What is Cali Commander?

• A game is always two players.
• Decks are exactly 100 cards, including the commander. One copy of each card, apart from basic lands and cards that say otherwise. Normal Commander deck building and colour identity apply.
• Each player starts at 30 life.
• The player who goes first skips their first draw.
• 21 damage from one commander still wins the game, and so do 10 poison counters.
• There is no sideboard.
• The ban list changes by community vote. A change needs at least 55% Yes among the Yes and No votes.

The full rules are on the rules page.

The format aims for games that are fast, powerful and good to watch. Duel Commander, the best-known one-on-one Commander format, starts at 20 life. Cali Commander starts at 30, which is less punishing, while staying more explosive than casual Commander.

Whether 30 is the right number is one of the things the format is still testing, along with 21 commander damage and the first player skipping their draw.

The ban list started from the official Commander banned list. It is more open than other one-on-one formats on purpose: strong cards are part of the format. The players change it by vote in the Collector's Horde Discord.

So far the players have unbanned 26 cards, and 22 of them are banned in official Commander. A card can be banned, banned only as a commander, or put on a watch list, which means it is legal but being watched. Changes land in a scheduled update every three months, unless a card clearly breaks the format.

See the ban list and every ballot's totals on the vote results page.

Game stores run Cali Commander events, and their results feed the season leaderboard. Find a store on the stores page or a tournament on the events page.

You can also play in your browser for free. See how to play Commander online, or go straight to Find a game. Magic Online players can use its Freeform Commander mode; see Cali Commander on MTGO.

1. Find your first deck. Three questions, then three commanders, each with public decks you can copy.
2. Check your deck against the current ban list.
3. Play a game online, or enter an event at a store near you.

Coming from another format? See how Cali compares with Commander, cEDH and Duel Commander.

Cali Commander is run by Cassius Marsh and Asher Boulton. Cassius, a former NFL player, is the face of the format. Asher founded it and builds this site. More on the about page.