EDH is what a lot of players still call Commander, and learning how to play EDH is mostly learning a handful of rules on top of the MTG you already know. You build a 100-card deck around one legendary creature, you start at 40 life, and three or so friends try to do the same thing to you at once.
This page covers every rule a beginner needs: building the deck, color identity, the command zone and commander tax, how games start and end, partners and backgrounds, and what playing against several opponents changes. The rules here are the official ones as of September 2026.
What EDH is
EDH stands for Elder Dragon Highlander, the name players gave the format before Wizards of the Coast made it official as Commander in 2011. "Highlander" is the singleton rule: one copy of each card. The original commanders were the five Elder Dragons from Legends.
A game is a free-for-all, usually for four players. Each deck is led by a legendary card, its commander, which starts the game outside the deck and can be cast again and again. That is what the rest of the rules are about.
How to play EDH: building an MTG Commander deck
- 100 cards, commander included. Not 99 plus one: the commander is one of the 100.
- One copy of each card. Basic lands are the exception, and so are the few cards that say a deck can have any number of them, like Relentless Rats and Persistent Petitioners.
- The commander is a legendary creature. Since the Edge of Eternities rules update in 2025, a legendary Vehicle or Spacecraft with power and toughness can be one too, and so can any card whose text says it can be your commander (some planeswalkers do).
- No banned cards. Wizards keeps the Commander banned list on its site. It changes a few times a year, so check it rather than relying on an old deck guide.
Color identity
Every card in the deck has to fit inside your commander's color identity: the colors of all the mana symbols in its mana cost and its rules text. If your commander's symbols are only black and green, no card in your deck may have a white, blue or red mana symbol anywhere in its cost or its text. Colorless cards are always allowed.
A few details that catch people out:
- Symbols in the rules text count, not just the cost. A green card with a white mana symbol in an ability is green and white.
- A hybrid symbol counts as both of its colors. Wizards considered changing that in 2025 and decided in February 2026 not to, for now.
- Reminder text doesn't count, and the back face of a double-faced card does.
The command zone and commander tax
Your commander starts the game face up in the command zone, a spot next to your library that isn't part of your deck. You can cast it from there whenever you could normally cast it.
Every time you cast it from the command zone after the first, it costs two more generic mana than the time before. That is the commander tax. A four-mana commander costs four the first time, six the second and eight the third. The tax counts casts from the command zone only.
If your commander would go to your graveyard, into exile, back to your hand or into your library, you may put it into the command zone instead. That is how you get it back after it dies, and it is why the tax matters: a commander that keeps dying keeps getting more expensive.
Starting a game
- Everyone starts at 40 life.
- Seating is random, and turns go around the table.
- Draw seven, then decide on a mulligan. Commander uses the normal London mulligan: shuffle, draw seven again, and put one card on the bottom of your library for each mulligan you've taken. In a multiplayer game the first mulligan is free, so you put nothing on the bottom for it.
- Nobody skips their first draw. Only two-player games have the starting player skip it.
How you win and lose
You lose the normal ways: at 0 life, with ten poison counters, or by having to draw from an empty library. Commander adds one more.
Commander damage. If a single commander has dealt you 21 or more combat damage over the course of the game, you lose, whatever your life total is. It is counted separately for each commander, and only combat damage counts. The damage still comes off your life as usual, so most games end on life anyway; commander damage is how a big commander finishes someone at 30.
The last player left wins. When a player loses, their cards leave the game with them.
Partners and backgrounds
Some commanders come in pairs, and then the two of them together lead the deck:
- Partner. Two legendary creatures that both have partner can be your commanders together. The deck is still 100 cards including both, and its color identity is the two combined.
- Partner with [name]. Pairs only with the card it names.
- Choose a Background. A commander with this can have a Background, a legendary enchantment, as its second commander.
- A few newer variants (such as Friends forever and Doctor's companion) work the same way, each with its own rule about what it pairs with.
Each of the two has its own commander tax, and commander damage is tracked for each one separately.
Playing against several opponents
- You can attack any opponent, and split your attackers between several of them in the same combat.
- "Each opponent" means everyone else. Cards that say that hit the whole table, which is why they are so much stronger here than in a duel.
- Talk is part of the game. Deals, threats and "if you leave me alone, I'll hit him instead" are normal, and nothing makes anyone keep a deal.
- Talk about decks before you play. A precon and a tuned combo deck at the same table rarely make a good game. Wizards' Commander Brackets help: five levels (Exhibition, Core, Upgraded, Optimized and cEDH), with a list of Game Changers that brackets 1 and 2 leave out, bracket 3 allows three of, and brackets 4 and 5 don't limit.
Who manages the rules
Players invented the format, and for years an independent Commander Rules Committee ran it. On 30 September 2024 the committee handed management of Commander to Wizards of the Coast. Since October 2024 a Commander Format Panel of players and content creators advises Wizards, and Wizards makes the final decisions: the banned list, the brackets and any rule changes. The official summary is on Wizards' Commander page.
Trying it out
Rules stick best once you've played a game with them. You can play a first game of Commander online with your friends in a browser tab: I build EDHMat, a free table for Magic EDH online, and it counts commander tax and tracks commander damage per opponent for you. It doesn't enforce any of the other rules on this page; you and your pod do, the same as with paper.
If you'd rather learn with a computer enforcing the rules, XMage is free and does.
Frequently asked questions
How many cards are in an EDH deck?
Exactly 100, and that includes your commander. With two commanders (partners, or a commander and a background) the two of them plus 98 other cards make the 100.
Can you have two copies of the same card in EDH?
No. Every card is a single copy, except basic lands and the few cards whose text says a deck can have any number of them, such as Relentless Rats.
What happens when your commander dies?
You may put it back into the command zone instead of the graveyard. From there you can cast it again, for two more generic mana than the time before.
How much life do you start with in EDH?
Forty. You also lose if a single commander has dealt you 21 or more combat damage over the game, whatever your life total is.
Does the first player skip their first draw in EDH?
No. In a multiplayer game nobody skips the draw step of their first turn. Only a two-player game (and Two-Headed Giant) has the starting player skip it.