In your opinion: what was the first Standard set designed with the Commander format in mind?
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on June 10, 2025, 1:36 p.m. by StopShot
What came before the first Commander product.
The first Commander product, Commander 2011, came out after New Phyrexia, with the Scars of Mirrodin block being infamous for creating the keyword Infect which is an incredibly powerful keyword in the Commander format, but can be argued was not designed with Commander in mind because of how it was obviously meant for 20 life formats and has never shown up as a keyword in any base commander product since its debut.
What came after the first Commander product.
Just like how powerful infect could be, after Scars of Mirrodin came the Innistrad block which would create Commander staples still used today like Blasphemous Act, Craterhoof Behemoth and Laboratory Maniac, but could you argue WoTC pushed these cards for Commander players? I don't think what Commander staples printed in a set is an apt indicator of what influence Commander has on any given Standard set, after all Avacyn Restored released Griselbrand, a card WoTC would never have created in today's Standard sets given how much the Commander format plays a role in their current set design.
How the Griselbrand standard may answer this question.
I think a more appropriate metric is to apply what I would dub the Griselbrand standard when assessing Standard sets. The Griselbrand standard is cards or mechanics that would be fine in a 20 life 1v1 block constructed format but would obviously have no business ever being in a marketed product for a 40 life multiplayer format, with other examples of the Griselbrand standard being infect, Serra Ascendant, Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, etc. Not every Standard set needs a Griselbrand-like card or mechanic to determine if the Commander format played a role in its set design. Instead, it should be asked, at what point did the Griselbrand standard die in MTG Standard set design to make way for the Commander format? I feel this is a more appropriate question to ask to determine when Commander started to take effect on Standard set design, and I'm curious to hear what set you think would best mark this transition into the Standard sets we see today.
plakjekaas says... #3
It's the 2018 Dominaria set, that had a promised legendary creature in every pack. That's also around the time Wizards started to endorse brawl as a format, even though there was no dedicated product yet. It was the end of the two-set blocks, and the amount of legendary creatures per set has hugely increased since then.
When I started playing commander in 2016 ( General Tazri 5C ally typal), there were around 1100 Commanders to choose from in total. That amount has more than doubled since.
June 11, 2025 3:43 a.m.
FormOverFunction says... #4
As far as formal adoption of EDH/commander goes, what about the use of the term “opponents” rather than just “opponent”…? All the errata has made this search more complicated than I think I can manage. I had never even heard of EDH until something like the first Theros set, when Master of Waves
was… well… making waves. So I’d say we can rule out pre-theros. I like the Grislebrand approach, even though it’s not foolproof.
June 11, 2025 1:32 p.m.
Coward_Token says... #5
AFAIK "opponents" was first used as early as The Dark, with Angry Mob and Nameless Race (obviously, EDH asn't the first multiplayer format)
Crow_Umbra says... #2
I feel like I've seen a variation of this topic around socials at some recent point. In that adjacent discussion, I vaguely remember people pointing at the Standard environment of War of the Spark and Throne of Eldraine as being a big tipping point for a concentration of cards that saw pretty heavy play into commander. I think the Throne of Eldraine Brawl decks, and some of its commander choices like Chulane, Teller of Tales, Korvold, Fae-Cursed King and Alela, Artful Provocateur being regarded as a significant tipping point.
Purely anecdotal, but with my primary playgroup a lot of my friends made the jump into commander during that Standard environment. The Brawl commanders were all pretty frequent and familiar faces at that point of our meta, with Alela being the only current "survivor".
I know it's not a Standard set, but Modern Horizons dropped around the same time frame, and players tend to jokingly refer to it as "Commander Horizons".
June 10, 2025 3:28 p.m.