As of 2024, there are over 27,000 distinctive playing cards in Magic: The Gathering. However regardless of the excessive variety of playing cards, most codecs equivalent to Commonplace and Pauper embrace restrictions for the sorts of playing cards allowed. In case you’ve discovered your dad or mum’s previous MTG playing cards or got here throughout some at a storage sale, likelihood is the playing cards can’t be utilized in a majority of the sport modes that native recreation shops (LGS) maintain occasions for. 

One kind of recreation mode that’s an exception to that is thought of the most well-liked recreation mode of Magic: The Gathering: Commander. It’s a bit of completely different out of your regular Magic duel.

The way to play Commander in MTG

Commander, also referred to as Elder Dragon Highlander (EDH), is taken into account the most well-liked (and most enjoyable) format in Magic: The Gathering. Stroll into any LGS and if there are MTG gamers, they almost definitely have a Commander deck. So what separates this format from the remainder? 

• Commander is a free-for-all format performed with 2-6 gamers
  • For the very best expertise, it’s beneficial to play with not less than three gamers. This is because of Commander-specific playing cards that introduce interactions with a number of opponents
• Every participant begins with 40 well being versus the usual 20 well being.
• Every participant has a delegated Commander card (extra data on that under). 
• Commanders are performed from a zone recognized merely because the Command Zone. 
• When destroyed or exiled, Commanders are returned to the Command Zone as a substitute.
• Every subsequent forged of the Commander would require a further two colorless mana (there isn’t a cap to this extra price).

A further rule in Commander that helps gamers get residence at a good hour is the Commander Injury rule. If a Commander offers not less than 21 fight harm to an opponent over the course of the sport, that opponent loses the sport. So don’t fear, in case your former buddy has a subject of Lifelink Angels and their well being is properly over 300, you don’t must swing on them till midnight. 

Aside from these guidelines, every part performs precisely how typical Magic: The Gathering modes do. So with these guidelines in thoughts, it’s time to maneuver on to what my private favourite a part of Commander is: deckbuilding.

The way to construct a Commander deck in MTG

Commander decks have 40 extra playing cards than their Commonplace counterparts. Whereas that looks as if it’d make for a dearer recreation mode, the other is true. Since Commander has far fewer restrictions and banned playing cards, it signifies that the demand for almost all of playing cards is far decrease than that of the Commonplace format.

Native recreation shops typically have containers with unsorted playing cards which are excellent for filling out a Commander deck, typically priced beneath a greenback. On-line, many of those playing cards go for as little as a penny every. With that in thoughts, listed here are the foundations for constructing a Commander deck in Magic: The Gathering:

• Your deck have to be comprised of 99 playing cards plus your Commander.
• Any Legendary creature can be utilized as a Commander.
• One Legendary creature card is designated the Commander.
• Two exceptions to this rule are:
  • Two Legendary creatures which have the Accomplice capacity (this could enable 98 different playing cards within the deck)
  • Planeswalkers that comprise the textual content, “this card might be your commander.”
• The remainder of the deck have to be constructed across the Commander’s mana colour id.
  • This consists of the mana colours used to forged the Commander card together with any mana prices related to skills that the cardboard might have.
  • Ex. Ghired, Mirror of the Wilds has a mana price of Pink, Inexperienced and White. If used as a Commander, the deck can solely comprise playing cards which have Pink, Inexperienced, White, or Colorless mana prices.
• Apart from fundamental land playing cards, every card have to be distinctive.
  • Playing cards which have the identical identify however are from completely different units are thought of the identical card.

Gaining access to practically your complete library of MTG playing cards makes placing collectively an inexpensive, well-built deck rather more accessible for gamers. It’s value noting that your Commander or some other card in your deck doesn’t must be in English. You’ll find nice offers on MTG playing cards in numerous languages through the use of websites equivalent to EDHREC or Scryfall which have many filter choices that streamline your card search.

Wizards of the Coast makes it even simpler to leap into Commander by promoting preconstructed (pre-con) Commander decks. Wizards has begun to extend the variety of Commander precon units yearly, with 2023 having 25 Commander precons, up from previous years that noticed solely 4-5 decks being launched. These preconstructed decks present entry to Commanders which are crafted particularly for the sport mode and are a stable basis for brand spanking new gamers. 

Many guides might be discovered within the MTG group that give concepts on tips on how to take pre-con decks to the next degree with numerous price range choices. Nevertheless, it’s beneficial that you just learn the way the Commander performs first so that you just perceive what synergies or instructions that the deck can take earlier than you start spending cash. 

Why Commander over different MTG codecs?

In contrast to Commonplace, Commander decks really really feel like your individual. As an alternative of chasing a meta the place all people performs Azorius Management and gamers know the precise decklist that their opponents have, Commander permits for countless potentialities. You may construct round your favourite Legendary creature, your favourite tribe, or assemble a deck completely round a single win situation (equivalent to this instance from Commander Mechanic with the Luck Bobblehead from the Fallout Universes Past set).

Along with your first Commander deck in hand, you’re prepared to hitch gamers of the most well-liked format in Magic: The Gathering. In case you don’t have an LGS close to you otherwise you’re hesitant to place your friendships on the road with an absurd deck technique, you’re in luck. These days, MTG is less complicated than ever to play on-line, with choices for each kind of participant. From official platforms equivalent to Magic: The Gathering On-line or SpellTable, to community-managed apps like Cockatrice and XMage, your playing cards received’t ever have an opportunity to gather mud.