How to build a Canadian Highlander deck in MTG

Canadian Highlander is one of the unique formats available Magic: The Gathering. While Canadian Highlander is not an official format supported by Wizards of the Coast, it is the most popular single format outside of traditional Commander.

Edgar Markov's MTG art with the card next to it.

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If you like the idea of a singles format (meaning you can only play one of each non-basic land in your deck), but don't like the multiplayer aspect of Commander, Canadian Highlander is a format worth checking out. It's a unique format with a lot of fans that can be a lot of fun.

What is a Canadian Highlander?

MTG White Plume Adventurer card with background art.

Canadian Highlander is a format where The deck consists of at least 100 cards, no repeats (except for basic lands).. The format is a 1 to 1 format, no buffet Included in the deck.

You can play more than 100 cardsQ If you want, but it's generally recommended to just stick to 100. Since there is no buffet in the Canadian Highlander, Companions cannot be used as companions (but can be played in the main deck).

If a card says you can play multiple copies of the same card, such as Persistent Petitioners or Hare Apparent, you can play multiple copies in your Canadian Highlander deck.

Canadian Highlander uses the same banlist as Vintage. So, if a card is banned in Vintage, it is banned in Canadian Highlander. Vintage doesn't usually ban cards, but instead limits them, which Canadian Highlander does naturally since you can only play one of each card anyway.

Canadian Highlander Never bans cards for power level reasonsand the only cards that get banned are cards that are banned in any Magic format.

To help balance the mold, Canadian Highlander uses a points system. particle for direct object The strongest cards are given a set point number on a scale of 1-8. a deck It cannot exceed ten points. If desired, a deck may not use any cards that have point values.

Banlist And Points

MTG Natural Order card with background art.

The Canadian Highlander scoring system is what controls the format. If a card is proven to be very dominant in the format, it is placed on the points list to make it more limited and eliminate the ability to play it alongside other powerful cards. T

Very strong cards are at the higher end, while weaker, but still problematic cards are rated lower.

The list of Canadian Highlander points is as follows:

Remembering ancestors: 8 points	Ancient Tomb: 1 point	Black lotus: 7 points
Demonic teacher: 3 points	Drill time: 1 point	Flash: 7 points
Fort Orlingas!: 1 point	Ungifted: 1 point	Imperial seal: 1 point
Intuition: 1 point	Mana Crypt: 5 points	Mana drain: 1 point
Mana vault: 1 point	Minsc & Boo, Endless Champions: 1 point	Mox Emerald: 3 points
Mox Jet: 3 points	Mox Pearl: 3 points	Mox Ruby: 3 points
Mox Sapphire: 3 points	Mystical teacher: 1 point	Natural order: 1 point
Psychic frog: 1 frog	Reanimate: 1 point	Sol ring: 3 points
Strip mine: 1 point	Tainted Pact: 1 point	Thassa's Oracle: 6 points
Time Vault: 7 points	Walking time: 6 points	Tinker: 3 points
Tularian Academy: 1 point	Treasure cruise: 1 point	Real name Nemesis: 1 point
Breach of the underworld: 3 points	Saga of Urza: 1 point	Vampiric Tutor: 2 points
White Plume Adventurer: 1 point	Wishclaw Charm: 1 point	Ren and six: 1 point

you can They only have a total of ten points. For example, if you put Ancestral Recall in your deck (eight points), you can't also play Mox Emerald (three points) because it goes over ten points. You can play Ancestral Recall with Psychic Frog (one point) and Treasure Cruise (one point), which add up to exactly ten.

In addition to the limit on the cards in the points list, These cards are strictly prohibited And it is not playable at all:

Any card that uses the ante mechanic.	Any card with a conspiracy card type.
The cards were banned everywhere due to cultural insensitivity.	Any card that uses a sticker or capture mechanic.
Cards with silver border / oak stamp.	ball of chaos
falling star	Shahrazad

How to build a Canadian Highlander deck

Nadu, a winged wisdom card with card art in the background.

If you're new to Canadian Highlander, you've been given a piece of advice Take a look at the Legacy template to help find the base archetype. Although Legacy is a format that allows you to play four versions of the same card, The Legacy more closely matches the power level of the Canadian Highlander (despite sharing a banned list with Vintage that often leans more towards combo decks).

Aside from exploring Legacy archetypes, this is It's also good to look at builds throughout history For that archetype to find cards to fill the gaps left by only having a single list.

It is also recommended Look at decks that perform well in Canadian Highlander itself. You can take your turns on a deck, but looking at the Canadian Highlander metagame will help you wrap your head around what types of decks work and what makes for better decks.

Unlike the commander, Canadian Highlander is a competitive format Unlike Social this way, you want to build your decks as optimally as possible. You may need budget options in some cases, but your goal should be to build a deck that you can compete with and enjoy.