New Cards and Format Legality
There are 61 cards within the Magic: The Gathering-Commander (2014 Edition) decks that are completely new to the Magic game. These cards are legal for play in the Vintage and Legacy formats only. They aren't legal for play in the Standard or Modern format.
For more information about Magic formats, please visit Wizards.com/rules. For information about the format legality of a specific card, please visit Gatherer.Wizards.com, search for the card, and check the "Sets & Legality" tab.
Overview
Created and popularized by fans, the Commander variant is usually played in casual free-for-all multiplayer games, although two-player games are also popular. Each player starts at 40 life. Each player's deck is headed by a commander - traditionally a legendary creature, although this release introduces five planeswalkers that can also be a deck's commander. A player's choice of commander determines which other cards can be played in the deck.
A recommended banned list for the Commander format is maintained by the rules committee at MTGCommander.net, not by Wizards of the Coast. On Magic Online, the Commander format follows that banned list.
Commander Deck Construction
- Commander decks are exactly 100 cards, including the deck's commander.
- The deck's commander must be a legendary creature or one of the five planeswalkers in this release.
- Comander is a "singleton" format. That is, other than basic lands, each card must have a different English name.
- Your commander's color identity determines the other cards that can be in your deck. A card's color identity includes its color, as defined by it's mana cost or color indicator, and the colrs of any colored mana symbols in the rules text.
- A card can't be included in your deck if its color identity includes a color not in your commander's color identity.
- Color identity established before the name begins and doesn't change during the game, even if your commander becomes different color.
- The colors of colored mana symbols found only in reminder text aren't part of a card's color identity.
- A land card with one or more basic land types can't be included in your deck if it could produce mana of a color not in your commander's color identity.
- During the game, if mana that isn't a color in your commander's color identity would be added to your mana pool, that much colorless mana is added to your mana pool instead.
Using Your Commander
Commanders play a prominent role in games, often appearing on the battlefield multiple times.
- Your commander begins the game in the command zone, a game area created for the Commander format and now also used for the nontraditional Magic cards (including plane, scheme, and conspiracy cards) and for emblems created by planeswalkers. The other 99 cards are shuffled and become your library.
- If your commander would be put into your graveyard from anywhere or be exiled from anywhere, you may choose to put it into the command zone instead.
In addition to the normal rules regarding winning and losing the game, the Commander format has one other rule: A player who has been dealt 21 or more combat damage by the same commander over the course of the game loses the game. This is unlikely to happen if your commander is a planeswalker, although it still applies if that planeswalker becomes a creature and deals combat damage.
- Players should keep track of combat damage dealt to them by each commander over the course of the game.
- This rule includes a player's own commander, which can deal combat damage to its owner if the commander is controlled by another player or if combat damage gets redirected to that player.
Alternative Mulligan Rule
The commander variant uses an alternative mulligan rule: Each time a player takes a mulligan, rather than shuffling his or her entire hand of cards into his or her library, that player exiles any number of cards from his or her hands. Then the player draws a number of cards equal to one less than the number of cards he or she exiled this way. Once a player keeps an opening hand, that player shuffles all cards he or she exiled this way into his or her library.
Leaving the Game
Unlike two-player games, multiplayer games can continue after a player loses and leaves the game.
- When a player leaves the game, all permanents, spells, and other cards owned by that player also leave the game.
- If that player controlled any abilities or copies of spells that were waiting to resolve, they cease to exist.
- If that player controlled any permanents owned by another player, the effects that gave control of them to the player who left end. If this doesn't give control of them to a different player (perhaps because they entered the battlefield under the control of the player who left), they're exiled.
Oversized Commanders
Each Magic: The Gathering - Commander (2014 Edition) deck comes with an oversized premium foil card that corresponds to the commander of that deck. This card is for fun only and isn't required for Commander gameplay.
- You must have the traditional Magic card version of your commander, even if you use the oversized card.
- As long as your commander is in public zone, such as the command zone or the battlefield, you may substitute the oversized card for the traditional Magic card.
- If your commander is in a hidden zone, such as your library or your hand, use the traditional Magic card.
New Ability Word: Lieutenant
Lieutenant is an ability word that appears in italics on a cycle of creatures that become more powerful if you control your commander, such as
- Lieutenant abilities apply only if your commander is on the battlefield and under your control.
- Lieutenant refer only to whether you control your commander, not any other player's commander.
- If you gain control of a creature with a lieutenant ability owned by another player, that ability will check to see if you control your commander and will apply if you do. It won't check whether its owner controls his or her commander.
- If you lose control of your commander, lieutenant abilities of creatures you control will immediately stop applying. If this causes a creature's toughness to become less than or equal to the amount of damage marked on it, the creature will be destroyed.
- If a triggered ability granted by a lieutenant ability triggers, and in response to that trigger you lose control of your commander (causing the lieutenant to lose that ability), that triggered ability will still resolve.
Cycle Offerings
The offerings are a cycle of cards that have two beneficial effects. For each, you and an opponent of your choice are rewarded. The cards example is below:
- You may choose the same opponent for each of the effects, or you may choose different opponents. None of the affected players are targets of the spell.
- For each of the Offerings except Volcanic Offering (see its entry in the Card-Specific Notes section), you choose the opponents for each effect as the spell resolves.
More info at http://magic.wizards.com/
