Kodama of the East Tree – Commander Legends MTG Review

David
Fanany
Player
since
1995

Kodama of the East Tree is a great example of historical callbacks in Commander Legends – and a fitting addition to its particular family, as the other three have all been quite popular for various purposes over the years. That’s because his ability to get more permanents – any kind of permanent, note – can be absolutely game-breaking in decks based on getting incremental advantage in table position. It adds up even faster once you add comes-into-play abilities, or triggers that look for other cards arriving. His cost is a little high for Legacy, but that’s not so much a knock on him as it is a characteristic of Legacy; anywhere else, he can do some pretty scary stuff.

I’m a little surprised the set didn’t also include the West Tree, but now I think about it, they’re probably going to use that tree as one of the hooks for Commander Legends II: Beyond Thunderdome. 

Constructed: 2/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 4/5
Multiplayer: 4/5
Commander: 4/5

The fourth member of a grouping of Kamigawa kodama, based off of Japanese tree-inhabiting spirits, Kodama of the East Tree comes roughly 15 years after its Center Tree, North Tree, and South Tree brethren. No word yet on if this Kodama likes to reach, but initial testing suggests a positive result.

Kodama of the East Tree is definitely a powerful creature, turning all of your permanent spells and land plays into another permanent or another land play if you’ve something in your hand to bring in with it. A two-for-one is very powerful, and it’s not like Kodama of the East Tree is a complete sitting duck; it has a decently beefy body to protect itself, and it even has reach to deter fliers. Partner is definitely a boon as to making this work in many more decks, and Spirit opens it up to the Kamigawa-era Spirit and Arcane support rather nicely, but Kodama of the East Tree definitely has places in decks where it’s not the commander, and there can be games where it snowballs hard out of control.

Now, to see if we have to wait 15 years for a hypothetical Kodama of the West Tree.

Constructed: 2 (a bit pricey for Legacy, but I think it can do a lot of damage if you play carefully)
Casual: 5
Limited: 4.5
Multiplayer: 4
Commander: 4.75