Commander multiplayer is a free-for-all Magic game in which each player normally starts at 40 life, uses a 100-card deck including a face-up commander in the command zone, and takes turns clockwise. You may attack any opponent, and a player loses after receiving 21 or more combat damage from the same commander over the course of the game. The familiar table has four players, while Wizards of the Coast’s free-for-all rules apply to games with three or more players.
What a Commander multiplayer game is
Commander is a multiplayer format built around one designated commander and a singleton deck. The standard social game is a four-player free-for-all, but the current Wizards of the Coast overview describes the same multiplayer rules for games with three or more people. Players sit in a randomly determined circle, choose a clockwise turn order, and continue until one player remains or the group reaches another legal end to the game.
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Each player has an individual life total, controls their own permanents, and may make attacks and casts that affect any opponent unless a card says otherwise. There are no teams in the normal free-for-all version. The format’s large life total and commander-damage rule create two separate ways to pressure an opponent: reduce their life normally or deal enough combat damage with one commander.
Setup: life, opening hands and the command zone
Starting values
| Item | Multiplayer rule |
|---|---|
| Players | Four is the familiar table size; the cited free-for-all rules cover three or more players. |
| Starting life | 40 life per player. |
| Opening hand | Seven cards per player. |
| Deck size | Exactly 100 cards, counting the commander. |
| Commander location | Face up in the command zone before the game begins. |
| Turn direction | Clockwise around the table after players are seated randomly. |
Players draw their opening seven cards and use the normal Magic mulligan procedure when appropriate. The commander is not shuffled into the deck at setup; it begins visible in the command zone. Your other 99 cards are the deck proper.
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Deck construction and color identity
The 100-card requirement
A Commander deck contains exactly 100 cards including its commander. Except for basic lands, you normally may include only one card with a given English name. The singleton rule applies to the main deck and is counted by card name, not by artwork, set, or printing.
Color identity limits
Every card in the deck must fit within the commander’s color identity. Color identity includes the colors represented in the commander’s mana cost and the colored mana symbols appearing in its rules text. A card outside that identity cannot be included even if its current casting cost seems colorless or you could otherwise pay for it.
The commander itself is part of the 100-card count. For a legality question—especially a tournament question—check the current official card legality and banned information. The general construction rules above do not by themselves establish whether a particular card is currently legal.
How turns and attacks work with several opponents
Clockwise turns
After the first player is determined, turns proceed clockwise. Each turn follows the normal Magic turn structure, including its untap, upkeep, draw, main, combat and ending steps. Players receive priority and resolve spells and abilities under the ordinary rules; multiplayer changes who can be attacked or targeted, not the basic timing system.
Choosing attackers
When you attack, you may choose any opponent as the defending player. You can divide your attackers among different opponents in the same combat: one creature can attack the player on your left while another attacks the player across the table. A creature cannot attack your own player or another player unless a card effect specifically changes what it can attack.
Combat damage is dealt separately to each defending player and to any other legal combat recipients selected by the attack. After combat, the game continues with the active player’s remaining phases, then passes clockwise.
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Targets in a free-for-all
Spells and abilities can generally target any player, not only the player whose turn it is or the player you are attacking. The card’s text controls the restriction: an effect that says “target opponent” can choose any opponent, while an effect that names “each opponent” affects all of your opponents. Always read the exact wording rather than assuming multiplayer cards work like duels.
Casting and recasting your commander
First cast
You may cast your commander from the command zone by paying its normal mana cost and following the normal timing and permission rules for that card. Casting it from the command zone does not make it part of your opening hand or your library.
The commander tax
Each time you previously cast that commander from the command zone during the game, its next cast from the command zone costs an additional two generic mana for each such previous cast. The increase is cumulative: after one command-zone cast, add two; after two, add four; after three, add six. This additional cost is paid on top of the card’s normal cost and any other costs imposed by effects.
The count is based on casts from the command zone, not on how many times the commander has entered the battlefield. If you cast it from another zone, that event does not add to the command-zone tax.
Moving the commander back to the command zone
If the commander would go to its owner’s library, hand, graveyard or exile, its owner may move it to the command zone instead under the current overview’s commander replacement option. The owner makes that choice as the zone-change event is handled. Moving it this way keeps the card available for a later command-zone cast, although the commander-tax count from earlier command-zone casts remains relevant.
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Wizards of the Coast states the rule this way: “A player that’s been dealt 21 or more combat damage by the same commander over the course of the game loses the game.” This is a separate loss condition from reaching zero life.
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What counts
- Only combat damage dealt by a commander counts.
- The damage must come from the same commander; damage from two different commanders does not combine.
- Track the total separately for every player. If Commander A deals 10 to Bob and 10 to Carol, Bob and Carol each have a 10-point total from Commander A.
- The total accumulates over the entire game, including across multiple combats and turns.
What does not count
Damage from a commander’s triggered ability, activated ability or spell is not commander combat damage unless the effect actually causes that commander to deal combat damage. Ordinary life loss, poison counters and damage from other creatures use their own rules and do not add to a commander-damage total.
Zone changes and control changes
Changing zones or changing control of the commander does not reset the commander-damage tally. If the same commander dealt 12 combat damage before being returned to the command zone and later deals 9 after being recast, the recipient has reached 21 from that commander and loses. Keep a written or digital record for each commander and each opponent; a single table-wide total is not sufficient.
Worked example
Aria attacks Ben with her commander and deals 7 combat damage. Two turns later, that commander deals Ben another 8. After a trip to the command zone and a later recast, it deals Ben 6 more. Ben has taken 21 combat damage from the same commander and loses immediately after the damage event is processed, even if Ben still has positive life. If Aria’s commander dealt 12 and another player’s commander dealt 9, Ben would not have lost to commander damage because neither commander reached 21 alone.
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How a player is eliminated
A multiplayer game does not automatically end when one player loses. The remaining players continue taking turns until the game has a winner under the applicable rules.
When a player leaves a multiplayer game, that player’s owned cards leave the game. Abilities and copies of spells they controlled that were waiting to resolve cease to exist. Control effects they supplied over permanents owned by other players end; if no other player should control one of those permanents, it is exiled. These interactions can be complicated when several control effects, replacement effects or objects on the stack are involved, so apply the Comprehensive Rules and the exact card text to unusual cases.
Ownership versus control
Ownership determines which cards leave with the eliminated player. Control is a temporary game relationship and can belong to another player. For example, a permanent owned by the eliminated player leaves even if another player controlled it, while a permanent owned by a surviving player may remain subject to the cleanup of the eliminated player’s control effect.
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Four players is common, but three or more is the cited free-for-all rule
The current format overview presents Commander as a four-player format in its overview card, while its multiplayer description says that games with three or more people use free-for-all rules. It is therefore accurate to describe four players as the familiar table setup without claiming that four is the only possible multiplayer count covered by that description.
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Two-player Commander is a separate question. Wizards also publishes a Commander 1v1 format page, and a duel should not be assumed to use every rule or expectation of the three-or-more-player free-for-all. Before starting a two-player game, agree which 1v1 rules and ban list apply.
Pregame expectations and Commander brackets
Wizards describes five optional Commander brackets as a way to communicate the kind of game players want. The lower brackets emphasize socially focused experiences; higher brackets allow stronger or competitive experiences. The framework is labeled beta.
Brackets are matchmaking guidance, not an additional win condition, deck-building rule or mandatory pregame ritual. A useful conversation covers the intended bracket, fast combo or alternate-win cards, mass land destruction, extra turns, proxies, and any house rules. A bracket label does not guarantee that two decks play identically or measure power with scientific precision; it gives the table a shared starting point for expectations.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.A practical pregame checklist
- Confirm the player count and whether the game is the normal free-for-all or a separate 1v1 ruleset.
- Show or name your commander and verify that the deck has 100 cards including it.
- Check that the deck is singleton except for permitted basic lands and that every card fits the commander’s color identity.
- Agree on any optional bracket or house-rule expectations before drawing opening hands.
- Randomize seating and establish clockwise turn order.
- Start each player at 40 life, place commanders face up in the command zone, and draw seven cards.
- Prepare a tracker for commander damage from each commander to each opponent.
Common mistakes and how to correct them
Attacking only the player on your left
That is a seating habit, not a rule. In a free-for-all you may attack any opponent, and different attackers can be sent at different opponents in one combat.
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Only combat damage counts toward the 21-point commander-damage loss condition. Mark ability damage, life loss and combat damage separately.
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Combining commanders’ damage
Commander damage is tracked by source. Ten combat damage from one commander plus eleven from another is not 21 commander damage from either one.
Resetting the tally when a commander leaves
A zone change or control change does not erase previous commander damage. Keep the same source total when the commander is returned to the command zone, recast or controlled by another player.
Forgetting the additional command-zone cost
Count each previous cast from the command zone and add two generic mana for each. Do not confuse the tax with the number of times the commander has entered the battlefield.
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Assuming elimination ends the game
In multiplayer, remove the eliminated player’s cards and resolve the ownership and control consequences, then continue with the surviving players.
Rules authority and edge cases
The current Wizards of the Coast Commander format overview is the primary reference for setup, attacks, targets, deck construction, command-zone casting, commander damage and the optional brackets. Wizards’ Commander Legends release notes from November 6, 2020, and Commander Masters release notes provide additional explanations of player elimination, commander damage and deck construction. For an interaction involving multiple replacement effects, the stack, copy effects or a disputed legality decision, consult the current Comprehensive Rules and the exact text of every card involved; the overview is a practical guide, not a substitute for those detailed rules.
The stable rules values to remember are 40 starting life, 100 cards including the commander, seven cards in the opening hand and 21 combat damage from one commander as a loss condition. Everything else at the table—politics, threat assessment and deals—is social practice layered on top of those rules, not a replacement for them.
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