Win Conditions in Commander: How to Actually Close Out Games

Every Commander deck needs a plan to win the game. This sounds obvious, but you would be surprised how many decks can generate value, draw cards, and control the board without ever actually closing out the game. They accumulate advantage without converting it into a win.

A deck without clear win conditions leads to games that drag on for two hours with no end in sight. That is miserable for you and your opponents. Here is how to make sure your deck can actually finish what it starts.

Types of Win Conditions

Combat Damage

The most straightforward way to win: attack with creatures until your opponents' life totals reach zero.

Going wide: Build a massive board of tokens or creatures and swing for lethal. Cards like Craterhoof Behemoth, Triumph of the Hordes, and Overwhelming Stampede turn a medium board into a lethal one.

Going tall: Build one or two enormous creatures and deal lethal damage with them. Voltron strategies that stack equipment and auras on a single commander (like Uril, the Miststalker or Rafiq of the Many) take this approach.

Commander damage: Any commander that deals 21 combat damage to a single player kills them regardless of life total. Voltron decks and aggressive commanders leverage this as a primary win condition.

Evasion matters: In a format with 40 starting life, chip damage from unblockable creatures adds up slowly. You need ways to push through - trample, flying, unblockable effects, or mass pump spells.

Combo Wins

Combos end the game immediately (or generate such an overwhelming advantage that the game is effectively over). Combo wins are polarizing in Commander - some playgroups love them, others ban them. Always discuss combos during the pre-game conversation.

Infinite combos: Two or more cards that interact to create an unbounded loop.

Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Zealous Conscripts = infinite hasty tokens
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Triskelion = infinite damage
Dramatic Reversal + Isochron Scepter + mana rocks = infinite mana

Two-card win combos: Compact and efficient game-enders.

Demonic Consultation naming a card not in your deck + Thassa's Oracle = win (exiles your entire library)
Tooth and Nail entwined for two creatures that win together (e.g., Kiki-Jiki + Zealous Conscripts)

Compact combos: Two-card combos that fit into any deck running the right colors, requiring minimal deck space.

Value-Based Wins

Some decks win not through a single explosive turn but through accumulated advantage that opponents cannot overcome.

Drain effects: Slowly draining all opponents' life totals. Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Exsanguinate, and Torment of Hailfire are common finishers for black decks that grind value.

Overwhelming card advantage: Drawing so many cards and generating so many resources that opponents simply cannot keep up. This is how blue-based control decks often win.

Stax locks: Assembling enough restrictive permanents that opponents cannot play the game. Smokestack, Winter Orb, and Stasis can create positions where you have a small advantage and opponents are locked out. Not popular at casual tables.

Alternate Win Conditions

Magic has cards that win the game through special conditions rather than damage or life loss.

Thassa's Oracle / Laboratory Maniac: Win when you draw from an empty library. Common in combo and self-mill decks.
Aetherflux Reservoir: Pay 50 life to deal 50 damage to a player. Lifegain decks can reach 150+ life and kill the table.
Felidar Sovereign / Test of Endurance: Win if you have 40+ or 50+ life at your upkeep. Risky because opponents see it coming.
Revel in Riches: Win if you control ten or more Treasures at your upkeep. Requires a Treasure-heavy strategy.
Approach of the Second Sun: Cast it once (it gets placed seventh from the top of your library), then cast it a second time to win the game. Simple and hard to interact with.

How Many Win Conditions Do You Need?

The answer depends on your strategy, but here are guidelines.

Combo decks: 2-3 distinct combo lines plus tutors to find them. You do not need 8 win conditions if you can reliably assemble one of your combos.

Aggro / Combat decks: 4-6 "finisher" cards that turn your board state into lethal damage. Overrun effects, mass pump spells, or alpha-strike enablers.

Midrange decks: 6-8 threats that can close the game individually or together. Your strongest creatures, your best synergy payoffs, and a couple of finisher spells.

Control decks: 2-4 finishers that are individually powerful enough to close the game once you have established control. Control decks spend most of their cards on answers, so their win conditions need to do heavy lifting.

Redundancy Is Key

Never rely on a single win condition. If your only way to win is Craterhoof Behemoth, a single counterspell or removal spell means you lose. Having multiple paths to victory ensures you can win even when opponents disrupt your primary plan.

Converting Advantage Into Wins

The most common deckbuilding mistake is building a deck that generates value but never converts that value into a win. Here is how to fix that.

Ask "how does this deck kill?": Before finalizing your list, point to specific cards and explain how they end the game. If you cannot point to at least three cards that say "I win with this," your deck needs more finishers.

Do not cut win conditions for "value": It is tempting to cut a Craterhoof Behemoth for another synergy piece that generates incremental advantage. Resist that urge. Your synergy pieces fuel your win conditions, not the other way around.

Include inevitability: At least one win condition should be something opponents cannot reasonably stop. Torment of Hailfire for X=15, a resolved Expropriate, or a combo that wins through interaction.

Time your finisher: Do not slam your win condition into a table of players with full hands and open mana. Wait until opponents have tapped out or exhausted their interaction, then go for the kill.

Matching Win Conditions to Your Deck

Your win conditions should align with your deck's strategy:

Token decks: Mass pump effects (Craterhoof Behemoth, Coat of Arms, Beastmaster Ascension)
Graveyard decks: Recursion-based finishers (Gray Merchant loops, Living Death, Torment of Hailfire)
Spellslinger decks: Storm wins (Aetherflux Reservoir, Grapeshot), or creature generation (Young Pyromancer + Purphoros)
Artifact decks: Infinite mana combos, Walking Ballista, Blightsteel Colossus
Tribal decks: Tribal payoffs (Coat of Arms, Kindred Charge, tribal-specific lords)

Every deck needs a way to win. Build yours with clear, redundant paths to victory, and you will never be the player who says "I have a great board but no way to actually kill anyone."

For more on building a complete deck, check out our Rule of Eight guide and our breakdown of card advantage in Commander.