1v1 Commander formats

Cali Commander vs Commander vs cEDH vs Duel Commander

Four ways to play Commander, side by side. Two of them are built for one-on-one games.

How Cali Commander, Commander, cEDH and Duel Commander differ
Rule	Cali Commander	Commander	cEDH	Duel Commander
Players	2	Built for 4	Built for 4	2
Starting life	30	40	40	20
Deck	100 cards, singleton	100 cards, singleton	100 cards, singleton	100 cards, singleton
21 commander damage wins	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Ban list	The Cali Commander ban list	The Commander banned list	The Commander banned list	The Duel Commander banlist
Who decides it	The players, by vote, at 55% Yes	Wizards of the Coast publishes it	Wizards of the Coast publishes it	The Duel Commander committee

Cali Commander

Cali Commander is one-on-one Commander at 30 life. The first player skips their first draw, and there is no sideboard. The ban list is the format's own. It started from the official Commander banned list, and the players change it by vote in the Collector's Horde Discord. It leaves many powerful cards legal that other one-on-one formats ban, on purpose.

Play it at a game store, in your browser, or on Magic Online. The details are in the rules, and the short version is what Cali Commander is.

Commander

Commander is the multiplayer format Wizards of the Coast describes on its Commander page. A game is built for four players, and each starts at 40 life. 21 combat damage from one commander wins. Wizards publishes the Commander banned list on its banned and restricted page.

cEDH

cEDH is competitive Commander. Wizards' Commander page lists it as Bracket 5, the highest of the five Commander brackets, which are an optional way to match games of similar power. A cEDH game is a Commander game: the same life total, the same rules and the same banned list.

Duel Commander

Duel Commander is a one-on-one Commander format at 20 life. It has no commander damage rule, and tournament matches are best of three. Its banlist is kept by the Duel Commander committee. Its own site points players to Magic Online, Cockatrice and SpellTable for online games.

Commander 1v1 on Magic Online

Magic Online also lists a Commander 1v1 format. Wizards' page for it gives two players and 100-card decks, but not the starting life or a ban list of its own, so it is not in the table. To play Cali Commander on Magic Online, see Play Cali on MTGO.

Which one is for you

If you want one-on-one games with more life than Duel Commander and a more open ban list, try Cali Commander. Find your first deck or check a deck you already have.

Sources

Checked October 31 and November 1, 2026. Rules change, so check each format's own site.