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Brawl
Digital Only
Brawl is a Commander-style format designed for MTG Arena. It uses a smaller 60-card singleton deck led by a legendary creature or planeswalker, with a card pool matching Standard (or Historic for Historic Brawl). Games are faster-paced than traditional Commander.
Brawl was created in 2018 as a Commander variant for MTG Arena, featuring smaller decks and a rotating card pool to create faster, more accessible games.
Where to Play
MTG Arena
Deck Size60 cards
Starting Life25
Copies Allowed1 (Singleton)
Players2 players (1v1)
Game Duration~20 minutes
RotationRotating
Legal Cards
Standard-legal sets (Standard Brawl) or all Arena sets (Historic Brawl)
Commander Rules
- Commander can be any legendary creature or planeswalker
- Commander starts in the command zone
- Casting from command zone costs {2} more for each previous cast
- All cards must match commander's color identity
Deck Construction
- Exactly 60 cards including your commander
- Singleton: only 1 copy of each card (except basic lands)
- No sideboard
Gameplay
- Best-of-one matches with a free mulligan
- Players start with 25 life
- No commander damage rule
Mulligan Rule
Your first mulligan is free. After that, put one card on the bottom for each additional mulligan taken.
Format Management
Maintained by: MTG Arena team
Maintains separate ban lists for Standard Brawl and Historic Brawl
Ban Schedule: As needed
Notes
- MTG Arena exclusive format
- Faster games than traditional Commander
- Great introduction to Commander-style gameplay
- Historic Brawl uses all Arena cards and is the more popular variant