Commander is Magic's most popular multiplayer format, and it's the one we see most often at the tables in the shop. The rules don't work like Standard or Modern, so if you're coming from a classic constructed format, here's what changes and how to build your first deck.
The basic rules
Your deck holds 99 cards plus 1 commander, for a total of 100. Apart from basic lands, you can only run one copy of any card. In exchange, you get access to all of Magic's history, minus the banned cards.
Your commander is a legendary creature or a legendary artifact. Games are normally four players, free-for-all, and every player starts at 40 life. Wizards estimates about 20 minutes of play per player.
Color identity
This is the rule that surprises new players most. A card's color identity comes from any part of the card, its cost as well as any mana symbols in its text. Every card in your deck may only use mana symbols that also appear on your commander. Colorless cards are allowed.
In practice, if your commander is red and white, a card with a blue mana symbol in its text doesn't go in the deck, even if the card itself is colorless.
The command zone and the tax
Your commander starts face up in the command zone, not in your deck. You can cast it from there for its normal cost, plus two extra mana for each previous time you've cast it from the command zone that game. If your commander would go to your library, hand, graveyard, or exile, you may return it to the command zone instead.
There's also a loss condition unique to the format: a player who has taken 21 or more combat damage from the same commander over the course of the game loses the game.
The banned list
Commander has its own list, and it doesn't look like the other formats'. Black Lotus, the five Moxen, Ancestral Recall, Time Walk, and Timetwister are banned. Meanwhile, cards banned elsewhere are perfectly legal here. There are also special cases, like Lutri, the Spellchaser, which is banned only as a companion. Check the official list before buying an expensive card for a deck.
Brackets and the Game Changers list
Wizards has introduced five brackets to help players match up before a game: Exhibition, Core, Upgraded, Optimized, and cEDH. Brackets 1, 2, and 3 cover different levels of socially focused play; brackets 4 and 5 aim at higher power or outright competitive play. Each bracket has an intent behind it plus a few barometers, notably two-card infinite combos, extra turns, and mass land denial.
The Game Changers list goes with the brackets. These are cards that can badly warp a Commander game. Bracket 1 and 2 decks run none of them, bracket 3 allows up to three, and brackets 4 and 5 have no limit.
Two things to keep in mind: brackets are entirely optional, and they're still in beta. They're also the simplest tool available for avoiding the game where one deck flattens the other three.
Our building advice
From behind the counter, here's what makes the difference in a first deck.
Pick the commander first, the theme second. The commander sets your color identity, so it sets everything else.
Plan for enough lands and mana sources. Singleton means you can't repeat your best cards, so consistency has to come from your mana base.
Keep a way to deal with your opponents' threats. At four players, there are three times as many permanents to answer as in a one-on-one game.
Say your bracket before the game. It's easier than explaining afterward why your deck won on turn five.
A preconstructed deck is a legitimate starting point. We keep them in stock, and they upgrade one card at a time.
Before you play
Two official references worth keeping handy: the Commander format page on Wizards' site, which holds the brackets and the Game Changers list, and the banned and restricted list. Both change.
Which commander is leading your deck right now? Write to us, we're always curious to see what people are building.
