Two Commanders - Magic: The Gathering Spices Up Commander Gameplay

Magic the Gathering (MTG) - Commander is a game mode where players muster a 100-card deck with a desginated "Commander" card. This card must be a legendary creature from any of the MTG expansions. The cards in the deck must follow the commander's mana or color alignments. If you have a red-white commander, then all the creatures and spells in your deck must be either red, white or red-white only. Players should reduce their opponents life points from 40 to 0 as the primary way to win or commanders dealing 21 or more damage. There are other ways to win though, depending on a card's ability (like Infect which kills a player that gets 10 poison counters).

Yes, you've read that right! MTG Commander players can now have two commanders in their commander zone.

Player 1 to Command Tower, do you copy? - Source: Magic.Wizards.com

Magic the Gathering (MTG) - Commander is a game mode where players muster a 100-card deck with a desginated "Commander" card. This card must be a legendary creature from any of the MTG expansions. The cards in the deck must follow the commander's mana or color alignments. If you have a red-white commander, then all the creatures and spells in your deck must be either red, white or red-white only. Players should reduce their opponents life points from 40 to 0 as the primary way to win or commanders dealing 21 or more damage. There are other ways to win though, depending on a card's ability (like Infect which kills a player that gets 10 poison counters). 

Now, with the latest modification in Commander mode, players will have more options in their strategy to win.

This release showcases two new abilities: Undaunted and Partner.

Undaunted

Undaunted ability reduces the casting cost of a spell depending on the number of the remaining opponents. This ability will surely be helpful if a player is running low on mana and needs to destroy his/her opponents:

Source: Magic.Wizards.com

Partner

This is perhaps the most exciting addition to the current gameplay. Having 2 commanders will allow players to harness both of the commanders'  abilities and color alignments. For example, having Ludevic, Necro Alchemist and Reyhan, Last of the Abzan as commanders will make a deck aligned to four colors: Blue, Red, Black and Green. Not only that, the players can synchronize both of the commanders' abilities to victory. 

Source: Magic.Wizards.com

However, players can only apply this mechanic for legendary creatures that both have the Partner ability. This mechanic does not apply to one legendary creature with Partner and one that doesn't have the similar ability.

Moreover, the "commander tax" rule applies to each Partner individually. For example a player casts Ludevic for the initial cost of 3 - 1 colorless mana, 1 Blue and 1 Red and this creature dies in the battlefield and moves back to the command zone, and the player chooses to cast Reyhan in the next turn, Reyhan will still be at the cost of 3. If the player will return Ludevic to the battlefield, Ludevic will now be at 5 - 3 colorless, 1 Blue and 1 Red mana respectively.

Similarly, commander combat damage applies individually. These commanders should deal 21 damage separately in order to win - 21 damage by Ludevic or 21 damage by Reyhan.

Another thing that applies individually is the abilities that target the color alignment of the commanders. Cards like Command Tower and Commander's Sphere can only target one of the Commander's color identity.

With these new additions in the mechanics of MTG Commander, the players will have more flexibility and utility on how they will strategize to win. Though having two commanders sure look pricey because of the tax rule, a good player will always know when to use one of the commanders. 

Besides, strength is in numbers isn't it?

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