Hi everyone, and welcome to Commander Week! This week, we’ll be turning our attention to the recently-released Commander 2013 product. By now, you’ve probably had a chance to pick up a deck or five and play with them, and just like other sets, new questions have popped up.

Let’s start with a card that’s drawn some attention not because of what it can do in multiplayer, but other formats like Legacy. I’m talking about True-Name Nemesis. It has a unique form of protection, where it has protection from a player. So what does that mean?

In this case, protection from a player means:

– Prevent all damage that would be dealt to it by sources that player controls
– Can’t have permanents controlled by that player (like auras or equipment) attached to it
– Can’t be blocked by creatures that player controls
– Can’t be the target of spells or abilities controlled by that player

Just like normal forms of protection, protections helps against the things I just listed. So while your opponent cannot Shock your Nemesis (assuming you choose your opponent), they could cast something like a Wrath of God and, because Wrath does not do any of the things listed above, the Nemesis would be destroyed.

So while the Nemesis can be scary in a duel, he’s not so scary in a multiplayer game, since you’re only going to be able to protect from one player (not that other players will probably give him a second thought… I mean, to them, he’s just a 3/1 creature). So while you may not see him too often in a multiplayer game, expect to see him used in Vintage and Legacy.

Today’s Rules Tip written by Nathan Long