Ranking Brawl has finally come to Magic: The Gathering Arena, and it's taken a lot of testing to get to the point where Wizards of the Coast is happy to let players compete to see who can build the best 100-card singleton decks in Arena.
Brawl has been on Arena for a while as an alternative to Commander, but there hasn't been a competitive aspect to the format, just a casual game mode, until now. Recent tests of a ranked version have gone well enough to make the mode permanent.
When is ranked brawl launching in MTG Arena?
Ranked Brawl will launch on MTG Arena on Tuesday, June 23, 2026.
The game mode will be available to play as part of a special modified event between June 2nd and June 11th, with no entry fee, although none of your winnings will carry over to ranked mode.
Since its inception as an MTG Arena format, Brawl has quickly risen to become the second most popular format in the game. While Wizards of the Coast still hasn't ruled out Commander as a future format, this is the closest we have to it for now.
MTG Arena's Commander-like brawl format finally gets ranked play
The long-awaited competitive game mode is coming to Magic: The Gathering Arena on June 23rd, and it takes into account the strength of the deck in matchmaking.
List of brawl bans
A total of ten cards are banned in Ranking Brawl at the launch of the format:
- Ajani, Nacatl Paria
- Nadu, Winged Wisdom
- Lottery, Spellchaser
- Oko, crown thief
- Old knitting fingers
- Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
- Rusko, Clockmaker
- Tamiyo, curious student
- Wren and Six
- Tajic, Valor of the Legion
Wizards of the Coast has left the door open to further bans, saying they will monitor the new format closely, so if any game-breaking cards do appear, they will likely be dealt with sooner rather than later. If cards you own are banned at a later date, you will receive one MTG Arena Wildcard for each copy you have created.
How ranked brawling works
Ranked Brawl will work just like any other ranked format on MTG Arena. This means that the ranking ranges from Bronze to Mythic.
Wins grants two steps on the progression track up to the platinum rank; after that, each win gives only one step. You cannot lose track progress until you reach gold rank, then you will lose one step for each loss.
You cannot drop out of an overall ranking by losing games, even at Mythic rank. This means that if you manage to secure Mythic for a season but lose every match at that level, you will still stay in Mythic and get the reward for it at the end of the month.
Ranked Seasons are monthly and rewards are distributed on the first of the month. Your rank is also reset, meaning you lose some levels and have to work your way up again.
Players start at 25 lives and no longer have access to a free mulligan.
Outside of the above, the Brawl format is exactly the same as it is in casual mode, with you needing to assemble a 100-card singleton deck led by a Commander.
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