100-card singleton, 4-player, the most popular MTG format
Magic: The Gathering Commander — The format that defines casual MTG
Commander (also called EDH — Elder Dragon Highlander) is the most played Magic: The Gathering format in the world. Born in 2002 as a casual variant for 4-player tables, today it has its own competitive scene (cEDH), official products (Wizards releases preconstructed Commander decks every year) and pulls more new players than any other format. The rules are simple: each player picks a Legendary Creature as their "commander", builds a 100-card singleton deck using only colors of that commander (color identity), starts with 40 life, and plays free-for-all against 3 opponents. Games are longer (60-90 min on average), more political, and explore card pools other formats can't touch — Vintage staples, reserved-list cards, even Un-set cards in some pods.
Quick reference
- Deck size
- 100
- Starting life
- 40
- MTG Arena
- No
- MTGO
- Yes
Key rules
- 01
Decks are exactly 100 cards, including the commander.
- 02
Singleton: only one copy of each card (except basic lands).
- 03
The commander must be a Legendary Creature (or a legal Planeswalker designated as commander).
- 04
Color identity rule: every card in the deck must only use mana symbols from the commander's colors.
- 05
Players start with 40 life. The commander can be cast from the command zone; each cast costs 2 extra mana per previous cast.
- 06
Commander damage: 21 combat damage from a single commander eliminates the targeted player.
Strategy and feel
Commander rewards multi-purpose card choices over single-shot combos. The political layer (table talk, alliances, threat assessment) is as important as the deck itself. Wizards' official Commander Brackets system (1=Exhibition, 5=cEDH) helps match playgroups by power level.
Official B&R list
Wizards maintains the official banned and restricted list. Updated periodically — check the official source before any tournament:
https://magic.wizards.com/en/banned-restricted-list#commanderReady to build a Commander deck?
Build a Commander deck with automatic format validation, import from Moxfield/Arena, and play online with friends when it's ready.