Draft 2025.04.30.1

This is an attempt to create a version of EDH that removes Universes Beyond from the card pool while also getting rid of the massive amount of format wrapping cards Commander was flooded with in the last 4-5 years and making sure un-sets stay out of general play. The rules are copied exactly 1:1 from the parent format for now even if there's some internal discussion if rolling back further changes that got pushed in the name of pleasing the But-It's-Not-Fun-Crowd and catering to the lowest possible denominator would make sense (put plainly: maybe tuck wouldn't be all that bad in dealing with the flood of fries-included-legendaries, which were snuk into non-commander sets and therefore can't be easily blanket removed while keeping the actual ban list as concise as possible).

As far as banned cards are concerned the original plan was to stay as close as possible to the parent format but with the recent developments of the the new overlords deciding to try fixing the social ineptitude of their whiny average target audience by adding some clusterfuck called brackets (which certainly aren't subformats, trust me) and coining the term gamechanger to denote cards that actually do shit (as if Commander players weren't already looking infantile and clueless enough in 2025…) that idea is pretty much out of the window (in all seriousness, if you or your opponent can't agree on an uneven game not being much of a delightful waste of time making it imperative to find a working combination of decks or amicably part ways if that isn't an option, you don't need brackets. You need to either grow a spine and tell the offending person to fuck the fuck off or if said offending person happens to be you reflect on your life choices and do something about those repressed dick/boob size insecurities).

• Players choose a legendary creature as the commander for their deck.
• A card’s color identity is its color plus the color of any mana symbols in the card’s rules text. A card’s color identity is established before the game begins, and cannot be changed by game effects. The cards in a deck may not have any colors in their color identity which are not in the color identity of the deck’s commander.
• A Commander deck must contain exactly 100 cards, including the commander. If you’re playing a companion, it must adhere to color identity and singleton rules. While it is not part of the deck, it is effectively a 101st card.
• With the exception of basic lands, no two cards in the deck may have the same English name. Some cards (e.g. Relentless Rats) may have rules text that overrides this restriction.

• Players begin the game with 40 life.
• Commanders begin the game in the Command Zone. While a commander is in the command zone, it may be cast, subject to the normal timing restrictions for casting creatures. Its owner must pay for each time it was previously cast from the command zone; this is an additional cost.
• If a commander is in a graveyard or in exile and that card was put into that zone since the last time state-based actions were checked, its owner may put it into the command zone. If a commander would be put into its owner’s hand 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.
• Being a commander is not a characteristic [MTG CR109.3], it is a property of the card and tied directly to the physical card. As such, “commander-ness” cannot be copied or overwritten by continuous effects. The card retains it’s commander-ness through any status changes, and is still a commander even when controlled by another player.
• If a player has been dealt 21 points of combat damage by a particular Commander during the game, that player loses a game.
• Parts of abilities which bring other traditional card(s) you own from outside the game into the game (such as Living Wish; Spawnsire of Ulamog; Karn, the Great Creator; Wish) do not function in Commander.

Cards (and alternate printings thereof) from the sets listed here are allowed to be used in decks unless explicitly listed under the Banned Cards section below.

Admittedly having to actually compile/reference a list of legal sets is a bit of an inconvenience compared to simple allowing any card ever printed minus a short ban list but in reality it's still pretty simple: Unless your card originates from a joke set, a pop culture tie in (arguably that's already covered by joke set but lets be formal for a second) or some made-for-Commander sillyness you should be good to go.

• Any card referring the ante mechanic
• All cards having the Conspiracy card type
• All poster treatment cards