Day four of Magic The Gathering's Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty previews has been one of the most interesting so far. We've had a card that could potentially break the Pauper format wide open, a lot of confusion around the new Shrine creatures, and, finally, a Commander for Saga decks.
Here is everything revealed on the fourth day of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty preview season. We're almost halfway through!
Like yesterday, Wizards decided to slow down on the previews over the weekend. There are more than the five we had yesterday, but all of them should be here. If any got missed because of time zone differences, they'll be put in tomorrow's roundup.
Sunblade Samurai
The only white card revealed today was Sunblade Samurai. As a creature, it isn't fantastic: a five-mana 4/4 with vigilance is a bit underwhelming. But its channel ability allows you to search for a Plains, put it into your hand, and then gain two life. For two mana that could make this see quite a lot of play.
Awakened Awareness
Awakened Awareness is a weird card. It lets you take the sting out of an opponent's scary creature, but as X can't be zero in an X-cast spell you have to give it at least one +1/+1 counter. This seems purpose-built to go with yesterday's Lion Sash; it's a 1/1 already, and it's an equipment creature that likes to have counters on it.
Armguard Familiar
The blue Reconfigure creature is Armguard Familiar. The blue card seems like the weakest of the bunch for once – it's got a very low Ward cost, and +2/+1 for four mana isn't fantastic. Compared to the other cards we've seen in this cycle, this is probably the least playable of the lot.
Moon-Circuit Hacker
Oh, okay. Just give Pauper another Ninja of the Deep Hours, why not? Moon-Circuit Hacker could either be a new staple for Pauper, or it'll rip the format wide open and need to be banned. We don't know which way it'll go yet, but a Ninjutsu cost of one blue to draw a card when it deals combat damage is incredible regardless.
Guardians of Oboro
While we've only seen two cards with it so far, it seems possible that Defender-matters might be the blue/green draft archetype. Guardians of Oboro allows creatures with Defender to attack, but only if they're Modified. While the effectiveness of this will depend on how much more Defender stuff there is in Neon Dynasty, a 3/4 for three mana is nicely on-curve.
Heiko Yamazaki, the General
Move over Naomi, this is the kind of uncommon Commander I like to see. Heiko Yamazaki promotes the red/white bushido-like draft archetype, but there's enough support elsewhere in the set for it to be feasible. Heiko letting you cast an artifact from your graveyard just for doing what your archetype is already trying to do is fantastic. Throw this in a Wulfgar of Icewind Dale Commander deck and you've got some major juice happening.
Go-Shintai of Ancient Wars
We finally saw the second of the Shrine Enchantment Creature cycle today, and it gave Wizards a chance to clear something up: Shrine isn't a creature type. The introduction of the Go-Shintais doesn't mean your Changelings are now Shrines, as Shrine is an enchantment type, not a creature type. This means the Go-Shintais are the first creatures since 1994's Nameless Species in The Dark to not have a creature type (if you ignore stuff like tokens and face-down morphed cards).
That aside, Go-Shintai of Ancient Wars is kind of uninteresting. Not because it isn't a powerful effect, but because the other two mono-red Shrines we've had in the past also did direct damage based on the number of Shrines you control. Maybe this one could have done another red thing, like make red mana or exile cards from the top of your library?
Historian's Wisdom
This is a really interesting design. It's a neat political tool; do you buff an opponent's big hitter and get a card draw, or buff one of your smaller creatures to make it a better blocker? This feels like a better attempt at what Awakened Awareness was going for.
Generous Visitor
This is a really odd card. At just one mana it's a great way to start off a game with an Enchantress-style deck, but its effect being on cast makes it less useful. You can't put the counter on an Enchantment creature as it enters the battlefield, and +1/+1 counters decks generally don't run enough enchantments to make this worthwhile. This a Standard and limited thing more than an eternal format piece.
Prodigy's Prototype
An Azorius (blue/white) vehicle that produces tokens that make crewing more of your vehicles easier is brilliant. It feels odd that this isn't one of the exclusives of the blue/white vehicles Commander deck, but that's certainly not a bad thing.
Satsuki, the Living Lore
Magic sets are developed roughly two years ahead of release, which means Satsuki, the Living Lore was probably developed not too long after Wizards saw the positive response to the return of Sagas in Theros: Beyond Death. It's really nice to finally see a Commander that cares specifically about Saga enchantments. It can speed them up, bounce them to your hand, and bring them back from the graveyard. This is possibly the start of a brand-new Enchantress splinter archetype!
Raiyuu, Storm's Edge
Wizards has never admitted it, but with Raiyuu I'm confident in my theory that the last few sets have had references to popular Magic content creators. There's been one in every set since at least Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, which had the very PleasantKenobi-esque Circle of the Moon Druid. This time we have Raiyuu, Storm's Edge, and that is definitely I Hate Your Deck co-host Joseph Johnson. Even he's pointed out the similarities!
It's a cool thing, and it helps that Raiyuu is an absolute beast of a card. You get an extra combat step if a warrior or Samurai attacks alone in your first one, which lets you double up on all those pseudo-bushido triggers that are defining the red/white archetype for Neon Dynasty.
Source: Read Full Article