The Seven-Step method
More to explore · beginner
Seven-Step builds a Commander deck in seven steps, from a commander you love to a list you have practiced with. Every card ends up with a job, and the numbers tell you when each job is covered. It is the deck builder's recommended method for new and returning players, and it is written for Bracket 2 and Bracket 3 decks.
It comes from a deckbuilding video: the Seven-Step method.
The seven steps
1. Pick your commander
Two rules. First, the rule of cool: pick whatever you find coolest, whether that is the art, the character or what the card does. Second, don't pick something that stops other players from playing, or that is far stronger than your table. A commander like that gets targeted, and the point is a fun game for everyone.
A Commander deck is 100 cards: your commander, which starts in the command zone, plus 99 more. Every card must fit your commander's color identity.
2. Find your themed cards
Read your commander one line at a time and pull out its hidden keywords: things like "enters", "attacks", "sacrifice a creature", "+1/+1 counters" or "leaves the battlefield". Each one tells you what the deck needs: more ways to do that thing, safe ways to do it, and cards that reward you for it.
The best cards overlap: they work with your commander and with each other. Gather about 40 candidates into the Pile, more than you have room for. Start with cards you already like, then search for more using the words on those cards. File each card under the job you would use it for most of the time if you drew it.
A good deck can win without ever casting its commander. Cut anything that would be too rude for your table, even when it fits.
3. Card advantage
Card advantage means ending up with more cards than you started with: the card replaces itself and draws at least one more. Drawing one card and discarding one (looting) does not count.
Three rules: density (enough of it), synergy (pieces that also fit your theme) and curve (about two thirds at mana value 3 or less). An expensive draw card should draw a lot at once; a cheap one can draw a little every turn.
4. Ramp
Normal ramp gives you more mana for the rest of the game: mana rocks, mana creatures and cards that fetch lands. Cheaper is better unless your theme or a mana-hungry deck says otherwise.
Explosive ramp multiplies your mana for a turn or more. Normal ramp carries your early game; explosive ramp is how you close it. Take more ramp when your commander is expensive or your curve runs high.
5. Interaction
There are four kinds: removal, counterspells, protection for your own things, and board wipes, which count as their own category. Higher brackets want more interaction and more efficient interaction; at Brackets 1 to 3 you can favor pieces that also fit your theme. Too much interaction makes games less fun for everyone.
6. Lands and cuts
Add your lands. The mix of basic and nonbasic lands follows your color count: a one-color deck is mostly basic lands plus a few useful colorless ones, and a deck of three or more colors is mostly lands that make more than one of your colors.
Now count every category except themed cards, and subtract from 100. What is left is how many themed cards you have room for. Sort your themed candidates by mana value and cut from the top down, using the mana-value check below. Keep only 3 to 4 cards at the very top of your curve, and consider your commander's own mana value: run fewer other cards at that cost, and ask whether your commander wants a board in place before it is cast.
When two cards tie, keep the one that works with more of your other cards; mana value decides only after that. One card you simply think is really cool can always have a slot.
7. Win conditions and goldfishing
Goldfish the deck: play a practice game alone, realistically, to the end of turn 7. Could you win from that board and hand? If not, is there one card in the deck that would win if you drew it next turn? If not, find a card that would win from that position, swap it in, and goldfish again. Keep going until you know the deck.
The targets
"The rest" means whatever the other categories leave. "About" means the number is a guide, not a line.
| Category | Target | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Lands | 37 to 38 | The method asks for 38 lands and treats 37 as the practical minimum. |
| Ramp | 10+ | Normal ramp. Run more with an expensive commander or a high curve. |
| Explosive ramp (Bracket 2) | about 2 | Explosive ramp is set by bracket. |
| Explosive ramp (Bracket 3) | 3 to 4 | Set by bracket: more of it at Bracket 3. |
| Card advantage | 12+ | Dedicated card advantage. The video's author often runs 16 to 17. |
| Interaction | about 10 | Removal, counterspells and protection, or 1 to 2 fewer when your other cards already interact. |
| Board wipes | 2 to 4 | Their own category, separate from interaction. |
| Themed cards | the rest | 100 minus the commander and every other category. The video's example comes to 24. |
| Win conditions | 3+ | Cards that can win from a realistic board. They come from your themed cards, so they take no extra slots. |
Each card counts once, in the category you would use it for most of the time.
The mana-value check
When you cut themed cards, ask what each one does for its cost:
| Mana value | It should at least |
|---|---|
| 6 or more | Change the game dramatically, or give an advantage that is very hard to overcome, within one turn. |
| 5 | Give a dramatic advantage the turn it lands, or be a threat that runs away with the game within a few turns if nobody answers it. |
| 4 | Be powerful and work closely with your other cards, pushing the deck into overdrive. |
| 3 or less | Be an engine piece that pays off turn after turn, not just the turn it lands. |
How the deck builder uses it
The video phrases the mana-value check as cuts with no exceptions. In the deck builder it is a label that guides your choice, never a veto: only a structural problem, such as a card outside your color identity or a card your bracket does not allow, can block a card. See What blocks a card, and what is only a note.
"Search your own cards first" maps to the Pile and your favorites. The method never treats price as a constraint; the builder only tracks a budget if you set one yourself.