Brawl for All: Why Brawl Rules
Morning gang, today I am going to discuss the many reasons that Brawl is the greatest format known to both men and gods (when the new Theros set comes out anyway) alike. A lot of these takes involve Arena because it is the easiest way to play it. Don’t worry though folks who play paper brawl the real world I’ll have some choicy tidbits for you as well.
It is WOTC created and run
Imagine you have a killer lucrative casual format on your hands. Then imagine it is run by a secret cadre of individuals who will refuse to give it up from their cold dead arm-tattooed hands. While WOTC has done stuff for Commander (it is like Brawl but it lets you use old cards and requires a 100 card deck! Who can even shuffle that!) they have always been beholden to the “Rules Committee” who posts their missives on what looks to be an abandoned Angelfire site.
None of these problems exist in Brawl, it is a grassroots format that they have built from the ground up. It means they can excise troublesome (doubtful since their design is so impeccable these days) cards from the format without relying on folks that think Sway of the Stars is a dangerous card.
It Rotates
I know what you are thinking, OH NO CHRIS THESE HIGH VALUE BRAWL DECKS WILL BECOME LOW VALUE WHEN STANDARD ROTATES. Well bucko, that sounds a lot like dangerous #mtgfinance talk so go away. You the reason that the preconstructed decks cost 500 dollars when not bought at Walmart (where I did snag two for 20 bucks each).
You know what rotation means? It means any kid just starting out in the game can cop a few packs and pretty much have a Brawl Deck ready to go. After Baby’s first sealed deck you can take most of the cards on it, slap a Legendary or Planeswalker on there and BAM completely ready to Brawl. So rotation is a wonderful way to keep the format accessible and bring much needed new blood into the game.
Some folks out there have clamored for Historic Brawl on Arena. Way to go wanting to play some borderline no good Commander format on the internet. Which you can already do on mtgo.
The Pie stays intact!
Things not legal in brawl:
Beast within
Planar Chaos cards
Games are slower and underpowered
You won’t run into someone always casting turn 1 sol ring mana crypt mana vault go (I played a couple Commander games once and this occurred every time). Instead it is more like, come into play tapped land, come into play tapped land, fair 3 mana spell go. So many early design mistakes just aren’t a problem in Brawl and it gives it a more relaxed casual atmosphere. There is no cBrawl community.
Games are Quicker
Chris you jackwagon! You implore. You just said the games are slower! Well yes the starts are slower, but with a slim 25 (or 30 in multiplayer) life, aggro strategies can actually get out the door going or just anything else in general is going to keep the actual game time shorter while still feeling like a good match.
Decks are easy to build
Got a standard deck! Good, make it singleton and you are good to go in Brawl. Of course hit up scryfall (not edhrec, it’s not even BrawlRec) to fine some spicy cards from the enormous standard card pool that you may be missing out on. For you out there, finding niche cards like this that you don’t expect anyone else to be playing is called “brewing” you are the beer master of your deck. Make it a deliciously crisp Coor’s Light.
The Precons are Fun and useful
They are, and cheap too unless you run afoul of #mtgfinance. They range from very straightforward to some more in depth comboish stuff that is sure to keep even the most seasoned alpha veteran interested. They also all include a shockland which is good for people like me who always sold their old ones off.
It is the perfect format to play with your kids
For a long time my son wanted to go play commander with me on the many times I would go to the store to play. This was of course pre-brawl when I hadn’t seen the light yet. I was not yet Paul, but still Saul. I couldn’t really take him though since he would have trouble keeping up with 100 different static effects all based off of cards that were printed before he was born. Also the haughty typical commander community was not going to sit around and wait while I reminded him he has to untap before he draws his card etc. With Brawl though, the cards are easier discern and he really likes the knight precon (admittedly I did seed in a Gideon or two to spice it up). It is great family fun time. He and I even went to the card game store during “Brawl Weekend” to play in the event!
In summation, this is a great format for both young and old that won’t break the bank if you try to play it. Innovation runs rampant and everybody can put their own special tweak onto their treasured brawl deck.
Until next time hope to see you on the Brawl Pitch.
