can Sun Titan bring Kemba, Kha Regent from the graveyard in EDH?

Asked by student-of-life 9 years ago

If Kemba, Kha Regent is my commander and I let her go to the graveyard instead of going to the command zone, when I play Sun Titan next turn, I could bring her back to the battlefield and bypass the extra cost of her being cast from the command zone, is that correct?

Epochalyptik says... Accepted answer #1

Yes, that is correct.

The "commander tax," so to speak, is only incremented each time the commander card is returned to the command zone. If a commander card is put into another zone, it will not cost any additional mana to cast it from that zone. In this case, the matter is irrelevant because Sun Titan 's ability does not cause you to cast anything; the permanent card is put directly onto the battlefield.

If Kemba, Kha Regent is removed from the battlefield following the resolution of Sun Titan 's ability, and if Kemba, Kha Regent is put into the command zone during that sequence of events, then it will cost an additional to recast. The tax will not increase for the time Kemba, Kha Regent died (here using "died" in its strict rules definition signifying a zone change from battlefield to graveyard).

September 6, 2014 7:21 a.m.

Thanks! Are interactions like that why you get a choice to let your commander go to exile or to the graveyard? Although I don't understand why you would let it go to exile unless perhaps your commander had been put there by say a Fiend Hunter where you can take care of the creature or enchantment to get him back without the heavy cost of recasting commanders.

September 6, 2014 8:03 a.m.

Epochalyptik says... #3

Exile is certainly riskier because it's almost impossible to return a card from exile to another zone (provided the effect that exiled the card is not related to the effect that would return it). The cards that do return unrelated exiled cards to other zones are generally pretty unplayable.

Fiend Hunter , which is an example of a card that has related exile/return effects, is still pretty risky because you can counter the LTB trigger and basically keep someone's commander indefinitely exiled unless he or she has a response. Some U/W control decks actually run Trickbind as both an offensive counter-ability and as a tactical trick with cards like Oblivion Ring and Fiend Hunter because the split second mechanic makes it impossible to save the exiled card as a response.

There are, however, some situations in which you'd want your general to die. Some reanimator strategies evade commander taxes by simply returning their commanders from the graveyard to the battlefield. Sharuum the Hegemon combo builds necessarily depend on dies effects.

September 6, 2014 8:12 a.m.

Exile is a very tricky thing to deal with it seems. It is fun trying to find ways to escape the commander tax. Thank you again!!

September 6, 2014 9:23 a.m.

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