How Commander Damage Works in EDH

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Everything you need to know about commander damage

Co-authored by Jason Garvin and Eric McClure

Last Updated: March 23, 2025 Fact Checked

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• What is commander damage?
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• Exceptions to Commander Damage
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• Unique Commander Damage Interactions
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• Is commander damage normal combat damage?
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• Do commanders share commander damage?
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• Expert Interview
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• Tips

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Commander (EDH) is the most popular way to play Magic: The Gathering since it’s more casual than other formats and offers tons of creative deckbuilding options. While the gameplay rules of Commander are basically identical to every other format, commander damage is a unique element. Basically, instead of dealing 40 damage to a player to kill them, you can kill them by dealing 21 damage if it’s dealt by your commander. We’ll break down how it works and more.

Things You Should Know

• Commander damage is an alternative win condition in the Commander (EDH) format.
• If a commander deals 21 points of damage to a player, they die. This is unique from the normal life total of 40 points.
• Triggered abilities and state-based damage abilities do not count towards commander damage; commander damage must come from combat.

Steps

Section 1 of 5:

What is commander damage?

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1. 
   Commander damage is an alternative win condition in EDH. Every Commander (EDH) deck has a single legendary creature as its commander. Every player in an EDH match starts with 40 life points, and they lose if they run out of life. However, players can also die if they take 21 damage from a player’s commander directly.

   • For example, let’s say your deck’s commander is Atraxa, Praetors' Voice. She’s a 4/4. If you attack one of your opponents 6 times with Atraxa and she’s never blocked, you’ll deal 24 damage and kill that opponent.
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Section 2 of 5:

Exceptions to Commander Damage

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1. 
   Commander abilities and triggers do not count. Take a look at Niv-Mizzet, Parun. He deals 1 damage to any target whenever his owner draws a card. While Niv-Mizzet can 100% target an opponent with this ability, it won’t count towards the commander damage win condition. It will, however, count towards the 40 regular life points. Commander damage can only occur in combat.

   • Any activated or triggered ability cannot deal commander damage. However, any activated or triggered ability that buffs the commander in combat will help increase commander damage.
     • For example, Greven, Predator Captain’s +X/+0 ability will count towards commander damage.
   • One strange outlier is Saskia the Unyielding. Her second ability seems like it would count as combat damage, but it doesn’t—that’s a state-based effect.

Section 3 of 5:

Unique Commander Damage Interactions

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1. 
   1
   Cards that double damage will double commander damage. If you have a card like Furnace of Rath on the board that doubles the damage of all your permanents, it will help boost your commander damage value. For example, Atraxa, Praetors' Voice would deal 8 commander damage.
2. 
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   Instants and enchantments that buff increase commander damage. Cards like Giant Growth and Rancor will increase your commander’s damage so long as they’re the target of the buff.

   • There’s actually an entire archetype of decks called “Voltron” decks (named after the TV show Voltron, which was about 5 robots that combine into one) built around buffing your commander to end the game quickly.
3. 
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   Commander damage stays if the commander changes zones. Let’s say your commander is Akiri, Fearless Voyager and you’ve dealt 9 commander damage to Player 2 thus far in the game. Player 3 casts Agent of Treachery and it resolves. They target your Akiri with Agent of Treachery’s ability, which gives Player 3 control of your commander. If they were to attack Player 2, Player 2 would be at 12 commander damage from Akiri—not 3.

   • Another way to think about this is that commander damage stacks—it can’t be removed, replaced, or reset.
   • The same applies if your commander dies and you rebuy them and attack the same player again.
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Section 4 of 5:

Is commander damage normal combat damage?

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1. 
   Yes, commander damage only cares about player life totals. If you have a 5/5 commander and you attack a player but they block with a 4/6, nothing unique happens. The 4/6 takes 5 damage and survives, and the 5/5 takes 4 damage and survives. The fact that your commander was involved in the combat doesn’t impact anything.

   • In other words, commanders just deal normal damage to everything that isn’t a player.

Section 5 of 5:

Do commanders share commander damage?

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1. 
   No, every commander gets its own set of 21 life. Commanders don’t “share” their commander damage. For example, if you attack Player 2 with your Ur-Dragon commander, which is a 10/10, and Player 3 spends their turn attacking Player 2 with their 4/4 commander, Edgar Markov, Player 2 does not have 14 commander damage. They have 10 from the first commander and 4 from Player 3.

   • This is actually one of the reasons a lot of players don’t like commander damage. It can be a lot of effort to track all of the separate commander damages in addition to the standard 40 hit points.
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Expert Q&A

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Tips

• Commander damage was invented because Commander was originally designed around 5 potential commanders—the original elder dragons. Each dragon was a 7/7, so the idea was that they’d need to hit an opponent 3 times. Fun fact, the elder dragons are why commander is also called EDH—the game was originally called “Elder Dragon Highlander.”
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• If you play Commander with a playgroup of friends—and not at a sanctioned shop—feel free to ignore the commander damage rule. A lot of players don’t enjoy tracking the separate damage types.
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