906. Tiny Leaders Variant

Section 900: Casual Variants

906: Tiny Leaders: Reborn (hereafter referred to as TL:R)

906.1. In the TL:R variant, each deck is led by a Legendary card designated as that deck’s commander (see rule 906.2). The TL:R variant was created and popularized by fans; an independent rules committee maintains additional resources here. The TL:R variant uses all the normal rules for a Magic game, with the following changes and additions:

906.2. Each deck has a legendary card designated as its commander. This card must be either a) a creature card, b) a Vehicle card, c) a Spacecraft card with one or more power/toughness boxes, or d) a planeswalker card. This designation is not a characteristic of the object represented by the card; rather, it is an attribute of the card itself. The card retains this designation even when it changes zones.

906.2a: Some cards have an ability that states the card can be your commander. This ability modifies the rules for deck construction, and it functions before the game begins. See also rule 113.6n.

906.2b: If a player’s commander is a meld card and it’s melded with the other member of its meld pair, the resulting melded permanent is that player’s commander.

906.2c: If a player’s commander is a component of a merged permanent, the resulting merged permanent is that player’s commander.

906.2d: If an effect refers to controlling a commander, it refers to a permanent on the battlefield that is a commander. If an effect refers to casting a commander, it refers to a spell that is a commander. If an effect refers to a commander in a specific zone, it refers to a card in that zone that is a commander.

906.2e: If an effect refers to a characteristic of “your commander,” it can find the appropriate player’s commander and see its current characteristics, as modified by continuous effects and other rules, in all zones, including that player’s library and hand.

906.3: The TL:R variant uses color identity to determine what cards can be in a deck with a certain commander. The color identity of a card is the color or colors of any mana symbols in that card’s mana cost or rules text, plus any colors defined by its characteristic-defining abilities (see rule 604.3) or color indicator (see rule 204).

906.3a: Color identity is established before the game begins.

906.3b: If a commander has a static ability that causes a player to choose its color before the game begins, that choice applies during deck construction and throughout the game, even as the commander changes zones. That choice affects the commander’s color identity. The player reveals that choice as they put their commander into the command zone before the game begins (see rules 103.2c and 607.2p).

906.3c: Reminder text is ignored when determining a card’s color identity. See rule 207.2.

906.3d: The back face of a double-faced card (see rule 712) is included when determining a card’s color identity. This is an exception to rule 712.4a.

906.3e: If a card has any alternative characteristics, those characteristics are included when determining the card’s color identity.

906.4: TL:R uses cost identity to determine if a card is “Tiny”, or legal in the format. The cost identity of a card is the set of mana values of each set of characteristics of each face of that card. A card is considered “Tiny” if each value in its cost identity is 3 or less. See rule 202 “Mana Cost and Color”.

Example: Psychic Frog has a mana cost of {UB}. It has a cost identity of [2]. As this value is 3 or less, Psychic Frog is Tiny.

906.4a: The cost identity of a split card consists of the mana value of each half. See rule 709 “Split Cards.”

Example: Fire // Ice is a split card with respective mana costs of {1R} and {1U}. Its cost identity is [2, 2]. Since each value in its identity is 3 or less, Fire // Ice is Tiny.

906.4b: The cost identity of a modal double-faced card consists of the mana value of each face. See rule 712 “Double-Faced Cards.”

Example: Esika, God of the Tree // The Prismatic Bridge has a front face mana cost of {1GG} and a back face mana cost of {WUBRG}. It has a cost identity of [3, 5]. Since one of its values is greater than 3, Esika is not Tiny.

906.4c: The cost identity of a card with alternative characteristics includes each set of alternative characteristics. See rules 715 “Adventure Cards”, 718 “Prototype Cards”, and 720 “Omen Cards.”

Example: Bonecrusher Giant // Stomp has respective mana costs of {2R} and {1R}. It has a cost identity of [2, 3]. As each value does not exceed 3, Bonecrusher Giant is Tiny.

Example: Sagu Wildling // Roost Seek has respective mana costs of {4G} and {G}. It has a cost identity of [1, 5]. As its identity includes a value greater than 3, Sagu Wildling is not Tiny.

Example: Steel Seraph has a mana cost of {6} and a Prototype cost of {1WW}. It has a cost identity of [3, 6]. As its identity includes a value greater than 3, Steel Seraph is not Tiny.

906.5: Each TL:R deck is subject to the following deck construction rules.

906.5a: Each deck must contain exactly 50 cards, including its commander(s). In other words, the minimum deck size and the maximum deck size are both 50.

906.5b: A card can be included in a TL:R deck only if each value in its cost identity is 3 or less. See rules 202.3 and 906.4.

906.5c: Modal double-faced cards can be included in a TL:R deck only if each value in its cost identity is 3 or less. See rule 906.4b.

Example: Bala Ged Recovery has a front mana cost of {2G} and the back face has no mana cost. As its cost identity is [0, 3] it is Tiny and may be included in a TL:R deck.

Example: Valki, God of Lies has a mana cost of {1B} and Tibalt, Cosmic Imposter (the back face) has a mana cost of {5BR}. Its cost identity is [2, 7] and so is not Tiny.

906.5d: Cards with alternate characteristics (such as cards with Adventure and Prototype) can be included in a TL:R deck only if each value in its cost identity is 3 or less. See rules 202.3 and 906.4c.

Example: Flaxen Intruder has a mana cost of {G}. Welcome Home, the Adventure of Flaxen Intruder, has a mana cost of {5GG}. It has a cost identity of [1, 7]. As its identity includes a value greater than 3, Flaxen Intruder is not Tiny.

906.5e: Split cards can be included in a TL:R deck only if each value in its cost identity is 3 or less. See rules 709 and 906.4a.

Example: Fire // Ice is a split card with a combined mana cost of 4 {2UR}. Fire, one half of the split card, has a mana cost of {1R}. Ice, the other half, has a mana cost of {1U}. Fire // Ice has a cost identity of [2, 2] and so is Tiny.

906.5f: Each deck may have a sideboard of no more than 10 cards. The sideboard does not apply to the 50 card main deck limit.

906.5g: Other than basic lands, each card in a TL:R deck must have a different English name. For the purposes of deck construction, cards with interchangeable names have the same English name (see rule 201.3).

906.5h: A card can be included in a TL:R deck only if every color in its color identity is also found in the color identity of the deck’s commander(s).

906.5i: A card with a basic land type may be included in a TL:R deck only if each color of mana it could produce is included in the commander’s color identity

906.5: At the start of the game, each player puts their commander(s) from their deck face up into the command zone. Then each player shuffles the remaining cards of their deck so that the cards are in a random order. Those cards become the player’s library.

906.6: Once the starting player has been determined, each player sets their life total to 20 and draws a hand of seven cards.

906.6a: A player using more than one commander begins the game with a “forced mulligan”. This is achieved by drawing cards equal to the player’s starting hand size and choosing one to place on the bottom of their library. This counts as the player’s first mulligan, and occurs before any player makes a mulligan decision. Subsequent mulligans are treated as normal. This is an exception to rules 103.5 and 103.5b. This is informally known as the “forced mulligan” rule.

Example: Adam is playing with two commanders. At the start of the game, they will draw seven cards and put one on the bottom of their library. Then Adam will have the option to take another mulligan when appropriate.

Example: Adele is playing with two commanders and is playing first. Adele performs their “forced mulligan”, then decides whether or not to take a second mulligan with their hand of six cards. Then their opponent makes their choice to mulligan.

906.6b: In a multiplayer game, a player with more than one commander performs a forced mulligan with their initial starting hand. Then, if that player chooses to mulligan, they return one card to the bottom of their library. Further mulligans are performed as normal. This is an exception to rules 103.5c and 800.6.

Example: Adam is playing with two commanders. They draw their opening hand of seven and immediately put one on the bottom of their library. If Adam chooses to mulligan again, they draw seven and put one on the bottom of their library again.

906.6c: In a multiplayer game using the shared team turns option, if a player has more than one commander, that player takes a forced mulligan. Subsequent mulligans are treated as normal. That player does not get a “free” mulligan. This is an exception to rules 103.5d and 805.3a.

Example: Adam is playing with two commanders. They draw their opening hand of seven and immediately put one on the bottom of their library. If Adam chooses to mulligan again, they draw seven and put one on the bottom of their library again.

906.6d: In a Vanguard game, just like in a normal game, a player with more than one commander takes a forced mulligan by drawing cards equal to their starting hand size (normally seven, as modified by their Vanguard’s hand modifier) and choosing one to put on the bottom of their library. Subsequent mulligans are treated as normal. (In a multiplayer game, that player does not get a “free” mulligan).

Example: Adam is playing with two commanders. They draw their opening hand of seven and immediately put one on the bottom of their library. If Adam chooses to mulligan again, they draw seven and put one on the bottom of their library again.

906.6e: If an effect allows a player to perform an action “any time [that player] could mulligan”, the player may perform that action at a time they would declare whether they will take a mulligan. If a player is using more than one commander, the first mulligan is forced and not subject to this rule. This is an exception to rule 103.5b.

906.7: A player may cast a commander they own from the command zone. A commander cast from the command zone costs an additional {2} for each previous time the player casting it has cast it from the command zone that game. This additional cost is informally known as the “commander tax.”

906.8: A commander may return to the command zone during a TL:R game.

906.8a: If a commander is in a graveyard or in exile and that object was put into that zone since the last time state-based actions were checked, its owner may put it into the command zone. This is a state-based action. See rule 704.

906.8b: If a commander would be put into its owner’s hand or library from anywhere, its owner may put it into the command zone instead. This replacement effect may apply more than once to the same event. This is an exception to rule 614.5.

906.8c: If a commander is a melded permanent or a merged permanent and its owner chooses to put it into the command zone using the replacement effect described in rule 903.9b, that permanent and each component representing it that isn’t a commander are put into the appropriate zone, and the card that represents it and is a commander is put into the command zone.

906.9: If a player is allowed to bring a card from outside the game into a TL:R game, that player can only choose from among cards in their sideboard.