Estimating Jirina Kudro's Death Trigger Probability

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Jirina Kudro MTG card art from Commander 2020

Image courtesy of Scryfall.com

Estimating Jirina Kudro's Death Trigger Probability

When you open a deck built around three colors and a volcanic tempo, Jirina Kudro stands out as a charismatic case study for how a single card can hinge on a probabilistic moment. This legendary Human Soldier from Commander 2020 costs 1 generic, red, white, and black mana ({1}{R}{W}{B}) and arrives with a remarkable ETB line: create a 1/1 white Human Soldier token for each time you've cast a commander from the command zone this game. On top of that, all other Humans you control swing a little bigger with +2/+0. It’s a multi-faceted engine, and the math behind those tokens is part strategy, part storytelling 🧙‍♂️🔥.

To get a sense of the trigger in gameplay terms, imagine you’re weaving a plan around casting commanders from your command zone. Each time you cast a commander (including Kudro herself on entry), you accumulate a token count equal to the number of times you’ve shipped a commander from the command zone this game. The tokens then appear as a crowd of now-1/1 Human Soldiers that can immediately rally behind your board state. The buff to other Humans adds a reliable power boost to your growing army, making Kudro a natural centerpiece for Human tribal or go-wide strategies ⚔️🎲.

From a probability perspective, you’re balancing deck design, ramp tempo, and the cadence of your turns. A pragmatic way to frame it is to treat each potential commander-cast as a Bernoulli trial: on any given relevant opportunity, you have some chance p of casting a commander from the command zone. The total number of commander casts in a game, N, then becomes a sum of those trials. Jirina Kudro’s trigger is simply N, the count of commander casts, including Kudro’s own entry. If you’re playing a deck that frequently recurs commanders or cheats them into play via command-zone recasts, N can climb quickly, and so can your board presence 🧙‍♂️✨.

“Strength is what keeps us alive. Compassion is what keeps us human.” — Jirina Kudro

Let’s translate that into a few concrete, playable scenarios. Suppose you’re in a typical casual Commander game with a healthy suite of ramp, tutors, and recursions. If you anticipate roughly 6 opportunities to cast a commander from the command zone throughout the game (a modest upper bound for many multi-color decks with solid mana acceleration) and you’re comfortable assuming a per-turn chance p around 0.3 to 0.5 of actually executing a commander cast, you’d expect Kudro’s entering trigger to produce between 2 and 3 tokens on average. That’s a meaningful count in the early turns, especially since those tokens are 1/1s that fuel your board and pressure your opponents’ dockets of removal 🧙‍♂️💎.

Of course, probabilities scale with how aggressively you pursue commander recasts. If your build leans into heavy reusability—lands, mana rocks, bass-boosting sack outlets, and ways to fetch your commanders back from the command zone—the distribution shifts upward. You might be averaging 3 to 4 or more casts in a game. In those cases, Kudro’s ETB becomes not just a token factory but a catalyst for a multi-staged combat plan, where the 2/2 buff to humans across the board compounds the impact of each subsequent cast and token. It’s a small statistical revolution in a single combat step 🧙‍♂️⚔️.

For players who love the math behind the magic, a quick heuristic helps translate theory into practice. Consider the number of times you’ll likely cast a commander this game as N. If you expect to cast commanders on about k of your available turns, and the probability of casting a commander on any given such turn is p, then E[N] = k·p. Kudro’s tokens equal E[N], and your board’s offensive momentum scales with both E[N] and the buff to your Human creatures. In real games, those numbers bounce with variance—but the centerpiece remains: cast more commanders, watch Kudro hand you more tokens, and enjoy a growing army that’s simultaneously bred for combat and built to snowball 💥🎨.

Practical takeaways: maximizing the trigger without losing your edge

  • Ramp smartly: Jirina Kudro loves a well-tuned curve. Invest in mana acceleration that lets you reach critical turns where you can cast multiple commanders from the command zone—think rocks, rituals, and reusables that don’t eat into your long-game plan 🧙‍♂️.
  • Embrace the Human tribal vibe: The +2/+0 anthem for other Humans is a built-in power spike. Pair Kudro with other Human synergies and anthem effects to convert tokens into real battlefield resilience ⚔️.
  • Plan for recasts: Include recursion and card draw to extend the window where you can keep recasting from the command zone. Each cast not only adds tokens but also pushes your board toward parity or advantage as you refill your hand 🔥.
  • Balance reliability and risk: While more casts increase tokens, you don’t want to overcommit into a lights-out situation where you can’t protect Kudro or sustain mana. A measured approach often yields the smoothest probability curve 🧙‍♂️.

Artistically, Kudro’s striking, tri-color presence anchors your board with a strong sense of purpose. Magali Villeneuve’s illustration—paired with the card’s flavorful mix of leadership and grit—feels like a banner for a Human Warband that could swing a night clock with a single resolve. The flavor text reinforces a theme of communal strength amid hardship, a narrative thread that resonates in EDH circles where commander-driven politics and token economies often collide on the battlefield 🧩🎨.

From a collector’s perspective, Jirina Kudro is a Commander 2020 legend with mythic rarity, printed in both foil and non-foil forms. Scryfall’s cataloging shows a modest market presence, with prices hovering around the dollar range, making Kudro an approachable centerpiece for a Human-focused build and a solid pick for players exploring the economics of token stacks and tribal synergy. The synergy is not just financial; it’s a flavor-forward, gameplay-rich experience that captures the joy of building toward a predictable, powerful outcome in your next table “math session” 🧙‍♂️💎.

As you tune your lists, keep Kudro in mind as a probabilistic partner in crime—a card that rewards good casting cadence and thoughtful tribal design. The more you lean into command-zone recasts, the more you’ll see those tokens accumulate and your table tip toward your side of the ledger. It’s a blend of calculation and storytelling—the very essence of MTG strategy, wrapped in a multi-color package that’s equal parts grit and glory 🧙‍♂️🧩.

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Jirina Kudro

Jirina Kudro

{1}{R}{W}{B}
Legendary Creature — Human Soldier

When Jirina Kudro enters, create a 1/1 white Human Soldier creature token for each time you've cast a commander from the command zone this game.

Other Humans you control get +2/+0.

"Strength is what keeps us alive. Compassion is what keeps us human."

ID: 6e660d42-f5d3-452a-9662-74e18a1ae9e4

Oracle ID: b122bf99-b003-452a-a854-b25597ff7ca2

Multiverse IDs: 484715

TCGPlayer ID: 212036

Cardmarket ID: 450928

Colors: B, R, W

Color Identity: B, R, W

Keywords:

Rarity: Mythic

Released: 2020-04-17

Artist: Magali Villeneuve

Frame: 2015

Border: black

EDHRec Rank: 10592

Set: Commander 2020 (c20)

Collector #: 8

Legalities

  • Standard — not_legal
  • Future — not_legal
  • Historic — not_legal
  • Timeless — not_legal
  • Gladiator — not_legal
  • Pioneer — not_legal
  • Modern — not_legal
  • Legacy — legal
  • Pauper — not_legal
  • Vintage — legal
  • Penny — not_legal
  • Commander — legal
  • Oathbreaker — legal
  • Standardbrawl — not_legal
  • Brawl — not_legal
  • Alchemy — not_legal
  • Paupercommander — not_legal
  • Duel — legal
  • Oldschool — not_legal
  • Premodern — not_legal
  • Predh — not_legal

Prices

  • USD: 0.50
  • USD_FOIL: 0.38
  • EUR: 0.92
  • EUR_FOIL: 0.48
  • TIX: 1.74
Last updated: 2025-11-14