Bracketeering - Baylen, the Haymaker

(Baylen, the Haymaker|Art by Ryan Pancoast)

Friendly greetings and welcome to Bracketeering, the series about sideboarding for Commander Brackets. I'm John Sherwood, here to make hay while the sun shines.

This month, I'm Bracketeering an average deck from one of the top 100 commanders on EDHREC: Baylen, the Haymaker.

The Contender

Baylen is the most popular commander from Bloomburrow by a margin of about 1,400 decks over Ms. Bumbleflower. This beast mode bunny is punching above its weight class, with power ahead of curve and a text box that reads like a fight movie training montage.

From the first line, it keeps getting better, with mana acceleration, card draw, and a knock-down blow. The token-tapping costs of Baylen's abilities are easily payable in Naya colors. Archidekt estimates the bracket for Baylen's average deck is an Upgraded (3) because of Smothering Tithe.

Taking a strict view of the brackets, one game changer is the difference between Core (2) and Upgraded (3). Undoubtedly, Baylen's ability to use Treasures without sacrificing them is game-changing. Looking at the rest of Baylen's average deck, I think Upgraded (3) is a fair bracket estimate.

It's important to note some issues in the deck, stemming from the fact that EDHREC average decks are aggregated from data, not built by a single player. Unfortunately, Baylen's average mana base is malnourished, with a scant thirty-three lands.

Please, if you're one of the Baylen players skewing that average: play more lands. There's also a single copy of Hare Apparent in Baylen's average deck. I'm challenging that inclusion as a product of dedicated Hare Apparent decks in the data pool.

Sparring Partners

First, we're going to sideboard for more speed and power. This rascally rabbit is going to float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. Our existing list includes 28 cards that make tokens. I prefer a deck's main theme to be around 30 cards, which means this sideboard needs a few more token-producers.

• Call the Coppercoats
• Song of Totentanz
• Springheart Nantuko
• Arachnogenesis

Baylen wants to tap all those tokens for value. Untapping effects will be a force multiplier in this deck. It already has repeatable untapping from cards like Seedborn Muse, but I think we can improve this with more instant untapping.

• To Arms!
• Vitalize
• Benefactor's Draught
• Great Train Heist
• Savage Beating

As a combat deck that wants to tap things for reasons other than attacking, a little vigilance will go a long way. There's a lot of creatures in this deck that would love to get in for damage and tap to pump Baylen. Beylen itself is itching to swing, and every attack is better if you can leave up blockers. To that end, I'm sideboarding Brave the Sands.

Hitting the Heavy Bag

Siding in some more Game Changers and tutors will give this deck a strong boost toward Optimized (4). Enlightened Tutor is an extra copy of many of this deck's force multipliers, like Doubling Season.

Meanwhile, Worldly Tutor can find the Seedborn Muse or Drumbellower and increase opportunities for Baylen's activated abilities.

The Training Diet

Technically, this deck becomes Core (2) by taking out Smothering Tithe, but we want to honor the spirit of the bracket system, not just the letter of it. A Core (2) version of Baylen should be less bare knuckle and more padded sparring.

Replacement effects that increase token creation are great for Upgraded (3) and Optimized (4) games. However, Core (2) is precon level, so we should side out some of those pushed cards, like Anointed Procession. The question, then, is what to sideboard in?

While Baylen itself has strong synergy with Food tokens, Foods are the least threatening of the many token options. Food tokens are also thematic for a commander with an agricultural pun its name.

There're only six Food cards in Baylen's average deck, leaving lots of Food options we can side-in for a tasty subtheme. My vegan friends might not approve, but I couldn't resist the irony of Stew the Coneys and Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit.

With about a dozen more Food-producers in the lineup, we're ready to play this deck for fun at Core (2) or rumble in an Optimized (4) pod. Check out this sideboard:

Betting on a Second Round Knock-Out

I hope you enjoyed the Commander Brackets Beta as much as I did. For me, the first round of Commander Brackets injected some interesting deck brewing considerations. My bracket-centric interactions with other members of the community were mostly positive, and it really helped my game selections on Spelltable.

I'm personally excited for the Bracket action to heat up in Round Two, and curious to see how potential changes will affect this series. I'm planning to Bracketeer one of my personal decks next month, so stay tuned. In the mean time, tell us about your bracket experiences in the comments, especially if you're experimenting with sideboards for Commander.