In February 2020, all stores that ran events were averaging 1846 Tickets per year. Per the industry trade ICv2, 'the number of unique players attending Commander events per week at WPN stores went from 9,000 in 2018 to 28,000 in 2020. In 2020, Wizards of the Coast released metrics from stores in its Wizards Play Network (WPN) on the total number of participates in Magic events (referred to as Tickets). However, the format is still maintained by the Commander Rules Committee which is run independently of Wizards of the Coast. Since 2011, Wizards of the Coast has released a product line containing preconstructed Commander decks. The EDH name was changed due to intellectual property concerns. Larabee went on to advocate the format within Wizards of the Coast which led to the commercial launch of the format in 2011. In the following year, Menery along with other Pro Tour judges, Gavin Duggan and Duncan McGregor, created a rules committee with an official website. Scott Larabee, the Wizards of the Coast’s Pro Tour manager, played the format for the first time in 2005 with one of Menery's decks at a tournament. This format differed in several ways such as an expanded deck size and a larger health total.

Sheldon Menery, who was introduced to EDH while stationed at Elmendorf Air Force Base, then developed the format further culminating in his 2004 article outlining the format on the Magic fan site Star City Games which 'spread the word about it beyond his circle of judges for the first time'. Some things are similar to my version and some are very different'. When asked by Polygon, Staley said 'I do not remember reading that article. Lopez who claimed he had designed this format. However, Polygon highlighted that there is some contention on the creative origins of the format as The Duelist also published a multiplayer format called 'Elder Legend Dragon Wars' in July 1996 which was shared with the magazine by reader Jesus M. The first part of the name referenced the Elder Dragons in the Magic storyline. Staley's original name was 'a tribute to the line 'there can be only one' spoken repeatedly in the 1986 film Highlander' evoking the idea of a battle royale and that there could only be one of a given type of card in a player's deck. The original fan-created format, Elder Dragon Highlander (EDH), was developed by Adam Staley in the late 1990s and became a staple of his local play groups in Alaska.

Total commander 2017