Kokusho, the Evening Star

Standard	Rotated out on October 20, 2006
Pioneer	Not Legal
Modern	Never Banned
Legacy	Never Banned
Vintage	Never Banned
Commander	Unbanned since September 12, 2014
Pauper	Never Banned
Oathbreaker	Never Banned
Extended	Rotated out on July 1, 2010

View on Scryfall

Timeline

• October 1, 2004 - Released
• February 28, 2008 - Status changed to Banned in Commander
• September 20, 2012 - Status changed to Banned as Commander in Commander
• September 12, 2014 - Status changed to Unbanned in Commander

Rationale

Kokusho, the Evening Star is banned in the Commander format because its power level is considered disproportionately high compared to both its mana cost and the expected power of normal multiplayer games. The rules committee cited that in a four-player game, the card's ability to cause massive life swings upon reaching the graveyard was overly impactful, often serving as an automatic tutor target that destabilized the format. Furthermore, the card was deemed too powerful specifically within the Commander format, as the mechanics allowed it to circumvent existing methods of mitigation, such as graveyard hate, making its re-use capabilities excessively volatile for the format.

This summary was generated by gemma4 on September 14, 2026. It has not yet been reviewed by a human editor and may contain some inaccuracies. Learn more.

Does this look accurate? | Yes • No • Submit a Correction • Don't ask me again