Four Commander decks, no booster set
Warhammer 40,000 is a Commander-only release: four preconstructed decks, no booster product, and around 168 new cards between them. It landed the same day as Unfinity, which is a strange pairing for one release date.
Two of its mechanics escaped the product. Squad lets you buy extra token copies as you cast a creature, and ravenous ties a creature's size to the X in its cost while drawing you a card if you go big enough. Both are Commander-shaped rather than Limited-shaped, which is the point.
Themes
Squad
As you cast the creature you may pay the squad cost any number of times, and it enters with that many token copies of itself. A mana sink attached to a card you were casting anyway.
Ravenous
On creatures with X in their cost. The creature enters with X +1/+1 counters, and if X is five or more you draw a card. It sets a clear threshold for when going big is worth it.
Commander-only design
There is no Limited format here, so the cards are tuned for multiplayer from the start: symmetrical effects, big mana sinks and abilities that scale with the number of opponents.
Where You Can Play It
Warhammer 40,000 shipped as Commander decks only, under a single code. It was never Standard- or Pioneer-legal, and there is no booster set to have a separate legality.
Standard was never in play for this set, so no rotation has ever touched it. Nothing here leaves Modern, Legacy, Vintage or Commander either. Commons from any set are Pauper-legal; that isn't listed per set here.
Limited
No boosters were printed, so there is nothing to draft. What the set has instead is four decks, one per faction.
Not a draftable set
Commander-only product
Four precons, each around 42 new cards. Along with Doctor Who the following year, this is the shape Universes Beyond used before crossover sets became full booster releases.
Commander
One per faction of the setting.
Necron Dynasties
Szarekh, the Silent King
Mono-black, and the artifact and reanimation deck.
Tyranid Swarm
The Swarmlord
Green-blue-red, built on ravenous and going big.
Forces of the Imperium
Inquisitor Greyfax
White-blue-black, on tokens and taxes.
The Ruinous Powers
Abaddon the Despoiler
Blue-black-red, on cascade and chaos.
Building one of these into something of your own? The precon buying guide covers how to judge a deck, and the Commander deck template is the shape to build toward.
FAQ
No. It shipped as Commander decks only and was never Standard- or Pioneer-legal. 40K cards are legal in Commander, Legacy and Vintage, and its commons are Pauper-legal.
No. There is no booster product at all, only four preconstructed Commander decks, so the set has no Limited format.
As you cast the creature you may pay its squad cost any number of times. It enters with that many token copies of itself. It is a mana sink attached to a card you were already casting.
It appears on creatures with X in their mana cost. The creature enters with X +1/+1 counters, and if X is five or more you also draw a card. That threshold is what tells you when paying more is actually worth it.
Necron Dynasties, Tyranid Swarm, Forces of the Imperium and The Ruinous Powers, with roughly 42 new cards in each.
All card names, art, and mechanics belong to Wizards of the Coast. Magic: The Gathering Warhammer 40,000 released on Oct 7, 2022; details reflect the set as published. Sources: Wizards of the Coast set pages and release notes, Draftsim, Untapped.gg.
TurnZero HQ keeps deck records, MMR, and moments for every Commander night, so you can see which new cards are actually earning their slot.
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