PREAMBLE

This document represents the complete rules regarding Duel Commander rules. It is not designed to be read in one shot, especially for new players. Please turn to the Duel Commander quick start Guide for this.

Should one ever want to ask precise questions regarding playing, special questions, or concerns, please have a look at the document named “Frequently Asked Questions”, which is excluded from this document and serves as a complementary source of information for common mistakes, questions, and information.

This document is based on many other ones and represents an exhaustive and comprehensive guide and rules reference for any player, judge, and tournament organizer in the world who would like to follow official Duel Commander rules. This document may be updated as time goes on, without any warning (even though changes might be broadly announced to the community), and will be maintained by the Duel Commander Committee only.

The document you’re reading is based on the work of the Duel Commander Committee, which has changed over time, but the people who helped this existing and made this be brought to light remain. Please note that Duel Commander game is not affiliated to, maintained by, nor having any support from Wizards of the Coast™.

We would like to thank everyone who made Magic The Gathering™ possible (because without Wizards of the Coast™ / Hasbro™, we would certainly not be here today), but also the makers, maintainers and communities of Singleton formats, Elder Dragon Highlander and Multiplayer Commander teams, as well as some people who made this game possible, such as Kevin Desprez, Damien Guillemard, Claire Dupré and Daniel Kitachewski for their advice, their initial support and involvementn as well as Damien Jantzen, Jordan Raiber, Manuel Le Marec, Martin Cuchet, Pierre-Guillaume Bardin and Thomas Mechin. Though they’re not part of the committee anymore, people might remember the time they all spent in making this game to be known. We also want to thank all the other people who got involved once into the Duel Commander Committee, those who are still involved in it, advisors and regional coordinators, and everyone who helps building the community. We would also like to thank Martin Cuchet and Jordane Lacombe for their time invested working on these rules.

★ 2. TOURNAMENTS

200. Extending Magic The Gathering™ Comprehensive Rules

• • 200.1. The Nature of Duel Commander, General Structural Philosophy

    • 200.1a Before anything else, DC is a game based on Magic The Gathering™ material. Which means it follows all the generic rules defined by Wizards of the Coast (that one can find here) in order to understand its objects, and thus, any rule here is to be considered as an extension of these rules, preceding over them if explicit. 

    • 200.1b For any question regarding generic Magic The Gathering™ rules, please refer to those official documents above all things should any concern one faces would not find an answer in this present document.

201. Comprehensive Rules

• • 201.1. Following Magic The Gathering™ Comprehensive Rules

    • 201.1a Note that the official rules of Magic The Gathering™ are by default followed by all certified judges, as it would happen to be in any other Magic The Gathering™-based game. 

    • 201.1b Should anything not be ruled explicitly by the present document, please refer to the official comprehensive rules by default.

202. Tournament Rules

• • 202.1. Following Magic The Gathering™ Tournament Rules

    • 202.1a Please note that all DC tournaments should be ruled like any other Magic The Gathering™ tournaments: which means the only source of authority is the one one would expect on any kind of tournament. That means: Judges, Head Judges, and in certain cases and Tournament Organizers. 

    • 202.1b All the official procedures of Magic The Gathering™ should apply, including Magic The Gathering™ Tournament Rules, which take precedence over the Magic The Gathering Comprehensive Rules (people may find documents regarding those procedures here).

    • 202.1c This document lists additional ruling tips and explicit statements at section 6., that overlap any other source.

    • 202.1d When applying Magic The Gathering™ Tournament Rules, assimilate DC as a "constructed format" from these documents by default, regardless of rule 103.1. of this document.

    • 202.1e This implies following Magic The Gathering™ Tournament Rules to determine how many rounds a tournament should have.

  • 202.2. Duel Commander Tournament Pairing

    • 202.2a By default, tournaments are assumed to follow the Swiss pairing algorithm.

    • 202.2b The tournament pairing algorithm can be changed prior to the tournament by the Tournament Organizer.

    • 202.2c The pairing structure for playoff rounds or final rounds can be different and can differ from the main rounds.

  • 202.3. Duel Commander Match Structure

    • 202.3a By default, the number of winning games required to win a DC match is two.

    • 202.3b The required number of games to be won for any portion of the tournament can be changed prior to the tournament by the Tournament Organizer.

    • 202.3c The matching structure for playoff rounds or final rounds can be different and can differ from the main rounds.

    • 202.3d The required number of games to be won for playoff rounds or final rounds can be different.

203. Tournament Organizing and Logistics

• • 203.1. Keeping in Mind the Spirit of the Game

    • 203.1a Regarding tournament organization, please note that there are no absolute rules to organizing a Duel Commander tournament. What makes this game so interesting is its originality. The main goal is therefore to propose to the players something attractive in terms of fun and/or challenge. 

    • 203.1b The DC Rules Committee can be your possible ultimate source of authority in some cases, but only through a concensus. Please don’t hesitate to contact any member of the committee in case of having a question or being in need for help to organize a Duel Commander event. We are available on Magic The Gathering™ forums, social networks, live chats, at tournaments, by e-mail and using our Facebook Page. We’ll do our best to assist the community. We’re also interested in hearing any feedback one may have.

    • 203.1c Applying Magic The Gathering™ Infraction Procedure Guide and Tournament Rules, the Rules Enforcement Level for tournaments should be "Competitive" by default for all tournaments, although tournaments without prizes nor participating fees can follow the "Regular" Rules Enforcement Level.

204. DC-specific Tournament Timings and Time Management

• 204.1. Defining Round Timings

  • 204.1a A few specific additions may be done to the generic Magic The Gathering™ Tournament Rules, though. Organizers should generally use Swiss rounds like in any other Magic The Gathering™ tournament (which also allows the use the official tournaments tools provided by Wizards of the Coast), and should stick to 50 minutes rounds. 

  • 204.1b If needed, round time can be lengthened, up to 55 or 60 minutes for regular rounds.

  • 204.1c If needed round time can be extended up to 90 minutes or unlimited time for possible playoff (“Top X”) rounds or finals if desired.

• 204.2. Additional Turns

  • 204.2a As in any Magic The Gathering™ game, Duel Commander games should follow the generic rules regarding time management. This means, since DC is a two-player game, that players should be allowed 5 additional turns after the current turn when time is called by tournament organizers/judges, along with the regular obligations regarding playing pace. Please note Magic The Gathering™ judges are well used to handling such situations.

• 204.3. Extra Time

  • 204.3a As in any Magic The Gathering™, some particular internal or external events may happen during tournaments, which may affect game playing time. Organizers should take decisions along with judges to allow some players to have a time extension between the official round ending time and the start of additional turns. Again, please note Magic The Gathering™ judges are well used to handling such situations, such as warning players at the beginning of their first game and handling local concerns with Tournament Organizers.

• 204.4. Expliciting Timing and Prizes

  • 204.4a Timings and prizes have to be stated explicitly before the tournament begins to all players and Judges. 

  • 204.4b Timings and prizes have to be announced and explicit prior to players registrations.

• 204.5. Tournament Rules and Latest Information Authority

• 204.5a Any tournament that started before or during the publishing of a new announcement from the DC Rules Committee has to follow the rules as they were before the tournament started.

• 204.5b DC Rules cannot change during the course of a tournament.

205. DC Players

• • 205.1. DC Player Definition

    • 205.1a As opposed to common multiplayer formats like Commander (as promoted by the Commander community and Wizards of the Coast's Commander), and as stated in its name, Duel Commander is made for 1 versus 1, individual player games (referred as “two-player games” in the Magic The Gathering™ Comprehensive Rules at section 100.1a). 

    • 205.1b A player is a physical person, playing alone without any external interaction with the game (this is a change from official Magic The Gathering™ Comprehensive Rules defined in section 903.).

206. Multiplayer and Variants

• • 206.1. Multiplayer Games (Free-for-all)

    • 206.1a If one wishes to organize multiplayer tournaments (such as Free-For-All tournaments), please refer to the Commander rules instead. 

    • 206.1b None of this document will apply to multiplayer tournaments (i.e. tournaments that don’t follow rule 205.1a in this document).

  • 206.2. Two-Headed Giant Variant

    • 206.2a Non-sanctioned Two-Headed Giant variant games (referred in the Magic The Gathering™ Comprehensive Rules at section 810.) can be played in DC and are allowed as a tournament game structure.

    • 206.2b All additional rules explicited by Magic The Gathering™ Comprehensive Rules and Magic The Gathering™ Tournament Rules replace information from this document (like starting life totals and player definitions, for instance).

    • 206.2c Tournaments should not be organized using the Two-Headed Giant variant, but Tournament Organizers can still attempt to do so if they wish to. In that case, they take full responsibility of handling rules and sanctions.

  • 206.3. Team Unified Game Structure

    • 206.3a Non-sanctioned Team Unified Games can be played in DC and are allowed as a tournament game structure.

    • 206.3b In a Team Unified tournament, except for cards with the basic supertype, no two decks on a team may contain the same card, based on its English card title (see Magic The Gathering™ Tournament Rules at section 8.4). Cards that override deck construction rules may only override them for one deck on a team.

    • 206.3c Although recommended team size is 3 players, that number remains at the discretion of tournament organizers.

  • 206.4. Magic The Gathering™ Ruled Casual and Product-based Variants

    • 206.4a Non-sanctioned games (referred in the Magic The Gathering™ Comprehensive Rules at section 9.) can be played in DC.

    • 206.4b All additional rules explicited by Magic The Gathering™ Comprehensive Rules replace information from this document.

    • 206.4c Tournaments should not be organized using variants defined at section 206.3a of this document, but Tournament Organizers can still attempt to do so if they wish to. In that case, they take full responsibility of handling rules and sanctions.

  • 206.5. Other Variants

    • 206.5a Any other variant (Grand Melee, Emperor...) or Commander Draft cannot apply to DC. Please refer to the Commander rules instead. 

    • 206.5b None of this document will apply to other variant tournaments. 

207. Tournament Flow Integrity

• • 207.1. Listing Decks in Duel Commander

    • 207.1a Because of the complexity of singleton lists of 100 cards, when organizing a Duel Commander tournament, it is normally required for players to list their decks before tournaments start and present them. 

    • 207.1b Decklists should be presented as 99 cards in the deck plus one card as the commander on those lists, modulated by cards that explicitely change these numbers (see official Magic The Gathering™ Comprehensive Rules defined in section 702.).

    • 207.1c Player decklists should be readable and never lead to doubts while being checked, if provided by physical means. 

    • 207.1d Failure to comply to this could trigger infractions issued from the judges during tournaments. 

    • 207.1e Integrity hashes or any other modern way of validating decklists contents could also be provided in order to quickly check the decklists.

    • 207.1f Players can list an additional 101th card if it has the companion keyword, provided their decklists remain valid regarding the commander construction rules and provided the whole deck is valid regarding to additional building constraints, as some cards with additional keywords require (at least companion use text restriction AND color identity).

    • 207.1g Banned cards can't be listed.

    • 207.1h Cards that are restricted can only be listed in any legal way (for instance, a card that is banned as a commander only cannot be listed as a commander).

    • 207.1i An Attraction Deck cannot be used nor listed in Duel Commander, as opposed to what used to be legal according to this document.

    • 207.1j Dungeon cards musn't be listed as they're considered as tokens when it comes to listing and can be used through representations (see Magic The Gathering™ Tournament Rules at section 3.3).

★ 4. BUILDING DECKS

400. Generic Considerations

• • 400.1. Default Rulings and Decision-taking

    • 400.1a If not stated in this section of the present document, any rule has to follow the official rules defined in section “903. Commander” in the Magic The Gathering™ Comprehensive Rules.

401. Interaction Between and Across Documents

• 401.1. Building Rules Precedence

  • 401.1a When explicitly stated in the present document, if any rule specification differs from the ones you find in the Magic The Gathering™ Comprehensive Rules, this document contents take precedence over the Magic The Gathering™ Comprehensive Rules.

  • 401.1b This does not include legal statements made by Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro, Inc. These take precedence over anything.

402. Duel Commander Deck Structure

• 402.1. Construction Rules

  • 402.1a A DC deck has to follow the construction rules defined in the official Magic The Gathering™ Comprehensive Rules at section 903.5. 

  • 402.1b Each DC deck must contain exactly 100 cards, one of them being the Commander and the 99 other ones being the player’s starting library, among other considerations.

  • 402.1c Rule 402.1b might be replaced and possibly modulated only by specific keywords and mechanics, such as partner, partner with, friends forever or choose a background, for instance.

  • 402.1d DC doesn't use sideboards, nor does it use any mechanic refering to sideboards. As a consequence, no rule that would attempt at using them will not function. See official Magic The Gathering™ Comprehensive Rules at section 903.11.

  • 402.1e The companion ability is valid in DC and cards with this ability can be listed as cards that start outside games, but not in a sideboard on condition that the listing remains legal.

  • 402.1f Dungeon, or companion cards are not part of a deck and are considered separately.

  • 402.1g Casual variant cards like nontraditional cards (e.g. Vanguard characters or Archenemy schemes) are not part of a deck and are considered separately.

403. Commanders

• • 403.1. Choosing A Commander

    • 403.1a Choosing a Commander in a Duel Commander deck requires the owner of the deck to follow the construction rules defined in the official Magic The Gathering™ Comprehensive Rules at section 903.3 and the rules that follow.

    • 403.1b Rule 301.5. in this document does not affect the deck building process.

  • 403.2. Banned Commanders

    • 403.2a Players can’t choose a card that’s banned in Duel Commander or simply stated banned as a commander in Duel Commander as their commanders. See rules 404. in this document.

404. Magic The Gathering™ Material Legality

• 404.1. Banned Or Restricted Cards Reference

  • 404.1a Some cards are banned from Duel Commander. The only reference to know which cards are authorized or banned is the document named  “Banned and Restricted” on the Duel Commander official website, that one can find at this URL: https://www.mtgdc.info/banned-restricted. This is extracted from this section for better readability.
    This list comes in addition to the rules 404.6. and 404.7. in this document.
    Though this list is usually edited on every major set release (following Wizards of the Coast’s periodicity), it might be changed at any moment if any card threatens the diversity and stability of the Duel Commander game.

• 404.2. Banned In Duel Commander As A Commander Only

  • 404.2a When a card is stated as “Banned as a Commander only”, this means the card can’t be the Commander of any deck, but can still be part of the cards constituting the starting library.

• 404.3. Banned In Duel Commander In The Deck Only

  • 404.3a When a card is stated as “Banned in the deck only”, this means the card can be the Commander of any deck, but can’t be part of the cards constituting the starting library. Please note there has never been any reason for this case to exist so far.

• 404.4. Banned In Duel Commander

  • 404.4a When a card is stated as “Banned” with no further precision, "Banned in DC" or "Banned in Duel Commander", this both means the card can’t be the Commander of any deck (provided it could be an eligible one) and can’t be part of the cards constituting the starting library. Players can’t have any of these cards in a Duel Commander game in any zone of the game. They're simply not legal.

  • 404.4b When a card is stated as “Banned” it can't be used/listed/played as using the companion ability. 

• 404.5. Banned Card Candidates

  • 404.5a Any Magic The Gathering™ card can be banned or authorized.

• 404.6. Game-generic Banned Cards

  • 404.6a Only cards that are playable in sanctioned Magic The Gathering™ formats are legal in Commander, and, therefore, in Duel Commander.
    Which excludes special border cards like:

    • Gold-bordered cards (World Events promo cards / ...).

• • Silver-bordered cards (found in "Un"-sets / Holiday cards / ...).

  • Scroll-looking cards like Conspiracies.

  • Square-cornered cards (Collector’s Edition / ...).

  • Cards with a special acorn-looking holofoil or acorn-looking printed stamp.

  • Oversized and other miscellaneous (usually nontraditional) cards such as Planechase Planes, Archenemy Schemes, Vanguard cards, Helvault cards, Minigames, Bounties, etc.

  • Cards marked offensive by Wizards of the Coast™. Click here for the list. This list is a work in progress.

  • Any card that bring a sticker or an Attraction into the game.

  • Any other card that will be explicited as not legal in sanctioned play by Wizards of the Coast™.

• 404.7. Game-specific Banned Cards

  • 404.7a Cards that use the Ante ability are excluded.

  • 404.7b Physical abilities cards that are Falling Star and Chaos Orb.

  • 404.7c The fast subgame card Shahrazad is also excluded for structural reasons.

• 404.8. Considering Special Mana Symbols

  • 404.8a As in any other game, phyrexian mana are considered the color(s) they are, including when determining color identity. 

    • 404.8b As in any other game, hybrid mana are considered the color(s) they are, including when determining color identity. 

• 404.9. Sideboards

  • 404.9a DC doesn’t use sideboards. Players can’t have sideboard cards. The only cards of a Duel Commander deck are the 100 cards from the main (and only) deck, possibly modulated by cards like companion ability does. 

  • 404.10. Non-card Material

    • 404.10a Anything that is not a traditional Magic The Gathering™ legal card cannot be used in DC, with some exceptions listed in this section.

    • 404.10b Dungeons are nontraditional Magic The Gathering™ cards that are accepted in DC, on condition that they follow rule 404.6 in this document.

    • 404.10c Attractions (as defined in section 717. of the Magic The Gathering™ Comprehensive Rules) are nontraditional Magic The Gathering™ cards that are not accepted in DC. Bringing such game material to games will be discarded and ignored.

    • 404.10d Stickers (as defined in section 123. of the Magic The Gathering™ Comprehensive Rules) are not accepted in DC. Bringing such game material to games will be ignored.

★ 6. JUDGING / COMPLEMENTARY NOTES

600. Specificities of Duel Commander

• • 600.1. Judging and Sanctioning

    • 600.1a Duel Commander games shall be judged and approached with the same philosophy as any Magic The Gathering™ game during a tournament. Therefore, any certified Magic The Gathering™ judge can be a DC judge and judges should apply the usual Magic Infraction Procedure Guide by default in tournaments. 

    • 600.1b Commander swapping shall be judged and sanctioned like sideboarding (mostly Tournament Error — Deck Problem).

    • 600.1c Choosing commanders between games (as potential swaps) can trigger Unsporting Conduct — Stalling or Tournament Error — Slow Play.

    • 600.1d A player refusing to reveal at the proper time their commander(s) before or after swapping commanders falls under Tournament Error — Communication Policy Violation, or any relevant misinformation conduct.

    • 600.1e Players misusing game rules from other games or formats (e,g, from Commander) shall be concerned mostly by those infractions, depending on the mistakes made (pretty much like confusing rules from Legacy and Vintage formats, for example):

      • Tournament Error — Decklist Problem

      • Tournament Error — Deck Problem

      • Game Play Error — Game Rule Violation.

    • 600.1f Commander(s) in the deck whilst presenting it to the opponent should be judged as a Game Rule Violation. In the event of a player who wanted to swap commanders, refer to rule 600.1b of this document.