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What is Commander Damage in Magic: The Gathering?
Back in the earliest days of Commander -- back, in fact, when it was called Elder Dragon Highlander (EDH) and long before it was a format sanctioned by Wizards of the Coast -- games were slower and cards were weaker.
This was an era when the shared understanding of optimized Magic was still developing; Many players remember EDH games circa 2009 where everyone would have a Sun Droplet or a Clearwater Goblet out, and life totals would spiral out of control.
Sheldon Menery and his core group of EDH innovators anticipated this, though, and so they included a core rule to cut through the effectiveness of life gain, weaken stalling techniques, and make Commanders matter beyond their color identity: Commander damage.
How Commander Damage Works
The rule is simple: any player dealt 21 or more combat damage by a single Commander over the course of a game immediately loses.
If you have multiple Commanders via Partner or another similar ability (Friends Forever, Partner With, Doctor's Companion, or Partner -- Survivors), the accumulating damage is tracked separately for each; you must deal a total of 21 combat damage with at least one of them to take out a player.
The rule prevents games from becoming a stalemate, but it also does slightly invalidate certain strategies and reward others, arguably to the game's benefit. You can gain 10,000 life, but Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund still thinks you look like a three-bite snack.
The presence of Commander damage can change table politics. If you've dealt someone at the table 20 damage with Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel, their number one goal will likely be to eliminate you before you can eliminate them during your next combat.
Is all damage considered Commander damage?
No. The damage dealt must be combat damage, so neither Kamahl, Pit Fighter nor Ghyrson Starn, Kelermorph enchanted with a Fire Whip will work. This also means that Fog effects or cards preventing combat entirely like Propaganda can be effective counters.
How You Win with Commander Damage
The sweet spot for Commander damage fluctuates depending on what you're likely to face at your table, but the core math is simple: a 6-power Commander will take four uninterrupted attacks to kill a player, a 7-power Commander three, an 8-power Commander three, a 9-power Commander three, etc. Thus, a 7-power Commander is just as efficient at taking out a player as a 10-power Commander, as they both require three swings.
Wizards seems to plan for Commander damage when they design cards. The highest power in Commander-legal (sorry, B.F.M.) Magic is Yargle and Multani, who boast an unprecedented 18 power. Even the Frog Spirit Avatar requires three extra power to swing for a fatal amount of Commander damage in one hit. Most of Magic's massive Creatures max out at 12 power or below (Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle, Ghalta and Mavren, Kozilek, Butcher of Truth), so even the biggest Commander needs to make it through twice to take out a player.
That's assuming you're just relying on the Creature as printed to get through, but there are numerous ways to boost your Commander's power and shave time off the clock & kill players in fewer turns.
Strategy One: Stacking Equipment and Auras
"Voltron," a shorthand/slang term taken from the toyetic 1980's cartoon, refers to a strategy that staples as many Auras or pieces of Equipment to a Commander as it takes to kill a player with 21 damage in one hit. You'll see a lot of Sword of X and Y (Sword of Fire and Ice, Sword of Feast and Famine) and Cloud's Buster Sword, etc. in these decks, as well as resilient Auras like Rancor and Brilliant Wings.
The downside to Voltron decks is that any mass removal spell, from Fracturing Gust to Pernicious Dee sets you back significantly. You can always recast your Commander; it's much more difficult to recur Equipment or Auras from your graveyard.
Early Voltron Commanders include:
More recent Voltron Commanders are:
Strategy Two: Piling up Counters
+1/+1 counters are a safer way to pump your Commander. Between The Ooze, The Ozolith, and Ouroboroid, it's very easy to bolster a Creature with persistent counters, and that's just the beginning!
Classic +1/+1 counter Commanders include
Newer +1/+1 counter Commanders are:
Strategy Three: Repeated Red Zone
Multiple combat phases are another way to get that 21 damage through. If an opponent's shields are down, Relentless Assault will let you turn combat into a game-winning combo attack.
Anzrag, the Quake-Mole telegraphs your plan, but, in conjunction with anything that grants Trample and/or Indestructible to the Mole God, lets you take out an entire table via escalating combat phases.
Bumi, Unleashed requires more thought in deckbuilding to maximize his ability, but he gets out of hand with other Earthbending cards and any Land Creatures like Mutavault and Treetop Village.
Wrapping Up
21 seems like a somewhat arbitrary threshold for Commander damage, but it represented three attacks with the original Elder Dragon cycle from Legends (Palladia-Mors, Chromium, Vaevictis Asmadi, Nicol Bolas, and Arcades Sabboth). As EDH became Commander and we went from the original five Elder Dragons to hundreds of more sophisticated Commanders, the 21 damage rule stuck around.
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Sheldon Menery discussed potentially adjusting this back in 2019, but it's clear seven years later that Commander damage isn't changing anytime soon. It still operates as a safety valve for the format, keeping more aggressive or Voltron-esque decks relevant in a format that could be nothing but pillow forts and life gain triggers, and it lets the "battlecruiser" spirit of Commander live on by showcasing Magic's beefiest beaters and most threatening Dragons.
