Each of these new Commanders provide value in the long game by making the “Commander tax” pay for itself through an added bonus based on the mana spent to cast the Commander. So the more times your Commander dies, the more you “get” to pay for them and the greater the benefit you get from doing so. You can’t just arbitrarily pay extra mana for a spell, so the additional cost becomes an important aspect of these cards. In fact, this also applies to any other cost increasers (e.g., Grand Arbiter Augustin IV) or reducers (e.g., Helm of Awakening); the actual amount paid is what the abilities care about, regardless of the printed mana cost.

However, putting one of these Commanders onto the battlefield “for free”, such as by returning it from the graveyard, putting it out with Show and Tell, or casting it by discarding a card to Dream Halls, means you didn’t pay any mana to cast it, and those abilities don’t do anything.

Prossh triggers when you cast him specifically anyway, so putting him onto the battlefield directly bypasses that whole process; but even if you cast him for free, the triggered ability asks “How much mana did you spend to cast me?” and gets the answer “0” so you get 0 Kobolds.

Jeleva triggers when she enters, and that trigger asks the same question. If she wasn’t cast or was cast for free, the trigger gets the same “0” answer and nobody exiles any cards.

Marath is especially bad if you don’t pay mana to cast it… It will enter with 0 counters, and will (most likely) die immediately.

Today’s Rules Tip written by Josh Stansfield