MTG Partner, Background, Eminence and Lieutenant guide image showing two Commander leaders, command zone power, a glowing crown, legendary creatures, and Commander deckbuilding strategy.

MTG Partner, Background, Eminence & Lieutenant Guide

Several Magic: The Gathering mechanics only exist because of Commander. Most of them are partner-style abilities: ways to designate two commanders instead of one, each with its own pairing restriction. The other two — eminence and lieutenant — do not change deckbuilding at all; they care about whether your commander is on the battlefield, in the command zone, or both.

This guide focuses on partner, partner with, choose a Background, friends forever, Doctor's companion, eminence, and lieutenant — with the deckbuilding rules and in-game interactions that decide real Commander tables.

This is the seventeenth article in our series on advanced MTG mechanics, following our guides to goad and monarch and rampage and flanking.

The Partner Family: Five Ways to Two Commanders

All five of the following are technically "partner abilities" under the rules, sharing the same deckbuilding shape: instead of a single legendary card, you may designate two as your commander, if they satisfy the specific requirement each variant sets. A few consequences apply across all five:

  • Your deck is still exactly 100 cards, commanders included. With two commanders taking two of those slots, your library is 98 cards instead of 99.
  • Colour identity combines. Your deck's legal colours are the union of both commanders' colour identities together.
  • Everything else stays independent. Commander tax (the extra {2} for each previous cast) is tracked separately per commander. The "21 combat damage from the same commander" loss condition is also tracked separately — damage from your two commanders never adds together toward that total.
  • A card with more than one partner ability can only use one at a time. If a legendary creature has both regular partner and, say, friends forever, you choose which one applies when you designate it as a commander — you can't combine two of its own partner abilities to somehow get a third commander.
  • No combination of these abilities can ever produce more than two commanders total. This cap is absolute, regardless of which variants you mix and match.

Partner

The plain version: you can have two commanders if both have the keyword "partner" with no attached name. Any two partner creatures can pair with each other, freely.

Two of the most played partner commanders in competitive Commander are in stock: Thrasios, Triton Hero and Tymna the Weaver — both plain partner creatures that can be paired with each other or with dozens of other options, giving each an enormous range of colour combinations to build around.

Partner With [Name]

The restricted version: instead of pairing with any partner creature, a card with "partner with [specific name]" can only pair with that exact matching card if the two cards name each other. Outside deck construction, it also has an enters-the-battlefield triggered ability: when this permanent enters, target player may search their library for the named card, reveal it, put it into their hand, then shuffle.

Choose a Background

An entirely different pairing: a legendary creature with "choose a Background" can be your commander alongside exactly one legendary enchantment with the Background type. Backgrounds contribute to colour identity exactly like a second commander would, and count toward the same "only two commanders total" cap.

One important limitation: a Background enchantment sitting on the battlefield does not function like eminence. If an effect specifically requires your commander creature to be on the battlefield, having only the Background enchantment out does not satisfy that — you need the actual creature.

Friends Forever

Functionally identical to plain partner — any two "friends forever" creatures can pair with each other — but printed as its own separate ability so it doesn't cross-pair with plain partner creatures. A creature with friends forever can only partner with another friends forever creature, not a plain partner one.

Doctor's Companion

The most restricted pairing of all: a card with "Doctor's companion" can only be your commander alongside a legendary Time Lord Doctor creature card that has no other creature types. It's a narrow, flavour-specific variant built for the Doctor Who crossover cards.

Eminence vs. Lieutenant: Battlefield, Command Zone, or Both

These two have nothing to do with having two commanders. Both are about a single commander's location — and they answer the question from opposite directions.

Eminence

Eminence is an ability word marking abilities that work as long as the commander is on the battlefield OR in the command zone — meaning you benefit from it even if you never actually cast the creature.

  • Only the labelled paragraph is eminence. A commander with an eminence ability often has other abilities too, and those other abilities follow completely normal zone rules (usually battlefield-only) unless they say otherwise.
  • Triggered eminence abilities care about the same object, not just the zone name. If an eminence ability has an "if this commander is in the command zone or on the battlefield" condition, that condition must be true when the ability would trigger and again as it resolves. If the commander changes zones in between — even from the battlefield to the command zone — it becomes a new object, and that triggered ability may do nothing as it resolves.
  • Static eminence abilities work differently. Some eminence abilities, like The Ur-Dragon's cost reduction, are static abilities rather than triggered abilities. Those simply apply while the commander is in the battlefield or command zone, and stop applying when it is anywhere else.
  • It was printed on exactly four commanders, all from Commander 2017, plus rare one-off reappearances since. It proved extremely powerful and has mostly been avoided in new design.

Both marquee examples are in stock. The Ur-Dragon makes your other Dragon spells cost less as long as it's on the battlefield or in the command zone — a discount you get from turn one, before ever casting your ten-mana commander. Edgar Markov creates a Vampire token whenever you cast a Vampire spell under the same condition — value that starts accruing immediately, with or without Edgar actually in play.

Lieutenant

Lieutenant is the mirror image: an ability word marking effects that apply only while you control your commander on the battlefield — the opposite condition from eminence.

  • "Commanderness" never changes, even if the card's characteristics do. If your commander is turned into something else entirely — a land, a copy of a different creature — it remains your commander for lieutenant's purposes, because that status belongs permanently to the physical card, not to what it currently looks like.
  • It checks only your own commander. If you gain control of someone else's lieutenant creature, it checks whether you control your commander, not theirs.
  • Static lieutenant bonuses turn off immediately. If a lieutenant ability gives a creature +2/+2 as long as you control your commander, that bonus disappears the moment you stop controlling your commander.
  • Triggered lieutenant abilities follow their own wording. Some lieutenant cards trigger and then check whether you still control your commander as the ability resolves. If the effect already resolved and did something one-shot, losing your commander later does not undo that result.
  • With two commanders, having either on the battlefield is enough, and a lieutenant effect still only fires once per qualifying event, even if you control both partner commanders at once.

Quick Reference

Mechanic What it does
Partner Two commanders, any two partner creatures
Partner with [name] Two commanders, only with that specific named card
Choose a Background A creature commander plus one Background enchantment
Friends forever Two commanders, any two friends forever creatures (not partner)
Doctor's companion Pairs only with a legendary Doctor creature
Eminence Works from the battlefield or the command zone
Lieutenant Works only while you control your commander on the battlefield

Why These Matter in Commander

Partner variants expand what a single colour identity can do. Two mono-colour or two-colour commanders combined open up strategies neither could support alone — the entire premise of decks like Thrasios and Tymna, built on maximising card advantage across four colours that no single legendary would naturally provide.

Eminence commanders reward keeping the creature safe in the command zone when the table looks dangerous, since you lose nothing by casting it later — the benefit was already running the whole time.

Lieutenant is the opposite risk profile: it rewards decks built around protecting an on-battlefield commander, since the bonus evaporates the instant that creature is removed, bounced, or exiled.

Background gives mono-colour commanders room to specialise. Rather than needing a second full commander, a single-colour legendary can pick up a splash of colour and a tailored bonus from its Background, without opening up the same breadth of card pool a full second commander would.

You can find these commanders and their supporting pieces in our full catalogue, or import your decklist directly with our decklist search tool.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I run more than two commanders by combining different partner abilities?

No. No combination of partner, partner with, choose a Background, friends forever, or Doctor's companion can ever produce more than two commanders. If a legendary card happens to have two different partner-family abilities, you pick one to use — you can't stack them for a third slot.

Can a "partner" creature pair with a "friends forever" creature?

No. Despite functioning almost identically, they're distinct abilities. A creature with plain partner can only pair with another plain partner creature; a friends forever creature can only pair with another friends forever creature. They don't cross-pair.

Does a Background enchantment count as my commander being on the battlefield?

It depends on the wording. If the Background was designated as one of your commanders and is on the battlefield, it can satisfy effects that refer to "your commander." However, it is not a commander creature unless some effect makes it a creature. So an effect that specifically asks for your commander creature does not count a normal Background enchantment by itself.

Does eminence still work if my commander gets exiled during the game?

No. Eminence only checks the battlefield and the command zone. If your commander is in exile, your graveyard, your hand, or your library, its eminence ability is inactive — even though the creature is safe from most removal in exile, it isn't providing its eminence benefit while it's there.

Does lieutenant still apply if my commander is turned into a different creature or a land?

Yes, as long as that permanent is still under your control and on the battlefield. "Being your commander" is a permanent property of the physical card and can't be removed by changing its characteristics — even a commander turned into a land by some effect still satisfies lieutenant's check.

If I have two partner commanders, does lieutenant only care about one of them?

No — controlling either one is enough to satisfy a lieutenant ability's condition. You don't need both partner commanders on the battlefield simultaneously; having just one out already counts as "controlling your commander."

More guides in our advanced mechanics series:

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