Quick Links
- What Is Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty?
- What Are The Mechanics Of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty?
- What Are The Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Commander Decks?
- How Many Commanders Are In Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty?
- How Do I Draft Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty?
- Where Can I Find Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Spoilers?
- What Are The Ukiyo-e Basic Lands In Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty?
- Is Shrine A Creature Type In Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty?
- Is Hatsune Miku In Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty?
- When Does Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Launch On MTG Arena, MTGO, and Tabletop?
It's time to go back to one of Magic The Gathering's most heavily-requested settings ever: Kamigawa. A world inspired by Japanese mythology and culture, the original sets in the '00s weren't the most successful releases for the game. Despite that, they've developed a loyal fanbase since 2004, and, over 15 years later, we're finally heading back there with Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty.
Except this Kamigawa isn't the one we last saw. Over 1200 years have passed, and Kamigawa has evolved into a technologically advanced world where cyborgs and mechs roam the world alongside the spirits and Kami we once knew. Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty is Magic's first-ever sci-fi set, and its cyberpunk aesthetics help make it one of the most exciting releases in a very long time.
What Is Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty?
Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty is the latest premiere set for Magic The Gathering, meaning it is one of the tentpole releases of the year and will introduce hundreds of new cards into the game's main format, Standard.
Like all premiere sets, Neon Dynasty is designed with both constructed and limited play in mind, meaning you can use the cards to either upgrade or build new decks, or take part in draft or sealed events where you play with a handful of booster packs.
Alongside the 302 cards in the main Neon Dynasty set, there are also a number of side-products available designed for the popular Commander format. This includes two preconstructed decks, and a number of exclusive cards found in Set Booster packs.
What Are The Mechanics Of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty?
There are six main mechanics of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty:
- Modified – putting counters on a creature, enchanting them with aura enchantments, or attaching equipment artifacts to them makes a creature "modified". There are lots of cards in the set that do one of these three things, or otherwise reward you for having a modified creature in play.
- Reconfigure – for the first time ever, Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty is introducing 'equipment creatures' to the game. These can either be normal creatures or reconfigured to become equipment that attaches to another creature.
- Vehicles and Crew – vehicles are artifacts that can become artifact creatures by tapping creatures with a combined total power equal to the vehicle's crew cost. Vehicles are often big and powerful in combat, and Neon Dynasty features a lot of them and ways to make them even better.
- Ninjutsu – any Japanese-inspired world is going to have Ninjas. Ninjutsu allows you to swap an unblocked, attacking creature you control with a Ninja that's already in your hand to let it do the attacking instead.
- Channel – channelling is an ability that lets you discard the card and pay a mana cost for an effect that can be hard for an opponent to predict or counter. There are lots of cards with channel in the set, but in particular the five Legendary Lands all feature incredibly powerful channel abilities.
- Sagas – Sagas are a very popular type of enchantment, and they're found in every single booster pack of Neon Dynasty. These ones are a bit different, though, as they're double-faced. Once they've finished the chapters listed on the front side, they transform into the enchantment creature on the back.
RELATED: Magic The Gathering: Everything You Need To Know About The Commander Format
What Are The Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Commander Decks?
Commander is Magic's most popular format, and sees a legendary creature guide a 99-card deck where only one copy of any non-basic-land card is allowed. Every premiere set since Zendikar Rising has come with at least two tie-in preconstructed Commander decks, and Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty has two.
Each Commander "precon" also features a number of brand-new cards made exclusively for the Commander format. This makes them good products for newcomers and worthwhile for those planning to take the decks apart for the individual cards.
The first is Upgrades Unleashed, a red and green deck whose Commander is Chishiro, the Shattered Blade. This is a deck focused on the new Modified mechanic, with lots of auras, equipment, and counters.
The second deck is Buckle Up, a white and blue deck that uses lots of vehicles and pilots to do big damage. Its Commander is Kotori, Pilot Prodigy, which changes the crew cost of your vehicles and also gives an artifact creature (such as a crewed vehicle) vigilance and lifelink.
How Many Commanders Are In Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty?
Kamigawa sets often emphasise Legendary permanents, meaning there are a higher-than-normal number of them in the set. If you're hoping to find the next deck to build, there are a lot here to choose from.
Across Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty and its Commander side-series, Neon Dynasty Commander, there are a whopping 44 new Legendary creatures (32 in the main Neon Dynasty set, 12 Commander-exclusives). There is also one Legendary Vehicle that can be your Commander, Shorikai, Genesis Engine.
RELATED: Magic The Gathering: How To Draft
How Do I Draft Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty?
If you go to a pre-release event, you're most likely going to be playing a limited format like Sealed or Draft. Limited formats use a handful of booster packs to construct a deck purely from the set, and tend to be lower-power and slower than you might find in a format like Modern of Legacy.
To do well in limited formats, you need to understand the draft archetypes of the set. These are mechanics and themes consistent across Magic's five colours, allowing you to build a cohesive deck that actually has a gameplan.
Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty has ten draft archetypes for you to explore:
| Colours | Theme |
|---|---|
| White/Blue | Vehicles |
| Blue/Black | Ninjas |
| Black/Red | Artifact Sacrifice |
| Red/Green | Modified Creatures |
| Green/White | Enchantments |
| White/Black | Balance |
| Blue/Red | Artifacts |
| Black/Green | Graveyard Recursion |
| Red/White | Samurai |
| Green/Blue | Ramp |
Where Can I Find Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Spoilers?
The preview season for Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty has finished, meaning every card has been revealed and can be seen on the official card gallery page.
However, TheGamer did day-by-day coverage of the reveals, which also went in a little bit more in-depth into how viable the cards are:
- Day One
- Day Two
- Day Three
- Day Four
- Day Five
- Day Six
- Day Seven
- Day Eight
What Are The Ukiyo-e Basic Lands In Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty?
Continuing the trend started by Adventures in the Forgotten Realms last year, Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty has a series of alternate basic lands you can find in some booster packs.
Called the Ukiyo-e lands, these are inspired by traditional Japanese woodblock prints and are illustrated by Japanese artists. There are ten in total, two for each of the five basic land types.
You can find Ukiyo-e lands in any booster pack. In Draft and Set Boosters, they can be found in one in three packs, with Set Boosters having an additional 6% chance of finding a foil one. Every Collector's booster has a guaranteed foil Ukiyo-e land.
Is Shrine A Creature Type In Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty?
Shrines are enchantments that synergise well with eachother, and a large part of decks that use them focus on having as many different kinds of shrine as possible.
In Neon Dynasty, we were introduced to a cycle (a series of thematically-connected cards) of cards that are both creatures and shrines. Considering shrines like you to have as many other shrines as possible, many players were excited and saw this as the introduction of a Shrine creature type to use with their Changelings for big profits.
However, despite the Go-Shintai cards presenting them as if they are, shrine is still not a creature type. This is because the game's rules outline a whole list of valid types for each type of permanent. Shrine is listed as an enchantment type, and is not on the list of valid creature types.
Contrary to popular belief, creatures don't have to have any creature type, it's just the Go-Shintai shrines are the first ones in almost 20 years to not have any.
Is Hatsune Miku In Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty?
Unfortunately, no.
There was a lot of buzz when Magic's Twitter accounts suddenly became branded with images of what appeared to be vocaloid sensation Hatsune Miku. Considering Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty is a Japanese-inspired set, and Magic has been venturing into more pop culture crossovers in recent years, fans hoped that meant she would appear in the set in some way.
Eventually, it was revealed that her involvement only goes as far as a tie-in music video, called Connected. While we might see Miku appear later in a Secret Lair, she has no further influence on Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty.
When Does Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Launch On MTG Arena, MTGO, and Tabletop?
Like most sets, Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty launches digitally a week before its tabletop release.
For Magic The Gathering Arena and Magic The Gathering Online, Neon Dynasty launches on February 10, 2022.
For paper play, the pre-release week (where events will be held both online and at your local game store) will run from February 11-17, ahead of an official launch on February 18, 2022.
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