Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Kokusho, the Evening Star
Kokusho, the Evening Star
Legendary Creature — Dragon Spirit · {4}{B}{B} · Black commander
Flying
When Kokusho dies, each opponent loses 5 life. You gain life equal to the life lost this way.
Build a Kokusho, the Evening Star deck →
What Kokusho, the Evening Star actually does
Read off the card by the same engine the Forge and Analyzer use — this is the mechanical classification, not a summary.
- Triggered ability · deathWhen Kokusho dies, each opponent loses 5 life. You gain life equal to the life lost this way.
- Keyword · flyingflying
What a Kokusho, the Evening Star deck needs
Plays as death value. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.
- sacrifice outlets and recursion for the commander (its own death is the payoff)
- drain and life-loss payoffs (the damage is not combat damage)
The Kokusho, the Evening Star deck plan
The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.
- 23× Life loss that is not combat damage — each opponent loses life, repeatably
- 10× Sacrifice a creature for no mana, repeatably
- 8× Evasion that does NOT target or attach — for a commander your own auras and equipment cannot legally touch
- 5× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- 9× Find the exact card the plan needs
- 1× Answer a whole board at once
- 7× Refill your hand
- 2× Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- 11× Get ahead on mana
Best cards for Kokusho, the Evening Star
Ranked by an engine that reads what each card does — its real cost, its delay and how reliably it works — rather than counting how often other people play it.
Life loss that is not combat damage — each opponent loses life, repeatably
- Zulaport Cutthroat2 mana
- Leechridden Swamp0 mana
- Marionette Apprentice2 mana
- The Meathook Massacre2 mana
- Mirkwood Bats4 mana
- Ayara, First of Locthwain3 mana
- Bastion of Remembrance3 mana
- Bontu's Monument3 mana
Sacrifice a creature for no mana, repeatably
- Carrion Feeder1 mana
- Viscera Seer1 mana
- Altar of Dementia2 mana
- Spawning Pit2 mana
- Umbral Collar Zealot2 mana
- Bloodthrone Vampire2 mana
- Dark Privilege2 mana
- Ashnod's Altar3 mana
Evasion that does NOT target or attach — for a commander your own auras and equipment cannot legally touch
- Glaring Spotlight1 mana
- Cultist of the Absolute1 mana
- Inquisitorial Rosette2 mana
- Predators' Hour2 mana
- Eldrazi Monument5 mana
- Falthis, Shadowcat Familiar3 mana
- Lord Skitter's Butcher3 mana
- Skorpekh Lord3 mana
Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- Defile1 mana
- Tragic Slip1 mana
- Infernal Grasp2 mana
- Fatal Push1 mana
- Bitter Triumph2 mana
- Black Sun's Twilight1 mana
- Cut Down1 mana
- Erebos's Intervention1 mana
Find the exact card the plan needs
- Demonic Tutor2 mana
- Diabolic Intent2 mana
- Vampiric Tutor1 mana
- Imperial Seal1 mana
- Demonic Consultation1 mana
- Grim Tutor3 mana
- Tainted Pact2 mana
- Scheming Symmetry1 mana
Answer a whole board at once
- Toxic Deluge3 mana
- Damnation4 mana
- Bontu's Last Reckoning3 mana
- Sickening Dreams2 mana
- Crypt Rats3 mana
- Extinction Event4 mana
- Endemic Plague4 mana
- The Meathook Massacre2 mana
Refill your hand
- Skullclamp1 mana
- Black Market Connections3 mana
- Braids, Arisen Nightmare3 mana
- Morbid Opportunist3 mana
- Phyrexian Arena3 mana
- The One Ring4 mana
- Vexing Bauble1 mana
- Ayara, First of Locthwain3 mana
Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- Lightning Greaves2 mana
- Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
- Eldrazi Monument5 mana
- Commander's Plate1 mana
- Mithril Coat3 mana
- Akroma's Memorial7 mana
- The Walls of Ba Sing Se8 mana
- Brotherhood Regalia2 mana
Get ahead on mana
- Sol Ring1 mana
- Palladium Myr3 mana
- Worn Powerstone3 mana
- Chrome Mox0 mana
- Everflowing Chalice0 mana
- Mox Diamond0 mana
- Mana Vault1 mana
- Wayfarer's Bauble1 mana
Combos with Kokusho, the Evening Star
Known combos from Commander Spellbook that Kokusho, the Evening Star is a piece of, and how many decks list them.
- Kokusho, the Evening Star + Mikaeus, The Unhallowed + Yawgmoth, Thran Physician5,072 decks
- Kokusho, the Evening Star + K'rrik, Son Of Yawgmoth + Buried Alive + Reanimate + Chainer, Dementia Master + Viscera Seer720 decks
- Kokusho, the Evening Star + K'rrik, Son Of Yawgmoth + Buried Alive + Animate Dead + Chainer, Dementia Master + Viscera Seer649 decks
- Kokusho, the Evening Star + K'rrik, Son Of Yawgmoth + Buried Alive + Necromancy + Chainer, Dementia Master + Viscera Seer418 decks
- Kokusho, the Evening Star + Enduring Renewal + Crystalline Crawler + Light Of Promise + Blasting Station1 decks
- Kokusho, the Evening Star + Enduring Renewal + Crystalline Crawler + Light Of Promise + Ashnod's Altar1 decks