Melee Magic is an independently maintained Magic the Gathering play format; it is neither run nor endorsed by Wizards of the Coast. Melee Magic (Melee for short) is a casual format created by Knight Orochi for the purpose to have an eternal format that forks away from Commander and its inherent balance issues.
Melee like Commander, is a multi-player social format; 3-4 player pods is ideal but 1v1 is supported. While the format is casual social, Competitive Tournaments will play a big factor once the format gets off the ground. Any and all updates to the format will be maintained here by Knight Orochi, so bookmark this site for reference on any changes made.
Melee Magic V1.01 08/14/2025:
- 99 Card Singleton Deck excluding basic lands built around your choice of Legendary Creature, Planeswalker, Vehicle or Spacecraft (Color identity is determined by all colored mana symbols in a card, including the back side of Double Faced Cards and any reminder text such as Extort and Firebending). Once cast from the command zone, following all timing and restrictions rules, treat it as a normal card except if it is moved from one zone to another, you may instead return it to the command zone. This does not negate death triggers if destroyed/sacrificed, died from checked state based actions or card specific interactions that may put under opponent's control per resolution of spell/ability. Subsequent cast from the command zone (commander tax) is 1 Generic Mana more per cast.
- Companion mechanic is supported as followed: Must meet Color identity and Companion specific restrictions. Companion does not count toward 99 card count, instead like your commander it starts in the command zone. You may cast it once from the command zone, following all timing and restrictions rules. Once introduced into game, treat it as a normal card except it can no longer return to the command zone until end of game.
- Card Pool starts from Throne of Eldraine and will add standard legal sets only. Two exceptions were made for Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate and Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth (Both of these exceptions share familiar fantasy settings and mechanics and their impact is limited by the exclusion of older card support). New and Exclusive cards from Supplemental products like Master Sets, Commander Pre-Con Decks, Brawl Decks, Jumpstart or Secret Lair are NOT legal in Melee.
- Further, NO Reprints from sets before Throne of Eldraine are legal in Melee, only New cards introduced in standard legal sets starting from Throne of Eldraine onward are legal. Example: 1) Demonic Tutor from Strixhaven: Mystical Archives, NOT Legal. 2) Vaultborn Tyrant from Outlaws of Thunder Junction: The Big Score IS Legal. 3) Transformers and Jurassic World Collection cards are NOT Legal. Basic Snow Lands are originally from the Ice Age Set, and thus would normally be considered reprints. However Kaldheim brought us a Dual Typing Snow Lands Cycle, so consideration was made and Basic Snow Lands will be Legal in Melee too.
- Starting Life Total is 40, Lethal Poison damage is set at 20 (this consideration was updated to reflect community feedback about Poison damage in general), and there is no Commander damage.
- NO initial Ban List as Melee pre-emptively avoids the Commander extensive card pool. As the card pool expands, considerations will be made to keep the format healthy.
- While not required, for the purpose of cards that instruct you to put a card you own from outside the game into your hand(Such as Fae of Wishes from Throne of Eldraine), you may compile a 10 card sideboard from which to pick said cards. Those 10 cards are public knowledge both before start of game and during middle of game. They must also follow all deck color identity restrictions and card type restrictions made by the card/s that searches for them.