Can i bestow from the command zone? Does it count towards the "commander tax"?
I ask this because Yuriko, the Tiger's shadow specifically has "commander ninjutsu", which specifically mentions the command zone. Keshia's bestow doesn't mention it at all.
903.8. A player may cast a commander they own from the command zone. A commander cast from the command zone costs an additional {2} for each previous time the player casting it has cast it from the command zone that game. This additional cost is informally known as the “commander tax.”
If one can bestow-cast it, it's cast, correct? and therefore subject to commander tax? But it doesn't actually mention if i can cast it from the command zone or not.
Bestow doesn't care where you cast the spell with it from: "As you cast this spell, you may choose to cast it bestowed" (C.R. 702.102a), and "[a]s a spell cast bestowed is put onto the stack, it becomes an Aura enchantment and gains enchant creature" (C.R. 702.102b, 113.6d; see also C.R. 112.1). Thus, you can apply bestow as you cast Kestia from the command zone.
Also, additional costs (including the so-called "commander tax" under C.R. 903.8) still apply to a card cast using bestow — as the bestow cost is an alternative cost that is paid "rather than [the spell's] mana cost" (C.R. 118.9d, 118.9, 702.102a). In the case of bestow, the fact that the resulting spell is not a creature spell is irrelevant here, since that doesn't change whether the spell is a commander spell or whether the "commander tax" applies to that spell (C.R. 903.3, 205.1a, 903.8). See also this thread.
Bestow and commander ninjutsu differ notably as follows:
You choose whether to cast Kestia bestowed at the moment you begin to cast that spell (C.R. 702.102a-b). For the purposes of bestow, it's irrelevant whether Kestia was cast from the command zone or elsewhere (C.R. 113.6d).
On the other hand, commander ninjutsu works from "your hand" or from the command zone, because it mentions zones where that ability works (here, "your hand" and the command zone) — namely, the ability moves the card with it out of "your hand" or the command zone, respectively, and has a cost that can be paid only while that card is in either zone (C.R. 702.48d, 113.6i, 113.6k). Moreover, when that ability resolves, that card enters the battlefield from the corresponding zone without having been cast, so the "commander tax" plays no part there at all (C.R. 702.48d; review C.R. 903.8, 701.4a).
Therefore, in general, if Kestia is your commander and you cast it from the command zone for the second time this game, you have to pay either 5GWU (applying bestow) or 3GWU (not applying bestow), where the "commander tax" (here, 2) is included in each cost just given (C.R. 903.8, 601.2f, 702.102a).
EDIT (Apr. 13): Add rule citation.
EDIT (Sep. 2; Jan. 5, 2019): Edited.
EDIT (Jun. 23, 2019): Edited.
EDIT (Oct. 12, 2019): Clarification. Some rules were renumbered with Core Set 2020.
EDIT (Jan. 23, 2020): Edited to conform to rule update with Theros Beyond Death.
EDIT (Sep. 28, 2020): Clarification; add rule citations.
Can i bestow from the command zone? Does it count towards the "commander tax"?
I ask this because Yuriko, the Tiger's shadow specifically has "commander ninjutsu", which specifically mentions the command zone. Keshia's bestow doesn't mention it at all.
903.8. A player may cast a commander they own from the command zone. A commander cast from the command zone costs an additional {2} for each previous time the player casting it has cast it from the command zone that game. This additional cost is informally known as the “commander tax.”
If one can bestow-cast it, it's cast, correct? and therefore subject to commander tax? But it doesn't actually mention if i can cast it from the command zone or not.
Legacy - Solidarity - mono U aggro - burn - Imperial Painter - Strawberry Shortcake - Bluuzards - bom
Also, additional costs (including the so-called "commander tax" under C.R. 903.8) still apply to a card cast using bestow — as the bestow cost is an alternative cost that is paid "rather than [the spell's] mana cost" (C.R. 118.9d, 118.9, 702.102a). In the case of bestow, the fact that the resulting spell is not a creature spell is irrelevant here, since that doesn't change whether the spell is a commander spell or whether the "commander tax" applies to that spell (C.R. 903.3, 205.1a, 903.8). See also this thread.
Bestow and commander ninjutsu differ notably as follows:
EDIT (Apr. 13): Add rule citation.
EDIT (Sep. 2; Jan. 5, 2019): Edited.
EDIT (Jun. 23, 2019): Edited.
EDIT (Oct. 12, 2019): Clarification. Some rules were renumbered with Core Set 2020.
EDIT (Jan. 23, 2020): Edited to conform to rule update with Theros Beyond Death.
EDIT (Sep. 28, 2020): Clarification; add rule citations.