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Commander Nexus
  1. Commander Nexus
  2. Commanders
  3. Kefka, Court Mage // Kefka, Ruler of Ruin

Command zone

Kefka, Court Mage // Kefka, Ruler of Ruin

Kefka, Court Mage // Kefka, Ruler of Ruin

Legendary Creature — Human Wizard // Legendary Creature — Avatar Wizard

Kefka wants a deck that makes everyone swap their hand for a fresh one. It also suits a deck that throws away its own cards on purpose for a reward.

  • Mana cost2 genericblueblackred
  • Blue, Black, Red ()
  • Power / toughness4 / 5
  • RarityMythic

Whenever Kefka enters or attacks, each player discards a card. Then you draw a card for each card type among cards discarded this way.

8 generic: Each opponent sacrifices a permanent of their choice. Transform Kefka. Activate only as a sorcery.

//

Flying

Whenever an opponent loses life during your turn, you draw that many cards.

Build a deck with Kefka Find it in the app

Themes

Cards That Fit Kefka, Court Mage

Picked for what they do in Kefka's deck. When two cards do the same job, the one with the lower comes first. All of them fit Kefka's color identity.Mana ValueThe total amount of mana a card costs, all added up. A card costing two generic and one green has a mana value of three. Wizards renamed this from "converted mana cost" in 2021, so older cards and articles may still use the old name.Sol RingOpen the full glossary

plan6

The 6 Cards

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The 6 Cards

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The 6 Cards

Rulings for Kefka, Court Mage

explain how Kefka works in tricky situations. They come from Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Magic.RulingThe official answer to how a card works in a tricky situation. Most rulings are written by Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Magic, and a few are notes from Scryfall, the card database Magic players use. A ruling explains a card. It does not change what the card says.Open the full glossary

Wizards of the Coast 6 Jun 2025

A nonmodal double-faced card enters with its front face up by default, unless a spell or ability instructs you to put it onto the battlefield transformed or allows you to cast it transformed, in which case it enters with its back face up.

Wizards of the Coast 6 Jun 2025

A token that is created as a copy of a double-faced permanent or a double-faced card in another zone is a double-faced token. It will have both the front face and back face of whatever object it's copying. If it's copying a double-faced permanent whose back face is up, the token will enter with its back face up. It can transform if instructed to do so.

Wizards of the Coast 6 Jun 2025

Each face of a nonmodal double-faced card has its own set of characteristics: name, types, subtypes, abilities, and so on. While a nonmodal double-faced permanent is on the battlefield, consider only the characteristics of the face that's currently up. The other set of characteristics is ignored.

Wizards of the Coast 6 Jun 2025

Each nonmodal double-faced card in this release is cast face up. In every zone other than the battlefield, consider only the characteristics of its front face. If it is on the battlefield, consider only the characteristics of the face that's up; the other face's characteristics are ignored.

Wizards of the Coast 6 Jun 2025

If you are instructed to put a card that isn't a double-faced card onto the battlefield transformed, it will not enter at all. In that case, it stays in the zone it was previously in. For example, if a single-faced card is a copy of Crystal Fragments, it will be exiled during the resolution of its second ability and remain in exile.

Wizards of the Coast 6 Jun 2025

In the Commander variant, a double-faced card's color identity is determined by the mana costs and mana symbols in the rules text of both faces combined. If either face has a color indicator or basic land type, those are also considered. For example, Cecil, Dark Knight's color identity is black and white, since its front face is black and its back face has a white color indicator.

Wizards of the Coast 6 Jun 2025

The back face of a nonmodal double-faced card usually has a color indicator that defines its color.

Wizards of the Coast 6 Jun 2025

The card types in Magic include artifact, battle, creature, enchantment, instant, kindred, land, planeswalker, and sorcery. Legendary, basic, and snow are supertypes, not card types; Hero and Saga are subtypes, not card types.

Wizards of the Coast 6 Jun 2025

The mana value of a nonmodal double-faced card is the mana value of its front face, no matter which face is up.

Wizards of the Coast 6 Jun 2025

While resolving Kefka, Court Mage's last ability, the next opponent in turn order chooses a permanent they control, then each other opponent in turn order does the same. Then each of the chosen permanents are sacrificed simultaneously.

10 rulings, all written by Wizards of the Coast. Read the originals on Gatherer ↗

Similar Commanders

Commanders that share the most with Kefka, and what they share.

Color identityEvery color of mana symbol on a card, in its cost and in its rules text. Your commander's color identity sets the limit for your whole deck: every other card has to fit inside it. A deck led by a green and white commander cannot play a card with any blue in its color identity.Open the full glossaryUBRPlayers write colors as letters: U for blue, B for black, R for red. Blue is U because B was already taken by black.WheelsWheel decks make every player swap their whole hand for a fresh one, then profit from all that drawing. One way is making opponents lose life for each card they draw. The name comes from the card Wheel of Fortune.Open the Wheels pageWheelMakes players discard their hands and draw new ones. Wheel of Fortune, Windfall. It refills you and usually the rest of the table too, so it works well beside Draw Payoff cards that turn everyone else's new cards into your advantage.Open the Wheel pageOpponent DiscardMakes opponents discard cards from their hands. In a format where everyone starts with seven and refills slowly, stripping a hand can be harder to recover from than losing a creature. Windfall, Sword of Feast and FamineOpen the Opponent Discard pageForced SacrificeMakes opponents sacrifice their own permanents. Because they choose what to lose, it gets around protection and hexproof that ordinary removal cannot touch. Braids, Arisen Nightmare, Living DeathOpen the Forced Sacrifice pageSelf-DiscardDiscards your own cards as a cost or an effect. Filling your own graveyard on purpose is the point: it feeds cards that bring things back, madness and channel abilities, and some cards are worth more there than in hand. Faithless Looting, Boseiju, Who EnduresOpen the Self-Discard pageMadness/DiscardDiscard decks throw away their own cards on purpose and play cards that reward each discard. Cards with madness can even be cast for a different, usually cheaper, cost at the moment you discard them.Open the Madness/Discard pageAttack TriggerTriggers when a creature attacks, so the reward comes from declaring the attack. You get it even if the creature is blocked. Sword of the Animist, Adeline, Resplendent CatharOpen the Attack Trigger pageSacrificeSacrifice decks give up their own creatures, Treasures and other cards on purpose and get something back each time. A sacrifice outlet, a card that lets you sacrifice whenever you want, is the heart of the deck.Open the Sacrifice pageGame ChangerCards that warp the game disproportionately around themselves, requiring immediate answers.What the brackets meanDrawDraws you extra cards. More cards means more choices every turn, and in a 100-card deck it is the main way to find the pieces you need. Rhystic Study, SkullclampOpen the Draw pageMana SinkGives you somewhere useful to spend spare mana, usually through an ability you can activate again and again. Rogue's Passage, Mind StoneOpen the Mana Sink pageTarget RemovalRemoves a single chosen permanent by destroying it, exiling it or returning it to its owner's hand, however big it is. It is the precise answer to one problem, as opposed to a board wipe that hits everything. Damage and -X/-X can miss a big creature, so they are Damage Removal and -X/-X Removal instead. Swords to Plowshares, Beast WithinOpen the Target Removal pageLife DrainAn opponent loses life and you gain that life from the same effect. Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat. It lets Aristocrats decks win without ever attacking. Every drain card is also tagged Life Gain; this tag is the part where the life comes out of somebody.Open the Life Drain page