Commander Rules Explained Simply

Commander has a few rules that set it apart from other Magic: The Gathering formats. None of them are complicated, but knowing them before your first game saves you from awkward mid-game corrections. Here is everything you need to play.

The Basics

Commander is a multiplayer format. Most games have 4 players, though it works with 2-6. Each player starts with 40 life (instead of the usual 20).

Your deck has exactly 100 cards. One of those cards is your commander - a legendary creature that sits in a special zone called the command zone. The other 99 go in your library like normal.

One more twist: Commander is a singleton format. You can only run one copy of any card (except basic lands). No four copies of Lightning Bolt. No two copies of Sol Ring. One of each.

Your Commander

Your commander is a legendary creature you choose before the game. It starts in the command zone, face up, visible to everyone. You can cast it from the command zone whenever you could normally cast a creature.

If your commander would go to the graveyard or exile, you can choose to send it back to the command zone instead. This means your commander is always available - opponents can kill it, but it keeps coming back.

Commander Tax

Every time you cast your commander from the command zone beyond the first, it costs 2 more mana. First cast is normal cost. Second cast costs 2 extra. Third cast costs 4 extra. This keeps things balanced - you always have access to your commander, but repeatedly recasting it gets expensive fast.

A 4-mana commander costs 4, then 6, then 8, then 10. Budget your mana accordingly.

Commander Damage

If a single commander deals 21 or more combat damage to a player over the course of the game, that player loses. This is tracked separately per commander. It only counts combat damage (attacking and blocking), not ability damage.

Commander damage gives aggressive strategies a way to close games even against decks that gain massive amounts of life.

Color Identity

This is the rule that confuses new players the most, but it is actually simple.

Your commander has a color identity based on every mana symbol anywhere on the card - mana cost, text box, everything. Every card in your 99 must fall within your commander's color identity.

If your commander is red and white, every card in your deck must be red, white, both, or colorless. No blue cards. No green cards. No black cards.

Color identity is not the same as color. A card with a white mana cost but a black ability in its text box has a white-and-black color identity. Hybrid mana symbols count as both colors.

Basic lands have the color identity of the mana they produce. A Mountain is red. An Island is blue. Wastes are colorless.

Turn Structure

Commander follows the same turn structure as regular Magic:

Untap - untap your permanents
Upkeep - triggered abilities happen
Draw - draw a card (the player who goes first skips this on turn one)
Main Phase 1 - play lands, cast spells
Combat - declare attackers, blockers, deal damage
Main Phase 2 - play more spells
End Step - end-of-turn triggers, discard to hand size (7 cards)

The key difference in Commander: you choose which opponent to attack. Politics, deals, and diplomacy are part of the game.

Winning and Losing

You lose if:

Your life total hits 0
You take 21 commander damage from a single commander
You draw from an empty library
A card effect says you lose (like Thassa's Oracle)

Last player standing wins.

Banned List

Commander has a small banned list of cards that are too powerful or unfun for the format. The official Rules Committee maintains it. Before building a deck, check if any cards you want to use are on the list.

Most of the banned cards are either instantly game-ending combos or cards that create miserable play patterns. Your playgroup may also have house rules - ask before you play.

What Next?

Now that you know the rules, you are ready to build your first deck. Pick a commander that interests you and let Manacove's AI help you fill in the other 99 cards. You describe what you want the deck to do, and the AI handles card selection, mana base, and synergy.

Start building your first Commander deck for free - 3 free builds every month, no credit card required.