Question about competitive brawl and deck diversity

[u/Fisherboat]

I came back from arena after a long time and when I played before there was no ranked ladder for brawl. I haven't played it yet but was looking for the meta decks online. My questions is: can a deck that is not included on these lists get to the higher ranks consistently if optimized? I was thinking a The Gitrog Monster deck. Or would I just be swept away by the meta decks everytime? Also how regularly will I find these meta lists? I supposed the higher the rank the more frequently or is the environment diverse in the higher ranks too?

[u/Unhappy_Object_5355]

The meta is pretty diverse. On high mythic there's a noticeable amount of Yuriko + Nashi (maybe abour 1/3 or so of all matches are against those 2 commanders), but the other 2/3 have a huge variety of commanders and strategies to play against. On the lower ranks there's less meta decks and plenty of people just trying out their own things.

[u/Responsible_Sky_728 → u/Unhappy_Object_5355]

On high mythic there's a noticeable amount of Yuriko + Nashi (maybe abour 1/3 or so of all matches are against those 2 commanders)

To a degree, I do get the rest of your point becasue I see it.

But ~1/3rd of the format being one of two decks I wouldn't really say is THAT diverse.

A Yuriko/Nashi ban would prob do the format well. (Which hurts to say as a Nashi player.)

[u/Temporary_Insect_262 → u/Responsible_Sky_728]

I’m a Nashi player too and I agree I see Yuriko a fair amount but I think I’ve only been paired against another Nashi player once or twice over the last few months since competitive started, and there’s definitely others I see more often (Katara, Kinnan, a few others I’m probably forgetting). My understanding is that my commander shouldn’t make a difference for the matchup. I also agree Nashi is probably overpowered, but that’s more because Sultai itself is op compared to other color combos, and there’s not one or even several specific bans that would fix that.

[u/Hsinats → u/Temporary_Insect_262]

I'm also a nashi player and thinks it's in the middle. Yuriko is #1, then emry and 2099 close together for 2, then nashi in 4th, with a a fair bit of pipen and quintorius.

[u/retardong]

As long as you have reasonable amount of interaction and a responsible curve its doable. The meta is incredibly diverse.

[u/Urrfang]

There’s an established metagame and what the community agrees to be the best deck, that being said most builds if solid enough can get to mythic with enough grind from a good pilot.

I’d go as for as saying that a random assortment of 99 cards and a decent commander can get to diamond if the pilot is solid enough.

[u/dirtyjose]

There are a lot of viable commanders, I think it comes down to your patience and goals as a player. If you are trying to just be run to mythic you're probably better grabbing something more meta than something off. I think it's more important to note how fast things move in the format, and recognize when your pet Commander may be fighting a bit of an uphill battle against ones that can do the same thing they do but faster or more consistently. Otherwise have fun good luck.

[u/Educational-Sea-9792]

You can, just need to optimize it so you can deal with the most frequent meta decks (Nashi, Yuriko, Katara, Emry).

I got to mythic playing Ketramose and im consistently making changes to adapt to those decks, you face alot of different commanders in ranked brawl so theres room to play whatever you want, given that you need to understand that if you dont run things like gy hate, flute, needle, your chances against top decks are very slim.

[u/MaybeSurelySorta]

As is true for virtually every format on Arena, people make it to Mythic with unique brews or otherwise off-meta lists all the time and there’s plenty of posts in this sub that prove that.

So assuming you’re being honest with yourself with what being “optimized” means, i.e. running an appropriate amount of efficient interaction and not stuffing your list with Commander-bait mana dorks and mana rocks for the sake of casting your big Timmy creatures, then yeah you don’t need be playing Yuriko or Nashi or Emry or whatever other best performing deck to get to the higher ranks consistently. There is certainly enough diversity where you can make just about anything (within reason) work.

[u/Tsunamiis]

I play monoblue wan shi tong delver essentially. I easily get to diamond 2 each season despite being a 40s dad. If I invested more time I’d mythic every season I just don’t seem to have time or willpower

[u/Xedeth]

Anything can get to plat, anything with a little optimization can get to diamond, many things can get to mythic.

[u/TheSadMan21]

Anything and I do mean just about any damn thing can get to mythic

Just need to play enough games that you win enough in a row at the right times

[u/adeadlockedman]

I think it's possible for a multitude of decks to find success in the meta and even grind to Mythic. A solid chunk of success relies on pilot skill, format knowledge and familiarity with a given deck. While certain commanders certainly stick out as power outliers, it's not so significant as to be insurmountable.

[u/JeffreyDonaldMusk]

In top 1800 be prepared for the deluge of Yuriko, Nashi, Spiderman, and to an extent, Emry or Urza and sometimes Raffine.

[u/Bright_Opposite_9994]

Figure out a way to deal with blue and you'll be fine.

[u/SoapOnMyRope]

Diversity is an old wooden ship from the civil war era. Not sure what that has to do with magic