358 responses · January 2025
The EDH Survey
What 358 Commander players said about how they got here and how they play.
Fill out the EDH survey →High level on purpose. Each question gets its headline and the split behind it. Percentages are of the people who answered that question, and spellings of the same thing are folded together.
Part one: the players
When they started, what they started on, and how deep in they are now.
What year did you first start playing Magic?
Median 2013. The biggest group, 21%, started 2000 to 2009.
347 answered
What year did you first start playing Commander?
Median 2020. The biggest group, 27%, started 2015 to 2019.
346 answered
What was your first Magic format?
Kitchen table, 50%.
355 answered · 17 distinct
What is your favorite Magic format?
Commander, 85%.
352 answered · 15 distinct
How many Commander decks do you own?
1 deck, 1%.
356 answered · 8 distinct
Part two: how they play
What they run, what they fear, how they build, and who they watch.
Who is your favorite commander?
320 different commanders named by 349 people. Nobody's favourite was named more than three times.
349 answered
Named more than once: Amalia Benavides Aguirre, Chatterfang, Edgar Markov, Obeka, Brute Chronologist, Veyran, Voice of Duality, Xyris.
Who is the strongest commander in the format?
Tymna (any partner), 21%.
278 answered · 109 distinct
How do you judge the power level of a deck? (pick two)
Fast mana beyond Sol Ring came up most, on 44% of cards.
353 answered · Percentages are of respondents, and each picked up to two, so they do not sum to 100.
How do you usually choose a commander?
Theme, 73%.
354 answered · 5 distinct
How do you usually build the 99?
Search Scryfall, 35%.
356 answered · 6 distinct
Do you play cEDH? (1 = never)
59% said never.
353 answered · Asked as a scale where 1 means never.
Favorite EDH content creator?
Commander at Home, 13%.
286 answered · 97 distinct
A creator that deserves a shout-out?
Salubrious Snail, 6%.
228 answered · 138 distinct
Would you answer another poll like this?
Yes, 62%.
351 answered · 3 distinct
About the numbers. Free-text answers were folded together where they clearly meant the same thing, so “Command Zone” and “The Command Zone” are one bar, and every Tymna partner pairing is one bar. Non-answers were dropped before percentages were taken. Only the counts live in this site; the individual responses never left the sheet.