Getting Started with Commander

Commander · beginner

Commander is the most popular way to play Magic: The Gathering. It is a multiplayer format built around a single legendary creature, the commander, that anchors your whole deck. Games are long, social, and full of big swings. This page is everything you need to sit down and play your first game.

What Commander is

• Multiplayer by default. A typical game is four players in a free-for-all. The last player left in the game wins.
• Singleton. Apart from basic lands, your deck can contain only one copy of any card. No four-of playsets.
• Built around a commander. You choose a legendary creature to lead your deck. It defines your colors and usually your strategy.
• Higher life totals. Everyone starts at 40 life instead of the usual 20, so games last longer and comebacks happen.

What you need to play

• A 100-card deck, counting the commander itself. So it is one commander plus 99 other cards.
• Three or so friends. Commander works with two players, but it shines at three to five.
• A way to track life totals (everyone starts at 40) and commander damage (explained below). A notepad or a life-tracker app is fine.
• Optional but handy: tokens, dice, or counters for keeping track of the board.

The commander and the command zone

Your commander does not start in your deck's library. It starts in a special area called the command zone, face up, where everyone can see it.

• On your turn, you may cast your commander from the command zone by paying its mana cost, just like a normal spell.
• Each time your commander leaves the battlefield, you may send it back to the command zone instead of letting it go to the graveyard or exile.
• Recasting your commander from the command zone gets more expensive each time. This is called commander tax: it costs {2} more for each previous time you cast it from there.

Because your commander is always available, you can build your whole deck to support it.

Color identity

Your commander's colors set the rules for the rest of your deck. Every other card must fit inside your commander's color identity: the colors in its mana cost and rules text. A blue-and-white commander means a blue-and-white (and colorless) deck. You cannot include a red card in that deck, even a little bit red.

How you win and lose

A player loses the game when any of these happen:

• Their life total hits 0.
• They would draw from an empty library.
• They have ten or more poison counters.
• They have been dealt 21 or more combat damage by a single commander. This is the commander damage rule, and it is unique to this format. Damage from each commander is tracked separately.

When a player loses, they and all their cards leave the game. Play continues until one player remains.

Getting your first deck

You have two easy options:

• Buy a preconstructed deck. Wizards of the Coast sells ready-to-play Commander decks ("precons"). They are balanced against each other and are the recommended starting point. You open the box and play.
• Build your own. Pick a commander you like, then fill 99 cards inside its color identity. A common starting mix is around 37 lands, plus ramp, card draw, removal, and cards that support your commander's plan.

If you build your own, see the Commander Rules Reference and deckbuilding pages in this wiki.

Your first game, turn by turn

1. Setup. Each player shuffles their 99-card library, puts their commander in the command zone, and draws 7 cards. Everyone starts at 40 life. Decide who goes first (a die roll works).
2. Early turns. Play a land each turn and cast cheap spells. The first player skips their first draw step.
3. Mid game. Cast your commander when you can afford it. Develop your board, trade in combat, and make deals with other players.
4. Late game. Decks come online, big plays happen, and players start getting knocked out.
5. The win. Keep playing until one player is left.

Do not worry about playing perfectly. Commander is forgiving, and the table will usually help a new player learn.

A quick word on table talk

Before the game, it helps to have a short chat about how powerful everyone's decks are and what kind of game you want. This "rule zero" conversation keeps the game fun for everyone. The Commander Philosophy and brackets pages explain this in more depth.

Where to next

• Commander Rules Reference for the full ruleset.
• The Command Zone and Commander Damage for the two ideas most unique to the format.
• Mulligans & Game Setup for how to start a game.
• Multiplayer & Politics for how four-player games actually play out.
• Commander Philosophy and brackets for matching your deck to the table.

Source

• Official Commander rules: <https://mtgcommander.net/index.php/rules/>