Commander Tax & Zone Changes
Judge Level 1Krenko dies — and gets more expensive the second time.
Cards involved
Round 1: Krenko arrives
Commander game: Krenko, Mob Boss (
) is your commander. You cast him from the command zone for the first time — normal cost.
903.8A player may cast a commander they own from the command zone. A commander cast from the command zone costs an additional for each previous time the player casting it has cast it from the command zone that game. This additional cost is informally known as the “commander tax.”
Your opponent cleans up
Doom Blade kills Krenko. At the next rules check you get to choose: Krenko stays in the graveyard — or you put him back into the command zone. You choose the command zone.
903.9A commander may return to the command zone during a Commander game.
903.9aIf a commander is in a graveyard or in exile and that object was put into that zone since the last time state-based actions were checked, its owner may put it into the command zone. This is a state-based action. See rule 704.
What happens?
You want to cast him again.
What does Krenko cost the second time from the command zone?
Pick an answer to continue.
The tax is tied to CASTING FROM THE COMMAND ZONE: extra for each previous time (903.8). If you reanimate him from the graveyard instead, no tax applies — and the tax doesn't grow from it either.
903.8A player may cast a commander they own from the command zone. A commander cast from the command zone costs an additional for each previous time the player casting it has cast it from the command zone that game. This additional cost is informally known as the “commander tax.”
Krenko, round two
You pay 
. One more detail on the zone choice: it happens at the next state-based check after his death (903.9a) — if you leave him in the graveyard (say, for reanimation), he stays there.
903.8A player may cast a commander they own from the command zone. A commander cast from the command zone costs an additional for each previous time the player casting it has cast it from the command zone that game. This additional cost is informally known as the “commander tax.”
903.9aIf a commander is in a graveyard or in exile and that object was put into that zone since the last time state-based actions were checked, its owner may put it into the command zone. This is a state-based action. See rule 704.
Stack
Krenko, Mob Boss
Your commander —
Doom Blade
Target: Krenko
The stack is empty.
Battlefield
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