Commander is run by Wizards of the Coast, with advice from the Commander Format Panel, and the rules live on two of Wizards’ pages. The Commander format page carries the brackets and the Game Changers list, and the banned and restricted list has the bans. Below, we go through what they mean for you as a cEDH player, as of the date at the top. If anything here disagrees with Wizards’ pages, Wizards’ pages are right.
cEDH is Bracket 5
Commander has five brackets: Exhibition, Core, Upgraded, Optimized and cEDH, which is Bracket 5. In Wizards’ words, the brackets are “an entirely optional way” to match your games with people who want the same kind of game, and they’re still labelled as a beta.
Wizards keeps its description of Bracket 5 short. The update of 21 October 2025 says decks are “meticulously designed to battle in the cEDH metagame” and that games “could end on any turn”. There are no deck-building limits beyond the banned list. The original bracket announcement, in February 2025, added something that matters at the table: cEDH pays attention to behaviour and tableside negotiation, “such as not making spite plays or concessions”. Your first online pod asks the same of you on concessions.
Bracket 5 is a statement of intent more than a power level. If you’ve built a strong deck without the cEDH metagame in mind, that’s Bracket 4, where Wizards expects decks “not to adhere to the cEDH metagame”. When a server hosts several brackets, ask for a cEDH or Bracket 5 pod. That tells the table you’re playing to win with a list built for it, and that nobody’s holding back.
The same update also says the pre-game “rule zero” conversation applies at every bracket “other than cEDH”. So at a cEDH table, there are no exceptions to the banned list to negotiate. You’ll still have a short chat before the game about commanders and life tracking, but that’s only housekeeping, and the glossary lists what goes into it.
The banned list, as it affects cEDH
There’s one banned list for Commander, and cEDH uses it unchanged. The official list names 42 individual cards, plus every Conspiracy card, every card that refers to playing for ante, and cards with racially or culturally offensive art, text or names. One card gets its own rule. Lutri, the Spellchaser is “only banned as a companion”, so you can put it in your deck or make it your commander.
A lot of the list is power from Magic’s early years, like Black Lotus and the Moxen, Time Walk, Channel, Library of Alexandria and Tolarian Academy. The bans that shaped the format you’ll play today are recent. Mana Crypt, Jeweled Lotus and Dockside Extortionist went in September 2024, and decklists, videos and primers from before then can still include them. So if you’ve found an older list, check it against the current banned list before you build it.
Two cards people ask about are still legal. Thassa’s Oracle and Rhystic Study were both raised for feedback in October 2025, and in February 2026 the panel decided against banning either. It said Thassa’s Oracle “seems mostly enjoyed by the competitive community”, and that “the bar to ban a card in Commander is quite high”. Griselbrand is the card to watch the other way. It stays banned, however the same announcement said an unban “could even open up something new at the cEDH level”.
Wizards’ announcements also list bans for Brawl, which is a separate format, and those bans don’t apply to Commander. The June 2026 announcement banned Force of Will in Brawl, for example, and it’s still legal in Commander, so don’t let a headline catch you out.
Game Changers
The Game Changers list limits what a deck can include in the lower brackets. It’s none in Brackets 1 and 2, up to three in Bracket 3, and no limit in Brackets 4 and 5. So a cEDH deck can run as many as it likes.
Where it does matter is when you play outside Bracket 5. Sit down at a Bracket 3 table with a cEDH list and the Game Changers count will be the first thing that tells you it’s the wrong deck. It’s also where Wizards puts cards it takes off the banned list.
Biorhythm, for one, went straight onto the Game Changers list when it was unbanned in February 2026. Going the other way, the October 2025 update took several cEDH commanders off the list, including Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy and Urza, Lord High Artificer. Wizards’ reasoning was that a commander is the easiest thing for other players to see and opt out of, and that power alone is no reason to list one.
Recent changes
Newest first.
- 9 February 2026. Biorhythm unbanned and added to Game Changers. Lutri, the Spellchaser unbanned except as a companion, and not added to Game Changers. No new bans, and Griselbrand, Iona, Sundering Titan and Jeweled Lotus were discussed and left banned. In the brackets update the same day, Farewell was added to Game Changers, no bracket changed, and the proposed change to hybrid mana and colour identity was dropped for now.
- 11 December 2025. The Commander Format Panel’s first yearly rotation. Wizards described one of the two new members as “a major voice in the cEDH community”.
- 21 October 2025. Each bracket gained a written set of expectations and a minimum number of turns, and for Bracket 5 that’s “any turn”. Tutor limits were removed from the brackets. Ten cards came off Game Changers, including Kinnan, Urza, Winota, Yuriko, Food Chain and Deflecting Swat.
- 22 April 2025. Gifts Ungiven, Sway of the Stars, Braids, Cabal Minion, Coalition Victory and Panoptic Mirror unbanned and added to Game Changers. The panel discussed Mana Crypt, Jeweled Lotus and Dockside Extortionist, and most members wanted no change.
- 11 February 2025. Brackets and the Game Changers list introduced, in beta, with cEDH as Bracket 5.
- 30 September 2024. The Commander Rules Committee handed management of the format to Wizards of the Coast.
- 23 September 2024. Mana Crypt, Jeweled Lotus, Dockside Extortionist and Nadu, Winged Wisdom banned.
Wizards’ all-format announcements on 29 June and 10 August 2026 made no change to Commander. The 10 August one gives 12 October 2026 as the date of the next all-format announcement. Don’t set your watch by it for Commander, though. The Commander panel said in February 2026 that Commander “gets to operate on its own schedule”, so a Commander change can come on a different date.
Where to go next
New to some of the terms here? The glossary defines them. What you need at the table points you to where current lists are kept. Your first online pod shows you how to ask for a Bracket 5 game in a server that hosts several.