Commander Format Panel

The Commander Format Panel (CFP) is an advisory group founded by Wizards of the Coast in October 2024 to help guide the Commander format. It is the spiritual successor to the Commander Advisory Group.

Description

Fourteen of the seventeen founding members (and Mitzy) at Wizards of the Coast Commander Summit, September 2025.

The group discusses the state of the Commander format and provides recommendations of action (e.g. bannings) to the Play Design team at Wizards of the Coast. Unlike the former Commander Rules Committee, the Commander Panel has no final authority, but it has a direct line to Wizards' decision makers. At its foundation, the panel included three of the five former Commander Rules Committee members and nine of the twelve former Commander Advisory Group members.

The panel is managed by Gavin Verhey from Wizards of the Coast. After the company took over the management of the format, every member of the RC and CAG was offered a position. In addition, people from outside the US were approached. Members represent the full range of the Commander spectrum, from players who prefer extremely casual decks to "cEDH" (competitive Commander) players. The members of the panel are paid by Wizards of the Coast for their work on the panel.

Member rotation

Every year around October-November-December, the panel will rotate a number of members out with new members joining. Because Commander is a casual format without a lot of major data points, like tournaments, to help guide discussions on format health, there is a need for the panel to have a regular influx of new view points. The members of the initial panel all signed a one-year contract with the expectation that a number of them would be leaving after that year. In his introduction article, Gavin outlined that at the first rotation the size of the panel would likely shrink as seventeen people was larger than ideal. Members who have rotated out of the Panel are not excluded from rejoining it at a future date.

The first formal rotation occurred in December 2025, with six members leaving and two new members joining.

Members

Since 2024

• Bandit (Belgium)
• Ben Wheeler
• Deco (Brasil)
• Ittetu (Japan)
• Josh Lee Kwai
• Lua Stardust
• Olivia Gobert-Hicks
• Rachel Weeks
• Rebell Lily
• Tim Willoughby
• Toby Elliott

Since 2025

• Alex Heyer
• Tomer Abramovici (France)

Former members

• Attack on Cardboard (Australia)
• Charlotte Sable
• DeQuan Watson
• Greg Sablan
• Kristen Gregory
• Scott Larabee