Gavin Verhey used today’s episode of Good Morning Magic to explain what Commander is and how to play.
Verhey starts off by giving a brief history of Commander, from its origins to the community-driven and governed format it is today. He then explains how to build a deck with a few simple steps:
- Pick a legendary creature as your commander
- Pick 99 other singleton cards (can have multiple basic lands)
- Deck can only contain cards of the color that your commander is, including anything in the text box
Verhey also went over some rules specific to Commander:
- Players start with 40 life
- Commander starts in the command zone, where you can cast it for its mana cost
- Anytime the commander goes anywhere but the battlefield it can go back to the command zone, but it then goes up two more mana to play for each trip to the command zone
- Commander damage: if your commander deals 21 points of damage to an opponent, they lose
Verhey wraps up by saying how to enter the format. He recommends picking up a pre-con or watch a previous Good Morning Magic all about how to build a deck.