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Commander Format

WHAT'S NEW IN COMMANDER (2017 Edition)?

Commander returns with four new tribal-themed, 100-card decks, featuring 56 all-new Magic cards legal in Eternal formats (Vintage and Legacy). Cards from Commander (2017 Edition) will be featured and distributed in connection with a future offering on Magic Online.

Commander is an exciting, unique way to play Magic that is all about awesome legendary creatures, big plays, and battling your friends in epic multiplayer games! In Commander, each player chooses a legendary creature as the commander of their deck. They then play with a 99-card deck that contains only cards of their commander's colors. Also, other than basic lands, each deck can only use one copy of any card. During the game, you can cast your commander multiple times, meaning your favorite Legendary Creature can come back again and again to lead the charge as you battle for victory!

These Commander decks introduce an ability called eminence that lets your commander lead from the command zone, even before they have entered the battlefield. The eminence ability appears on characters from all parts of Magic lore, allowing you to call on the power and skill of some of the best leaders in the Multiverse.

HOW TO PLAY COMMANDER

The Commander format is all about picking your hero and building a deck around them. In this casual, multiplayer format, you choose a legendary creature to serve as your commander and build the rest of your deck around their color identity.

THE BASICS

YOUR DECK

  • 1 commander card (legendary creature)
  • 99 other cards
  • Only one copy of any card, except basic lands
  • All cards must be in the color identity of the commander

THE GAME

  • 2–6 players
  • Free-for-all multiplayer format
  • Start with 40 life
  • All commanders start in their command zone
  • Take turns in clockwise order
  • Last player standing wins

Full Rules

 

 

TERMS TO KNOW

Color Identity

A card's color identity can come from any part of that card, including its casting cost and any mana symbols in its text. Every card in your Commander deck must only use mana symbols that also appear on your commander. Colorless cards are allowed as well.

Command Zone

This is where your commander resides during the game when they are not in play. At the start of the game, each player puts their commander face up into the command zone. A commander can be cast from the command zone for its normal costs, plus an additional two mana for each previous time it's been cast from the command zone this game. If your commander would be put into your library, hand, graveyard or exile from anywhere, you may return it to your command zone instead.

Commander Damage

A player that's been dealt 21 or more combat damage by the same commander over the course of the game loses the game. The commander is tracked across zone changes for this purpose (for example, if one player takes control of another player's commander, any damage that commander already dealt is still counted).

READY-TO-PLAY DECKS

If you're new to Commander, a pre-built deck can be the best place to start. The below sets include decks that were created to be fun, powerful and ready to play.

Products

Feline Ferocity

Arahbo, Roar of the World is a majestic leader and father to cats across all planes of the Multiverse. His deafening voice empowers his ferocious feline allies to claw through enemy forces and crush those who dare challenge his ancient might.

Vampiric Bloodlust

As the sole origin of their bloodline, Edgar Markov commands the Markov vampires of Innistrad. With his tremendous influence, Edgar continually expands his vampire army, overwhelming foes with his ageless legion.

Draconic Domination

When time began, the Ur-Dragon began with it. As the primordial ancestor and lifeblood of all dragons, the Ur-Dragon imbues strength into dragons from every corner of the Multiverse so that they may rain endless fire and destruction upon the enemies of dragonkind.

Arcane Wizardry

Inalla, Archmage Ritualist delves into arcane mysteries in pursuit of forbidden dark magic. Gathering an inner circle of loyal acolytes to her cause, Inalla harnesses their collective power to extract the life force from her enemies.

Commander (2017 Edition)

BUILD YOUR OWN DECK

STEP 1: CHOOSE YOUR COMMANDER

The hero of your deck can be almost any legendary creature from Magic's history. As long as a card has "legendary creature" as its card type, you can choose it to be your commander.

If you know what colors you want to play, but don't know which commander you want to play with, we can help. Choose your colors below and you'll get a few examples of legendary creatures that could be your commander.

STEP 2: BUILD YOUR SUPPORT

With your commander chosen, next you'll want to find cards in their color identity that synergize well. Choose creatures and spells that fit together and can also take advantage of the multiplayer format. This is why a lot of Commander players like to build their deck around a tribe of creatures. For example, if Ishkanah, Grafwidow is your commander, you might include a number of other Spiders in your deck.

STEP 3: ADD MANA SOURCES

No deck is complete without a balanced source of mana fixing. With so many cards to choose from to help generate mana, finding the right balance of lands will vary depending on your deck. However, most decks will use 38–40 lands.

PLAY FREE-FOR-ALL MULTIPLAYER

If you're playing a game of Commander with three or more people, you play against each other in a free-for-all multiplayer format.

Each player starts with 40 life, places their commander face-up in their command zone, and draws a hand of seven cards. Players are seated randomly in a circle and turns progress one player at a time in clockwise order around the table.

During gameplay, a player may choose to attack any other player, regardless of their position on the table, and can also choose to attack multiple different players during their attack phase. Permanents, spells, and abilities can also target any player around the table (as long as they don't explicitly say they must be used on "you").

Your goal is to crush every other player, using strategy, skill, and the cards at your disposal. The last player left standing in each game wins!

BANNED CARDS

The following cards are banned from the format:

 

Full Rules

 

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