Power Levels Explained

Power Level Name Description Details
1 Abomination Lacks coherent anything. Plays random cards with little synergy. Unmodified draft leftovers, no synergy.
1.5 Unintended Jank Hastily-constructed decks with poor execution, synergy, and consistency. You made a deck in 30 minutes for a friend with the cards they had in a shoe box.
2 Jank Struggles to execute its strategy, often plays without impact. Intentionally weak or wierd strategies with little competitive viability.
2.5 Focused Jank Has a clear theme but lacks consistency and powerful plays. Cohesive strategy, but still intentionally weak and/or sub-optimal.
3 Optimized Jank Executes its strategy more consistently with some impactful plays. Cohesive strategy, but still intentionally weak and/or sub-optimal.
3.5 High-Power Jank Shows improved consistency and includes a few powerful cards. Not quite yet a fully synergistic deck.
4 Casual Has a clear gameplan but wins through combat damage around turn 12+. Cohesive strategy, but budget restrictions. Where recent precons start at.
4.5 Focused Casual Usually ramps into big creatures and/or spells, aiming to win through combat after turn 10. Big splashy plays. Where most recent precons land.
5 Optimized Casual Executes a focused strategy efficiently, winning around turn 10. Well-tuned casual deck and recent strong precons.
5.5 High-Power Casual Wins through efficient creatures or combos around turn 8-9. Pushing the limits of casual, but still relying primarily on combat damage to win.
6 Focused Consistently executes its strategy with some interaction, winning around turn 7-8. Well-tuned, cohesive strategy, some game-winning combos.
6.5 Optimized Wins through efficient combos or synergies around turn 6-7. Highly synergistic, efficient, almost fully competitive.
7 Focused Competitive Aims to win or establish strong control by turn 5-6. Competitive strategy, without breaking the bank.
7.5 Highly Optimized Consistently threatens to win or lock out opponents by turn 4-5. Near-cEDH, missing some key expensive pieces.
8 High Power Attempts to win or establish strong control by turn 3-4 (>50% chance). Fully optimized and knocking on cEDH's door.
8.5 cEDH Viable Can consistently interact with, win, or establish strong control by turn 3 (>50% chance). Can compete at cEDH tables, but not top tier. Expensive.
9 cEDH Tier 2 Reliably threatens to win or establish near-unbreakable control by turn 2-3 (>50% chance). Well within cEDH, but not the most dominant strategies.
9.5 cEDH Tier 1 Consistently attempts to win or establish dominant control by turn 2 (>50% chance). Top-tier competitive decks. You'll need a loan.
10 cEDH Tier 0 Regularly threatens turn 1 win or establishes oppressive control with heavy protection. Format-warping, meta changing competitive decks.