Below is the primer for how this format works.
Buy tickets
Go buy your tickets to our Main Event today.
What’s Included?
Each player receives a sealed pool consisting of 14 packs, drawn from the last 1-3 years of boosters, along with some special inclusions. This year’s pool will contain the following
2x Foundations
2x The Hobbit
2x Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
2x Marvel Super Heroes
1x Aetherdrift
And also 5 boosters pulled randomly from the following:
Final Fantasy
Avatar
Lorwyn Eclipsed
Outlaws of Thunder Junction
Edge of Eternities
Secrets of Strixhaven
Tarkir Dragonstorm
Duskmourn: House of Horrors
Prizes
Prizes are distributed in prize tickets, or “tix”, similar to an arcade, and can be redeemed at our Prize Wall exclusively during the event. Prizes will be awarded for participation and number of table wins during the event, with additional prizes for the top 4 players.
Multiplayer rules
How it works
The spirit of this event is fun and casual. We’re here to support wonderful charities and make memories. In that spirit, please participate in trading in good faith, please play with respect, and please make friends!
Most Standard Commander Rules apply. Find them here. Exceptions are listed below:
Deck construction & trading
- Players are given a pool of packs. Some of those packs are semi-randomized.
- In pods of four, players will have 75 minutes to trade amongst their card pools and construct a commander deck. Please note that while players are free to make trades amongst themselves in whatever way seems fair to them, offering another player money or outside compensation is strictly forbidden. Additionally, the event cannot guarantee any sort of trade-back agreement; players should assume that all trades are final.
- Any cards opened from the 14 boosters assigned to you during the event are legal. This includes “List” cards and cards that may be on the Game Changers or Commander Ban List in other forms. If you open it, you can play it.
Deck size
Players will build a 100-card singleton deck consisting of 99 cards + your commander, or 98 cards + your commanders in the case of Partners/Background. A 101st card may be added in the event that your deck meets the requirement to include a companion.
Continuous construction
Continuous construction rules will be in effect for this event. Players may freely exchange cards between their deck and sideboard, provided that they continue to adhere to all other deck building rules. Please note that players may only trade between sealed pools during the designated deck construction time. Players may not trade with other players to improve their deck or sealed pools in between play rounds. Doing so may result in a warning or a disqualification. Note that should you inadvertently become aware of your next round opponents’ deck(s), it is considered bad form to “pre-sideboard” for that particular matchup.
Companions, lessons, wishes
In constructed commander, cards that reference “cards you own from outside the game” (your sideboard) don’t function. In Commander Sealed, however, these cards function as they would in any limited event, with your unused sealed pool serving as your sideboard. Cards used from your sideboard must still adhere to the singleton rule (if there is a card with that name in your deck, you cannot get it from your sideboard), and must adhere to your commander’s color identity. You must keep the cards you wish to find in your sideboard after deck building, you can not make trades or leave the table to acquire a card you want to pull from your sideboard.
Companion is a mechanic that was introduced in Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths. Assuming that your deck meets all construction requirements of a given companion, this card can serve as a 101st card that begins play in your sideboard which you may pay 3 mana to put into your hand any time you could cast a sorcery.
Lessons debuted in Strixhaven. They are a card subtype that interacts with the Learn mechanic allowing you to put them into your hand from the sideboard. (e.g. Poet’s Quill and Introduction to Annihilation) See the Comprehensive Rules for more information.
Wishes are cards or abilities that search for cards “outside the game” and put them into your hand. (e.g. Karn, the Great Creator) Their function is similar to Lessons and Learn, in that they can acquire cards from your sideboard. All of these cards function in Commander Sealed.
Banned cards
Like any other Limited event, if you crack it, you can play it. That means that cards that are usually banned (e.g., Braids, Cabal Minion; Channel; Hullbreacher; Lutri, the Spellchaser; Primeval Titan; Tinker; and Upheaval) are all legal for play in Commander Sealed!
“Playtest” cards
Again, if you crack it, you may play it. Mystery Booster “Playtest” cards will be legal for this event.
Color identity
Each card has a color identity consisting of any mana symbols that appear anywhere on the card (except in reminder text.) For example; Alesha, Who Smiles at Death is a red creature with a Mardu (red, white, and black) color identity. All colors of a hybrid mana symbol count towards color identity.
As in ordinary Commander, each card in your deck must adhere to your Commander’s color identity. In addition, any cards you intend to use in your “sideboard” must adhere to your Commander’s color identity (see Companions, Lessons, and Wishes above).
Singleton
Unlike a typical sealed deck, your deck is limited to one copy of any given card regardless of how many copies of that card are in your pool. With the exception of basic lands, no two cards in the deck may have the same English name. Some cards (e.g. Dragon’s Approach) may have rules text that overrides this restriction.
Planeswalkers
While legendary, Planeswalkers are not legendary creatures, and cannot be the commander of your deck. Certain planeswalker cards that state otherwise such as Grist, The Hunger Tide; Jeska, Thrice Reborn; and Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools are exceptions to this rule.
Partner and background
If you choose partners to be your commanders, or a legendary creature with “Choose a background” your deck will be the combined color identity of both of your commanders, or your commander and your background. Both will begin the game in the command zone. Your deck will be 98 cards + your Commander(s)/background, rather than 99 cards + your Commander. Each player has access to up to two copies of Prismatic Piper or Faceless One, regardless of whether or not those cards show up in their sealed pool.
Starting life total
For Commander Sealed players will begin their games at 40 life. We have adapted the festival to make things feel more like a regular game of Commander at your home.
End-of-round procedure
Our event uses a special end-of-round procedure to ensure that everyone’s games finish in a timely manner while also allowing the players to make decisions and understand that the end of the party is coming. This year, we are updating the rule set we used last year to allow for life gain strategies to exist without letting players game the system with tons of life gain to mitigate the end of round. You may recognize this card as a form of the card “Descent into Avernus” and it operates in a similar fashion. We want to again thank Serena Malyon for her art that we used to create this emblem.
Deck building Basics, Reminders, and Tips
Land count
You need lands. Many people start with 40 lands and subtract 1 for every 2 ramp effects in the deck. Your mana curve will also affect how many lands you’ll want to run. Most decks average around 36 lands. When building, you can share and trade many of your off color lands to your table mates who have colors of yours to improve your mana base, but you can not use two of the same non-basic land
Ramp
Creatures and artifacts that tap for mana, or spells and effects that get you more lands onto the battlefield, are a deck-building basic. Depending on your mana curve, you’ll probably want 5-15% of your deck to get you ahead on mana. This can be found via Landers from Edge, Artifacts that tap for mana, or treasure producers. The more mana you have early, the more often you can take clues during The Festival to draw additional cards.
Color fixing
This is a function of ramp. In Limited your access to colors is much more restricted. Keep that in mind when building a deck with three or more colors. Color fixing can often be found in your Tarkir and Strixhaven boosters, but also with common fetches like Terramorphic Expanse or artifacts like Giant’s Boulder and Foraging Wickerclaw. Trade these to multi color players to get cards from them, or use the colors you don’t need to get them from others.
Card draw
It’s important to include cards that generate card advantage; either increasing the number of cards you have access to or the quality. 10-15% is a good rule of thumb when building a deck. Cards with Adventures, Omens, Rooms, or other split abilities are easy includes to increase the quality of each card drawn
Wincons
Games don’t end without them. We’re trying to keep games around 90 minutes, so make sure you include ways to close out the game. You will want some clear cards that can kill your opponents. Commanders with obvious ways to win the game are helpful. Remember, during the end game each player will be gaining treasures or clues each turn, so artifact and sacrifice strategies will gain value as the game goes on. With the new mechanic, life gain early can also add additional turns to your life total while also still triggering your life gain effects like Ajani’s Pridemate and Pest Mascot later.