A while back, Wizards of the Coast announced the Brawl format, much to the excitement of the MTG fanbase. Yesterday at San Diego Comic-Con, we got some amazing news! Brawl is now coming to MTG Arena with the release of the newest set, Throne of Eldraine.
What is Brawl?
At its core, Brawl is a variant of the incredibly popular Commander (or EDH) format. The major difference is that Brawl is specifically meant to be played only with cards that are legal in Standard. Another huge difference between it and Commander is that Brawl decks have 60 cards instead of 100. This should make it easier to construct singleton decks with the smaller Standard card pool.
There are a few other differences, such as how your starting life is 25 (or 30 in multiplayer games), you can use planeswalkers as Commanders, and colorless Commanders can use one type of basic land.
Is there a ban list?
There is a ban list, though that lists changes as Standard rotates each year. Throne of Eldraine will be coming to MTG Arena this Fall and will mark the rotation of Ixalan, Rivals of Ixalan, Dominaria, and Core Set 2019. All the cards currently banned in Standard are in those sets, so Brawl with have a fresh start with no bans.
Why should I play?
Brawl is going to be popular mostly because Commander is popular. MTG Arena has an awesome interface, so Commander players will flock to it to play for, essentially, no cost. So, if you like Commander, MTG Arena now has a place for you! In addition to that, it is far more cost-effective as far as playing F2P goes. Where a competitive Standard deck may need playsets of multiple rares and mythics, a Brawl deck will only ever need one copy.
When is Brawl coming to MTG Arena?
Right now, all we know is that Brawl will be coming before the end of the year. Hopefully, it will be alongside the release of Throne of Eldraine.
