Understanding Color Identity in Commander: What Can Go in Your Deck?

Color identity is the rule that defines which cards you can include in your Commander deck. It sounds simple on the surface - your cards must match your commander's colors - but the details trip up even experienced players.

Understanding color identity thoroughly will save you from illegal deck submissions, confusing interactions, and missed deckbuilding opportunities.

The Basic Rule

Every card in your Commander deck must have a color identity that is a subset of your commander's color identity. If your commander's color identity is blue and green, you can play cards that are blue, green, blue-green, or colorless. You cannot play cards that are red, white, black, or any combination that includes those colors.

What Counts Toward Color Identity

Color identity is not just the mana cost. It includes every mana symbol that appears anywhere on the card.

Mana Cost

The most obvious contributor. A card that costs 2UG (two generic, one blue, one green) has a blue-green color identity.

Rules Text

Mana symbols in a card's rules text count toward its color identity. This is where most confusion happens.

Example: Kenrith, the Returned King costs 4W (four generic, one white). But his rules text includes activated abilities that cost red, blue, black, and green mana. This makes Kenrith's color identity all five colors, not just white.

Example: Blind Obedience costs 1W and has the extort mechanic. The reminder text for extort contains a black-white hybrid symbol. However, reminder text does not count toward color identity. Blind Obedience's color identity is just white, and it can go in any deck that includes white.

Color Indicators

Some cards have a colored dot on their type line instead of (or in addition to) a mana cost. This color indicator contributes to color identity.

Example: Archangel Avacyn transforms into Avacyn, the Purifier, which has a red color indicator. This means the card's color identity is red and white, even though the front face only costs white mana.

What Does NOT Count

• Reminder text: Text in italics and parentheses is flavor-only and does not affect color identity.
• Color words in card text: A card that says "target red creature" does not have a red color identity just because it mentions the word "red."
• Basic land types: A card that searches for a "Forest" can go in any deck, even one without green.

Common Edge Cases

Hybrid Mana

Cards with hybrid mana symbols (like B/G, which can be paid with either black or green) have a color identity that includes both colors. Deathrite Shaman costs B/G, making its color identity black and green. You need a commander that includes both colors to play it.

This is one of the most counterintuitive rules for new players. Even though you could cast Deathrite Shaman using only black mana, you cannot put it in a mono-black Commander deck.

Phyrexian Mana

Phyrexian mana symbols (like G/P, which can be paid with green mana or 2 life) count toward color identity. Birthing Pod costs 3(G/P) and has a green color identity, even though you could theoretically pay for it entirely with life.

Lands

Basic lands have no mana symbols in their rules text and are colorless in terms of color identity. However, the Commander rules have a separate restriction for lands with basic land types: a card with a basic land type can only be included in a deck if each color of mana it could produce is part of the commander's color identity.

This means Breeding Pool (a Forest Island) can only go in a deck whose commander's color identity includes both green and blue. The printed mana ability text is reminder text for its basic land types, but the deckbuilding restriction comes from the land types themselves, not from mana symbols. The same applies to all shock lands and original dual lands - their basic land types restrict which decks can use them.

For lands without basic land types, the color identity comes from mana symbols in their actual rules text. Dimir Aqueduct says "{T}: Add {U}{B}" in its rules text (not reminder text), giving it a blue-black color identity. Command Tower produces any color in your commander's identity but has no mana symbols in its text, so it has a colorless identity and can go in any deck.

Companion

If a card from outside your deck (like a Companion) would enter the game, its color identity must also match your commander.

How Color Identity Shapes Deckbuilding

Your commander's color identity is not just a restriction - it is a tool that shapes your deck's strengths and weaknesses.

White: Board wipes, removal, lifegain, tokens, enchantment-based strategies. Weak at card draw.

Blue: Counterspells, card draw, bounce effects, combo potential. Weak at removing resolved threats.

Black: Tutors, removal, reanimation, sacrifice strategies. Pays life and sacrifices creatures for power.

Red: Burn, haste, impulse draw, treasure generation. Strong in the short term, weaker in long games.

Green: Ramp, big creatures, enchantment and artifact removal, card draw tied to creatures. The most self-sufficient color.

Two-color combinations inherit the strengths of both colors while covering each other's weaknesses. Blue-green, for example, combines green's ramp with blue's card draw for a powerful value engine. Black-white combines removal from both colors for excellent control.

Practical Tips

Check before you buy: Before purchasing cards for your deck, verify their color identity. A card like Alesha, Who Smiles at Death looks mono-red but has a red-white-black (Mardu) color identity because her activated ability includes white and black mana symbols.

Use deckbuilding tools: Tools like Manacove automatically filter cards by your commander's color identity, so you never accidentally include an illegal card.

Colorless is always legal: Cards with no color identity (artifacts, colorless creatures, lands without mana symbols) can go in any Commander deck. This is why Sol Ring, Command Tower, and Thought Vessel appear in nearly every list.

More colors means more options but harder mana: A five-color commander gives you access to every card in Magic, but you need a mana base that reliably produces all five colors. For new players, sticking to one or two colors makes deckbuilding and mana management much simpler.

Understanding color identity is fundamental to Commander deckbuilding. Once you internalize these rules, you will never accidentally build an illegal deck, and you will have a clearer picture of what each color combination offers. For more on building a reliable mana base that supports your colors, check out our guide on mana curves.