Commander Challenges
These are pod-format twists — new and interesting ways to build and play Commander together that keep games fresh once you’ve settled into a regular playgroup. Each one below is a full write-up: what the challenge is, why it stays interesting, and how it works.
The one rule threaded through all of them: every challenge has a built-in way to control cost, so the “winner” is whoever built the most interesting deck within the constraint — not whoever has the deepest collection or the biggest budget. Have an idea for another one? Send it in.
Challenge: Tribal Night
Pick a creature type and build the whole deck around it — the pod agrees the tribe and a shared budget cap up front.
Challenge: Single-Store Budget Cap
Every card in the deck has to be purchasable from one nominated retailer, and the whole deck has to fit under an agreed total.
Challenge: Random Legendary Draft
Everyone drafts a random legendary and has to build (or theorycraft) around whatever they get — no picking your favorite commander.
Challenge: Precon Skeleton Upgrade
Start from a single preconstructed deck and earn a limited number of upgrade swaps, each capped at a small individual price.
Challenge: The Penny Card Cap
Every nonland, non-commander card must individually cost under a small fixed price on an agreed pricing site — no single expensive staple allowed.
Challenge: Four-Pip Diversity
Your commander must have all four different colored mana symbols in its cost, and at least 15 cards in the 99 must contain each of those colors' pips.
Challenge: Bulk Bundle Deckbuild
Buy one fixed-price bulk bundle of commons, uncommons, and legendaries, then build the best 100-card deck you can using only what's inside it.