Bracket 3 (Upgraded) Rules — Version 4.0
Release notes 4.0
v4.0 — November 2026
- The banned combo list is decided by a measured formula, not a vote: every two-card combo earns points for how fast it works, what it produces, the setup it needs and how much it wins in tournaments. At 4 points or more it is banned
- The new list is announced on the first Monday of each month, after a month of review. The first announcement is on November 2, 2026
- Every combo’s score is public, with its breakdown and how close it is to joining or leaving the list
- The formula was measured against 207,106 cEDH and Duel Commander tournament decks and 10,618 verifier lists
v3.6 — September 2026
- The banned combo list is frozen at the WolfCon 2026 data cutoff, where the format was officially born: 1,061 combos. EDHREC is no longer its source; a combo is added or removed only by an MTG Wolf vote among Bracket 3 tournament players
- The weekly refresh keeps running only for what is derived from Scryfall: new sets, legality, color identity, commanders and images
- Lifted the WolfCon data freeze, which expired on September 1
v3.5 — August 2026
- The rules went from an interpretable text to a verifiable system: every deckbuilding restriction is now a closed list that the checker applies the same way for everyone
- New Section 2, Game Formats: 1v1 is played at 30 life, best of three and with no free mulligan; Multiplayer table keeps the official Commander rules. Anything not declared is played as multiplayer Commander
- New Rule 1.4: in 1v1, lands that destroy a land without replacing it and cards that destroy two or more in a single resolution are banned. In multiplayer they are still legal, so the format is declared when checking
- New Rule 1.5: the 53 cards that grant extra turns are banned. It replaces the old 2.1, which banned “strategies” and forced judges to rule on intentions from a list
- Server-verified legality certificates, with a QR code, a list fingerprint and validity from Monday to Sunday. Passing the checker is required to register (Rule 4.1)
- Public changelog at /en/registro: every Monday it records what was added and what was removed, sealed with the data cutoff used for checking
- Rule 5.5 rewritten: a combo doesn’t count if your color identity makes it impossible to execute. There are 13 such combos and the threshold is published on each one
- Rule 5.3 rewritten: the penalty is immediate, and if the certificate covered a deck with a banned card, the error is the checker’s and the player is not penalized
- Rules 2.2, 4.2 and 5.2 removed: they contradicted each other or were undecidable. All of section 2 was left empty when 2.1 moved to deckbuilding
- Combo list rebuilt from EDHREC and automated: 969 → 1,061
- Fixed four false greens in the checker: copies split across several lines, curly apostrophes, unvalidated cards and warnings that showed up as green
- Fixed two more false greens in the August 20 audit: basic lands were exempt from color identity, and with a single commander its legality wasn’t checked
- Commander pairing fixed: the actual mechanic of the pair and the limit of two are now validated
v3.4 — June 2026
- Complete visual redesign: new navy palette with modern Apple-style touches and rounded typography (Nunito)
- Cards from the new Marvel Super Heroes (MSH) set recognized by the checker from the start of their legality window
- The card database refreshes automatically every week from Scryfall (scheduled workflow)
v3.3 — April 2026
- Color identity filter in the combos section: select your commander’s colors to see only the combos you could include (and therefore must remove) in that deck
- “Colorless only” button to filter combos with no color identity
- Precomputed color identity for the 969 combos (union of cards 1 and 2)
v3.2 — April 2026
- New dedicated commander field with autocomplete over 2950 legal commanders
- Automatic detection of 7 second-commander mechanics: Partner, Partner with, Choose a Background, Friends Forever (Doctor Who), Doctor / Doctor's Companion, and Partner — Character Select (new TMNT set)
- Smart filtering: the second commander field only shows valid options based on the first one’s mechanic
- Combined color identity shown with W/U/B/R/G pills
- The commander field also resolves alternate names (Secret Lair, Universes Beyond) in autocomplete
- Fix for exotic markers in card names: *E / *P suffixes (etched/premium foil), ★ ⭐ (promo art), ^label,color^ (Archidekt labels), and decorative dashes --name--
- Textarea placeholder simplified to the “1 Card Name” format
v3.1 — April 2026
- Extra turn card detection with a gradual warning system (replaced in v3.5 by the Rule 1.5 ban)
- 428 alternate names resolved (Universes Beyond, Final Fantasy, LOTR, Marvel, Secret Lair, etc.)
- Split cards without spaces are now resolved correctly (e.g. Expansion/Explosion)
- Support for category headers in any language: [COMMANDER], [CRIATURAS], Commander (1), etc.
- Invalid input detection: URLs and incomplete decklists are no longer marked as “Clean”
- Clear message when no commander is detected, without blocking the rest of the checks
- Improved validation states: green (compliant), yellow (with warnings), red (not eligible)
- FAQ section with 15 questions
- Public suggestions form
- Admin portal with statistics, checks and suggestions
- Credits to EDHREC, Commander Spellbook and Scryfall
- Wizards of the Coast Fan Content Policy
v3.0 — March 2026
- Launch of the Bracket 3 (Upgraded) rules
- Decklist checker with support for Moxfield, Archidekt, Topdeck.gg, MTGO and Arena
- 969 two-card banned combos based on EDHREC
- 53 Game Changers with a limit of 3 per deck
- 127 mass land destruction (MLD) cards
- Color identity, singleton and official Commander banlist validation
- Detection of Partners and double-faced cards (DFC)
- Robust multi-format parser with automatic detection
Changes from V2
- Removed the mana value ≤ 6 criterion for combos
- Removed the Cheat Into Play regulation (too subjective)
- All rules are now based on closed, verifiable lists
Combo database provided by EDHREC and Commander Spellbook. Card images via Scryfall.
The lists are regenerated every Monday and every change is recorded in the public changelog, with the data cutoff it was checked against.
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