How To Play MTG Commander 2023. The most popular Magic: The Gathering format called Commander. And it entails choosing a single creature to serve as the deck’s leader and keeping it on the field in a designated area. Even though Wizards of the Coast produces particular Commander-themed structure decks and sets, Commander is still mostly a fan-run project, which makes its popularity all the more surprising. As a result, novice players could enticed to start with Commander. But they should be aware that it operates under different rules than the other game styles.
Magic: The Gathering Commander is a multiplayer format in which each player has a 100-card singleton deck (i.e., each card in the deck must be unique except for basic lands). The objective of the game is to reduce your opponents’ life total to zero or force them to run out of cards in their deck. In Commander, players start with 40 life instead of the usual 20.
Table of Contents
How To Play MTG Commander 2023
- Build your deck: Choose a legendary creature as your commander and build a deck of 100 cards around it. Your commander must remain in the “command zone” (outside your deck) throughout the game. And you can cast it from there by paying its mana cost plus an additional two mana for each time you’ve previously cast it during the game.
- Shuffle and draw: Shuffle your deck and draw seven cards. If you don’t like your hand, you can mulligan by shuffling your hand back into your deck and drawing one fewer card each time until you’re satisfied with your hand.
- Play lands and spells: Each turn, you can play one land from your hand and cast spells from your hand by paying their mana cost.
- Attack and block: During your turn, you can attack your opponents with creatures you control. Your opponents can block your attackers with their own creatures.
- Use abilities: Many cards in MTG Commander have abilities that can be activated by paying a cost.
- End your turn: When you’re done playing spells and activating abilities. End your turn by passing the turn to the player on your left.
- Repeat steps 3-6 until one player wins the game.
In addition to the basic rules, there are also some special rules that apply to MTG Commander. For example, each player starts with a “commander tax” of two additional mana for each time they’ve cast their commander during the game. Additionally, the “color identity” of your commander determines which colors of mana you can include in your deck.
I hope this guide helps you get started playing MTG Commander! Remember, the best way to learn is by playing. So don’t be afraid to jump in and start playing with friends or at your local game store.
The Viability & Color Identity of Commander Cards in MTG
The card that must chosen to serve as the Commander during a game in this format referred to as the Commander. A card must a Legendary Creature or have a text description indicating that it can serve as the Commander in order to considered a commander. Like the Planeswalker card Minsc & Boo. A Background card can also played with a suitable Commander because it was first included in one of the D&D sets and imitates a feature of that game. And two creatures can serve as the Commander if they have the Partner keyword.
The Commander taken out of the deck and put in a designated Command Zone. On the field when they are selected at the beginning of the game. The Commander can then used whenever you have the money to pay for it. You can send the Commander to the Command Zone instead of exiling it or sending it to the graveyard. The cost of calling the Commander rises by two mana each time they are sent back to the Command Zone. The cost to play the Commander once more. Then, their base cost plus four mana of any color, if they sent back twice.
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The deck must match the commander’s color identity. Which another important factor that influenced by the choice of commander. This implies that only cards with colors that match those of the mana mentioned on the Commander, including its cost. And inside its text box, may used in the deck. Colorless cards are an exception to this rule because they not constrained by it.
Rules & Restrictions for the Commander Deck
The Commander format differs from the other Magic: The Gathering formats in a number of significant ways as well. To begin with, every card in the deck—including the Commander—must total exactly 100. Second, each type of card in the deck limited to one copy, with the exception of Basic Lands. And cards that explicitly declare in their text that multiple copies permitted. Due to the number constraint and the fact that the deck is significantly larger. Than the ones used in other formats. It is far less likely that a player would draw a card that they absolutely need. Which drives them to be more inventive in their deck creation.
In Commander games, the number of life points is 40 rather than 20. Poison Counters unaffected by this because inflicting 10 of them still results in victory. Additionally, the Commander wins the game regardless of the final score if they are accountable for 21 points of damage. In comparison to the other cards in their deck, the Commander therefore represents a greater danger.
Commander disregards a lot of card limitation regulations and ban lists that are present in other formats because it is a largely fan-run format. This implies that players have far greater freedom to use older cards rather than compelled by the format rotation to change things up over time.
Why Has The Commander Format Been So Successful?
In contrast to the more competitive conventional forms, Commander is a popular multiplayer game type. It makes for a more enjoyable experience with friends because it challenges players to test out many various cards. Has a large life pool/deck size, and always gives you a playable creature. In Commander, it’s considerably more difficult to pull off unpleasant immediate wins or get caught in a losing situation early on. And players have a greater opportunity of recovering over time. The experimental, lighthearted quality of the format makes it more enjoyable for viewers than the official ones.
FAQ
Is Commander going to be added to MTG Arena?
As Wizards continue to add cards from the huge MTG collection, Commander will definitely ultimately make it to MTG Arena. But in the interim, MTG Online is the greatest choice for gamers who want to play Commander online.