Power Levels

PlayEDH seeks to provide a game experience through curated power levels. We currently recognize five power levels: Battlecruiser (BC), Low Power (LOW), Mid Power (MID), High Power (HIGH), and Competitive EDH (cEDH). In each of our power levels, in any given pod, with checked decks, you should have a roughly even chance of winning. By providing you with deck checks to help determine where your list fits in our power levels, we strive to provide the best curated gameplay experience for EDH online. Our ultimate goal is balanced pods. Our power level system is our Rule Zero. As a note, cEDH follows a slightly different manner of curation. Please see this page for more information.

Magic is a complex game, so expect to encounter card interactions, synergy and game strategies that you might not be aware of. Not every deck that exists is immediately suited for these power levels; that is by design. We may ask you to make adjustments to better fit our power level structure. Decks will often play better on our platform when they are built with a specific power level in mind. Our power level guidelines are to be interpreted in the context of the full deck, and not applied verbatim.  If your deck is doing something that violates the general spirit of one of these power levels while not necessarily breaking a specific rule, a change may still be required to make the deck fit into a power level.

As it is a scale, we don’t intend for levels to be mixed and decks will ever only fit into a singular power level. Battlecruiser decks should not be played in Low Power, and High decks should not be played in Mid Power for example. Notably this idea goes both ways, and being a ‘speedbump’ is as undesirable as ‘pubstomping’. Where pubstomping is taking a deck that cannot be meaningfully interacted with into lower power games, being a speedbump is taking a deck that cannot interact or apply pressure in a meaningful way into higher power games.

Winning or losing in one power level is not an indicator to play outside of that power level without adjustment to the deck itself. No power level is worse than another, and all are valid ways to play the format. If a deck is checked to fit a power level, it can play in that power level, and it should expect the other decks playing in the same power level to play at about the same speed and consistency.

Restricted Cards

The following cards and combinations are banned at the following power levels and their curated LFG queues:

  • Gaea’s Cradle: Mid Power, Low Power, Battlecruiser

  • Thassa’s Oracle + Demonic Consultation and/or Tainted Pact: High Power, Mid Power, Low Power, Battlecruiser
    While you can play Thassa’s Oracle or Demonic Consultation/Tainted Pact as a card, you cannot combine these into the easy to execute combo outside of cEDH.

  • Negan, the Cold-Blooded: All power levels and all LFG queues. Malik, Grim Manipulator, the in-universe printing of this card is allowed. Secret Lair TWD was the first Universes Beyond product released, which was scrutinised by the larger EDH community. Several people from our community voiced being uncomfortable with the depiction of Negan in the format.

Power Level Basics

  • In Battlecruiser, we aim to provide a relaxed play environment for self-expression through deck deckbuilding, as well as a place to have fun with precon-level decks. You can expect to see an emphasis on combat-oriented strategies, developing large boardstates, and less emphasis on highly interactive games.

    Removal, in the form of wraths and kill spells, is still needed, but due to the pace of games it is not necessary to run a high density of these effects. While combat is the most common wincon, it is not the only wincon.

    Additionally, expect to find other novel decks focused around more uncommon strategies such as Group Hug, aesthetic considerations, or other decks where creativity is more important than efficiency. Players are still expected to play well and aim for wins. Decks should still function at roughly the same level as a regular precon, but the “beer & pretzels” mindset is the focus.

    Battlecruiser decks should still run the basics of what makes a normal EDH Deck: Ramp, removal, card draw and a game plan. Joke decks such as ‘all art has chairs’ and ‘ladies looking left’ fall outside of the scope of the power level structure we aim to provide. Decks like these could be played in BC if they have all the needed elements to be a functional deck rather than just a meme.

    Regular preconstructed decks (Commander 2011 and onwards, Commander decks that release with new Standard sets, etc.) are Battlecruiser by default. Specialty preconstructed decks (like the Secret Lair Drop Okaun/Zndrsplt deck) are put into a power level on an individual basis and can be found on this webpage below the “Power Level Basics” section.

    Restricted from play
    In Battlecruiser we do not allow the following cards: Gaea’s Cradle.
    Other cards can violate the spirit of the Battlecruiser guidelines and are typically considered problematic or not allowed outside of specific, unmodified precons that they were included in, such as one-sided boardwipes or cards that deliberately look to slow down the game to a halt.

    Card Quality vs. Deck Strength
    It is acceptable to play with and against powerful and/or expensive cards. However, taken collectively in a deck, when those cards engineer too much consistency or speed (Elfball, Slivers, Goblins), it may be worth reevaluating which power level you aim to play in. While boardstates will from time to time become insurmountable, the focus on the collective experience of your pod should come first.

    Combo in Battlecruiser
    Game-ending combos may appear in Battlecruiser, but are exceedingly rare, and almost always unintentional side-effects of the inclusion of many certain synergistic cards. They are not efficient, not consistent, and highly prohibitive by card counts and mana cost. They should not be the focus of your deck, have no backup line should it fail, and require a large amount of mana and cards.

    Deliberately brewing a combo deck or ‘trying to sneak in combos’ for Battlecruiser should be considered against the intention of this power level. We know some precons have some convoluted multi-card high mana infinite combos which are fine to get played in their stock unedited version of the deck. Once upgrades have been made to make these precons faster, more focused, or more consistent, the team might ask you to take apart those combos for BC.

    Stax & Hate Pieces in Battlecruiser
    Stax decks are not in-line with the expectations our users have for Battlecruiser games. However, you may encounter certain static hate pieces (Elesh Norn, Hushbringer, Rule of Law) that may slow the pace of games somewhat. The density of these cards will be very low or zero in most cases. It is important to still run removal in the event you encounter these cards.

    Mass Land Destruction (MLD) in Battlecruiser
    Hard no. We’re aware there are precons with cards such as Wave of Vitriol, those can be exceptions allowed in boxed, unedited precons. You should not see cards like Armageddon or Jokulhaups in BC.

    Removal in Battlecruiser
    All decks need to be able to interact with threats other decks present. In Battlecruiser, the amount of threats that you are expected to encounter in an average pod should not be overwhelming so you have plenty of space for fun cards. Preconstructed decks run spot removal and some board wipes, a Battlecruiser deck is not exempt from this.

    You can find some examples of checked Battlecruiser decks on our BC Moxfield Hub.

  • Low Power features decks focused around a defined strategy and win condition. You should expect games to be played with an eye toward winning the game as opposed to the more social atmosphere found in Battlecruiser. A variety of archetypes can be found in Low Power — Infect, Voltron, Aristocrats, Mill, Reanimator, Pillowfort, Enchantress, etc.

    The general pacing tends to be faster than Battlecruiser, but you should not be rushing toward early wins. Regardless, your deck will still be expected to use the tools available in your colors to respond to your opponents’ strategies. The quality of interaction can be on par with or increased from Battlecruiser. Low Power is the place to play decks that have a cohesive strategy and focus without speeding to a game ending state like the levels above it.

    Restricted from play
    We do not allow the following cards in Low Power: Gaea’s Cradle.

    Winning in Low Power
    You should have a defined strategy to end the game, whether that’s mass combat, Voltron, or a combo.

    Card Quality in Low Power
    Decks can include more powerful cards and interactions than in Battlecruiser but will not meet the same threshold as Mid decks. You will commonly see 2+ CMC rocks and land sorcery ramp spells like Kodama’s Reach, but will not typically find “fast mana” like Chrome Mox, Grim Monolith, and Mana Vault. Fast mana can be played, but not in significant quantities. The standard for Low Power is a slower pace and decks that want to move faster should probably tune up to Mid.

    Synergy in Low Power
    While a degree of synergy is to be expected in Low Power, decks should not typically be capable of racing to overwhelming value. Effects that “cheat” mana costs (Omniscience, Cascade) should be occasional and not the entire deck strategy. Overwhelming mana production (mass mana dorks, numerous mana-doubler effects) can also potentially be an issue if the deck is propelled forward too quickly for opponents to manage.

    Combo in Low Power
    Combos must always require multiple pieces not including the Commander and have a low barrier to common interaction (creature removal, artifact removal). Infinite mana should not be paired with Commanders that can serve as an outlet for mana in this power level, nor with Commanders who can tutor for one. Few tutors should be found in Low Power and similarly mass draw should be limited in decks with combos. Combos in general should be slow and easy to interact with. This can be accomplished by making them cost significant amounts of mana and require multiple turns and/or pieces to set up.

    Stax in Low Power
    Stax should generally be soft with more opportunities to play around their effects. Effects such as mass pillowfort or effects that make permanents enter tapped are good examples of what can be found in Low. “Harder” stax effects like Winter Orb/Static Orb/Stasis should be extremely uncommon, and even softer stax effects should not constitute the main deck strategy.

    Mass Land Destruction (MLD) in Low Power
    Mass land Destruction should be uncommon in Low but can be allowed as a rare effect in a deck that can capitalize on MLD without making the effect completely one-sided. For example, a Voltron deck that uses Armageddon as a way to help close out the game may be acceptable whereas a ‘30 cards to make my board Indestructible’ deck designed specifically to blow up opponents' lands repeatedly would likely be too oppressive for some decks to deal with.

    Interaction in Low Power
    Interaction is a requirement; your deck should make good use of the tools available in its colors. The quality of that interaction does not need to be optimized. For example, Infernal Grasp can work in a Low Power deck, whereas in Mid Power the average quality for these cards would be higher. In Low Power you should expect to encounter (and be required to run) cards like Murder, Putrefy, Unmake, Return to Nature, and so on. Higher quality removal such as “free” counterspells (Force of Will, Force of Negation, Fierce Guardianship) etc. are allowed but should be less common. Battlecruiser and Preconstructed decks typically run several targeted removal cards and a handful of board wipes; Low decks should seek to improve in both the quantity and quality of interaction when compared to a Battlecruiser deck.

    You can find some examples of checked Low Power decks on our Low Moxfield Hub.

  • Mid Power features highly synergistic strategies, dedicated wincons, efficient removal and draw, and an emphasis on playing to win against a broad range of decks. Expect Stax, Combo, Midrange, Control, Aggro, Reanimator, Enchantress, and just about everything else you can imagine. In Mid, you should anticipate that your threats will be answered, and be expected to answer threats in kind, leveraging your deck’s capabilities towards a win. Your deck is expected to make use of the tools available in your Commander’s colors. Mid is an excellent place to play powerful, interactive decks, but without the consistency and speed of higher power levels.

    Mid decks must have a way to close out a game. Whether that’s an aggressive go-wide beatdown plan, a lock, or a game-ending combo, you need a win condition, as well as a back-up plan in case your main strategy is disrupted.

    Restricted from play
    We do not allow the following cards in Mid Power: Gaea’s Cradle.

    Winning in Mid Power
    Win conditions in Mid should generally be telegraphed over multiple turns, or cost an excessive amount of mana. Win conditions can be telegraphed in many ways - requiring more cards, dealing with summoning sickness, mana costs that are significant enough to split them across multiple turns, conditions that require a significant board presence to work, like Craterhoof Behemoth, etc.

    Ideally, a Mid deck should not win completely out of nowhere in a single turn unless a large amount of mana (9+) is spent. This helps ensure that the pacing of Mid decks does not exceed the density of interaction Mid decks will typically include. For similar reasons, win conditions that include the Commander receive extra scrutiny in Mid, and a combo that consists of just one card plus the Commander that will end the game will typically be too consistent. Similarly, "layered" win conditions with multiple redundant/resilient pieces, or just a "comboball" of many separate combos will often be too much for Mid. A Mid deck can set up a value engine quickly, but should not set up to end the game too quickly.

    Card Quality in Mid Power
    You can and will encounter some of the most powerful cards in Magic in Mid Power. Taken individually, these cards are acceptable, but in a deck where they begin to provide too much advantage against an average pod you may be required by Mentors or Moderators to make adjustments to help fit our players’ expectations.

    Combo in Mid Power
    Combo decks are allowed in Mid, but combo lines should not be as efficient as those found in higher power levels. A good Mid combo deck should be interactive, risky, and forecast. The other players at the table should be able to see the combo coming and have some time to attempt to prepare for it. The combo should have a few points of failure, whether that be countering a key spell or removing key components. Additionally, combos should be limited in redundancy. While you should have some means of attempting your combo again, your combo should not be so low risk that you can attempt it repeatedly until your opponents cannot answer it.

    Mid combos will typically have multiple points of interaction available to stop them. The more interaction points and the more types of interaction that can stop the combo, the more likely it is to be acceptable for Mid. For example, a combo that requires many iterations that each need to wait for the previous iteration to resolve before the combo can be completed and that consists of creatures and artifacts may be easier to fit into Mid than a combo that can be reactivated in response to interaction, completing the combo with the removal still on the stack; or a combo that can only be stopped by a counterspell.

    Stax in Mid Power
    Stax decks in Mid are acceptable and have few restrictions, but they need to use their Stax pieces to propel their own list towards a win, rather than merely slow the game down for everyone. A typical lock should require significant resource investment and/or take multiple turns to piece together. Running Zur as the Commander and popping out a reliably tutorable T3-4 Stasis lock for example would not typically be acceptable for Mid.

    Mass Land Destruction (MLD) in Mid Power
    Yes. A game plan oriented around breaking parity is required. Cards like Heroic Intervention or Boros Charm over an Obliterate, or Armageddon followed up by Splendid Reclamation should be in mind when including MLD. MLD should not be used as a way to “restart” or “halt” the game, it should be a way to attempt to end it.

    Interaction in Mid Power
    Interaction, in the form of Counterspells, Spot Removal, Graveyard hate, and Wraths are an absolute necessity. If you think you’re running enough, think again. The threats you will need to answer in Mid are many, and with each opponent presenting their own threats the demand for relevant and efficient interaction is paramount. In Mid, you are expected to use all of the tools available in your colors. For example, are you playing blue? You need multiple counterspells. Additionally, most decks should have at least one way to remove each type of permanent. Mid decks should generally have both more and higher quality interaction than an average preconstructed deck or decks found in Low Power.

    You can find some examples of checked Mid Power decks on our Mid Moxfield Hub.

  • High Power on PlayEDH aims to accommodate decks that are unable to comfortably keep up in Maximum power games while still showcasing combos and synergies that are either too strong or too effective for Mid Power. These decks will focus on extremely interactive gameplay and feature rapidly-changing game states. All but some of the most efficient combos and strategies will be seen in High Power. It is likely to come across lists that are extreme budget versions of Max decks.

    Win conditions in High have few restrictions and may not be telegraphed at all. While a High deck does not need to attempt an early win, High decks will feature enough efficient interaction to fairly play with combos or other win conditions that can happen in a single turn. Slower combos or win conditions are still often played in High, but with a more layered strategy using redundant backups. High decks often feature more tutors and/or extreme card advantage effects like Necropotence or Ad Nauseam to increase the consistency of their win conditions (Mid decks will sometimes contain these cards as well; the delineation is typically whether the deck is using these cards for "value" as opposed to digging for a win condition).

    Because wins can be attempted with so little warning or time to respond, High decks have more interaction than Mid decks. This tends to focus more on interaction on the stack than on removal of permanents, though this differs based on the options available in the deck's colors. Interaction will typically be more efficient than even Mid; where running all of the free counterspells might happen occasionally in Mid, it's very common in High. Early impactful plays and having tutors for your wincon(s) are to be expected.

    Restricted from play
    We do not allow the following card pair(s) in High Power: Thassa’s Oracle in combination with Demonic Consultation and/or Tainted Pact.

    Theros Beyond Death introduced Thassa’s Oracle, a card that enables incredibly early and difficult-to-interact-with wins when combined with Demonic Consultation and/or Tainted Pact. After much deliberation, a decision was made to disallow playing win lines in High using Demonic Consultation or Tainted Pact to exile your library and then playing Thassa’s Oracle to win the game. Instead, and to contribute to the health of the power level, users must replace Thassa’s Oracle with Jace, Wielder of Mysteries or Laboratory Maniac.

    Winning in High Power
    High decks focus on fast and consistent win conditions, usually with minimal telegraphing backed up by resilience and interaction. High decks are expected to run some of the most powerful combos, fast mana, and tutors available to your commander. With these assumptions in mind and in accordance with maintaining the above guidelines, all manner of wincons should be anticipated.

    Some decks attempt to race to a win as quickly as possible with minimal interaction. These decks are sometimes referred to as “glass cannons,” as they fold to most interaction and are often too fast even for High. These decks are better placed in Max power; while they feature significant weaknesses that Max pods can exploit, their raw consistent speed places them beyond High power.

    Interaction in High Power
    High Power decks will often have more interaction than what you would typically see in Mid Power decks. This interaction will also be the most efficient interaction possible. There are some decks that trade resiliency for speed and include minimal interaction, but the interaction that they do play is still efficient. Mana-efficiency is often an indicator of a High interaction package. For example, Force of Will and Fierce Guardianship can and do show up in many decks across all power levels but High decks will often include all of these cards as well as cards like Mental Misstep. Many decks, colors permitting, will focus primarily on stack interaction over targeted removal. When a deck’s colors do not allow for a focus on counter magic, efficient removal and hate/stax pieces are necessary.

    You can find some examples of checked High Power decks on our High Moxfield Hub.

Preconstructed decks power levels:

Almost all preconstructed decks (precons) are battlecruiser by default.
Below is a list of ‘specialty’ product releases that got deck checked individually.

Secret Lair Drop: Heads I Win, Tails You Lose - Okaun//Zndrsplt - Low Power
Secret Lair Drop: From Cute to Brute - Esika, God of the Tree - Battlecruiser
Secret Lair Drop: Angels: They're Just Like Us but Cooler and with Wings - Gisela // Bruna - Low Power
Secret Lair Drop: Raining Cats and Dogs - Rin and Seri - Low Power

Deckbuilding Considerations

Some decks are constructed in such a way that they have interactions that over- or under-perform compared to the rest of the deck. For example, you have an Oona, Queen of the Fey Faerie focused deck that could fit in Low Power, but you also included a Demonic Consultation and Thassa's Oracle combo line, an overperforming combo that we restrict to cEDH only. Just because the combo is present, doesn’t mean the deck should play in the cEDH queue and taking out the combo is the correct course of action. Additionally, decks that are intended for play in a certain power level may have some of the building blocks for a power level but lack appropriate wincons, interaction, and consistency needed to perform at the power level it’s closest to. In that case, tuning up so the deck as a whole is more in line with it’s closest power level is the logical thing to do.

A deck will always get checked towards the least amount of changes that need to happen, should your deck not fit into a power level as-is. Comments left by the team in regards to your deck check will always be made towards the easiest build path. If your deck is 99% in line with our power level structure but has a card we won’t allow at that power level — A decently built Mid Power deck with a Gaea’s Cradle, for example — the correct action to take here is to cut the Gaea’s Cradle and replace it with something less potent. This doesn’t mean the deck should be ‘High Power with changes’, it makes it a Mid Power deck requiring a singular card swap.

Power Levels FAQ

Battlecruiser

Q: What do Battlecruiser decks look like?
Other than regular precons, BC decks usually share similar play patterns. Develop the board in the first few turns, deploy commander or threat, use combat as the primary means of interacting with your opponents, occasionally interacting with spot removal, wraths, and counterspells. Due to the nature of most decks and threats in BC, a high density of interaction is not essential, but it is still important that you run some. A good rule of thumb, run as much as a regular precon. A deck that specifically tries to undermine the creature oriented nature of BC can often create non-games and is generally something that won't get approved for play by the team. Some examples include, but are not limited to: Enchantment Prison, "Turbo fog", and "Punisher" type decks.

Q: What types of strategies are often too strong for Battlecruiser?
It is difficult to qualify exactly, but in general, strategies that directly attack building boardstates, preventing creature combat based interactions, and aggressive resource denial are usually if not always inappropriate for the power level. In the power level where precons are the rough baseline of power, a deck with 20 boardwipes will be an obvious poor fit, for example, disregarding the other strategies or building blocks present in the deck.

Q: Is Battlecruiser all about budget decks?
There are probably more budget-friendly lists getting played in Battlecruiser than in the other power levels. With the increase in global EDH popularity, a lot of ‘best in slot’ staples all shot up in price. Due to the (lack of) speed and need to optimize a deck and ‘push it towards how fast and strong it can be’, a Battlecruiser deck tends to be less expensive than a deck playing at a higher power level. BC decks can get away with playing some tapped lands for colorfixing, 3 or 4 cmc mana rocks over the 2 mana staples, a less optimal interaction package and/or a less commonly run theme with less ‘globally desired’ cards. This does not mean a BC deck playing ‘expensive cards’ is no longer BC, so long the rest of the structure of the deck still follows the regular BC guidelines. Playing ‘expensive’ cards is not something that should get ostracized on the server, be that in BC or any other power level.

Q: Is Battlecruiser just decks with bad cards, or badly designed decks?
Not really. Quantifying what a ‘bad card’ is will on it’s own already be difficult. Grizzly Bears in a vacuum won’t be a great card, but can be good synergy in decks with Ayula or Ruxa at the helm. You would expect to see Swords to Plowshares in a more competitive deck, but you also wouldn’t be surprised to see it in a Battlecruiser game. Precons often get desired reprints in them, and most cards are desired because they’re ‘good’ cards that haven’t been reprinted in a while. We still expect your deck to function in terms of ramp, interaction, synergy and game plan. ‘My deck has 65 lands and every spell is 6 mana or more’, is not the type of deck we expect people in Battlecruiser to be playing with or against.

Q: I upgraded my precon. Is it still Battlecruiser?
In most cases, yes. Many regular precon commanders have easy combo potential, or other ways in the 99 to enable simple combos. Doing your best to avoid these will help in your overall upgrades. ‘I just changed 5 cards to my precon’ might as well have added 5 game winning combo lines or loops to your deck. While you have plenty of room to upgrade precons and still be BC, those upgrades should still be in line with the general power level of BC as a whole. A boxed precon with 3 cards changed to create deliberate combo lines, means you have a BC deck with 3 problematic cards we’d ask you to remove. It doesn’t make it a Low power deck.

Q: Can I play [Specific Commander] in Battlecruiser?
Short answer: yes. Long answer: this depends on the deck. There are some commanders that offer very easy pathways to snowball while requiring very few deckbuilding drawbacks. ‘Neutering’ these commanders to be in line with Battlecruiser is possible, but oftentimes requires a very strong understanding of the power level and might result in a deck that doesn’t have the lines of play or synergy you were hoping for. No commander is inherently banned from a power level, but including the most commonly played value-engines or payoffs in tandem with said commander are usually a quick way to overshoot for BC.

Q: Any creature type focused deck is fine, right?
Oftentimes. A few types, including, but not limited to, Elves, Goblins, Zombies, Vampires, Gods, and Dragons, all have either incredibly powerful synergies or card quality that can make them very difficult to deal with. We often see precons printed with a limited amount of lord and anthem effects, and homebrew Battlecruiser decks should follow that trend.

Q: My deck got checked for Low but isn’t winning in Low. Can I try it out in Battlecruiser?
No. If you feel your deck got checked for an incorrect power level, open a ticket through our Modmail system on our Discord server so your deck can be looked at again by members of our team that specialize in one or several power levels.

Q: Can I play tutors in Battlecruiser?
Yes, but typically it's best to avoid the most efficient ones (Worldly, Vampiric, etc.). The pattern of games in BC does not require that you include hyper-efficient tutors to establish your board. ‘What can you tutor for’ also gets looked at by our team when they check your deck. It’s OK for your deck to have a Diabolic Tutor, but what card do we expect you to find with it? We’ll always assume the most optimal choice. Deliberately sandbagging or ‘I’ll keep the tutor/combo in there, I just won’t play it optimally’ are the wrong mindset to take to Battlecruiser, or any game played on our platform.

Q: Can I play Group Hug in Battlecruiser?
Yes. What you cannot do is play for second place. That includes making deck building considerations that are focused around you running enough interaction not to accidentally kingmake. Most people tend to dislike one player elevating another player ‘because they’re behind’. This does not mean you can’t politic or help another player out in an attempt to sway their behavior in your favor for a future turn as a political deal, but decks designed specifically ‘to make another person win’ don’t provide a play experience most people on our platform enjoy.

Group Hug can on accident accelerate a deck to a speed where it leads to an advantage for one person more than others. Doubling everyone’s mana will matter less to someone hard casting regular spells from hand, but will accelerate the other person at the table playing X spells or Hydra’s, for example.

Q: Can I play Chaos decks in Battlecruiser?
To a degree. You still have to take into account you’re trying to force Magic to work on a digital platform with 4 people sitting at 4 different locations, connected over webcam and voice communications. You shouldn’t play a bunch of cards that exist solely to create a messy game state people can no longer figure out ‘because it’s funny!’. Cards like Scrambleverse, Warp World or Aminatou’s final ability can be less than desireable to resolve when other people don’t have physical access to each others cards. Self-expression is important and we don't want people building decks just to mess up everyone else's experience.

Q: Can I play alternative wincons in Battlecruiser?
Yes, cards like Approach of the Second Sun or attempting to win via high life totals are fine, but the whole deck should not be full of cards that ensure you need to be removed from the game before you untap. In BC, a deck seeking to win via Approach of the Second Sun shouldn’t be supported by a large amount of wheels or card draw. Running Felidar Sovereign as a wincon likely shouldn’t be backed up by damage negating effects or cards like Teferi’s Protection.

Low Power

Q: What do Low Power decks look like?
Low decks generally have a degree of focus around a specific strategy or synergy and a defined way to close out the game. While the general card quality of ramp, draw, and interaction will on average be lower than what’s found in Mid, some powerful cards will appear in this level.  In general, strategies that tend to be too overwhelming for Battlecruiser, but which would typically struggle in Mid, should find a home in Low.  As in Mid, early turns are spent developing a board.  Interaction should still be present at this level, but the general pacing of the game is slower, allowing more time to draw into that interaction.

Q: I upgraded my precon. Is it Low?
Possibly. Most preconstructed Commander decks have a split focus and mixed card quality. While swapping just a handful of cards won’t consistently move a precon up to Low, in some cases it can. For example, the Kalamax precon can very easily be upgraded to support spell-copy combos that would not be allowed in BC, while the deck would need significantly more changes to make it into Mid. This type of change can easily move a precon closer to Low, but the ramp, interaction, draw and land base will be expected to also follow suit in regards to upgrades. Similarly, simply tuning the precon to be more focused on a single strategy or set of synergies, or improving the card quality can be examples of ways to possibly move a precon into Low.

Q: Can I play [Specific Commander] in Low?
Not all Commanders are created equal, and some will automatically generate more value than others. The context of the full deck defines the power level, and excessive-value Commanders may need additional downgrades or limitations to keep the overall deck in Low.

Q: Any creature type focused deck is fine, right?
Decks focusing on one type generally require support cards, and some types can generate overwhelming synergistic value. While Low will likely be the appropriate level for many creature type decks, not all of these decks will likely be Low by default.

Q: Can I play tutors in Low?
Yes. Typically the number and/or quality of tutors will be somewhat limited in Low, as the intent of Low is to provide a slower pace. Decks that are not tutoring for combo pieces or where combos are more complicated may have additional leeway in the number and quality of tutors.

Q: Can I play Group Hug in Low?
Yes, but be aware that “Kingmaking”, the practice of intentionally enabling other players to win rather than enabling yourself to win, is still disallowed.  You should have a plan to take advantage of your group hug effects to “break parity” as compared to what your opponents receive, and you should have a way to actually win the game.

Q: Is Low power just slower Mid decks?
No. Kind of. No. Low got created initially as a power level in 2021 to primarily fill the gap between Battlecruiser and Mid.  With the extreme growth of the server over the last few years, the number of decks which fell into this gap had been growing significantly.  Low was originally created to provide a home for these decks, and to avoid the problems of BC-pubstomping and Mid-speedbumping, and has over time taken more shape as it’s own dedicated power level.

Q: Is Low power just bad Mid decks?
No. Low fills the gap between Battlecruiser and Mid. Low power allows for a smoother transition as decks are upgraded, and provides better options for the team to place decks in power levels that help ensure that games of checked decks played on PlayEDH stay consistently fun.  After all, that’s the entire purpose of the curated experience we strive for here.  “Low” power does not in any way imply that decks in that power level are “bad,” simply that they play at a different pace than Mid but have a higher general level of card quality/focus/synergy than decks that can reasonably play against preconstructed decks or other Battlecruiser lists.

Q: Why is the power level called ‘Low power’?
We initially thought ‘Low’ sounded a little negative, but we already had Mid and High power on the server. A lot of names were considered, and Low was the one that stuck around. We didn’t want to convolute our system with more ‘special’ or ‘made up’ words, and seeing BC, Low, Mid, High, cEDH is more clear to new people from the get go.

Mid Power

Q: What do Mid Power decks look like?
Mid decks are focused around one or more specific wincons, and are built to support their main strategies. Efficient ramp and interaction, strong manabases and fixing, and powerful individual card quality are all present here. Early turns spent developing a board, or leaving interaction open are common. While you will usually not be required to prevent players from winning in early turns, expect your opponents to be developing  towards their focused wins or establishing strong value engines, so having the ability to interact or apply pressure so the table collectively can manage itself is important. Your decks need to be able to do those things.

Q: I upgraded my Low deck. Is it Mid?
The path from Low to Mid usually involves more than a few simple card upgrades; upgrades that change the power level of a deck typically involve changing win conditions, adding/improving tutors, and associated changes to support those improvements. Simply upgrading one aspect of a deck will not always make the entire deck appropriate for a different power level.

Q: Can I play [Specific Commander] in Mid?
Sure, but the rest of your deck begins to matter a lot more than just commander selection here. If your deck needs your commander to function at all, you should seek to have replacement cards and effects in place for situations where your commander gets put under an opponent’s control or gets removed to a point recasting it is no longer feasible mana wise, and run appropriate interaction. Your commander getting removed shouldn’t mean you’re going to twiddle your thumbs for several turns.

Q: Any creature type focused deck is fine, right?
At the end of the day, many creature types will require a lot of support from staple cards to buoy those types that do not have as much synergy. It’s probably easier to make a strong Goblin deck than it is to make Turtle deck.

Q: Can I play tutors in Mid?
Yes, and you probably should. Your opponents will be.

Q: Can I play Group Hug in Mid?
Yes. What you cannot do is play for second place. That includes making deck building considerations that are focused around you running enough interaction not to accidentally kingmake. Accelerants need to be leveraged first and foremost by you, not the player who untaps after you. Consider Group Hug to be like reverse-stax: the hug deck is altering the resources available in the game, and should be built to asymmetrically take advantage of those extra resources.

Don't accelerate for the sake of acceleration; your deck should be accelerating faster than everyone else, and your deck should be prepared to stop your opponents from taking too much advantage of the extra resources. Amplifying one resource while restricting another can help accomplish this - for example, providing extra mana but only giving extra cards to yourself, with a healthy amount of interaction. Hugs let you fly under the threat radar, but without special care, you'll just give the player in the most advantageous position fuel to win.

High Power

Q: What do High Power decks look like?
High power decks are decks that are tuned beyond what is appropriate for Mid with less-telegraphed win conditions, faster mana, more efficient interaction, and more general focus on more resilient/redundant win conditions. Win conditions are efficient, protected, less telegraphed, and have solid backup plans. High decks may feature strategies as compact as a single card that creates a game winning synergy with their commander.

High decks aren't able to compete with cEDH decks, even when they are fully optimized themselves. However, these lists can still share many of the same hyper-efficient cards, accelerations, interactions, and wincons. Assume that players will be aiming to win, establish some form of lock, or gain momentous advantage from early points in the game. Players will be playing disruption, removal, and static hate pieces to try and stop you from winning.

Q: Sounds like it's just cEDH. What's the difference?
High allows for decks that are too fast or oppressive for Mid, but too slow or inconsistent for cEDH. Many play patterns are similar, and there is an emphasis on justifying card selection. If your deck is a few card choices off from a cEDH deck, here on the server, just proxy them up for webcam games and head to cEDH. High and cEDH are separate environments.