Head Designer Mark Rosewater revealed that the majority of Magic: The Gathering being played are not Commander format games, in a recent article published by Wizards of the Coast.
In the article, Rosewater addressed some design questions usually reserved for his Mailbag Column. One of the questions was as follows:
Now that 100-card Singleton Magic is played more often than traditional 60-card Constructed formats, has there been discussion about changing how Constructed formats are played? Have you considered changing the rules of formats to allow for more cards and higher variance or less cards and lower variance?
Rosewater responded by correcting the questioner’s assumption with the following statement:
“Commander is the most-played tabletop format. If you count all Magic played in all the ways it can be played, Commander is not the majority of play. In fact, I believe there are more games of one-on-one Magic than 100-card Singleton Magic.”
Rosewater was, of course, referring to the fact that the bulk of Magic games played in digital formats are 60-card games. Additionally, digital one-on-one games end at a faster rate than multiplayer Commander games, so there would be inherently more 60-card matches played (less time to complete games equals more matches possible).
It was also noted that Magic R&D has been focusing on creating less competitive one-on-one formats. One of the main barriers to entry for players with head-to-head 60-card formats is that most of them are competitive, whereas most of the 100-card Commander games played are casual. Magic R&D was looking into changing deck limits to create a new two-player format with increased card variance in decks, thereby creating a more casual format (which appeals to most Commander players).
Wizards of the Coast also recently announced that they are planning competitive play events for the Magic: The Gathering Pioneer format in 2027 (see ” Reanimate Lost ‘Magic: The Gathering’ Format“).
Source: ICV2
