Commander (designation)

A commander is the central card of a Commander-deck. It starts the game in, and is usually played from, the command zone.

The term general is sometimes used instead, although this term does not appear in the rules.

Description

The commander of a deck is usually a legendary creature. However, a small number of planeswalker cards have an ability stating that they can serve as commanders, and a player can have two commanders if both have partner. A player's choice of commander determines which other cards can be played in the deck by determining that deck's color identity.

Commander interaction cards

Some cards specifically interact with your commander. If a player has multiple commanders, then each is counted separately, except for abilities referring to color identity, in which case the color identity of the commander is the combined color identity of each of that player's commanders.

• Command Tower from Commander (2011); reprinted in Commander's Arsenal, Commander 2013, Commander 2015 and Commander 2016.
• Opal Palace from Commander 2013; reprinted in Commander 2016.
• Commander's Sphere from Commander 2014; reprinted in Commander 2016.
• Command Beacon from Commander 2015.
• Bastion Protector from Commander 2015.
• Cards with the Lieutenant ability word from Commander 2014; one reprinted in Commander 2016.

Rules

From the Comprehensive Rules (June 7, 2024—Modern Horizons 3)

• 903. Commander
  • 903.1. In the Commander variant, each deck is led by a legendary creature designated as that deck’s commander. The Commander variant was created and popularized by fans; an independent rules committee maintains additional resources at MTGCommander.net. The Commander variant uses all the normal rules for a Magic game, with the following additions.
  • 903.2. A Commander game may be a two-player game or a multiplayer game. The default multiplayer setup is the Free-for-All variant with the attack multiple players option and without the limited range of influence option. See rule 806, “Free-for-All Variant.”
  • 903.3. Each deck has a legendary creature card designated as its commander. This designation is not a characteristic of the object represented by the card; rather, it is an attribute of the card itself. The card retains this designation even when it changes zones.

    Example: A commander that’s been turned face down (due to Ixidron’s effect, for example) is still a commander. A commander that’s copying another card (due to Cytoshape’s effect, for example) is still a commander. A permanent that’s copying a commander (such as a Body Double, for example, copying a commander in a player’s graveyard) is not a commander.

    • 903.3a Some cards have an ability that states the card can be your commander. This ability modifies the rules for deck construction, and it functions before the game begins. See also rule 113.6n.
    • 903.3b If a player’s commander is a meld card and it’s melded with the other member of its meld pair, the resulting melded permanent is that player’s commander.
    • 903.3c If a player’s commander is a component of a merged permanent, the resulting merged permanent is that player’s commander.
    • 903.3d If an effect refers to controlling a commander, it refers to a permanent on the battlefield that is a commander. If an effect refers to casting a commander, it refers to a spell that is a commander. If an effect refers to a commander in a specific zone, it refers to a card in that zone that is a commander.
    • 903.3e If an effect refers to a characteristic of “your commander,” it can find the appropriate player’s commander and see its current characteristics, as modified by continuous effects and other rules, in all zones, including that player’s library and hand.
  • 903.4. The Commander variant uses color identity to determine what cards can be in a deck with a certain commander. The color identity of a card is the color or colors of any mana symbols in that card’s mana cost or rules text, plus any colors defined by its characteristic-defining abilities (see rule 604.3) or color indicator (see rule 204).

    Example: Bosh, Iron Golem is a legendary artifact creature with mana cost {8} and the ability “{3}{R}, Sacrifice an artifact: Bosh, Iron Golem deals damage equal to the sacrificed artifact’s mana value to any target.” Bosh’s color identity is red.

    • 903.4a Color identity is established before the game begins.
    • 903.4b If a commander has a static ability that causes a player to choose its color before the game begins, that choice applies during deck construction and throughout the game, even as the commander changes zones. That choice affects the commander’s color identity. The player reveals that choice as they put their commander into the command zone before the game begins. See rules 103.2c and 607.2p.
    • 903.4c Reminder text is ignored when determining a card’s color identity. See rule 207.2.
    • 903.4d The back face of a double-faced card (see rule 712) is included when determining a card’s color identity. This is an exception to rule 712.8a.

      Example: Civilized Scholar is the front face of a double-faced card with mana cost {2}{U}. Homicidal Brute is the back face of that double-faced card and has a red color indicator. The card’s color identity is blue and red.

    • 903.4e If a card has any alternative characteristics, such as those of adventurer cards (see rule 715, “Adventurer Cards”), those characteristics are included when determining the card’s color identity.
    • 903.4f If an ability refers to the colors or number of colors in a commander’s color identity, that quality is undefined if that player doesn’t have a commander. That part of the ability won’t do anything. Costs that refer to that quality are unpayable.
  • 903.5. Each Commander deck is subject to the following deck construction rules.
    • 903.5a Each deck must contain exactly 100 cards, including its commander. In other words, the minimum deck size and the maximum deck size are both 100.
    • 903.5b Other than basic lands, each card in a Commander deck must have a different English name. For the purposes of deck construction, cards with interchangeable names have the same English name (see rule 201.3).
    • 903.5c A card can be included in a Commander deck only if every color in its color identity is also found in the color identity of the deck’s commander.

      Example: Wort, the Raidmother is a legendary creature with mana cost {4}{R/G}{R/G}. Wort’s color identity is red and green. Each card in a Wort Commander deck must be only red, only green, both red and green, or have no color. Each mana symbol in the mana cost or rules text of a card in this deck must be only red, only green, both red and green, or have no color.

    • 903.5d A card with a basic land type may be included in a Commander deck only if each color of mana it could produce is included in the commander’s color identity.

      Example: Wort, the Raidmother’s color identity is red and green. A Wort Commander deck may include land cards with the basic land types Mountain and/or Forest. It can’t include any land cards with the basic land types Plains, Island, or Swamp.

  • 903.6. At the start of the game, each player puts their commander from their deck face up into the command zone. Then each player shuffles the remaining cards of their deck so that the cards are in a random order. Those cards become the player’s library.
  • 903.7. Once the starting player has been determined, each player sets their life total to 40 and draws a hand of seven cards.
  • 903.8. A player may cast a commander they own from the command zone. A commander cast from the command zone costs an additional {2} for each previous time the player casting it has cast it from the command zone that game. This additional cost is informally known as the “commander tax.”
  • 903.9. A commander may return to the command zone during a Commander game.
    • 903.9a If a commander is in a graveyard or in exile and that object was put into that zone since the last time state-based actions were checked, its owner may put it into the command zone. This is a state-based action. See rule 704.
    • 903.9b If a commander would be put into its owner’s hand or library from anywhere, its owner may put it into the command zone instead. This replacement effect may apply more than once to the same event. This is an exception to rule 614.5.
    • 903.9c If a commander is a melded permanent or a merged permanent and its owner chooses to put it into the command zone using the replacement effect described in rule 903.9b, that permanent and each component representing it that isn’t a commander are put into the appropriate zone, and the card that represents it and is a commander is put into the command zone.
  • 903.10. The Commander variant includes the following specification for winning and losing the game. All other rules for ending the game also apply. (See rule 104.)
    • 903.10a A player who’s been dealt 21 or more combat damage by the same commander over the course of the game loses the game. (This is a state-based action. See rule 704.)
  • 903.11. If a player is allowed to bring a card from outside the game into a Commander game, that player can’t bring a card into the game this way if it has the same name as a card that player had in their starting deck, if it has the same name as a card that the player owns in the current game, or if any color in its color identity isn’t in the color identity of the player’s commander.
  • 903.12. Brawl Option
    • 903.12a Brawl is an option for a different style of Commander game. Brawl games use the normal rules for the Commander variant with the following modifications.
    • 903.12b Brawl decks are usually constructed using cards from the Standard format.
    • 903.12c A player designates either a legendary planeswalker or a legendary creature as their commander.
    • 903.12d A player’s deck must contain exactly 60 cards, including its commander. In other words, the minimum deck size and the maximum deck size are both 60.
    • 903.12e If a player’s commander has no colors in its color identity, that player’s deck may contain any number of basic lands of one basic land type of their choice. This is an exception to rule 903.5d.
    • 903.12f In a two-player Brawl game, each player’s starting life total is 25. In a multiplayer Brawl game, each player’s starting life total is 30.
    • 903.12g In any Brawl game, the first mulligan a player takes doesn’t count toward the number of cards that player will put on the bottom of their library or the number of mulligans that player may take. Subsequent mulligans are counted toward these numbers as normal.
    • 903.12h Brawl games do not use the state-based action described in rule 704.6c, which causes a player to lose the game if they’ve been dealt 21 or more combat damage by a commander.
  • 903.13. Commander Draft
    • 903.13a Commander Draft is an option for a different style of Commander game. It consists of a draft (a style of limited play where players choose cards from sealed booster packs to build their decks) followed by a multiplayer game. The Commander Draft option uses Commander Legends booster packs by default.
    • 903.13b A draft typically consists of three draft rounds. In each draft round, each player opens a booster pack, drafts two cards by placing them in a face-down pile in front of them, then passes the remaining cards to the next player. Each player then drafts two cards from the booster pack passed to them and passes the remaining cards. This procedure continues until all cards in that draft round have been drafted.
    • 903.13c In the first and third draft rounds, booster packs are passed to each player’s left. In the second draft round, booster packs are passed to each player’s right.
    • 903.13d During the draft, a player can look only at cards in the booster pack they are currently drafting from and cards they have already drafted. A player may not reveal drafted cards to other players unless an ability instructs them to.
    • 903.13e After the draft is complete, the cards a player drafted become that player’s card pool. If the draft contained draft boosters from Commander Legends or Commander Masters, each player may add up to two cards named The Prismatic Piper to their card pool, but only if those cards are used as the player’s commander(s). If the draft contained draft boosters from Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate®, each player may add up to two cards named Faceless One to their card pool, but only if those cards are used as the player’s commander(s).
    • 903.13f Commander Draft deck construction follows the same rules as Commander deck construction (see rule 903.5) with three exceptions: (1) A player’s deck must contain at least 60 cards. There is no maximum deck size. (2) A player’s deck may include any number of cards from that player’s card pool with the same name. (3) If the draft contained draft boosters from Commander Masters, any card which can be a player’s commander by itself and whose color identity includes one or fewer colors is considered to have the partner ability for the purposes of deckbuilding. (See rule 702.124, “Partner.”)
    • 903.13g Commander Draft games follow the same rules as Commander games. See rules 903.6–903.11.

From the Comprehensive Rules (June 7, 2024—Modern Horizons 3)

• 702.124. Partner
  • 702.124a Partner abilities are keyword abilities that modify the rules for deck construction in the Commander variant (see rule 903), and they function before the game begins. Each partner ability allows you to designate two legendary cards as your commander rather than one. Each partner ability has its own requirements for those two commanders. The partner abilities are: partner, partner with [name], friends forever, choose a Background, and Doctor’s companion.
  • 702.124b Your deck must contain exactly 100 cards, including its two commanders. Both commanders begin the game in the command zone.
  • 702.124c A rule or effect that refers to your commander’s color identity refers to the combined color identities of your two commanders. See rule 903.4.
  • 702.124d Except for determining the color identity of your commander, the two commanders function independently. When casting a commander with partner, ignore how many times your other commander has been cast (see rule 903.8). When determining whether a player has been dealt 21 or more combat damage by the same commander, consider damage from each of your two commanders separately (see rule 903.10a).
  • 702.124e If an effect refers to your commander while you have two commanders, it refers to either one. If an effect causes you to perform an action on your commander and it could affect both, you choose which it refers to at the time the effect is applied.
  • 702.124f Different partner abilities are distinct from one another and cannot be combined. For example, you cannot designate two cards as your commander if one of them has “partner” and the other has “partner with [name].”
  • 702.124g If a legendary card has more than one partner ability, you may choose which one to use when designating your commander, but you can’t use both. Notably, no partner ability or combination of partner abilities can ever let a player have more than two commanders.
  • 702.124h “Partner” means “You may designate two legendary creature cards as your commander rather than one if each of them has partner.”
  • 702.124i “Partner with [name]” represents two abilities. It means “You may designate two legendary creature cards as your commander rather than one if each has a ‘partner with [name]’ ability with the other’s name” and “When this permanent enters the battlefield, target player may search their library for a card named [name], reveal it, put it into their hand, then shuffle.”
  • 702.124j “Friends forever” means “You may designate two legendary creature cards as your commander rather than one if each of them has friends forever.”
  • 702.124k “Choose a Background” means “You may designate two cards as your commander rather than one if one of them is this card and the other is a legendary Background enchantment card.” You can’t designate two cards as your commander if one has a “choose a Background” ability and the other is not a legendary Background enchantment card, and legendary Background enchantment cards can’t be your commander unless you have also designated a commander with “choose a Background.”
  • 702.124m “Doctor’s companion” means “You may designate two legendary creature cards as your commander rather than one if one of them is this card and the other is a legendary Time Lord Doctor creature card that has no other creature types.”
  • 702.124n If an effect refers to a partner ability by name, it means only that partner ability and not any others. If an effect refers to the partner ability or cards with partner and doesn’t mention a specific variant of the partner ability by name, it is referring only to partner, partner with [name], or cards with either of those abilities, and does not refer to any other partner variant.