Kami of the Honored Dead
Creature — Spirit
Flying
Whenever this creature is dealt damage, you gain that much life.
Soulshift 6 (When this creature dies, you may return target Spirit card with mana value 6 or less from your graveyard to your hand.)
- CMC
- 7
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Betrayers of Kamigawa
- Price
- $0.15
- EDHREC rank
- #24136
Kami of the Honored Dead is a seven-mana 3/5 that drains one life and creates a 1/1 Spirit token every time a creature dies on your side — persistent value, but the entry fee is steep. Run it in decks that can cheat it into play or that generate so many death triggers the cumulative drain closes games; in fair decks that cast it on curve, it's too slow.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Kami of the Honored Dead is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but competitive play in the non-rotating formats won't touch a seven-mana 3/5 with no immediate board impact. Commander is the only realistic home, where the life drain and token generation compound over a long game. It fits best in Orzhov or Golgari aristocrats shells where creatures die repeatedly every turn cycle, turning Kami of the Honored Dead into a slow but self-sustaining win condition. In Oathbreaker the lower starting life total makes the drain more relevant, though seven mana is even harder to justify in that faster format.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.15 bulk tier
At $0.15, Kami of the Honored Dead is deep bulk — pick it out of any common bin without thinking twice. Bulk rares with narrow application rarely appreciate, so treat it as a zero-cost slot filler for the right deck rather than a pickup with upside.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.