Pendragon MTG is a Pauper/Commander format for Magic the Gathering where you build a 100 card singleton deck with the following deckbuilding restrictions:
- 1 of the cards must be a Commander (Arthur): it can be any common creature
- 1 of the cards must be a Legendary Equipment (Excalibur)
- 98 of the other cards, excluding basic lands, must have a common printing and they must adhere to your deck’s color identity
- Color identity is formed by a combination of your Arthur and Excalibur
Life total starts at 30. Commander Damage kills you if you take 21 or more damage from a single commander (only Arthur is Commander, Excalibur damage does not count).
The creator of the format describes its philosophy as
Pendragon is a pet project of mine. The idea came to me after learning about the Oathbreaker format. I loved the idea of non-traditional commander variants that put other spells within the command zone. Later I fell in love with the Backgrounds and Background Commanders. Since then, I’ve also dived into the Pauper EDH format, which is an incredible way to introduce folks to the game without a restrictive price point.
Pendragon borrows from all of these formats. It’s a love letter to Magic: The Gathering and all the wonderful ways there are to play. I am standing on the shoulders of giants and fully acknowledge this format would not exist without the trailblazers before me.
The soul of Pendragon, as I’m sure you have guessed, is the myth of King Arthur and Excalibur. Your champion is a commoner pulling the proverbial sword (legendary equipment) from the stone. Your unlikely hero will then lead a loyal army to victory on the battlefield.
Katie and Alex discussed the format in ZBexx’s Youtube channel and that discussion `gives a nice introduction to the format.