As Magic: The Gathering continues to grow both in the physical and digital marketplace, new game formats are always welcome. Standard Brawl is a fairly new MTG format created by Wizards of the Coast.
Technically, this MTG format has been around for quite some time, having first launched in September 2019. Despite this, the Standard Brawl name may be new to a lot of players, as it was only recently introduced. In December 2023, Wizards renamed the format to better describe the format’s content.
If you’re unfamiliar with it, fear not, we’re here to give you the low-down on what Standard Brawl is and how to play it. It may be the closest we get to Commander in MTG Arena for some time!
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What is Standard Brawl?
StandardBrawl is a singleton format meaning you can only build decks using single copies of cards. Legal cards are those currently in Standard sets. Importantly, however, the regular Standard ban list does not apply to Standard Brawl. Instead, the format has its own separate ban list which you must adhere to.
Alongside following the banlist, your deck must also be built under the color identity of your selected Commander (any legendary creature or planeswalker from a Standard set).
Once you have selected your Commander, let’s take The Goose Mother, for example, you can only have blue or green cards in your deck. Colorless cards are allowed in any deck UNLESS they contain a triggered ability with a selected mana cost. An example of this is Basilica Skullbomb which is colorless but has an ability triggered with white mana. Due to this ability, its color identity is white.
You can have any number of basic lands in your deck but any other lands must also be limited to one. If playing with two players, you both start at 25 life. If you choose to play with up to six players, you can start with 30 life.
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MTG Standard Brawl Ban List
Despite it being a thoroughly enjoyable format, both in Paper and on MTG Arena, Standard Brawl is not very beloved. In fact, MTG players have won Standard Brawl tournaments without ever playing a game before thanks to a lack of players. While this is usually a death sentence for formats, Wizards does occasionally give Standard Brawl love.
That being said, however, occasionally is definitely the important word in that sentence. As, currently, only one card is banned in Standard Brawl. When a card is banned in Standard Brawl, it cannot be used in either your deck or used as your deck’s Commander, where applicable.
While it is a very short read, here are all the cards currently banned in the Standard Brawl format:
- Pithing Needle
How to Play Standard Brawl
When starting a game of Standard Brawl you draw seven cards. Your first mulligan is free but any others follow standard rules of placing one card back in your deck per mulligan. Your Commander is placed on show in your Command Zone. It can be played from here as long as you have the required mana. Each time your Commander is removed from the battlefield and back to its Zone, its cost increases by two mana. Your Commander cannot be permanently removed from the game.
The remainder of the game plays out as normal with the standard draw, main and combat phases.
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