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Commandbench

Commander reference

EDHREC for Commander decks

See how the deck database turns public lists into card recommendations, then build a 100-card list that follows the rules.

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Edgar Markov card

100

Cards in the deck, commander included. Only basic lands may repeat.

40

Starting life. The table is usually four players, passing turns clockwise.

21

Combat damage from one commander ends that player. Zone changes do not reset the total.

Public lists, counted together

EDHREC compiles deck lists from popular deck-building websites, and computes data from those lists to help players build decks. That sentence is from EDHREC's own guide. The sources it names are Archidekt, Moxfield, and Scryfall. Card art and rules text on this site come from Scryfall, not from a copied recommendation table.

A commander page on EDHREC shows how many lists put that legend in the command zone, then the cards those lists share. Filters for bracket, budget, and tags narrow the pile. Inclusion is agreement among published decks. It is not a ruling.

By a September 2015 Data Science MD talk, the site was already seeing more than 50,000 players a month. That figure is a decade old. It is useful only as a marker that the database was already a habit, not as a current traffic number.

How a recommendation is made

  1. Open the commander

    Pick the legend. The page averages lists that use that card in the command zone. Lists that only play it in the 99 are a different view.

  2. Read the overlap

    A high inclusion rate means many lists agree. Lift, where EDHREC has switched it on, compares that pair with chance. Above 1 is more often than chance.

  3. Check the rules

    Export toward Moxfield or Archidekt from EDHREC, then run the names through the deck builder for color identity, singleton, and the 100-card count.

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Questions about EDHREC

What is EDHREC?

EDHREC is a Commander deck database for Magic: the Gathering. It compiles public decklists and computes which cards players run with a given commander. Its own guide describes it as a deck analysis and recommendation tool.

Where do EDHREC decklists come from?

EDHREC collects lists from Archidekt, Moxfield, and Scryfall. The site says new data often shows up within a few days, and updating a published list replaces the old copy instead of adding a duplicate.

What happened to EDHREC synergy scores?

In 2025 EDHREC retired card-to-card synergy scores in favor of lift: how often two cards appear together compared with chance. A lift above 1 means the pair shows up more often than chance. The site said commander pages were still on the older figure while bracket, budget, and tag filters were reworked.

Is Commandbench the same as EDHREC?

No. Commandbench is an independent guide. Deck counts and inclusion rates stay on EDHREC. The deck builder here checks Commander construction rules against Scryfall card data.

How many cards are in a Commander deck?

Exactly 100, including the commander. Only basic lands may repeat. Each player starts at 40 life, and 21 combat damage from the same commander loses the game.

Sources