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- Chishiro, the Shattered Blade
- Collision of the Realms
- Smoke Spirits' Aid
- Akki Battle Squad
- Kami of Celebration
- Unquenchable Fury
- Komainu Battle Armor
- Rampant Rejuvenator
- Concord With The Kami
- Tanuki Transplanter
- Ascendant Acolyte
- One With The Kami
- Silkguard
- Kosei, Penitent Warlord
- Kaima, The Fractured Calm
We're in the final hours of Magic The Gathering's Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty preview season, with the final day putting the focus on the set's two preconstructed Commander decks. These decks are a great way to get into Commander, providing everything you need to play right out of the box. They've also got a lot of brand-new, never-before-printed cards that EDH veterans will want to get their hands on.
One of the two new decks is the red and green Upgrades Unleashed. Building on Neon Dynasty's new modified mechanic, it uses its Commander, Chishiro, the Shattered Blade, to make lots of tokens, modify them, and then buff them up for big damage.
This article is only going to go over the new cards debuting in Upgrades Unleashed. If you want to see the older cards getting reprinted, you can see the full decklist for both it and the other deck, Buckle Up, on the Magic website.
Chishiro, the Shattered Blade
The face Commander of the deck is Chishiro, a 4/4 Snake Samurai that costs two generic, one red, and one green mana. His biggest ability is an extra payoff for playing aura enchantments or artifacts – two of the three things considered 'modifications' by giving you a 2/2 red Spirit with menace.
The second ability is odd, because it puts a +1/+1 counter on every modified creature you control. Counters are the third thing that makes a creature modified, but Chishiro only puts them onto creatures that are already modified.
Collision of the Realms
Chaos effects are a controversial topic in Commander. Some people love them, while others really, really hate them. Collision of the Realms is a relatively light chaos effect compared to something like Warp World, but it could still get a few groans from the table.
Smoke Spirits' Aid
Wizards really needs to slow down on things that make a bajillion treasures, because it's contributing to the Commander format getting faster and faster. Then again, casing a Smoke Spirit's Aid before throwing down a board wipe could be a really great way to leap ahead of the rest of the table.
Akki Battle Squad
For once, "this ability triggers only once this turn" is entirely justified. Doubling your combat steps is a dangerous ability that can be broken quite easily, especially in a set with Isshin, Two Heavens as One.
Kami of Celebration
Kami of Celebration rewards you attacking with modified creatures with impulsive card advantage, and then casting that card makes even more of your creatures modified to keep the ball rolling.
Unquenchable Fury
Punishment for decks that like to draw a lot of cards and is also especially difficult to get rid of? Me and my Kwain, Itinerant Meddler deck are very, very scared of this.
Komainu Battle Armor
Reconfigure makes an appearance in the Commander precons with Komainu Battle Armor. Goad seems to be a secondary theme of the deck, as this can goad every creature controlled by a player it deals damage to.
Rampant Rejuvenator
Green is the best colour for ramp, and Rampant Rejuvenator might well be one of the biggest ramp cards ever printed in terms of how many lands it can dump onto the battlefield. Build it up big enough and you could be pulling every basic land out of your deck at the same time.
Concord With The Kami
This card is weird in the same way Chishiro, the Shattered Blade is weird. It has payoffs for two of the three types of modified, and then limits the counters to only going onto creatures who already have them. It's a good card, but it would've been better if it could make more modified creatures on its own.
Tanuki Transplanter
Green only got one reconfigure creature in the main Neon Dynasty dset, so it's nice to see it get a decent one here with Tanuki Transplanter. Making a lot of mana just for attacking is great, and it remains between steps and phases.
Ascendant Acolyte
With the right kind of go-wide deck, this can be ridiculous. You effectively double the number of +1/+1 counters on the board straight away, and then it gets twice as big on every subsequent turn. Combine it with a way to bounce it back to your hand and The Ozolith and you've got the start of an infinite counters combo.
One With The Kami
One With The Kami is another great way to come back from a board wipe, but it can also very easily go infinite with a sacrifice outlet and something that makes the creature enter with a +1/+1 counter, like Renata, Called to the Hunt.
Silkguard
The art makes my skin itch, but this is a really, really good card. Auras and equipment are the easiest modifications to knock off of a creature, so giving them protection and adding the harder to remove counters at the same time is a great way to keep your modified creatures going.
Kosei, Penitent Warlord
The mono-green alternate Commander of the deck is Kosei, Penitent Warlord. While the modified mechanic only cares if a creature meets one of its three requirements, Kosei only works if you have all three on it. That means he needs to have a counter, be equipped, and be enchanted with an aura at the same time. The payoff for it is great, though, as you could draw a lot of cards and take out the rest of the table at the same time.
Kaima, The Fractured Calm
The Gruul (red/green) alternate Commander is probably more interesting than Chishiro himself. Kaima is a Spirit that goads any creature you don't control that is enchanted by an aura you do control, which is an interesting design space Gruul has never explored before. Kaima also gets bigger the more creatures it goads, giving you the chance to slip in and take someone out when their only blocker is forced to attack.
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