Commander series

The Commander series is a line of preconstructed products conceived for the Commander format.

Description

From 2013 on, a Commander product was released every year, each containing four or five 100-card decks. This product is generally targeted at non-tournament play. While the audience is obviously Commander players, they are also interesting for other formats like free-for-all multiplayer or Cube Draft. Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths and Zendikar Rising introduced Commander decks that are released as a regular part of a set's product line.

New cards

On average, Commander sets feature 50-60 all-new cards. The new commons are available in all decks, uncommons are available in all decks of the card's color, rares are available in one deck only, and mythic rares are the new commanders themselves.

Packaging

For a long time, Commander series products were packaged in plastic with an oversized commander to mark the main commander of each deck (the "face card"). Starting with Commander 2021, plastic was reduced in the packaging and a foil-etched display commander replaced the oversized card. At the same time an additional "minimal packaging version" of the deck was introduced for sales online. While it doesn't feature the design of the typical retail packaging, instead it uses a corrugated cardboard box to contain the product, it delivers almost everything the same way using even less material and space. The only difference between the minimal packaging and retail versions is that the insert tray holding the deck box does not offer punch-out counters and a divider—you'll still receive everything else (the deck and deck box, plus life wheel, display commander, and double-sided tokens).

Releases

Online release

• Commander Theme Decks — Two decks, Magic Online only (August 2009).

Yearly releases

• Commander — Five wedge colored decks (June 2011).
• Commander's Arsenal — 18 foil cards and other goodies (November 2012).
• Commander 2013 — Five shard colored decks, introducing commanders scaling with mana spent. (November 2013).
• Commander 2014 — Five monocolored decks, introducing planeswalker commanders. (November 2014).
• Commander 2015 — Five enemy colored decks, introducing experience counters. (November 2015).
• Commander 2016 — Five 4-color decks (November 2016).
• Commander 2017 — Four tribal decks whose commanders had an eminence ability (August 2017).
• Commander 2018 — Three 3-color decks and one 2-color deck (August 2018).
• Commander 2019 — Three 3-color decks and one 2-color deck (August 2019).

Anthologies

• Commander Anthology — Four previous Commander decks together in one package (June 2017).
• Commander Anthology Volume II — Four previous Commander decks together in one package (June 2018).

Set Commander decks

• Commander 2020 or Ikoria Commander — Five decks, thematically connected to the Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths set (April 2020).
• Zendikar Rising/Commander decks — Two decks, thematically connected to Zendikar Rising (September 2020).
• Commander Legends — designed to be drafted (November 2020).
• Commander Legends/Commander decks — Two decks, thematically connected to Commander Legends (November 2020).
• Kaldheim/Commander decks — Two decks, thematically connected to Kaldheim (February 2021).
• Commander 2021 — Five decks, thematically connected to the Strixhaven: School of Mages set (April 2021).

Universes Beyond

• Warhammer 40,000 Commander decks

Commander promos

• A special Sol Ring Commander promo (foil and non-foil) with new art by Mark Tedin was made available at Grand Prix Las Vegas, just before the release of Commander 2019. It will be available in the future through Commander events at MagicFests throughout the year, and at select conventions in 2020.

Gallery

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