If your store has enjoyed a steady rise in Commander players, it may bring to mind a few questions—how can you make sure your players are getting as much as they can out of your Commander events? Are there more efficient ways to organize your Commander Nights?

You want to keep your community happy with their preferred format, and with the upcoming Prerelease for Innistrad: Crimson Vow, there’s even more opportunity to introduce new players to Commander.

Here are three key strategies recommended by your fellow WPN retailers that will help make your Commander Nights a party for the ages!

Set a Time Limit

Commander play is less structured compared to Standard tournaments—as a result, the player base may be more interested in casual fun. However, that may also lend to sessions running long. By setting a limit, either by time or number of rounds, you can expedite play and keep the game moving.

Setting a time limit will encourage players to expedite their moves and achieve as much as they can, whereas round limits may see players engaging in more strategic moves to pull off great results. After you handle prizes, players can re-form pods and play again!

Tailor Event Structure to Meet Your Community Needs

Your players may enjoy a competitive environment. However, some Commander groups enjoy sorting out their own groups and are happy to drop in or out of a pod as they please.

Less structure encourages players to cooperate and engage in a friendly way, which may open the door to newer players finding interest in the Commander format.

Gauge what your community enjoys most, and don't be afraid to try something different or customize your events if your Commander players prefer a more casual play environment.

Get Creative with Prizes

Prizes for Commander play are based on completing achievements—but what that achievement is can be entirely up to you or the play group.

For each Commander Nights season we provide a list of set-themed achievements you can use for your prize structure. We also include an editable version if you prefer to offer customized achievements.

You can download a list of achievements for Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Commander season now on our marketing materials page.

Many stores award prizes based on wins, but there are additional ways to recognize achievement, such as:

• Player who has the largest field


• Player who saved the most people


• Player who didn't break any deals in-game

Some stores have players purchase a booster pack at the start of the event, forfeiting it after a loss to the person who knocked them out. Alternatively, players may award the Booster pack to the player that made the game the most enjoyable for them.

Additionally, you can keep track of a player list using Wizards EventLink. Read up on how to do this and more with the Definitive Wizards EventLink Guide..

Don’t forget to schedule your Commander Nights today and encourage your players to embrace the power and beauty of darkness.