As the growth of the Commander/EDH format continues and it becomes one of – if not the most – popular ways to play Magic: The Gathering, some players are still unsure of the rules that come along with it. One of these is the Commander Damage rule which acts as an alternative win condition.
To help make sure you’re not the one player at the table who’s unsure of what’s going on, We’ve got you covered with everything you need to know about Commander Damage in EDH
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What is Commander Damage?
Commander Damage is the term used to describe an alternate win condition in EDH. It states that if any player deals 21 points or more damage, with their Commander, to another player, that player is out of the game.
As an example, Player 1 uses Kenrith, the Returned King, to attack Player 2. On this attack, it will be the 5th time Kenrith has attacked Player 4 and they have received the full 5 points of damage each previous attack.
On this 5th attack, Player 2 can once again not block so will take 5 more points of damage, meaning Kenrith has dealt 25 damage to them. This is over the 21 point threshold and means that Player 2 is out of the game.
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Exception to the Rule
There is, however, a slight exception to this rule. Commander abilities will not count towards the damage limit as it only counts combat damage.
This means that if you use Niv-Mizzet, Parun, whenever their ability is triggered and deals damage, this is not counted towards the 21 damage limit. You can still target other players with a Commanders ability, it just will not count towards the overall 21 point limit.
