Archon (format)

Archon is a democratically managed, 1vs1 Commander-variant format for Magic: the Gathering. It is focused on competitive play and all changes to the format are made transparently and with the approval of the community.

Description
The format was formed in 2019 and is managed by the "Archon Council", a group of five people who are elected for one year. They responsible for the proposal of all sorts of new changes to the format, as well as for providing the community with detailed explanations whenever a proposal is put up to a vote. For a change to be approved, it needs to have the approval of, at least, half of the community.

While being a casual format Archon is aimed towards players who are interested in playing a commander variant in a competitive setting.

Rules

 * 1) Archon is a variant of the official Commander format by Wizards of the Coast. Archon games use the normal rules for the Commander variant as described in the Magic: The Gathering Comprehensive Rules under rule 903 with the following modifications.
 * 2) An Archon game is a two-player game.
 * 3) In an Archon game, each player’s starting life total is 20.
 * 4) Archon games do not use the state-based action described in rule 704.5.v of the Comprehensive Rules, which causes a player to lose the game if they’ve been dealt 21 or more combat damage by a commander.
 * 5) Archon uses a sideboard as described in Rule 100.4 of the Comprehensive Rules with the following modifications.
 * (a) You may only have up to one card in your sideboard if it is your Companion.
 * (b) This card may not enter the game unless it is through its Companion ability.
 * 1) In a tournament, players must designate their primary commander(s) and are not allowed to designate other cards as their commanders(s) for the first game of each match. If decklists are used, the primary commander(s) should be highlighted. Players are, however, allowed to change their commander(s) at the beginning of every other game of a match. The new commander(s) must be chosen from the deck, be legal, and have the same color identity as the primary commander(s). Players may keep those cards face down as they’re chosen, but each player must clearly indicate which face-down card they are choosing.

Card legality
Players may only use cards as specified in rule 3.3 of the Magic: The Gathering Tournament Rules. However, gold- and square-bordered cards are also allowed in Archon tournaments as long as they are not distinguishable from the rest of your deck. This can be achieved by using opaque sleeves, for example. The following cards may not be used in Archon:
 * Silver-bordered cards.
 * Conspiracy cards.
 * Oversized and other miscellaneous cards such as Planechase Planes, Archenemy Schemes, Vanguard cards, Helvault cards, etc.
 * Cards removed from constructed formats by Wizards for being racially or culturally offensive.
 * Cards that reference “playing for ante”.
 * Cards that require some sort of physical skill, such as Chaos Orb and Falling Star.
 * Cards that create subgames

Banned in Archon
The following cards are banned in Archon: • Ancestral Recall

• Black Lotus

• Channel

• Chrome Mox

• Deadly Rollick

• Deflecting Swat

• Dig Through Time</c>

• Emrakul, the Aeons Torn</c>

• Entomb</c>

• Fastbond</c>

• Fierce Guardianship</c>

• Food Chain</c>

• Gaea’s cradle</c>

• Gifts Ungiven</c>

• Grim Monolith</c>

• Hermit Druid</c>

• Humility</c>

• Imperial Seal</c>

• Jeweled Lotus</c>

• Karakas</c>

• Library of Alexandria</c>

• Mana Crypt</c>

• <c>Mana Drain</c>

• <c>Mana Vault</c>

• <c>Mishra’s Workshop</c>

• <c>Mox Diamond</c>

• <c>Mox Emerald</c>

• <c>Mox Jet</c>

• <c>Mox Pearl</c>

• <c>Mox Ruby</c>

• <c>Mox Sapphire</c>

• <c>Mystical Tutor</c>

• <c>Natural Order</c>

• <c>Necrotic Ooze</c>

• <c>Oath of Druids</c>

• <c>Price of Progress</c>

• <c>Protean Hulk</c>

• <c>Scapeshift</c>

• <c>Sol Ring</c>

• <c>Strip Mine</c>

• <c>Thassa’s Oracle</c>

• <c>The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale</c>

• <c>Time Vault</c>

• <c>Time Walk</c>

• <c>Tinker</c>

• <c>Tolarian Academy</c>

• <c>Treasure Cruise</c>

• <c>Vampiric Tutor</c>

Banned as a commander
The following cards can not be played as commanders, but they are still legal otherwise: • <c>Arahbo, Roar of the World</c>

• <c>Baral, Chief of Compliance</c>

• <c>Breya, Etherium Shaper</c>

• <c>Derevi, Empyrial Tactician</c>

• <c>Edgar Markov</c>

• <c>Edric, Spymaster of Trest</c>

• <c>Emry, Lurker of the Loch</c>

• <c>Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy</c>

• <c>Najeela, the Blade-Blossom</c>

• <c>Oloro, Ageless Ascetic</c>

• <c>Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary</c>

• <c>Tasigur, the Golden Fang</c>

• <c>Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath</c>

• <c>Urza, Lord High Artificer</c>

• <c>Yuriko, the Tiger’s Shadow</c>

• <c>Zurgo Bellstriker</c>

Banned as a partner
The following partner cards can only be played as a commander on their own, but they are still legal otherwise: • <c>Bruse Tarl, Boorish Herder</c>

• <c>Jeska, Thrice Reborn</c>

• <c>Vial Smasher the Fierce</c>

Banned as a companion
The following companion cards can not be your companion, but they are still legal otherwise:
 * <c>Lutri, the Spellchaser</c>

Voting
Members of the community can vote on the official Archon Discord server. The voting process follows these rules:
 * Four of the five Archons will need to be in favor of a change for it to be put to the vote.
 * The threshold for a change to be approved by the community is more than half of all votes.
 * There are three options in a regular vote. Against, in favor and blank. Any vote that does not reach either more than half of the positive votes or more than half of negative votes will be automatically held again two months after the day when the results are released, this time without the option of a blank vote.
 * There is a mandatory six-month delay between votes on the same issue, excepting votes that are held again automatically as the result of an inconclusive result. Revotes have to be approved by a simple majority of the Community Mods before they are presented to the community.