It ended the game from nowhere
Singleton makes most combinations unreliable, so a card that wins on its own the turn it resolves is doing something the format's structure cannot absorb.
Format reference
Commander Banlist
Commander, as of September 24, 2026: 83 cards are banned, and 53 cards are on the Game Changers list.
Commander is Magic's most played format: a hundred singleton cards led by a legendary creature whose colors set the rules for the other ninety-nine. Its banlist is short, and its Game Changers list now does most of the work of setting expectations. Both are below.
The banlist and the Game Changers list both come straight from Scryfall and are rebuilt automatically.
Commander basics
- Deck size
- 100Exactly, including the commander
- Copy limit
- 1Singleton; basic lands unlimited
- Starting life
- 40Usually four players
- Rotation
- NoneEternal format
- Cards banned
- 83Updated automatically
- Game Changers
- 53Updated automatically
What Commander bans outright
Commander's list of genuinely powerful bans is deliberately short, because most of the format's balancing happens through conversation and through brackets rather than through bans. The list below also carries the cards no format allows, such as the Conspiracy draft-matters cards and anything that plays for ante, so it is longer than the handful of names most players would recite.
- Adriana's Valor
- Advantageous Proclamation
- Amulet of Quoz
- Ancestral Recall
- Assemble the Rank and Vile
- Backup Plan
- Balance
- Black Lotus
- Brago's Favor
- Bronze Tablet
- Channel
- Chaos Orb
- Cleanse
- Contract from Below
- Crusade
- Darkpact
- Demonic Attorney
- Dockside Extortionist
- Double Stroke
- Echoing Boon
- Emissary's Ploy
- Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
- Erayo, Soratami Ascendant // Erayo's Essence
- Falling Star
- Fastbond
- Flash
- Golos, Tireless Pilgrim
- Griselbrand
- Hired Heist
- Hold the Perimeter
- Hullbreacher
- Hymn of the Wilds
- Immediate Action
- Imprison
- Incendiary Dissent
- Invoke Prejudice
- Iona, Shield of Emeria
- Iterative Analysis
- Jeweled Bird
- Jeweled Lotus
- Jihad
- Karakas
- Leovold, Emissary of Trest
- Library of Alexandria
- Limited Resources
- Mana Crypt
- Mox Emerald
- Mox Jet
- Mox Pearl
- Mox Ruby
- Mox Sapphire
- Muzzio's Preparations
- Nadu, Winged Wisdom
- Natural Unity
- Paradox Engine
- Power Play
- Pradesh Gypsies
- Primeval Titan
- Prophet of Kruphix
- Rebirth
- Recurring Nightmare
- Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
- Secrets of Paradise
- Secret Summoning
- Sentinel Dispatch
- Shahrazad
- Sovereign's Realm
- Stone-Throwing Devils
- Summoner's Bond
- Sundering Titan
- Sylvan Primordial
- Tempest Efreet
- Time Vault
- Time Walk
- Timmerian Fiends
- Tinker
- Tolarian Academy
- Trade Secrets
- Unexpected Potential
- Upheaval
- Weight Advantage
- Worldknit
- Yawgmoth's Bargain
Built from Scryfall on 2026-09-24
The Game Changers list
Game Changers are not banned. They are the cards Wizards has flagged as the ones most likely to change what a game looks like, and they are the main input to a deck's bracket: the higher brackets allow more of them, the lower ones allow none. If you are working out which bracket a deck belongs in, this is the list to check it against. Our Commander Brackets guide covers what each bracket expects.
- Ad Nauseam
- Ancient Tomb
- Aura Shards
- Biorhythm
- Bolas's Citadel
- Braids, Cabal Minion
- Chrome Mox
- Coalition Victory
- Consecrated Sphinx
- Crop Rotation
- Cyclonic Rift
- Demonic Tutor
- Drannith Magistrate
- Enlightened Tutor
- Farewell
- Field of the Dead
- Fierce Guardianship
- Force of Will
- Gaea's Cradle
- Gamble
- Gifts Ungiven
- Glacial Chasm
- Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
- Grim Monolith
- Humility
- Imperial Seal
- Intuition
- Jeska's Will
- Lion's Eye Diamond
- Mana Vault
- Mishra's Workshop
- Mox Diamond
- Mystical Tutor
- Narset, Parter of Veils
- Natural Order
- Necropotence
- Notion Thief
- Opposition Agent
- Orcish Bowmasters
- Panoptic Mirror
- Rhystic Study
- Seedborn Muse
- Serra's Sanctum
- Smothering Tithe
- Survival of the Fittest
- Teferi's Protection
- Tergrid, God of Fright // Tergrid's Lantern
- Thassa's Oracle
- The One Ring
- The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
- Underworld Breach
- Vampiric Tutor
- Worldly Tutor
Why Commander bans the cards it does
A hundred-card singleton deck is naturally inconsistent, which absorbs a lot of power that would break a 60-card format. What survives that is what gets banned.
It was a tutor for everything
Commander already lets you find one specific card every game: your commander. Cards that make the rest of the deck equally findable erode the variance the format is built on.
It made a four-player game unfun for three
Commander is a multiplayer format, and a card that locks three other people out of their turns fails on social grounds rather than on power. Several bans are exactly this.
The Commander deck rules
| Rule | Commander | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Deck size | Exactly 100 | Including the commander. Not a minimum: a 99-card or 101-card deck is illegal. |
| Copies of a card | 1 | Singleton, by card name. Basic lands are exempt, as are a few cards that say otherwise. |
| Commander | One legendary creature | Some pairs may partner, and some backgrounds and similar cards act as a second commander. |
| Color identity | Set by the commander | Every card in the deck must fall inside the commander's colors, counting mana symbols in rules text, not just the cost. |
| Sideboard | None in casual play | Sanctioned events may allow a small one; most tables do not use one at all. |
ArcaneMetriX checks the whole Commander contract as you build: exactly 100 cards, singleton, color identity against your commander, the banlist, and how many Game Changers you are running, which is what sets the deck's bracket.
What Commander players ask most
How many cards are in a Commander deck?
Exactly 100, including your commander. Unlike 60-card formats this is a fixed number, not a minimum, so a deck with 99 or 101 cards is illegal.
Are Game Changers banned in Commander?
No. Game Changers are fully legal. They are a labelled list of cards that shape a game the most, used to place a deck in a bracket. Lower brackets expect none of them; higher brackets allow more.
Can I play a banned card as my commander?
No. The banned list applies to the command zone as well as the deck.
What is color identity?
A card's color identity is every color in its mana cost plus every color symbol in its rules text. Each card in your deck must fall inside your commander's identity, which is why a card with an off-color ability is illegal even if you could pay for it.
Who maintains the Commander banlist?
Wizards of the Coast, which took the list over from the independent Commander Rules Committee in late 2024. Announcements now arrive on the same schedule as other formats.
Build your Commander deck
Start from a commander and ArcaneMetriX suggests cards that fit its plan, finds the combos in the deck, and estimates its bracket as it takes shape.