to 5 (cEDH), defined mainly by Game Changers, two-card infinite combos, and overall speed. This Commander Bracket Calculator estimates which bracket any decklist belongs to.

The official deck-building rules for each bracket: Wizards of the Coast’s original February 2025 rules, as changed in its October 2025 update (game lengths, the six-turn guidance on two-card combos, and the end of tutor limits). The February 9, 2026 update changed the Game Changers list, not these rules.

*Bracket 1 allows exceptions for highly thematic cards, agreed before the game. Wizards sets no limit on tutors at any bracket; it removed that rule in October 2025 and relies on the 53-card Game Changers list to catch the most efficient ones. Brackets 4 and 5 have identical deck rules — the difference is a competitive, metagame-focused mindset, which no decklist can show.

For every rule in detail, the update history and what 96 resolved bracket disputes tell us, read Commander brackets explained.

Bracket myths, corrected

Several early descriptions of the brackets no longer match the rules. Checked against Wizards’ own updates:

• “Bracket 2 means precon level.” Not anymore. In its October 2025 update Wizards took precons out of the Bracket 2 definition. Across every precon released, we measured 145 of the 174 distinct decklists at Bracket 2; 28 are Bracket 3 (Upgraded) and one is Bracket 4.
• “Tutors are limited below Bracket 4.” Not since October 21, 2025, when Wizards removed tutor restrictions from the brackets entirely. Tutors still make a deck more consistent, which our calculator weighs as a soft signal.
• “Any infinite combo makes a deck Bracket 4.” Bracket 3 allows two-card infinite combos that cannot come together early; Wizards frames Bracket 3 as games where you don’t expect to win or lose before turn six. Brackets 1 and 2 exclude intentional two-card infinite combos, and Wizards has also said “there are no infinite combos at Bracket 2”. The calculator applies that to combos of any size, so a complete infinite combo starts a deck at Bracket 3.
• “The Game Changers list is 40 cards.” That was the February 2025 launch list. It changed in April and October 2025 and again on February 9, 2026, when Farewell and Biorhythm joined. See the current Game Changers list.

Brackets and the old 1–10 power scale

The 1–10 power scale was a community convention with no official definition. Brackets replaced it with named rules. Our calculator still reports a 1–10 score next to the bracket, and each bracket covers a fixed band of that score:

The score places a deck inside its bracket: a 6.8 is a Bracket 3 deck close to Bracket 4. The bracket rules are applied first, and the score never overrides them.

What a salt score is

Salt measures how much other players dislike facing a card, from EDHREC’s community survey on a 0–4 scale. It is not part of the bracket rules and never changes your bracket. The calculator shows a deck’s total salt and flags a high total so you can mention it before the game. The full ranked list is on our Commander salt scores page.

How This Commander Bracket Calculator Works

Rules current as of October 18, 2026. We score against the Commander Brackets rules as last updated by Wizards of the Coast on February 9, 2026, including all 53 Game Changers, and re-check the Game Changers list against Scryfall every week. Engine version 397, updated October 23, 2026.

This calculator analyzes your Commander decklist against the official 5-bracket system introduced by Wizards of the Coast. It checks for hard rules that force a bracket floor — Game Changers, mass land destruction, and infinite combos — then evaluates soft signals like fast mana density, tutor count, ramp, card advantage, and combo potential to compute a power level score from 1 to 10.

The interaction density analysis measures what percentage of your nonland cards are dedicated to removal, counterspells, and board wipes. It breaks down your interaction by CMC distribution, calculates your instant-speed ratio, flags CMC gaps where you have no cheap answers, and identifies dual-purpose cards that serve double duty. These metrics are calibrated per bracket — a Bracket 3 deck has different density expectations than a cEDH list. For more on the bracket system, see our Commander Brackets guide. For deck building advice, see the Commander deck building guide.

Bracket checker, deck analyzer and power level calculator in one

Whether you call it an MTG bracket calculator, an EDH bracket checker, a Commander deck checker or a deck analyzer, this is one tool doing one job: it reads a Magic: The Gathering Commander deck and tells you which of the five tiers of the official Commander Brackets beta it belongs in, and how strong it is inside that bracket. Paste a decklist, or a deck URL from Moxfield, Archidekt, ManaBox, Aetherhub or MTGGoldfish. It is free, online, and needs no account.

How do I check what bracket my Commander deck is?

Paste the decklist or a deck URL into the box at the top of this page and press Analyze deck. The result gives the bracket, 1 to 5, and the rule that decided it, so you can check the call against the official bracket criteria and the bracket chart above. That makes it a bracket checker and bracket analyzer as much as a calculator: run a deck before game night and you know where it stands. If you came looking for a quick bracket calc, a bracket test, a bracket finder or a bracket estimator, this is it.

What is my deck’s power level?

Next to the bracket you get a Commander power level out of 10 with a range, for example 8.7 ±0.7. It is the EDH power level calculator answer to the old 1–10 scale (some players call it an MTG power calculator or a deck strength calculator), scored by the same engine that sets the bracket.

Rate my Commander deck

For a deck rating that goes past the number, the result reads as a deck rater, grader and evaluator in one, with a full breakdown: Game Changers and two-card combos named card by card, the typical winning turn from the goldfish clock, how much interaction the deck runs, and what the deck costs. If you want to rank your own decks against each other, run each one and compare the scores.

Change the deck, change the bracket

Upgrades and cuts show what to change to move the deck up or down to your pod’s bracket. When it is settled, download the Bracket Passport, a shareable image of the verdict, and send it to your pod. Starting a list from scratch? The Commander deck builder is the place to build it. The same engine scored every precon above.

The Goldfish Clock: Measured Speed, Not Guessed Speed

Every analysis runs a Monte Carlo goldfish simulation of your exact 99: 1,000 simulated opening hands with mulligans, land drops, ramp, card draw, tutors fetching combo pieces, and token engines producing every turn. The result is two numbers, because they answer two different questions: the ceiling (“can win as early as turn X” — your best 5% of draws) and the typical hand (“the average hand wins around turn Y” — the median). The October 2025 bracket update made game length an official part of the system — Bracket 1 games are expected to reach nine-plus turns, Bracket 2 eight-plus, Bracket 3 six-plus, Bracket 4 four-plus — and the typical-hand clock is what brackets describe. Your pod remembers your ceiling; the bracket measures your median.

The simulation is honest about its coverage: it measures four distinct clocks — combat damage (including token engines), detected two-card combo lines, poison/infect, and commander damage to 21 (tracked per commander, so partner pairs are modeled correctly) — and it tells you when a deck’s real win condition (control locks, multi-piece engines) is outside what it can model rather than printing a confident wrong number. Alternate win cards (Thassa’s Oracle–style “you win the game” effects) are detected and called out on the result even when their assembly speed can’t be simulated. The simulation seed is derived from your decklist, so the same 99 cards always produce identical numbers. A measured clock that is decisively faster than a bracket’s expectation raises the verdict — it never lowers one — and verdicts that sit within a hair of a neighboring bracket say so (“borderline”) instead of pretending one-bracket precision.

How accurate is this MTG bracket calculator?

We test the engine against decks whose brackets were set by people, not software. Tested on 1,229 Commander decklists from tournaments whose organizers set each deck’s bracket (engine v389, October 2026), the calculator matched the organizer’s bracket exactly for 77.1% of decks and was within one bracket for 99.5%. Most of those decks are Bracket 3, so always answering “Bracket 3” would already score 73.9% exact; averaged across brackets, the calculator gets 73.5% of each bracket right, against 25% for that guess. It is weakest on Bracket 4 (53.3% exact, 45 decks).

On player-declared Archidekt decks (engine v378, September 2026) it is 99.5% within one bracket on Bracket 2 (1,375 decks) and 99.6% on Bracket 3 (1,344 decks). The bracket validation methodology has the full results.

What bracket are Commander precons?

We ran every Commander preconstructed deck Wizards has released, from Commander 2011 to October 2026, through this same engine — 198 decks, which is 174 distinct decklists once Collector’s Editions and anthology reprints are counted once. 145 come out Bracket 2 (Core), 28 come out Bracket 3 (Upgraded), one is Bracket 4 and none is a Bracket 1. So "it's a precon, it's a 2" is wrong about 29 of them — look yours up rather than assuming.

The 28 that reach Bracket 3 out of the box, and why. 18 carry a Game Changer, which on its own puts a deck above Bracket 2. The other 10 run no Game Changers at all — they get to Bracket 3 on speed and combos alone.

• Deadly Disguise Kaust, Eyes of the Glade 2 Game Changers
• 20 Ways to Win Go-Shintai of Life's Origin 1 Game Changer
• Abzan Armor Felothar the Steadfast 1 Game Changer
• Counter Blitz (FINAL FANTASY X) Tidus, Yuna's Guardian 1 Game Changer
• Heads I Win, Tails You Lose Zndrsplt, Eye of Wisdom 1 Game Changer
• Arcane Maelstrom Kalamax, the Stormsire 1 Game Changer
• Counterpunch Ghave, Guru of Spores 1 Game Changer
• Creative Energy Satya, Aetherflux Genius 1 Game Changer
• Deep Clue Sea Morska, Undersea Sleuth 1 Game Changer
• Exit from Exile Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald 1 Game Changer
• Faceless Menace Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer 1 Game Changer
• Peer Through Time Teferi, Temporal Archmage 1 Game Changer
• Planeswalker Party Commodore Guff 1 Game Changer
• Sneak Attack Anowon, the Ruin Thief 1 Game Changer
• The Hosts of Mordor Sauron, Lord of the Rings 1 Game Changer
• Timeless Wisdom Gavi, Nest Warden 1 Game Changer
• Timey-Wimey The Tenth Doctor 1 Game Changer
• Vampiric Bloodlust Edgar Markov 1 Game Changer
• Blast from the Past The Fourth Doctor no Game Changers · Tipping Point turn 3
• Everyone's Invited! Morophon, the Boundless no Game Changers · Tipping Point turn 3
• Explorers of the Deep Hakbal of the Surging Soul no Game Changers · Tipping Point turn 3
• Goblin Storm Zada, Hedron Grinder no Game Changers · Tipping Point turn 3
• Science! Dr. Madison Li no Game Changers · Tipping Point turn 3
• Blight Curse Auntie Ool, Cursewretch no Game Changers · Tipping Point turn 4
• Family Matters Zinnia, Valley's Voice no Game Changers · Tipping Point turn 4
• Living Energy Saheeli, Radiant Creator no Game Changers · Tipping Point turn 4
• Miracle Worker Aminatou, Veil Piercer no Game Changers · Tipping Point turn 4
• Mystic Intellect Sevinne, the Chronoclasm no Game Changers · Tipping Point turn 4

One precon is Bracket 4: Mirror Mastery (Commander 2011, Riku of Two Reflections) runs Ruination, which destroys every nonbasic land. That is mass land denial, which Wizards keeps out of Brackets 1 through 3.

Browse all 198 scored precons → — every one with its bracket, its Tipping Point, and the engine's reasoning.

What This Tool Measures

Deck construction: card quality, combo density, interaction coverage, synergy depth, mana consistency, and speed potential. This tells you what bracket your deck belongs in for pre-game Rule 0 conversations. Hard floors (Game Changers, infinite combos, mass land destruction) set the minimum bracket. Soft signals (interaction density, tutor count, card popularity, mana curve) determine position within that bracket.

What This Tool Does Not Measure

Pilot skill, local meta matchups, political dynamics, or actual game outcomes. A Bracket 4 deck piloted poorly will lose to a Bracket 2 deck piloted well. Brackets describe the ceiling of your deck, not your win rate. The WotC bracket system is an absolute construction metric — a Bracket 3 deck is Bracket 3 regardless of who is at the table or what they are playing.

Why This Matters

Most bracket tools check each card against a list. If your card is not flagged, it scores low. This tool goes further: it cross-references every card pair against Commander Spellbook’s verified combo database, runs a 14-axis synergy analysis, evaluates interaction coverage across six removal categories, and scores card quality using EDHREC popularity data. The result is a bracket rating based on how your cards work together, not just what they are individually. Every bracket call is validated against a public 36-deck reference set with a clickable source URL for each deck, so you can check our work.

How Much Interaction Does Your Commander Deck Need?

Commander is a multiplayer format where threats come from three opponents, not one. Every turn cycle, three players deploy creatures, cast enchantments, and advance combos before you get another chance to act. A deck with too little interaction loses to the first unanswered threat at the table. A deck with too much interaction struggles to win because it spends all its cards answering threats instead of building toward a gameplan.

Interaction Density by Bracket

The right amount of interaction depends on your power level. Bracket 1–2 decks are casual and rarely need more than 5–10 interaction spells (8–15% of nonland cards). Bracket 3 decks face stronger threats and should run 8–14 interaction spells (12–22%). Bracket 4–5 decks operate in environments where a single unanswered combo wins the game — they need 10–18 interaction spells (15–28%), often weighted heavily toward instant-speed counterspells. Paste your decklist into the calculator above to see your exact interaction density, CMC distribution, and gap warnings.

What Is Interaction Density in Commander?

Interaction density is the percentage of your nonland cards dedicated to answering opponents’ threats: targeted removal, counterspells, board wipes, and enchantment or artifact destruction. Raw card count alone misses the picture — a 99-card deck with 12 removal spells has about 18% density, but if 10 of those cost 4+ mana, you cannot respond in the early turns when fast combos threaten to win.

How This Tool Measures Interaction

The calculator breaks interaction down into three sub-metrics that no other tool provides. Instant-speed percentage measures how much of your interaction can be used on opponents’ turns — the turns where 75% of the game happens in a 4-player pod. Average CMC of interaction rates your answers as efficient (2.0 or less), moderate (2.1–3.0), or expensive (above 3.0). CMC gap detection flags when your deck has zero answers below a certain mana value, leaving you unable to interact in the early game. It also identifies dual-purpose cards that count as both interaction and another role like card advantage, increasing your effective density without costing extra slots.

Understanding Instant-Speed Interaction in Commander

In a 4-player Commander game, you take one turn for every three your opponents take. Sorcery-speed removal like Wrath of God is powerful but can only be cast on your turn — it cannot stop a combo or lethal attack on an opponent’s turn. Instant-speed interaction lets you hold up mana, observe what all three opponents do, and spend your answer on the most dangerous play.

Efficient Instant-Speed Interaction by Color

Every color has access to efficient instant-speed answers. White has Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile at 1 mana. Blue has Counterspell, Swan Song, and Negate at 1–2 mana. Black has Fatal Push, Infernal Grasp, and Deadly Rollick. Red has Chaos Warp and Lightning Bolt. Green has Beast Within and Nature’s Claim. Multicolor staples include Assassin’s Trophy (unconditional removal at 2 mana) and Abrupt Decay (uncounterable, hits permanents with mana value 3 or less). The calculator flags when your instant-speed ratio falls below 40%, which signals that most of your interaction only works on your own turn.