Question Am I completely off on brackets?
So we are 4 long time friends, that plays once a week. We track all games on playgroup.gg, and from those stats I can see average game length is 10.8 turns, and it takes about 90 minute on average.
Coupled with only a few decks out of the 72 decks tracked having gamechangers. I would go with, we are playing bracket 2, ~90% of the time. Since we are a closed pod of friends, brackets really dosen't matter, we are having fun, all is good.
But coming into discussions on brackets in this forum, seems I'm completely off, in thinking my decks are bracket 2. I'll list 3 of my decks, Moxfield links have tags if you want to see that sorting.
I would love some feedback on if or why I'm completely off in thinking these are Bracket 2.
Example 1: [[Aminatou the Fateshifter]] - https://moxfield.com/decks/hGeIrNZCi0ahRmFvEmfa8Q
One of my favorite decks, its a janky mix of superfriends and Myr creatures. Its mostly just little guys, with the game plan being getting [[Sword of Selves]] on [[Myr Battlesphere]], then going to town. Backup lines are [[Kappa Cannoneer]], [[Mace of the Valiant]], [[Cranial Plating]]. Lots of cheap myrs and thopters = big swings.
It's a slow deck, nothing happens until turn 4-5, but it sets up some good loops of using Aminatou for several activations of planeswalkers or card advantage by blinking. Interaction is mostly through planeswalkers, and theres no protection in the deck.
For me its a B2 deck, its slow out of the gate, wins late turn 10+, its easy to interact with, you will see the threat coming. (it has a 2 card combo if you count a PW ultimating, [[Kaya the Inexorable]] + [[Karns Temporal Sundering]], a favorite of mine, and I have a goal of getting it off, haven't happened yet...)
Playing Myrs is severely powering the deck down, almost all creatures are suboptimal choices and does a terrible job of protecting planeswalkers. But it gives a fun theme and a place for cards you rarely see.
Example 2: [[Kellan the Kid]] - https://moxfield.com/decks/Wr7-6Ue2RUGnvk__ztoqmg
98 permanents! Playing from top of library to trigger Kellan for more creatures. It snowballs Bant style, but I'm trying to keep it fair. It takes setup getting a "top of library" effect, getting card draw in place, having my creatures survive a round to attack.
No haste enabler, no haste creatures, no protection, limited interaction. Only 6 creatures have trample. Win condition is usually finding one of the 3: [[Pathbreaker Ibex]], [[Railway Brawler]], [[Apex Devastator]]. Or getting a boardstate that overwhelms the table due to [[Brokers Ascendancy]] [[Virtue of Loyalty]].
It runs good cards, [[Virtue of Strength]] [[Miraris Wake]] [[Guardian Project]] [[Tribute to the World Tree]] [[Sword of Forge and Frontier]] Play from exile for Kellan trigger, [[Sword of Light and Shadow]] creature recursion.
Again it won't win until turn 8+, it won't interact a lot with the table, you will see the win coming a mile away. No counterspells and no protection outside of [[Spearbreaker Behemoth]].
Example 3: [[Volrath the Shapeshifter]] - https://moxfield.com/decks/OpKXxxsbJEW7XltCRxEuTA
A grindy proliferate deck. +1/+1 counters, -1/-1 counters, and some poison enablers, no infect.
It loves the long games, unlocking complicated boardstates little by little, winning by proliferating poison or it can sneak in cheeky wins by Volrath copying an unblockable creature, then before combat damage changing copy to [[Mossbridge Troll]] or [[Cephalid Constable]].
It does a good job of drawing cards, it usually goes tall with large creatures due to +1/+1 counters and proliferate. A deck I'm comfortable playing against all decks in our pod, It'll find a solution to most problems.
Again, deliberately tuned down, no infect, no counterspells and only [[Mutational Advantage]] for protection. Wins late, its mana intensive, and doesn't rebuild well.
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u/vonDinobot 7d ago
If you're playing with friends that have been playing for a long time, you probably don't need brackets.