Sheldon Menery, the co-founder of the Commander Rules Committee for Magic: The Gathering, is getting his own MTG card. This comes after Menery passed away earlier this month, with the card celebrating the lasting legacy he leaves behind on the series.
Magic community mourns Sheldon Menery, creator of the beloved Commander format
08.09.2023 - 16:11 / polygon.com
Sheldon Menery, the creator of Commander, Magic: The Gathering’s most popular style of play, has died following a seven-year battle with cancer. The announcement was made Friday morning on Facebook where his wife, Gretchyn Melde, said that he passed away peacefully. The sad news been followed by kind words and condolences from across the tabletop industry.
Commander is a multiplayer format of Magic, which was originally designed as a strictly two-player game. It allows three or more players, using unique 100-card decks and a singular leader character, to enjoy a more casual style of gameplay. The format is known for its sense of creative expression, with players concocting all manner of clever uses for existing mechanics — including Menery’s own signature deck, titled You Did This To Yourself, which turns opponents’ cards into weapons to be used against them.
Menery, speaking with Polygon in 2020, discussed the birth of the Commander format in detail. He said that it grew out of the Elder Dragon Highlander (EDH) format, a variation to which he was introduced during his time at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska. Later, during his time as a high-ranking judge on the Magic Pro Tour, Menery would further refine this EDH variant, expanding its potential for creative deck-building, and laying the groundwork for what would become the format’s governing body — The Commander Rules Committee — of which he remained an active member until his death. Today, this volunteer organization helps to guide the format in partnership with its publisher, Wizards of the Coast, giving guidance on rules adjustments, banned cards, new cards, and more.
“Philosophically, [Commander] was always intended to be a break from competitiveMagic,” Menery told Polygon. Of its enduring popularity, he added: “It’s validation that you’re doing something good. It’s that shared joy of being able to let some of your friends in on a thing that you know about and they might not. Whether it’s a game or a TV show or a film or a bottle of bourbon, you love sharing things you love with people you like. And that’s basically what we were doing with Commander. ‘Taste this,’ we said. And a lot of people were like, ‘Man, this is right up my alley.’”
Reached for comment, Wizards of the Coast provided the following statement to Polygon:
It is with great sadness and heavy hearts that we mourn the loss of a dear friend and colleague, Sheldon Menery.
Sheldon was a trailblazer, influencer, and revered member in the Magic: The Gathering community, helping to shape the judge program from its earliest days and serving as a level 5 competitive Magic judge until retiring from the program in 2011. A prolific writer and content creator, he shared his
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