Duel Commander Joins Magic Online July 24

Posted on Jul 13, 2024

Ever want to battle on the most competitive frontier of Commander’s multiverse? If so, get ready for the debut of the Duel Commander format on Magic Online!

With thousands of fans worldwide, including hundreds of players battling in the French National Duel Commander Championship at a festival in Chateauroux, France this weekend, we’re excited to bring this high-power game mode to MTGO!

The ruleset has evolved since its formation in 2007 thanks to the Duel Commander Committee and is a unique MTG play experience. The MTGO Game Team is partnering with the DC Committee, a core group of passionate players who will continue to manage the format with regular updates. 

Rules

The differences between Duel Commander and regular Commander are significant, but make sense in the context of reducing what’s commonly a 4-player format down to 2 combatants:

Recently implemented as a nerf to decks with partners, let’s dig into that last rule a bit. It means once a Commander – including those with Partner variants and Backgrounds – is cast from the Command Zone, no other cards can be cast from that zone for the rest of the game. (There are effects which get around this, such as Command Beacon.) Notably, this doesn’t apply to cards with the companion ability.

MTGO Event Support

Following downtime on Wednesday, July 24, Duel Commander will feature a Tournament Practice room and a League. The League will start structured differently than others, but we’ll monitor queue health and make adjustments if needed.

Duel Commander League

Start & End Times – Starts July 24 following downtime, initial League ends on release of Duskmourn: House of Shadows.

Location – Constructed -> Commander lobby

Entry Options - 6 Event Tickets or 60 Play Points

Matches – Up to 5 per course, each first to two wins

Format Rules – See table at top of this article plus Banned Lists section below

Prizes –

• 5 Match Wins – 120 Play Points, 3 Treasure Chests, and 2 Qualifier Points
• 4 Match Wins – 100 Play Points and 1 Treasure Chest
• 3 Match Wins – 80 Play Points

Depending on initial popularity and feedback, we will look for opportunities to add Challenge events for Duel Commander (possibly with modified prize structures) in the near future.

It’s Duelin’ Time!

For those Commanders about to duel, we salute you …

We’ll see you on the battlefield!

Banned Lists

In addition, Duel Commander maintains distinct banned lists both for the format as a whole, as well as cards unusable only as a Commander (OK in the 99).

The full Banned List comprises the usual suspects – many of which don’t appear on MTGO – as well as these individually-banned cards:

Here’s the full list of cards banned only as a Commander:

UPDATED WITH MAY 27, 2025 B&R CHANGES New Ban New Unban

Banned as Commander

May 2025 Changes: Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis banned as Commander only; Zurgo Bellstriker unbanned

Fully Banned

May 2025 Changes: Invert Polarity banned; Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis unbanned in the 99