Rules for Playing Peasant EDH
Foreword.
Peasant EDH is a variant of the normal EDH format. And much like the format it's based upon, it's designed as a casual game with a basic set of rules. Beyond that, house rules or "fair play" exceptions are encouraged if they result in more fun for the local community. In Peasant EDH, you may choose any non-legendary creature with a rare or mythic rarity while the remaining cards in your deck can only be uncommon and/or common.
Deck Construction.
- Choose any non-legendary mythic or rare creature card to be your "Commander".
- Unlike normal EDH, your commander CAN NOT be legendary.
- Also, unlike normal EDH, if at least one half of the card is a creature it can be your commander. Startled Awake is the only current example of this.
- Your commander's color identity determines what cards you can include in your deck.
- Color identity is a card's color(s) as well as any mana symbols in its rules text.
- Your deck must contain exactly 100 cards, including your commander.
- You can only have one copy of each card, with the exception of basic land cards.
- You may have up to 20 uncommon cards in your deck. All other cards must be common.
Example:
- You choose Gravecrawler to be your commander. Your deck may only contain black cards and colorless cards; and none of your cards may contain any other color(s) in their rules text, like Bump in the Night or Coastal Tower.
- You choose Fleecemane Lion to be your commander. Your deck may only contain green, white, and colorless cards; and none of your cards may contain any other color(s) in their rules text, like Frenzied Raptor or Obelisk of Grixis.
- You choose Arcbound Ravager to be your commander. Your deck may only contain colorless cards and lands that produce only colorless mana; like Ancient Tomb and Wastes.
- You choose Etched Monstrosity to be your commander. Even though it is a colorless card, its text box contains WUBRG mana symbols; because of that, your deck may include cards of any color(s) and colorless cards.
- You choose Brood Butcher or Fathom Feeder to be your commander. While they have the "Devoid" keyword, their rules text and casting cost still contain color mana symbols; so your deck may only contain cards of those color(s) and colorless cards.
- You choose Crypt Ghast to be your commander. Your deck is mono black and cannot contain white cards, because the hybrid B/W mana symbol is part of the reminder text.
Determining Rarity.
Some cards have had multiple printings, and sometimes this means that their rarity is changed. So long as a card has ever been printed at a rarity (either in paper or online) the card is legal for play at that rarity. If a card has been printed at both common and uncommon, YOU choose which rarity slot that card fills.
Example:
- Primal Clay has been printed at common, uncommon, and rare. So he can be your commander if you choose for his rarity to be rare, or he can fill one of the 20 uncommon slots, or you can have him fill a common slot.
- Some other examples are:
- Imperial Recruiter has been both uncommon and mythic. So he can be in your deck or be your commander.
- Sensei's Divining Top has been printed at uncommon, rare, and mythic. So it can fill an uncommon slot in your deck.
- Rancor has been both common and uncommon. You can choose to have it fill a common slot, instead of taking one of the 20 uncommon slots, unless you want to.
- It is very important to note that Special is not a rarity. Special cards are any cards printed as promo cards, timeshifts, masterpieces, or reprint collections like the FTV and Spellbook series.
Banned Cards.
At the time of this writing, there are no banned cards.
If any cards do end up proving to be ban worthy, it will be discussed first before being carried out. While two card win combos are plentiful in this format, there are also just as many answers to them without having to stretch very far and rely on a sideboard. Please do keep in mind that this format is focused on creating fun and welcoming environments for all players, not for spreading cancer. For those that play cancer will find themselves with no one to play with at all.
Play Rules.
- All the other normal rules of EDH apply to Peasant EDH.
- Players start at 40 life.
- Commanders begin the game in the "Command Zone". While there, they may be cast following normal timing restrictions for casting that spell.
- For each time beyond the first that a player casts their commander from the command zone, they must pay an additional {2} mana. This is known as "Commander Tax".
- For example: If this is the 4th time you've cast your commander from the command zone, they cost an additional {6}.
- As long as you are casting your commander
from the command zone, this tax can be reduced but not avoided (just like real
taxes) through replacement effects.
- For Example: Bontu's Monument will reduce the normal casting cost of your commander including their commander tax.
- For Example: If you're casting Bringer of the Black Dawn for the second time, it's tax will be {2}. So even if you use the replacement effect of paying WUBRG to cast it, you still need to pay the commander tax of {2}.
- If your commander would be put into your library, hand, graveyard, or exile from anywhere, you may choose to move it to the command zone instead. This is a replacement effect that applies last and may apply multiple times to an event. The commander never actually goes to the original destination, and thus will not trigger abilities that trigger based on going there (ie. "When this creature dies...")
- Being a commander is not a characteristic, it is a property of the card and tied directly to the physical card. As such, a commander always retains being a commander no matter what and its status of being a commander cannot be copied or modified in any way.
- If a player has been dealt 21 points or more of combat damage by a particular commander (including their own) during the course of the game, that player loses the game. Commander damage is cumulative throughout the game and specific to each commander/player pairing. not combined across all commanders.
