Commander (MTG)

Players: 3-4 (recommended)
Format: Commander
Difficulty: Medium-High
Age: 13+

What is Commander?

Commander is Magic: The Gathering’s most popular format for casual and social play. Magic is the world’s most popular collectible card game, created in 1993, where players take on the role of “planeswalkers” who cast spells and summon creatures to defeat their opponents.

Commander features long, strategic multiplayer games with high player interaction, using 100-card unique decks led by a legendary commander.

Basic Rules

Deck Construction

  • Exactly 100 cards: Including the commander
  • Singleton: Only one copy of each card (except basic lands)
  • Color identity: You can only use cards that match your commander’s colors
  • The Commander: A legendary creature or planeswalker that defines your deck’s color identity

Game Setup

  • Starting life points: 40 (double the standard formats)
  • Command zone: Your commander starts here, outside your deck
  • Number of players: Generally 3-4 players, but can vary

Special Rules

  • Casting the commander: You can cast your commander from the command zone
  • Commander tax: Each time you recast your commander, it costs {2} additional for each previous time
  • Commander damage: If a commander deals 21 or more combat damage to a player, that player loses the game
  • Command zone: When your commander would die or be exiled, you may return it to the command zone

How to Play

Game Setup

  1. Choose your commander: Select a legendary creature or planeswalker
  2. Build your deck: 99 cards + the commander (100 total)
  3. Shuffle your deck: The commander starts in the command zone, not in the deck
  4. Life points: Each player starts with 40 life points
  5. Starting hand: Draw 7 cards (you can mulligan if needed)
  6. Determine order: Decide who goes first (die roll or coin flip)

Turn Structure

Each turn follows Magic’s standard phases:

  1. Beginning Phase
    • Untap your tapped cards
    • Draw a card (except on the first turn of the starting player)
  2. Main Phase (First)
    • Play a land (maximum one per turn)
    • Cast your commander or other spells
    • Activate abilities of your permanents
  3. Combat Phase
    • Declare attackers: Choose which creatures attack and whom
    • Declare blockers: Opponents can block with their creatures
    • Combat damage: Creatures deal damage to each other
  4. Main Phase (Second)
    • Same as the first main phase
    • Play more spells or activate abilities
  5. End Phase
    • Discard down to 7 cards if you have more
    • “Until end of turn” effects end

Key Mechanics

  • The Commander: You can cast it from the command zone whenever you could normally play that card
  • Tax: Each time you recast the commander, it costs {2} more for each previous time you’ve cast it
  • Commander Damage: Track combat damage each commander deals to each player - 21 points is lethal
  • Color Identity: You can only use cards with mana symbols that match your commander’s colors

Resources

Power Level

Commander uses an informal “power level” system (1-10) to help players find balanced games:

  • 1-3: Casual, themed decks, inefficient strategies
  • 4-6: Optimized casual, good cards but no infinite combos
  • 7-8: Competitive-casual, efficient combos, high interaction
  • 9-10: cEDH (Competitive Commander), the best combos and cards

At Joventuts Màgiques, we generally play games with 4 to 8 players, though we also have some games with 1 to 3 players. Our typical power level range is 5-7 to keep games fun and competitive.