<p>Yes, you can make a player lose by dealing 21 total damage to them with their own commander. (If it keeps getting stolen by yourself or others, a cumulative total 21 damage from their own commander will make them lose.)</p>

<p>The rule, from mtgcommander.net's <a href="http://mtgcommander.net/rules.php" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Rules &mdash; Play section</a>, is:</p>

<blockquote>
  <ol start="11">
  <li>If a player has been dealt 21 points of combat damage by a particular Commander during the game, that player loses a game.</li>
  </ol>
</blockquote>

<p>That is any one specific commander card, including their own. Commander damage from different commander cards doesn't count together: if you've successfully stolen every commander on the board and dealt 20 damage with each of them to one opponent, they <em>still</em> haven't lost to commander damage.</p>

<p>Also, commander damage never makes anyone <em>win</em> directly, it only makes players lose. You'll only win if them losing made you win, e.g. they were your only opponent.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-30T15:00:28.700Z
If you've dealt 20 damage with 4 or 5 different commanders, most decks will have lost by then, not due to commander damage, but due to being dealt 80-100 damage.
Andrew
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-02-13T08:18:41.653Z
2017-12-30T15:05:10.237Z
2017-12-30T15:05:10.237Z
doppelgreener
<p>I know that if I gain control of my opponent's commander, it won't lose the status of commander. How is the commander damage calculated in this case? Can I do the 21 commander damage with the stolen commander to win the game? Does the damage add to the damage of my own commander?</p>

<magic-the-gathering><mtg-commander><mtg-commander-damage>
Can I defeat an opponent with their own commander?
Renato Sanhueza
# Can I defeat an opponent with their own commander?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-02-13)

I know that if I gain control of my opponent's commander, it won't lose the status of commander. How is the commander damage calculated in this case? Can I do the 21 commander damage with the stolen commander to win the game? Does the damage add to the damage of my own commander?

**Tags:** magic-the-gathering, mtg-commander, mtg-commander-damage


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2016-02-13. Score: 13 | Accepted answer

Yes, you can make a player lose by dealing 21 total damage to them with their own commander. (If it keeps getting stolen by yourself or others, a cumulative total 21 damage from their own commander will make them lose.)

The rule, from mtgcommander.net's [Rules — Play section](http://mtgcommander.net/rules.php), is:

> 11. If a player has been dealt 21 points of combat damage by a particular Commander during the game, that player loses a game.

That is any one specific commander card, including their own. Commander damage from different commander cards doesn't count together: if you've successfully stolen every commander on the board and dealt 20 damage with each of them to one opponent, they *still* haven't lost to commander damage.

Also, commander damage never makes anyone *win* directly, it only makes players lose. You'll only win if them losing made you win, e.g. they were your only opponent.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: If you've dealt 20 damage with 4 or 5 different commanders, most decks will have lost by then, not due to commander damage, but due to being dealt 80-100 damage.  

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