We've started running Brawl events at one of the stores here and we got a turnout of about 8-10 for the first day.
Decks:
Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh - Grixis Good Stuff with Scarab Gob, Chupacabra, Saheeli Rai, etc.
Radha, Warlord Chieftain - Big stompy things + Sandworm Convergence
Raff Capashen - Sweet midrange Approach of the Second Sun.
Muldrotha - Not sure what was going on here but it inolved some menace black dude that let him draw cards and so on.
Captain Beckett Brass - Pirate themed
Firesong & Sunspeaker - This will be mine, just good red cards, white removal and a splash of burn spells like Abrade and Hour of Devastation and Fire With Fire and so on.
So it looks pretty diverse at the moment.
Oh, forgot to mention. We're playing 1v1, 2 of 3 because timed 50 minute rounds so the 30 life is just too much for this.
If they re-formulated into 1v1 with 20 life, would be amazing.
The "Crazy One", playing casual magic and occasionally dipping his toes into regular play since 1994.
Currently focusing on Pre-Modern (Mono-Black Discard Control) and Modern (Azorious Control, Temur Rhinos).
Find me at the Wizard's Tower in Ottawa every second Saturday afternoons.
Baral banned.
Sorcerous Spyglass banned
20 life in 1 v1 (WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WANTED THIS A TON)
Can use any one basic land type for a colorless general
Aethrworks Marvel, Ranumap Ruins, Rogue Refiner, Rampaginc Ferocidon, Felidar Guardian, Attune with Aether Unbanned for Brawl only
Changes as of 30/5/18 on MTGO. Also, Brawl League play suspended online from 16/5/18 to the update, but you can still play normally.
The "Crazy One", playing casual magic and occasionally dipping his toes into regular play since 1994.
Currently focusing on Pre-Modern (Mono-Black Discard Control) and Modern (Azorious Control, Temur Rhinos).
Find me at the Wizard's Tower in Ottawa every second Saturday afternoons.
I'm sad copter wasn't unbanned and that scavenger grounds stayed, but it's nice to see some changes. I'm actually kind of annoyed at ferocidon being unbanned, it will be all over. Baral, while cancer in 1v1 is largely irrelevant in multi, which means I never really saw him so I'm indifferent there. Karn and Hope of Ghirapur seem like weak commander's, but Traxos could be fun. Is Rashmi energy viable now?
The changes are basically everything I wanted so I'm pretty happy. I'm glad Wizards recognized 30 starting life was unsustainable in a 1v1 setting. Separating from the Standard ban list seems like a no-brainer. Keeping 1v1 and multiplayer ban lists in sync seems fine to me; I can't imagine the format will need that many bans going forward. I can't wait for those changes to come down to MTGO.
I'm sad copter wasn't unbanned and that scavenger grounds stayed, but it's nice to see some changes. I'm actually kind of annoyed at ferocidon being unbanned, it will be all over. Baral, while cancer in 1v1 is largely irrelevant in multi, which means I never really saw him so I'm indifferent there. Karn and Hope of Ghirapur seem like weak commander's, but Traxos could be fun. Is Rashmi energy viable now?
Copter staying banned seems correct to me - Powerful auto-include colorless cards are part of what I dislike about Commander. I don't understand why anyone would want Scavenger Grounds banned. If someone brings a Ferocidon to a multiplayer table I applaud their commitment to the bit.
I figure no colorless commander is ever going to be really viable in 1v1 (Wizards isn't going to print colorless cards at the required volume and power level for singleton Standard, not even in Eldrazi or artifact sets) but letting people just put basic lands into their deck is a great change for casual players who want to jam Karn.
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For everyone that hasn't done so already, I highly encourage you to take this survery. These were my responses to the essay questions:
Brawl rotates with Standard. How do you feel about that?
Brawl rotating is extremely important. If it didn't rotate, the format wouldn't remain accessible (hindering its nature as a casual format), and it wouldn't remain fresh. Pulling cards out once every year keeps the power ceiling low, provides an exit strategy for cards players tire of, and gives new product its day in the sun. It's immensely important Brawl rotates.
What do you like about Brawl?
Jeez, where do I start?
* I like that 59 card decks are easier to shuffle than 99 card decks and that they're easier to acquire.
* I like that planeswalkers can be used as commanders. Even if most planeswalkers are mechanically boring (how interesting can you seriously make a commander that's limited to having three activated abilities of which only one can be used each turn and only on your turn and at sorcery speed?), they still represent characters from within Magic's universe, and that's the entire point behind having commanders in the first place, to have some character represent you and your deck.
* I like that the starting life total is 30 and not 40. It helps keeps creatures relevant.
* I like that Brawl rotates. This will keep the format fresh and allow new cards to see play.
* I like that Brawl is singleton. Singleton formats allow more variety in gameplay, and they help spread the cost of decks across many different cards.
* I like that Brawl uses commanders. By this point, I think it should be obvious to Wizards that people really like the idea of having some sort of legendary character represent them and their deck. I mean, just take a look at some of the popular 1v1 Commander microformats. Players are so interested in the idea of using commanders that many have splintered off of a format never intended for them (casual, multiplayer Commander) so that they could create their own format to address their needs. These players could have created any kind of format they wanted, yet they decided to keep commanders around because of how much the idea resonated with them.
Is there anything else? Probably, but that's all I can think of at the moment.
What are your biggest concerns about Brawl?
My biggest concern is that Brawl shares the same cardpool as Standard. While Standard legal sets have always printed cards appealing to a wide variety of formats and players, this has typically never come at the cost of other formats. With Brawl, that has changed.
Brawl, at its core, has different needs than Standard. As such, printing a card in Standard that it desperately needs might negatively affect Brawl or vice-versa. Take Sorcerous Spyglass for instance. (And thank you so much for banning it.) It's easy to see why Standard might need a colorless Pithing Needle effect to keep certain strategies in check. Printing such a card is of serious detriment to the Brawl format though, so what's a designer to do? Do you print the Needle anyway at the expense of Brawl? Do you not print the Needle at the expense of Standard? Do you try to find some work-around to make both formats happy, possibly at the expense of each? It isn't difficult to see how the mere existence of cards (or lack of existence) can cause adverse effects in Brawl or in Standard. Color-fixing lands make another great example.
In Brawl, it's unnecessarily difficult to play three or more color decks right now. This is because Brawl shares the same cardpool as Standard and because of Brawl's singleton nature. While there may very well be enough lands in Standard right now for Standard players to construct decks of whatever colors they might like (without there also not being too many lands from which to pull from), Brawl players must scrape the bottom of the barrel since they are only able to include a single copy of each land whereas Standard players get to use four for their 60 card decks. And this problem will be exacerbated by rotation, when half the format's lands drop off, making it even harder for tri-color players to build somewhat consistent mana bases.
So, again, what is Wizards to do about any of this? Will they print more duals at the cost of Standard? Will they do nothing at the cost of Brawl? Sharing the same cardpool as Standard and not something specifically designed for Brawl is (and will continue) to cause problems with Brawl since reconciling the two formats is not an easy fix.
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WUBRGMr. Bones' Wild RideGRBUW Trap your friends in an endless game with this 23-card combo!
Honestly, I fully expect them to keep printing Needle effects in Standard, because Standard needs them, and then preemptively banning them in Brawl. Yeah it's a little annoying for players who only play Brawl who open Needles they can't play with, but you can always trade the Standard staple rare you just opened away. On dual lands, singleton formats inherently have worse mana but they're also slower and have a lower power level. The dual taplands and Evolving Wilds, that are generally unplayable in Standard, are probably viable in Brawl even in a 1v1 setting. GXy type mana bases seem very viable in Brawl right now.
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That's basically my worry too, that Standard's needs will supersede Brawl's needs and that the Brawl format will suffer as a result of that due to the two formats sharing the same cardpool.
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WUBRGMr. Bones' Wild RideGRBUW Trap your friends in an endless game with this 23-card combo!
I mean I don't think it's a huge problem for the format if there's a pithing needle printed in standard every other year that gets prebanned. It doesn't really affect Brawl in any way beyond one less rare slot in one of the four sets that came out that year being relevant to the format. To me it seems like the obvious compromise solution.
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32Rat.dck is happy.
I'm glad about all changes, Baral was toxic for 1v1 and still very powerful for multiplayer in a "Talrand but not fun" kind of way, I doubt he will be missed.
20lp should always be the default for a 1v1 format, extra lp is meant to account for extra players not extra cards or singleton rulesets.
The unbans are all welcome, Marvel may be problematic but with 3 opponents, singleton rules and no eldrazi it will not be the same card that got banned in Standard.
Lastly I'm glad we now actually have set goals for the format and play design's eye on us, Brawl is real now.
Tbqh I think marvel would be fine in standard now, especially with all the other good energy cards banned. like what's the best thing you could flip with marvel, a giant dinosaur? Overwhelming splendor your opponent? I doubt it'll do anything particularly broken in Brawl.
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Baral as a multiplayer commander wasn't really that strong, certainly not needed to be banned. But keeping a separate ban list for 1vs1 and multiplayer is too confusing I guess.
I think keeping Smuggler's Copter banned is correct, especially for 1vs1 with 20 life, where you could use a cheap commander to ensure the crew cost and really win games on it's own.
Attune with Aether is a nice addition for 3 or more colored commanders. Color fixing is actually a needed component for Brawl.
I like the changes made. The basic land hack is a bit...well, hacky...but probably the best solution that doesn't require making changes or annoying the handful of karn devotees. Banlist changes seem fine, sorcerous spyglass is boring anyway. Glad to see copter is still banned, although depala is sad.
My likes about the format is basically every commander has + the benefits of rotation - no permanent auto-includes like sol ring, no degenerate power level stuff, accessibility, low cost, etc.
My biggest concern with the format is the support for 1v1. I don't give a rat's ass about competitive 1v1, but people at my LGS who are already eager to dismiss brawl often like to make comments to the effect of "They did a tournament, and the top decks were 100% baral and ghalta. So the format is homogenous, solved, and boring, just like standard." I want brawl to be as dissociated from the tedium that is standard as much as humanly possible, for a format that shares (nearly) the same card pool.
If 1v1 brawl must exist, I wish it existed in the same way 1v1 commander does - basically nobody knows much about it, except the few people who are either interested in it, or who are already deep enough in commander to handle seeing how degenerate it is without dismissing commander as a whole because of it.
The singleton format does mean that you really won't see two decks exactly alike. The closest thing to repeated vomit is Jodah, Archmage Eternal at the moment. There isn't much variance, because they just try and play all the big spells. Muldrotha, the Gravetide is the second most common with same cards in deck, to be expected.
So I'm pleasantly surprised that decks are different. The thing with Standard is that it does settle into handful of top tier decks, and with 4 copies of cards, tend to have little variance. But singleton makes things more varied, so I don't think it's fair to put brawl and standard into the same category at all.
Singleton formats are a lot less sensitive to the "gravity" of single very powerful cards being in the format (which is what typically makes Standard bad), dropping the higher starting life total hopefully means that permission and big mana goodstuff decks won't be favored, so I'm cautiously optimistic.
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Brawl was intended to be a multiplayer format. If people want to play it 1v1, go ahead, but I don't think wotc should support it any more than they support 1v1 commander. Of course, playing untuned multiplayer brawl decks 1v1 is still sure to happen, and probably be good clean fun. But tuning for 1v1 is sure to end in something that doesn't resemble brawl any more than 1v1 competitive commander resembles casual multiplayer commander.
I think if 1v1 brawl became (god forbid) a competitive staple in the way standard is, it would be very similar. Sure, singleton means you're more likely to see more cards have competitive viability, but 1v1 constructed formats are easy to solve as long as you've got enough players grinding them, having a little more variance in deck construction isn't a game changer.
Very few people build standard decks to play casually with their friends with no intention of playing in tournaments. If the public face of brawl becomes 1v1 competitive - which is totally possible, given that it's much easier to run 1v1 tournaments, and a lot more lucrative than running zero-entry-fee casual events - then that becomes the goal of the format, and anyone playing casually is relegated to the same space that casual standard players are. Which is to say, just standard players who haven't started taking the format seriously yet. And then we've just got another boring constructed format.
Now is that likely to happen? I don't know. I kind of doubt it. I'm not sure there enough people interested in 1v1 brawl to push it toward becoming an FNM staple, and it's totally possible for it to fall into the same bucket as 1v1 commander that's mostly played by a very niche crowd. But it does concern me that wotc is now expressing interest in balancing for 1v1 competitive, with the ban of Baral. That's not a shift I like to see, given that a month ago they didn't have any intention to support the 1v1 format.
I think wotc showed they intended to support 1v1 Brawl when they set up 1v1 leagues on MTGO.
I don't think you actually understand what people generally talk about when they talk about the difference between good and bad formats. Standard has been intermittently bad for a long time but not because it's solved. People have been frustrated with Standard because it's been a parade of broken decks one after another.
It's still kind of a pointlessly negative reaction to hope people don't enjoy or become invested in 1v1 brawl because you think it'll somehow ruin your experience of playing multiplayer. I think you'd enjoy Magic more if you didn't feel threatened by other people playing it in ways that you don't care for.
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I'm not saying that standard is bad for all people. Lots of people obviously enjoy it and I don't mean to diminish their fun. But whether it's a "good" or "bad" standard season, standard does, and always will, revolve around small variations on a small set of competitive decks. Deckbuilding skill is nearly meaningless, because anyone can easily find a top-tier decklist on the internet for zero effort, and play skill usually boils down to knowing how best to play the single deck you have against the common decks in the meta, rather than a deeper holistic understanding of the game.
Commander isn't like that. Sure, some people netdeck, but they're in the small minority. For the most part, people craft their own decks, so deckbuilding skill is valued. Strategy is also so deep, with both variety of situations and the added complexity of multiplayer, that finding optimal, or even good, lines is very difficult, and having a holistic understanding of the game is the only real way to improve.
If I thought 1v1 competitive and casual multiplayer could exist harmoniously without one diminishing the other, I wouldn't have a problem with 1v1 brawl. But how often do you see people playing casual multiplayer standard, with decks they designed for multiplayer? How about modern? Legacy? Probably very rarely, because once the default for those formats is 1v1 competitive, people tend to gravitate towards that as the goal because it offers progression. Maybe they'll play casually at first, but once they get good, they should go try to win tournaments, right? That's sort of the natural progression for any competitive game, and magic is, in most variants, a competitive game. I worry that people will see playing multiplayer (non-competitive) brawl as a temporary state, a stepping stone until they get good enough to start playing competitively 1v1, much like how new players may play casual "standard" with their friends, but aspire to level up and build a competitive deck to take on the competitive scene.
And then once progressing towards competition is the default goal of the format, anyone NOT interested in another standard-like with netdecking and straightforward 1v1 gameplay will shy away from the format, either towards commander which shows little sign of ever becoming default competitive, or, if they find that format intimidating with its deep card pool and broken interactions, then potentially away from magic entirely. Or towards draft. We can always use more drafters.
EDIT: to clarify my position a little more - if 1v1 gets banlist support, but no tournament support, that will be just fine with me. If it's at all popular it will probably get some LGS support. A little of that is also probably fine. If it gets any major support at large competitive events like GPs, PTs, etc (god forbid they make it a format that qualifies you for the PT) then I think it will quickly attract grinders and become known as just another competitive format.
Decks:
Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh - Grixis Good Stuff with Scarab Gob, Chupacabra, Saheeli Rai, etc.
Radha, Warlord Chieftain - Big stompy things + Sandworm Convergence
Raff Capashen - Sweet midrange Approach of the Second Sun.
Muldrotha - Not sure what was going on here but it inolved some menace black dude that let him draw cards and so on.
Captain Beckett Brass - Pirate themed
Firesong & Sunspeaker - This will be mine, just good red cards, white removal and a splash of burn spells like Abrade and Hour of Devastation and Fire With Fire and so on.
So it looks pretty diverse at the moment.
Oh, forgot to mention. We're playing 1v1, 2 of 3 because timed 50 minute rounds so the 30 life is just too much for this.
If they re-formulated into 1v1 with 20 life, would be amazing.
Currently focusing on Pre-Modern (Mono-Black Discard Control) and Modern (Azorious Control, Temur Rhinos).
Find me at the Wizard's Tower in Ottawa every second Saturday afternoons.
I'm a bit busy at the moment, but I'm going to restructure the OP as soon as I can.
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/future-brawl-2018-05-10
Baral banned.
Sorcerous Spyglass banned
20 life in 1 v1 (WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WANTED THIS A TON)
Can use any one basic land type for a colorless general
Aethrworks Marvel, Ranumap Ruins, Rogue Refiner, Rampaginc Ferocidon, Felidar Guardian, Attune with Aether Unbanned for Brawl only
Changes as of 30/5/18 on MTGO. Also, Brawl League play suspended online from 16/5/18 to the update, but you can still play normally.
Currently focusing on Pre-Modern (Mono-Black Discard Control) and Modern (Azorious Control, Temur Rhinos).
Find me at the Wizard's Tower in Ottawa every second Saturday afternoons.
Copter staying banned seems correct to me - Powerful auto-include colorless cards are part of what I dislike about Commander. I don't understand why anyone would want Scavenger Grounds banned. If someone brings a Ferocidon to a multiplayer table I applaud their commitment to the bit.
I figure no colorless commander is ever going to be really viable in 1v1 (Wizards isn't going to print colorless cards at the required volume and power level for singleton Standard, not even in Eldrazi or artifact sets) but letting people just put basic lands into their deck is a great change for casual players who want to jam Karn.
Brawl rotates with Standard. How do you feel about that?
Brawl rotating is extremely important. If it didn't rotate, the format wouldn't remain accessible (hindering its nature as a casual format), and it wouldn't remain fresh. Pulling cards out once every year keeps the power ceiling low, provides an exit strategy for cards players tire of, and gives new product its day in the sun. It's immensely important Brawl rotates.
What do you like about Brawl?
Jeez, where do I start?
* I like that 59 card decks are easier to shuffle than 99 card decks and that they're easier to acquire.
* I like that planeswalkers can be used as commanders. Even if most planeswalkers are mechanically boring (how interesting can you seriously make a commander that's limited to having three activated abilities of which only one can be used each turn and only on your turn and at sorcery speed?), they still represent characters from within Magic's universe, and that's the entire point behind having commanders in the first place, to have some character represent you and your deck.
* I like that the starting life total is 30 and not 40. It helps keeps creatures relevant.
* I like that Brawl rotates. This will keep the format fresh and allow new cards to see play.
* I like that Brawl is singleton. Singleton formats allow more variety in gameplay, and they help spread the cost of decks across many different cards.
* I like that Brawl uses commanders. By this point, I think it should be obvious to Wizards that people really like the idea of having some sort of legendary character represent them and their deck. I mean, just take a look at some of the popular 1v1 Commander microformats. Players are so interested in the idea of using commanders that many have splintered off of a format never intended for them (casual, multiplayer Commander) so that they could create their own format to address their needs. These players could have created any kind of format they wanted, yet they decided to keep commanders around because of how much the idea resonated with them.
Is there anything else? Probably, but that's all I can think of at the moment.
What are your biggest concerns about Brawl?
My biggest concern is that Brawl shares the same cardpool as Standard. While Standard legal sets have always printed cards appealing to a wide variety of formats and players, this has typically never come at the cost of other formats. With Brawl, that has changed.
Brawl, at its core, has different needs than Standard. As such, printing a card in Standard that it desperately needs might negatively affect Brawl or vice-versa. Take Sorcerous Spyglass for instance. (And thank you so much for banning it.) It's easy to see why Standard might need a colorless Pithing Needle effect to keep certain strategies in check. Printing such a card is of serious detriment to the Brawl format though, so what's a designer to do? Do you print the Needle anyway at the expense of Brawl? Do you not print the Needle at the expense of Standard? Do you try to find some work-around to make both formats happy, possibly at the expense of each? It isn't difficult to see how the mere existence of cards (or lack of existence) can cause adverse effects in Brawl or in Standard. Color-fixing lands make another great example.
In Brawl, it's unnecessarily difficult to play three or more color decks right now. This is because Brawl shares the same cardpool as Standard and because of Brawl's singleton nature. While there may very well be enough lands in Standard right now for Standard players to construct decks of whatever colors they might like (without there also not being too many lands from which to pull from), Brawl players must scrape the bottom of the barrel since they are only able to include a single copy of each land whereas Standard players get to use four for their 60 card decks. And this problem will be exacerbated by rotation, when half the format's lands drop off, making it even harder for tri-color players to build somewhat consistent mana bases.
So, again, what is Wizards to do about any of this? Will they print more duals at the cost of Standard? Will they do nothing at the cost of Brawl? Sharing the same cardpool as Standard and not something specifically designed for Brawl is (and will continue) to cause problems with Brawl since reconciling the two formats is not an easy fix.
Trap your friends in an endless game with this 23-card combo!
Trap your friends in an endless game with this 23-card combo!
I'm glad about all changes, Baral was toxic for 1v1 and still very powerful for multiplayer in a "Talrand but not fun" kind of way, I doubt he will be missed.
20lp should always be the default for a 1v1 format, extra lp is meant to account for extra players not extra cards or singleton rulesets.
The unbans are all welcome, Marvel may be problematic but with 3 opponents, singleton rules and no eldrazi it will not be the same card that got banned in Standard.
Lastly I'm glad we now actually have set goals for the format and play design's eye on us, Brawl is real now.
I think keeping Smuggler's Copter banned is correct, especially for 1vs1 with 20 life, where you could use a cheap commander to ensure the crew cost and really win games on it's own.
Attune with Aether is a nice addition for 3 or more colored commanders. Color fixing is actually a needed component for Brawl.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
My likes about the format is basically every commander has + the benefits of rotation - no permanent auto-includes like sol ring, no degenerate power level stuff, accessibility, low cost, etc.
My biggest concern with the format is the support for 1v1. I don't give a rat's ass about competitive 1v1, but people at my LGS who are already eager to dismiss brawl often like to make comments to the effect of "They did a tournament, and the top decks were 100% baral and ghalta. So the format is homogenous, solved, and boring, just like standard." I want brawl to be as dissociated from the tedium that is standard as much as humanly possible, for a format that shares (nearly) the same card pool.
If 1v1 brawl must exist, I wish it existed in the same way 1v1 commander does - basically nobody knows much about it, except the few people who are either interested in it, or who are already deep enough in commander to handle seeing how degenerate it is without dismissing commander as a whole because of it.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
So I'm pleasantly surprised that decks are different. The thing with Standard is that it does settle into handful of top tier decks, and with 4 copies of cards, tend to have little variance. But singleton makes things more varied, so I don't think it's fair to put brawl and standard into the same category at all.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
I think if 1v1 brawl became (god forbid) a competitive staple in the way standard is, it would be very similar. Sure, singleton means you're more likely to see more cards have competitive viability, but 1v1 constructed formats are easy to solve as long as you've got enough players grinding them, having a little more variance in deck construction isn't a game changer.
Very few people build standard decks to play casually with their friends with no intention of playing in tournaments. If the public face of brawl becomes 1v1 competitive - which is totally possible, given that it's much easier to run 1v1 tournaments, and a lot more lucrative than running zero-entry-fee casual events - then that becomes the goal of the format, and anyone playing casually is relegated to the same space that casual standard players are. Which is to say, just standard players who haven't started taking the format seriously yet. And then we've just got another boring constructed format.
Now is that likely to happen? I don't know. I kind of doubt it. I'm not sure there enough people interested in 1v1 brawl to push it toward becoming an FNM staple, and it's totally possible for it to fall into the same bucket as 1v1 commander that's mostly played by a very niche crowd. But it does concern me that wotc is now expressing interest in balancing for 1v1 competitive, with the ban of Baral. That's not a shift I like to see, given that a month ago they didn't have any intention to support the 1v1 format.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
I don't think you actually understand what people generally talk about when they talk about the difference between good and bad formats. Standard has been intermittently bad for a long time but not because it's solved. People have been frustrated with Standard because it's been a parade of broken decks one after another.
It's still kind of a pointlessly negative reaction to hope people don't enjoy or become invested in 1v1 brawl because you think it'll somehow ruin your experience of playing multiplayer. I think you'd enjoy Magic more if you didn't feel threatened by other people playing it in ways that you don't care for.
Commander isn't like that. Sure, some people netdeck, but they're in the small minority. For the most part, people craft their own decks, so deckbuilding skill is valued. Strategy is also so deep, with both variety of situations and the added complexity of multiplayer, that finding optimal, or even good, lines is very difficult, and having a holistic understanding of the game is the only real way to improve.
If I thought 1v1 competitive and casual multiplayer could exist harmoniously without one diminishing the other, I wouldn't have a problem with 1v1 brawl. But how often do you see people playing casual multiplayer standard, with decks they designed for multiplayer? How about modern? Legacy? Probably very rarely, because once the default for those formats is 1v1 competitive, people tend to gravitate towards that as the goal because it offers progression. Maybe they'll play casually at first, but once they get good, they should go try to win tournaments, right? That's sort of the natural progression for any competitive game, and magic is, in most variants, a competitive game. I worry that people will see playing multiplayer (non-competitive) brawl as a temporary state, a stepping stone until they get good enough to start playing competitively 1v1, much like how new players may play casual "standard" with their friends, but aspire to level up and build a competitive deck to take on the competitive scene.
And then once progressing towards competition is the default goal of the format, anyone NOT interested in another standard-like with netdecking and straightforward 1v1 gameplay will shy away from the format, either towards commander which shows little sign of ever becoming default competitive, or, if they find that format intimidating with its deep card pool and broken interactions, then potentially away from magic entirely. Or towards draft. We can always use more drafters.
EDIT: to clarify my position a little more - if 1v1 gets banlist support, but no tournament support, that will be just fine with me. If it's at all popular it will probably get some LGS support. A little of that is also probably fine. If it gets any major support at large competitive events like GPs, PTs, etc (god forbid they make it a format that qualifies you for the PT) then I think it will quickly attract grinders and become known as just another competitive format.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6