Parhelion II | Illustrated by Adam Paquette | Image credit: Wizards of the Coast

On Friday, June 20th, Wizards of the Coast announced a momentous Commander rules change. Starting with Edge of Eternities, legendary Vehicles and Spacecraft with a power/toughness box can be your commander! This change is massive and opens up a ton of design space for Magic: The Gathering.

RMS Titanic. Illustrated by Henry Peters. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast

Why This Change?

Magic Designer Gavin Verhey sums up the change to the Commander format with a six-minute Good Morning Magic video on YouTube:

In short, the rules change is one that Wizards wanted to apply for a while, but for a series of different reasons at different times, the format's shift had to wait until Edge of Eternities. Additionally, we have learned through this video that both precons from the new set contain a legendary Spacecraft to use as an alternate commander.

Shorikai, Genesis Engine. Illustrated by Wisnu Tan. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast

What is the Rule Change?

While the Comprehensive Rules have yet to officially update with these rules, here is the main idea:

• Starting with Edge of Eternities, legendary Vehicles and Spacecraft cards will be eligible to lead a Commander deck.
• To be fully eligible, the card has to be legendary and have a power/toughness box in its card rules.

Is This Impactful?

In a word, this is currently not a highly impactful change. It's largely just for fun, but it's still foreseeable as a permanent change to the format. This doesn't change Shorikai, Genesis EngineShorikai, Genesis Engine's functionality, but it allows other Vehicles printed previously to share in that design space.

Esika's Chariot. Illustrated by Raoul Vitale. Image credit: Wizards of the Coast

Some of the Vehicles now affected by this change are pretty cool, though. For one, you can now play Esika's ChariotEsika's Chariot as a commander, or RMS TitanicRMS Titanic, or even Parhelion IIParhelion II. In fact, one interviewee I spoke with in the past for Commander's Herald, Dr. Wendi Sierra, has a Parhelion II "Big Angel Party Bus" deck. Frankly, I'm sure she's thrilled about this new change to the rules.

In any event, we'd like to open the floor to you, dear readers! How do you feel about this new change? Are you already planning a new Vehicle-led Commander deck? Which ones if so? Sound off below, and stay tuned for a slew of new Vehicle-centric deck techs from EDHREC in the coming weeks!