When and How Did EDH Become so Popular?
Commander Deck Help forum
Posted on March 31, 2025, 10:04 a.m. by DemonDragonJ
EDH/Commander is now quite possibly the most popular format in Magic: the Gathering, at this time, but I wonder how, exactly, that occurred, and, just as importantly, when it occurred.
I shall presume that a major reason for EDH becoming as popular as has it the singleton nature of the game, which ensures that no two games are ever exactly the same (except in situations in which a player builds their deck specifically to have a consistent strategy), and the idea of having a legendary creature as the face of the deck is also quite nice, but I also wonder when EDH started to overshadow standard as the most popular format; I imagine that the change did not occur immediately, and likely was a slow and gradual one, but can anyone here determine an exact date when that change began to occur, or a set that helped to start that change? I imagine that the fact that WotC now includes a Commander product with every standard-legal set is a major factor for that change, but it cannot be the only factor, so I certainly am interested to hear what everyone else here has to say, on this matter.
What does everyone else here have to say, on this subject? How and when did EDH become so popular? I certainly am interested in receiving your feedback, on this matter.
Mortlocke says... #2
I agree with the sentiment that EDH/Commander is popular, but possibly doesn't fit - it is the most popular format by a wide margin. This feels the case anecdotally as from my observations the majority of products made by WOTC are marketed toward Commander players. But in terms of raw numbers, the best I could do was search various terms in google trends. Specifically, "mtg commander", "mtg modern", "mtg legacy", and "mtg standard".
MTG Trends 2004 - Present Show
If someone else has numbers to suggest otherwise, i'd love to see what they bring and discuss. For me, Commander became a thing around 2009 - 2010 as that's where I saw it start as a niche "grass roots" format. But it really started to pick up steam around 2011 when the first Commander decks were released. That's when I started to frequent LGSes to try and learn the game.
I can only speak for myself when it comes to why interest in standard was waning - having to lose tens if not hundreds of dollars because of a format rotation gets old after a period of time. When I was paying attention to standard (circa 2002) it was called "Type 2" and I was dealing with Affinity and the ol' Arcbound Ravager. That thing pretty much dominated the format and made games samey and downright boring sometimes. After that I took a break and picked the game back up when Llorywn dropped, but even then I only played draft.
Thinking about Commander it has everything going for it - all the good stuff of magic: expression of creativity, power (and the curation of it) and diversity minus all of the annoying problems such as meta (if we're excluding cEDH), set rotations, and budgetary constraints (remember: Proxying is Officially Endorsed by Wizards!). It was the professor of Tolarian Community College who opened my eyes to true potential of the format. Deck building can be so much more than cobbling together a pile of draft chaff, or a half baked Slivers deck that you can barely pilot - it can be a form of expression. The embodiment of your fantasy army of which you are the mastermind and your commander is your champion. Once that clicked for me I was hooked; fortunately and unfortunately I know I will be a life long player. Given how greedy Hasbro and by extension WOTC have been in recent years I've been working to try and balance my budget and make careful decisions on when to even think of buying.
March 31, 2025 2:53 p.m. Edited.