Kicker
Keyword abilities
An optional extra cost you pay as you cast a spell, for a bigger effect.
How it works
Kicker [cost] means you may pay an additional [cost] as you cast the spell. A spell whose kicker was paid is "kicked", and its text says what that changes — Rite of Replication makes five copies instead of one.
Plain kicker can be paid only once. Multikicker can be paid any number of times, and the card counts how many. Either way it's an additional cost: it adds to whatever you're paying, and it never changes the spell's mana value.
Common confusions
“I put a kicker permanent onto the battlefield without casting it.”
Then it can't be kicked — kicker is paid while casting. But if you CAST it without paying its mana cost (say, from cascade), you may still pay the kicker on top, because additional costs are still yours to pay.
“Does kicking raise the mana value?”
No. Mana value comes only from the printed mana cost, whatever you actually paid. That matters for counterspells, cascade and anything else that checks it.
“I copied a kicked spell.”
The copy is kicked too (and if it's a permanent spell, the token it becomes is kicked). But a permanent that enters as a copy of a kicked permanent — a Clone, say — is not kicked.
“Multikicker and targets (Comet Storm).”
You announce how many times you'll kick (along with X) before choosing targets, then pay. Each target must be different.
Cards with kicker
Ranked by how often Commander decks actually play them.
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