30
votes
Accepted
Why is 21 damage from a commander lethal?
The original rules for Elder Dragon Legend Wars had the following as part of the rules:
players choose (or select at random) an Elder Dragon Legend as their army's leader. The dragon must be ...
- 13k
29
votes
Can I use two different cards with the same name in Commander?
No, card art or any other piece of information printed on a card doesn't matter. For card identity, the only factor is the English name being equal or not.
There are several reasons why cards with the ...
- 46.1k
25
votes
Accepted
How to build a budget-friendly manabase for a 5-color deck?
Here are the lands that will work in a 5 colour deck, I ordered them in roughly the order I think they are helpful speed wise to an EDH deck and will include the lands you already run for completeness....
- 13k
22
votes
Accepted
What planeswalker cards can be used as commanders in the Commander format?
Currently (in November 2018) there are the following sets of planeswalkers that you can use for your commanders:
The five double-faced transforming planeswalkers from Magic Origins. This is because ...
- 23.7k
22
votes
Accepted
Do commanders "die" if they go to the command zone instead?
Yes, commanders can trigger “dies” triggers as they head to the command zone
This new rules change was announced on June 7, 2020 and became active in the Commander rules circa the release date of Core ...
- 23.7k
21
votes
Are there any artifacts that tap for white, blue or black mana?
Scryfall offers a produces: operator that returns cards that produce the mana you ask for. It takes into account statements like “add N mana of any color” as well as treasure production and the ...
- 23.7k
20
votes
Accepted
How do Companion cards from Ikoria work in Commander?
Companion cards will function in commander, and rather unusually at that.
Their behaviour in Commander is described by two key sources quoted below. To summarise:
Your Commander is counted as part of ...
- 23.7k
19
votes
Accepted
Is the Commander strictly fixed during deck construction?
It doesn't matter. Since you can change decks between games, you can change to a deck that's identical except for the choice of Commander.
Everyone talks about the Commander as if it's a property of ...
- 47.1k
19
votes
Accepted
Does devoid make a card's color identity colorless in Commander?
No, the reason that you cannot use Devoid cards in a Commander deck with a colorless commander is that a card's "color" is not the same thing as it's "color identity". "Color identity" dictates what ...
- 525
19
votes
Accepted
Is there a card that lets you put a card from outside of the game into play?
This is the "Wish" card series that were released in the Judgment extension.
For example: Burning Wish. It allows one for example in a tournament to get a card from the sideboard on the first game.
...
- 1,042
19
votes
MTG Graveyard casting with 'X' costs
X will be zero
When Goblin Dark-Dwellers enters the battlefield, you may cast target instant or sorcery card with converted mana cost 3 or less from your graveyard without paying its mana cost. If ...
- 321
19
votes
Accepted
Does Silence stop working in the Cleanup step, allowing more spells to cast in the same turn when discard triggers effects?
Yes, the play was legal.
Normally, during the cleanup step, no player gets priority to cast spells or activate abilities. However, since the player affected by Silence controlled The Gitrog Monster ...
- 46.1k
18
votes
MTG Graveyard casting with 'X' costs
You may cast Tempt with Vengeance with the Dwellers, but X has to be zero.
The converted mana cost (CMC) of an object is the total amount of mana in its mana cost, and X counts as zero outside the ...
- 46.1k
18
votes
Removing a Commander permanently
As @Dopplegreener mentions, all cards that said "remove ... from the game" has been errataed to say "exile ...".
The problem with getting rid of a commander permanently is rule 903.9:
903.9. If a ...
- 16.3k
18
votes
Accepted
Can you get infinite turns with this 2 card combo?
No, this doesn't work. Medomai the Ageless has an ability that says
Medomai the Ageless can't attack during extra turns.
It doesn't matter what caused you to take the extra turn in the first place....
- 71.6k
17
votes
Accepted
What happens when I sacrifice a creature when my Teysa Karlov is on the battlefield?
Resolute Watchdog's ability is an activated ability not a triggered one, so it isn't affected by Teysa at all.
602.1. Activated abilities have a cost and an effect. They are written as “[Cost]: [...
- 5,439
17
votes
Accepted
How does color identity work in Commander?
The color-related deckbuilding rules of Commander are centered around a specific characteristic named 'color identity'
Color identity is distinct from the color of the card itself, which is only ...
- 11.1k
16
votes
If my commander's mana cost is colorless, but it has an ability that includes another mana type, what cards can be in my deck?
The color identity of your commander includes mana symbols in both the cost and any abilities; so you would be able to use cards of any color if your commander is Morophon.
903.4. The Commander ...
- 69.2k
15
votes
Accepted
Can my commander ever not be my commander?
No, 'commander-ness' is an intrinsic property of the card that nothing can take away.
903.3. Each deck has a legendary creature card designated as its commander. This designation is not a ...
- 20.1k
15
votes
Can Thrun, the Last Troll be exiled?
Yes, Thrun can be exiled
Let's go through Thrun's abilities:
This spell can't be countered.
This ability affects Thrun while he's on the stack. It has no impact on him once he reaches the ...
- 683
15
votes
Rishkar's Expertise and Jace, Wielder of Mysteries
As soon as Rishkar's Expertise has finished resolving, you would lose for trying to draw from an empty library.
Resolving a spell or ability requires every player, in turn-order, to pass priority. ...
- 46.1k
15
votes
Accepted
Maximum number of parties in MTG
There isn't a card nor an entry in the rules that mention multiples parties, therefore the number of parties you can form is irrelevant.
Also, rule 700.8a state s
The calculation of the number of ...
- 820
15
votes
“Repeat this process” infinite loop rulings
No, you can't create an arbitrary number of tokens with Grist like that. Either the process stops after a finite number of steps, or the game is a draw.
The specific example you gave does not work ...
- 46.1k
14
votes
Accepted
Can one draw their commander to the command zone, and would that be a draw?
Yes, you can replace drawing your commander by moving it to the command zone instead.
J. Sallé's answer already covers all the details about why drawing counts as putting the card into your hand from ...
- 69.2k
14
votes
Accepted
Does this Teshar combo (listed #1 on EDHREC) really work?
It does work, the steps are just a little vague in the description. So it works like this:
Setup
Teshar and Blasting Station are on the battlefield (tapped or untapped, doesn't matter). Myr ...
- 5,439
14
votes
Can you shoot Terror of the Peaks when it enters with a bunch of dragons, to avoid the damage?
but the active player chooses to have Terror of the Peaks enter first
That's not possible, if an effect returns all dragons from a graveyard to the battlefield, they all enter at the same time. But ...
- 28.3k
14
votes
What do we do when we accidentally block an "unblockable" creature?
Considering how quickly you spotted the mistake, rewinding the game to the start of the Declare Blockers step seems like the best way to proceed.
Rewinding the game and remaking the blocks in a legal ...
- 46.1k
13
votes
Accepted
Can I defeat an opponent with their own commander?
Yes, you can make a player lose by dealing 21 total damage to them with their own commander. (If it keeps getting stolen by yourself or others, a cumulative total 21 damage from their own commander ...
- 23.7k
13
votes
If I use a colorless commander, can I use colored spells?
You can only use cards with a colorless color identity with a commander that has a colorless color identity.
Rule 903 has the rules for the commander format, and the following subrules are relevant ...
- 71.6k
13
votes
Is there a card that lets you put a card from outside of the game into play?
Rule 13:
Abilities which refer to other cards owned outside the game (Wishes, Spawnsire, Research, Ring of Ma'ruf) do not function in Commander without prior agreement on their scope from the ...
- 485
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