- 903.1 In the Commander variant, each deck is led by a legendary creature designated as that deck’s commander. The Commander variant was created and popularized by fans; an independent rules committee maintains additional resources at MTGCommander.net. The Commander variant uses all the normal rules for a Magic game, with the following additions.
- 903.2 A Commander game may be a two-player game or a multiplayer game. The default multiplayer setup is the Free-for-All variant with the attack multiple players option and without the limited range of influence option. See rule 806, “Free-for-All Variant.”
- 903.3 Each deck has a legendary creature card designated as its commander. This designation is not a characteristic of the object represented by the card; rather, it is an attribute of the card itself. The card retains this designation even when it changes zones.
Example: A commander that’s been turned face down (due to Ixidron’s effect, for example) is still a commander. A commander that’s copying another card (due to Cytoshape’s effect, for example) is still a commander. A permanent that’s copying a commander (such as a Body Double, for example, copying a commander in a player’s graveyard) is not a commander.
- 903.3a Some planeswalker cards have an ability that states the card can be your commander. This ability modifies the rules for deck construction, and it functions before the game begins. See also rule 113.6m.
- 903.3b If a player’s commander is a meld card and it’s melded with the other member of its meld pair, the resulting melded permanent is that player’s commander.
- 903.3c If a player’s commander is a component of a merged permanent, the resulting merged permanent is that player’s commander.
Example: Bosh, Iron Golem is a legendary artifact creature with mana cost {8} and the ability “{3}{R}, Sacrifice an artifact: Bosh, Iron Golem deals damage equal to the sacrificed artifact’s converted mana cost to any target.” Bosh’s color identity is red.
- 903.4a Color identity is established before the game begins.
- 903.4b Reminder text is ignored when determining a card’s color identity. See rule 207.2.
- 903.4c The back face of a double-faced card (see rule 711) is included when determining a card’s color identity. This is an exception to rule 711.4a.
Example: Civilized Scholar is the front face of a double-faced card with mana cost {2}{U}. Homicidal Brute is the back face of that double-faced card and has a red color indicator. The card’s color identity is blue and red.
- 903.5 Each Commander deck is subject to the following deck construction rules.
- 903.5a Each deck must contain exactly 100 cards, including its commander. In other words, the minimum deck size and the maximum deck size are both 100.
- 903.5b Other than basic lands, each card in a Commander deck must have a different English name.
- 903.5c A card can be included in a Commander deck only if every color in its color identity is also found in the color identity of the deck’s commander.
Example: Wort, the Raidmother is a legendary creature with mana cost {4}{R/G}{R/G}. Wort’s color identity is red and green. Each card in a Wort Commander deck must be only red, only green, both red and green, or have no color. Each mana symbol in the mana cost or rules text of a card in this deck must be only red, only green, both red and green, or have no color.
- 903.5d A card with a basic land type may be included in a Commander deck only if each color of mana it could produce is included in the commander’s color identity.
Example: Wort, the Raidmother’s color identity is red and green. A Wort Commander deck may include land cards with the basic land types Mountain and/or Forest. It can’t include any land cards with the basic land types Plains, Island, or Swamp.
- 903.6 At the start of the game, each player puts their commander from their deck face up into the command zone. Then each player shuffles the remaining 99 cards of their deck so that the cards are in a random order. Those cards become the player’s library.
- 903.7 Once the starting player has been determined, each player sets their life total to 40 and draws a hand of seven cards.
- 903.8 A player may cast a commander they own from the command zone. A commander cast from the command zone costs an additional {2} for each previous time the player casting it has cast it from the command zone that game. This additional cost is informally known as the “commander tax.”
- 903.9 If a commander would be exiled from anywhere or put into its owner’s hand, graveyard, or library from anywhere, its owner may put it into the command zone instead. This replacement effect may apply more than once to the same event. This is an exception to rule 614.5.
- 903.9a If a commander is a melded permanent or a merged permanent and its owner chooses to put it into the command zone this way, that permanent and each component representing it that isn’t a commander are put into the appropriate zone, and the card that represents it and is a commander is put into the command zone.
- 903.10a A player that’s been dealt 21 or more combat damage by the same commander over the course of the game loses the game. (This is a state-based action. See rule 704.)
- 903.12a Brawl is an option for a different style of Commander game. Brawl games use the normal rules for the Commander variant with the following modifications.
- 903.12b Brawl decks are usually constructed using cards from the Standard format.
- 903.12c A player designates either a legendary planeswalker or a legendary creature as their commander.
- 903.12d A player’s deck must contain exactly 60 cards, including its commander. In other words, the minimum deck size and the maximum deck size are both 60.
- 903.12e If a player’s commander has no colors in its color identity, that player’s deck may contain any number of basic lands of one basic land type of their choice. This is an exception to rule 903.5d.
- 903.12f In a two-player Brawl game, each player’s starting life total is 25. In a multiplayer Brawl game, each player’s starting life total is 30.