Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Koya, Death from Above
Koya, Death from Above
Legendary Creature — Mutant Ninja Bird · {2}{W} · Black/White commander
Flying
When Koya enters, exile up to one other target creature. At the beginning of the next end step, you may pay {3}{B}. If you don't, return that card to the battlefield under its owner's control.
Build a Koya, Death from Above deck →
What Koya, Death from Above 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 · etbWhen Koya enters, exile up to one other target creature. At the beginning of the next end step, you may pay {3}{B}. If you don't, return that card to the battlefield under its owner's control.
- Keyword · flyingflying
What a Koya, Death from Above deck needs
Plays as ETB value. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.
- blink and recursion aimed at the commander itself (its value is its own enter trigger)
The Koya, Death from Above deck plan
The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.
- 12× Exile a permanent you control and return it — the button a value-ETB deck presses
- 16× A permanent whose value is in its enter-the-battlefield trigger — the payload a blink deck reuses
- 9× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- 10× Find the exact card the plan needs
- 3× Answer a whole board at once
- 10× Refill your hand
- 5× Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- 11× Get ahead on mana
Best cards for Koya, Death from Above
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.
Exile a permanent you control and return it — the button a value-ETB deck presses
- Airbender Ascension2 mana
- Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd2 mana
- Eldrazi Displacer3 mana
- Flickerwisp3 mana
- Touch the Spirit Realm3 mana
- Conjurer's Closet5 mana
- Distinguished Conjurer2 mana
- Felidar Guardian4 mana
A permanent whose value is in its enter-the-battlefield trigger — the payload a blink deck reuses
- Orcish Bowmasters2 mana
- Accursed Marauder2 mana
- Knight of the White Orchid2 mana
- Spirited Companion2 mana
- Solemn Simulacrum4 mana
- Cauldron Familiar1 mana
- Fleshbag Marauder3 mana
- Loran of the Third Path3 mana
Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- Path to Exile1 mana
- Swords to Plowshares1 mana
- Defile1 mana
- Tragic Slip1 mana
- March of Otherworldly Light1 mana
- Infernal Grasp2 mana
- Fatal Push1 mana
- Bitter Triumph2 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
- Damn2 mana
- Vanquish the Horde8 mana
- Toxic Deluge3 mana
- Damnation4 mana
- Wrath of God4 mana
- Day of Judgment4 mana
- Bontu's Last Reckoning3 mana
- Kaya's Wrath4 mana
Refill your hand
- Esper Sentinel1 mana
- Skullclamp1 mana
- Black Market Connections3 mana
- Braids, Arisen Nightmare3 mana
- Morbid Opportunist3 mana
- Phyrexian Arena3 mana
- Archivist of Oghma2 mana
- The One Ring4 mana
Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- Flowering of the White Tree2 mana
- Bastion Protector3 mana
- Codsworth, Handy Helper3 mana
- Avacyn, Angel of Hope8 mana
- Lightning Greaves2 mana
- Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
- Chaplain of Alms // Chapel Shieldgeist1 mana
- Eldrazi Monument5 mana
Get ahead on mana
- Sol Ring1 mana
- Orzhov Signet2 mana
- Palladium Myr3 mana
- Worn Powerstone3 mana
- Chrome Mox0 mana
- Everflowing Chalice0 mana
- Mox Diamond0 mana
- Mana Vault1 mana