Commander (format)

For other uses, see Commander (disambiguation).

Commander
DCI Sanctioned
Paper
Magic Online
Magic Arena
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Type	Constructed
Multiplayer
Add. rules	Commander 40 life points Singleton deck: Exactly 100 cards
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format:"Commander"

Commander, as officially titled by Wizards of the Coast (also known as Elder Dragon Highlander or EDH), is a casual multiplayer format for Magic: the Gathering.

It is a Highlander-variant eternal format with specific rules centered around a legendary creature called the commander.

Description

Created and popularized by fans, the Commander variant is usually played in casual Free-for-All multiplayer games, although two-player games are also popular. Each player starts at 40 life, and each player's deck is headed by a legendary creature designated as that deck's commander. A player's choice of commander determines which other cards can be played in the deck (while except for basic lands, each card in the deck must have a different name).

An official banned list for the Commander format is maintained by the Commander Rules Committee at MTGCommander.net, not by Wizards of the Coast, though Wizards does approve of any changes made to it by the rules committee. The 1v1 Commander format on Magic Online used to follow the same banned list, but it now has its own.

A player's commander works differently from other cards in the game. Before the game begins, each player sets their commander aside in a special zone, the command zone. You may cast your commander from the command zone for its normal costs plus the "commander tax", an additional for each previous time it has been cast from the command zone this way (initially 0 additional cost). If your commander moves to the graveyard or exile, you may choose to put it into the command zone as a state-based action upon it entering said zone; therefore, abilities that trigger when a creature dies or is exiled work as normal when a commander dies or is exiled, but the commander will still end up in the command zone. If your commander moves to a hidden zone (one that is not visible to all players, such as your hand or library), you may choose to put it back into the command zone as a replacement effect.

In addition to the normal Magic loss conditions, if a player is dealt 21 points of combat damage from a single commander over the course of the game, that player loses the game. This combat damage total is kept track of separately for each player's commander, and does not reduce if a player gains life.

This format was created in the early days of Magic. Its originators used commanders only from the Legends set, especially the Elder Dragons, such as Chromium and Nicol Bolas, hence the original name for the format, Elder Dragon Highlander. Over time, the format grew in popularity, especially among judges, who would play it following days officiating at Pro Tours or Grand Prix events. It soon became mainstream and is now a favorite format of casual playgroups everywhere, from the kitchen table to Magic Online to Wizards of the Coast headquarters.

Philosophy

Principles of typical commander games are focused on fun, friendship, social interaction within the game (including those that affect gameplay decisions, known as "politics"), and decks and plays that let players express their creativity and allow all players to enjoy themselves. It's not traditionally very competitive, allowing players a lot of flexibility in what kind of decks and strategies to use. "Competitive Elder Dragon Highlander", abbreviated cEDH, is an alternate style of playing Commander that uses the exact same rules, but expects that players will play optimally with the intention of winning. Due to that pressure for high performance, a more distinct metagame exists for this style with a smaller selection of decks working better than others, just as in other competitive formats.

"Rule Zero"

While there are a number of established rules in Commander in regards to deckbuilding and gameplay, a philosophical "rule zero" takes precedence, in that that any rule can be broken in the name of fun. More generally, it establishes that play groups are responsible for their own idea of enjoyable games of Commander, and that sometimes that involves doing something unorthodox, generally under the justification that their changes (i.e. Un-cards, banned cards, unqualified commanders) are not detrimental to gameplay. In practice, it involves communicating what is acceptable for the group prior to beginning the game as to not set mismatched expectations.

Deckbuilding rules

• When choosing a commander, you must use either a legendary creature, a non-creature permanent with the ability to be commander, a pair of legendary creatures or planeswalkers that both have partner, or a legendary creature that has Choose a Background paired with a background legendary enchantment. The chosen card or pair is called the commander or general of the deck. Decks may contain other legendary creatures and planeswalkers within them as well.
• Each deck must contain exactly 100 cards, including the commander(s).
• No cards in any player's deck may have a color identity that does not match or is not a subset of the color identity of the commander(s). The color identity of a card is composed of its colors plus the colors of every colored mana symbol that appears on the card, whether in its mana cost or its rules text; for double-faced cards, the colors and text boxes of both faces count. Hybrid mana symbols count as both halves' colors for this purpose.
  • For example, if a player uses Isamaru, Hound of Konda as their commander, they cannot include Kitchen Finks in the same deck. However, any player who uses Bosh, Iron Golem as their commander may put Lightning Bolt in their deck.
  • Mana symbols on basic lands count, as do mana symbols granted by basic land types on nonbasic lands. Therefore, an Isamaru deck may only include Plains and Wastes for its basic lands.
  • Mana symbols in reminder text do not count. Therefore, an Isamaru deck may include white cards that have Extort, such as Blind Obedience, and Charmed Pendant may be included in any deck.
• A player may not include more than one copy of any individual card in their deck unless it is a basic land or a card that specifically states otherwise (e.g. Shadowborn Apostle).
• The Commander format does not use a sideboard; cards that take other cards from outside the game (such as Wishes) must be discussed with the playgroup before being put in the deck. However, a player may use a companion in addition to their 100-card deck, provided their deck meets the companion's requirements.
• Like Vintage and Legacy, Commander is an eternal format with no restrictions on which sets cards can come from. Just as in those formats, however, acorn cards are not allowed. All Conspiracy-type cards are also banned, although other cards from Conspiracy sets are not, and often work well in Commander due to their shared multiplayer focus.

Rules

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

Commander

1. A casual variant in which each deck is led by a legendary creature. See rule 903, “Commander.”

2. A designation given to one legendary creature card in each player’s deck in the Commander casual variant.

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.

Obsolete terminology

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

EDH (Obsolete)

An older name for the Commander casual variant. See rule 903, “Commander.”

Commander damage

A player that has been dealt 21 or more combat damage by the same commander over the course of the game loses the game. This is an additional state-based effect. Note that gaining life won't affect this total in any way.

Summary

• Before play begins, each player's commander is placed in the command zone.
• Players start at 40 life.
• Players may cast their commander card from the command zone. However, each commander costs more to cast for each time it has been cast this way. (If a commander ends up in a player's hand, they may cast it as normal, and it neither costs more nor affects the cost to play it again later.)
• If a commander would move zones outside the command zone at any point during a game, its owner may put it back in the command zone instead.
• Abilities which bring other cards you own from outside the game into the game (Wishes) do not function in Commander without prior agreement on what cards can be brought into the game with them. Notably, abilities that let you bring the cards those abilities are tied to into the game still function in Commander as normal (such as Companions).

Banned list

While cards may be banned or allowed by specific playgroups or tournament organizers, in most games, MTGCommander.net's banned list is used as it is considered the most well-known banned list for the format. This list is used by WotC when making their Commander-related products. There is no hard enforcement of this, however, due to the format not being DCI-sanctioned, leaving tournament organizers the option to make their own banned lists for events.

MTGCommander.net's banned list contains the following cards:

• All cards that refer to the ante mechanic.
• All cards that Wizards has removed from constructed formats (due to being culturally offensive).
• All cards with the Conspiracy card type.

• Ancestral Recall
• Balance
• Biorhythm
• Black Lotus
• Braids, Cabal Minion
• Channel
• Chaos Orb
• Coalition Victory
• Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
• Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
• Falling Star
• Fastbond
• Flash
• Gifts Ungiven
• Golos, Tireless Pilgrim
• Griselbrand
• Hullbreacher
• Iona, Shield of Emeria
• Karakas
• Leovold, Emissary of Trest
• Library of Alexandria
• Limited Resources
• Lutri, the Spellchaser
• Mox Emerald
• Mox Jet
• Mox Pearl
• Mox Ruby
• Mox Sapphire
• Panoptic Mirror
• Paradox Engine
• Primeval Titan
• Prophet of Kruphix
• Recurring Nightmare
• Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
• Shahrazad
• Sundering Titan
• Sway of the Stars
• Sylvan Primordial
• Time Vault
• Time Walk
• Tinker
• Tolarian Academy
• Trade Secrets
• Upheaval
• Yawgmoth's Bargain

In the past, there was a separate list that banned cards from being used as the deck commander. This rule was abolished by MTGCommander.net on September 12, 2014.

As a celebration of the release of Unstable, silver-bordered cards were made legal From December 1, 2017, until January 15, 2018, by MTGCommander.net. An additional banned list, as well as a list of cards that are not banned, but not recommended (or at least must be used carefully as to avoid trouble) was also created for those cards. The list is continued for Silver-bordered commander when silver border were made legal in sanctioned events.

Lutri, the Spellchaser from Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths was banned in Commander the day it was spoiled (even before release).

On June 10, 2020, in conjunction with a Wizards of the Coast statement, the Rules Committee banned seven cards considered to have racist connotations.

Events and venues

A number of commander-focused events have been organized by Wizards of the Coast to promote and/or provide a way for people to play Commander.

Promo

A special Sol Ring Commander promo (foil and non-foil) with new art by Mark Tedin was released at Grand Prix Las Vegas, just before the release of Commander 2019. It was also available at several other Commander events at MagicFests in 2019, as well as some events in 2020.

Magic Online

May 10, 2017, Magic Online launched tournament play for 1v1 Commander consisting of two-player queues and a Friendly Constructed League, and created a separate banned list for Magic Online's Commander format. 1v1 Commander received a starting life total of 30, but multiplayer remained at 40. Both formats share this banned list.

Commander Nights

Commander Nights is a WPN-organized weekly Commander league with rotating rules and achievement-based prizes.

Commander Party

A WPN-organized event introduced in 2021. It is a one-day event where players are immersed in a story affected by their in-game choices.

External links

• Official Commander Website
• Adam Styborski (August 15, 2017). "Catching Up on Commander Changes". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
• Charlie Hall (May 28, 2020). "Commander: The definitive history of Magic’s most popular format". Polygon.com.

See also

• Tiny Leaders
• Duel Commander
• Pauper Commander
• Folk Commander