Commander Rules Guide

What Is Commander?

Commander (formerly known as Elder Dragon Highlander, or EDH) is the most popular casual multiplayer format in Magic: The Gathering. It is a singleton format, meaning each deck contains exactly 100 cards with no duplicates beyond basic lands, built around a legendary creature that serves as the deck's commander. Commander is governed by CR 903, which lays out all format-specific rules that modify the standard rules of Magic.

A typical Commander game has four players, each starting at 40 life. Games are free-for-all by default, though two-player Commander (sometimes called "1v1 Commander" or "Duel Commander") is also played. The format emphasizes self-expression in deck building, memorable game moments, and social interaction. The Commander Rules Committee and Wizards of the Coast jointly manage the format's banned list and rule updates.

What sets Commander apart from formats like Standard or Modern is the combination of the singleton restriction, the higher life total, the command zone mechanic, and the multiplayer free-for-all structure. These elements together create games that are longer, more varied, and more political than typical one-on-one constructed matches.

Deck Construction Rules

Commander decks follow specific construction rules defined in CR 903.5:

• Exactly 100 cards. Your deck must contain exactly 100 cards, and this count includes your commander. If you have a single commander, you have 99 other cards in your library. If you use partner commanders (two commanders), you have 98 other cards. CR 903.5a
• Singleton rule. Other than basic lands, no two cards in your deck may have the same English name. You cannot run two copies of Lightning Bolt, two copies of Sol Ring, or two copies of any other nonbasic card. CR 903.5b
• Color identity restriction. Every card in your deck must fall within your commander's color identity. If your commander's color identity is red and white, you cannot include any card whose color identity contains blue, black, or green. This is the single most important deckbuilding constraint and is detailed in the next section. CR 903.5c
• Legendary creature commander. Your commander must be a legendary creature, or a card that specifically says it can be your commander (such as certain planeswalkers from the Commander product lines). CR 903.3

Color Identity in Detail

Color identity is one of the most frequently misunderstood concepts in Commander. It determines which cards you can include in your deck and is defined in CR 903.4. A card's color identity is NOT the same as its color. Color identity is the set of all colors derived from the following sources:

1. Mana symbols in the mana cost. If a card costs {2}{W}{U}, its color identity includes white and blue.
2. Mana symbols in the rules text. If a card's oracle text contains {B} anywhere (including activated abilities, triggered abilities, or static abilities), black is part of its color identity. For example, Blind Obedience has extort, which contains {W/B} in its reminder text — however, reminder text is not rules text, so it does NOT contribute to color identity. But a card like Kenrith, the Returned King, whose activated abilities explicitly reference {R}, {G}, {U}, {B}, and {W}, has a five-color identity.
3. Color indicator dots. Some cards have a colored dot to the left of their type line instead of (or in addition to) a mana cost. This dot contributes to color identity. The back face of double-faced cards like Archangel Avacyn // Avacyn, the Purifier has a red color indicator, giving the card a red-and-white color identity even though only white appears in the mana cost. CR 903.4c
4. Characteristic-defining abilities. If a card has a characteristic-defining ability that sets its color (like Transguild Courier, which is "all colors"), that contributes to color identity.

A card's color identity is fixed and determined before the game begins. It does not change based on game state, zones, or effects. A card with a white-blue color identity cannot be included in a mono-white Commander deck, even if you never intend to use the blue ability.

Basic lands have a color identity matching the mana they produce: Plains are white, Islands are blue, Swamps are black, Mountains are red, and Forests are green. Wastes are colorless. You may include any number of basic lands whose color identity is a subset of your commander's color identity.

The Command Zone

The command zone is a game zone unique to Commander (and a few other formats). Your commander begins the game face-up in the command zone rather than in your library. The command zone rules are found in CR 903.6 through CR 903.9.

Casting from the Command Zone

You may cast your commander from the command zone whenever you would normally be able to cast it (typically during your main phase when the stack is empty, unless it has flash). Each time you cast your commander from the command zone beyond the first, it costs an additional {2} for each previous time you have cast it from the command zone this game. This is called the commander tax. CR 903.8

For example, the first time you cast your commander, you pay its normal mana cost. If it dies and you return it to the command zone, the next time costs its mana cost plus {2}. The third casting costs the mana cost plus {4}, and so on. The commander tax applies only when casting from the command zone — if your commander is returned to your hand or reanimated from the graveyard, you pay no additional tax for those casts.

Returning to the Command Zone

Whenever your commander would be put into your graveyard, exiled, or returned to your hand or library from anywhere, you may choose to put it into the command zone instead. This is a replacement effect that you choose to apply (or not) each time. CR 903.9a

Commander Damage

Commander damage is a win condition unique to this format. If a single commander deals 21 or more combat damage to a single player over the course of the game, that player loses the game, regardless of their current life total. CR 903.10a

Important details about commander damage:

• Combat damage only. Only damage dealt during the combat damage step counts. Damage from abilities (such as Niv-Mizzet, Parun's triggered ability), non-combat damage from effects like Flame Slash attached to equipment, or damage dealt by a commander that has lost its creature type does not count toward commander damage.
• Tracked per commander. Each commander's combat damage is tracked separately against each opponent. If Commander A deals 15 combat damage to you and Commander B deals 15 combat damage to you, you are still alive — neither has reached 21.
• Cumulative across zone changes. Commander damage accumulates regardless of zone changes. If a commander deals 10 combat damage to you, dies, returns from the command zone, and deals 11 more combat damage to you, you have taken 21 commander damage from that commander and lose.
• Lifegain does not reset it. Gaining life does not reduce commander damage taken. Even at 200 life, 21 combat damage from a single commander means you lose.

Starting Life Total and Multiplayer Dynamics

Each player in a Commander game starts at 40 life, double the usual 20 in most other formats. CR 903.7 This higher life total serves a critical game design purpose: it makes aggressive one-on-one strategies less dominant and gives slower, more synergistic decks time to develop. With three opponents to contend with, dealing 120 total damage through combat alone is a tall order, which encourages players to build engines, combos, and political alliances rather than relying purely on aggression.

Multiplayer Politics

The multiplayer aspect of Commander is one of its defining features and is not merely incidental to the rules. In a four-player game, threat assessment and alliance-building matter as much as deck construction. A few dynamics that arise from the multiplayer structure:

• Threat balancing. The strongest player at the table naturally attracts the attention of the other three. This self-correcting mechanism means that overpowered boards are often kept in check by collective opposition.
• Kingmaking. A player who is about to lose may use their remaining resources to determine which of the remaining players wins. This is a natural consequence of free-for-all multiplayer and is generally considered a normal part of the game.
• Deals and negotiations. Players commonly make informal agreements ("I won't attack you this turn if you don't destroy my enchantment"). These deals are not enforceable by the rules, but they are a core part of the Commander social contract.
• Timing and patience. Deploying threats at the wrong time paints a target on you. Experienced Commander players often hold back powerful plays until they can close the game or until an opponent's threat diverts attention elsewhere.

The "Rule Zero" conversation — a pregame discussion about power level, expectations, and house rules — has become a standard practice in Commander. While not part of the Comprehensive Rules, it is endorsed by the Commander Rules Committee as a way to ensure all players at a table have compatible expectations for the game.

Common Rules People Get Wrong

Even experienced Commander players frequently misunderstand certain format-specific rules. Here are the most common sources of confusion:

Hybrid Mana and Color Identity

Hybrid mana symbols (such as {W/U}) contribute ALL of their colors to a card's color identity. A card with a {R/G} symbol in its mana cost has both a red and green identity. This means you cannot play a card costing {R/G} in a mono-red deck, even though you could pay for it using only red mana. Many players assume hybrid means "either/or" for identity purposes, but the rules treat hybrid symbols as "both." CR 903.4d

Color Indicators on Double-Faced Cards

The back face of a transforming double-faced card contributes to color identity via its color indicator. Archangel Avacyn has a white front face and a red back face (Avacyn, the Purifier). The card's color identity is white AND red, meaning it can only be played in a deck whose commander's identity includes both white and red. This catches players off guard because they only see the front face's mana cost. CR 903.4c

Partner Commanders

Partner is a keyword ability that allows you to have two commanders instead of one. CR 702.124 Your deck's color identity is the combined color identity of both partner commanders. For example, if you pair Tymna the Weaver (white/black) with Thrasios, Triton Hero (green/blue), your deck's color identity is white, blue, black, and green, and you may include cards of any combination of those four colors.

There are two types of partner: the original "Partner" keyword (which can pair with any other creature that has Partner) and "Partner with [specific creature]" (which can only pair with the named creature). These are functionally different abilities, and a creature with "Partner with Brallin" cannot partner with an arbitrary creature that has the generic Partner keyword.

Companion in Commander

The companion mechanic from Ikoria works in Commander but requires meeting the companion's deck-building restriction across all 100 cards (including the commander). CR 702.139 If you have a companion, it starts outside the game and you may pay {3} to put it into your hand once per game (per the companion errata). Your companion does NOT count toward the 100-card deck minimum, and it does NOT count as a commander. It is not subject to commander tax and does not deal commander damage.

Meeting companion requirements in Commander can be challenging. For example, Lutri, the Spellchaser requires no duplicate nonland cards, which is already the Commander singleton rule, making Lutri automatically legal as a companion in every Izzet-or-greater deck. For this reason, Lutri is banned as a companion in Commander.

Noncombat Damage Is Not Commander Damage

A common misconception is that any damage from a commander counts toward the 21-damage threshold. It does not. If your commander deals damage via a noncombat ability — for instance, Torbran, Thane of Red Fell's damage-boosting effect or a direct-damage ability like Niv-Mizzet, Parun — that damage does not accumulate as commander damage. Only damage assigned and dealt during the combat damage step counts.

Commander Tax Stacks with Other Cost Increases

The commander tax is an additional cost, and it stacks with all other cost increases and reductions. If your commander has been cast from the command zone twice before (so the tax is {4}) and an opponent controls Thalia, Guardian of Thraben (noncreature spells cost {1} more), and your commander is a noncreature spell, you pay the mana cost plus {4} plus {1}. Cost reductions like Helm of Awakening apply as well. The commander tax cannot be reduced below {0} for the tax portion specifically — it always increases by {2} per previous command zone cast.

The Banned List

Commander maintains its own banned list, separate from the banned and restricted lists of other formats. The Commander banned list is curated by the Commander Rules Committee in partnership with Wizards of the Coast. Cards are banned for a variety of reasons, including being unfun in multiplayer, creating degenerate game states, or warping deck construction around a single card.

Notable categories of banned cards include:

• Fast mana and power cards: The original Moxen (Mox Pearl, Mox Sapphire, etc.), Black Lotus, and Time Walk are all banned, as in most formats.
• Mass land destruction and resource denial: Cards like Balance and Upheaval are banned because they create especially negative play experiences in a format designed around longer games.
• Commanders with problematic abilities: Some legendary creatures are banned as commanders specifically due to their tendency to create non-interactive or repetitive game states.
• Ante and manual dexterity cards: As in all sanctioned formats, cards involving ante or physical dexterity are not legal.

The current banned list is maintained at mtgcommander.net and is also available through Wizards of the Coast's official rules pages. The list is updated periodically, with announcements typically made before the changes take effect.

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