Announcing: EDHREC's March Commandness Bracket Tournament

Graphic by author and Nick Wolf

It's March! That means all you sports nerds and gambling addicts are suddenly interested in college basketball, with your sweet sixteens and your Cinderella stories and whatnot.

I don't actually know anything about sports, but I do know Commander.

So this year EDHREC is getting in on the action. But rather than looking at college basketball, we're looking to see who is the "best" new commander of the last five years. And you get to decide the winner.

EDHREC's March Commandness Premise

Our March Commandness tournament takes the 64 most popular new commanders from the years 2021 - 2025 and throws them in a bracket-style contest. The commanders have been seeded based on their number of decks.

For each matchup, readers - that's you - will vote to pick the winner. The winner of each match will move on to the next round.

Here are the commanders fighting for the championship title:

Commander	Seed
Y'shtola, Night's Blessed	1
Pantlaza, Sun-Favored	1
Sauron, the Dark Lord	1
Lathril, Blade of the Elves	1
The Wise Mothman	2
Giada, Font of Hope	2
Ms. Bumbleflower	2
Jodah, the Unifier	2
Vivi Ornitier	3
Teval, the Balanced Scale	3
Isshin, Two Heavens as One	3
Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm	3
Ulalek, Fused Atrocity	4
Baylen, the Haymaker	4
Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls	4
Fire Lord Azula	4
Chatterfang, Squirrel General	5
Hakbal of the Surging Soul	5
The Necrobloom	5
Esika, God of the Tree	5
Bello, Bard of the Brambles	6
Mr. House, President and CEO	6
Hashaton, Scarab's Fist	6
Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit & Sam, Loyal Attendant	6
Kefka, Court Mage	7
Caesar, Legion's Emperor	7
Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver	7
Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER	7
Flubs, the Fool	8
Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER	8
Toph, the First Metalbender	8
Aragorn, the Uniter	8
Zhulodok, Void Gorger	9
Hearthhull, the Worldseed	9
Shorikai, Genesis Engine	9
Glarb, Calamity's Augur	9
Obeka, Splitter of Seconds	10
Ygra, Eater of All	10
Go-Shintai of Life's Origin	10
Voja, Jaws of the Conclave	10
Ghyrson Starn, Kelermorph	11
Tom Bombadil	11
Arabella, Abandoned Doll	11
Ezio Auditore da Firenze	11
Eriette of the Charmed Apple	12
Henzie "Toolbox" Torre	12
Sidar Jabari of Zhalfir	12
Atraxa, Grand Unifier	12
Captain N'ghathrod	13
Zinnia, Valley's Voice	13
Urza, Chief Artificer	13
Helga, Skittish Seer	13
Alela, Cunning Conqueror	14
Urtet, Remnant of Memnarch	14
Magda, Brazen Outlaw	14
Zurgo Stormrender	14
Ureni of the Unwritten	15
Marneus Calgar	15
Stella Lee, Wild Card	15
Kotis, the Fangkeeper	15
Aminatou, Veil Piercer	16
Kuja, Genome Sorcerer	16
Felothar the Steadfast	16
Choco, Seeker of Paradise	16

The EDHREC March Commandness Bracket

Here's the bracket:

To print one out for yourself so you can fill out your predictions, head here for a PDF.

The contest has begun! Scroll down to see which matchups are now live. Each match or set of matches will have its own article right here on EDHREC, and those articles will contain the voting polls. Each poll will stay open for about 45 hours from when the article is posted.

Why?

This is just for fun. If you fill out your bracket perfectly, your prize will be bragging rights. Who doesn't love bragging rights?

#RECMadness

You can follow along with the tournament updates on Bluesky and Instagram using the hashtag #RECMadness. You can also use this hashtag to share your bracket picks with your friends or chat about the tournament and who you think should win.

Tournament Schedule (Subject to Change)

We'll update this with links as the tournament progresses.

March 9th - North and South 1st round (closed)

March 10th - East and West 1st round (closed)

March 11th - North 2nd round (closed)

March 12th - South 2nd round (closed)

March 13th - East 2nd round (closed)

March 16th - West 2nd round (closed)

March 17th - North and South 3rd round (closed)

March 18th - East and West 3rd round (closed)

March 19th - North and South 4th round (closed)

March 20th - East and West 4th round (closed)

March 23rd - North vs South (closed)

March 24th - East vs West (closed)

March 26th - Championship - (closed)

March 30th - Winner announced