The excitement for the 2022 Magic sets is definitely real. Once the timeline was released and we learned what was coming the players have been pretty pumped for it. The first release of the new year will be Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. This set takes us back to the famous world of Kamigawa that players originally experienced in Champions of Kamigawa back in 2004.
If you aren’t familiar with Kamigawa, here is the basics:
Reminiscent of sengoku-era Japan, this plane contains two symbiotic worlds: the utsushiyo, or material realm, and the kakuriyo, or kami spirit realm… Kamigawa’s denizens peacefully worshipped the spirits of their world. Then suddenly their gods attacked, forcing the world into brutal war.
Magic the Gathering
So this Japanese-style world is filled with ninjas, samurai, mythical dragons and so much more. While some of the mechanics that came with the original set were not the most well-received, the overall style is still enjoyed. With the hype around Japanese culture in recent games (Ghost of Tsushima to name a big one), it’s no surprise that Magic the Gathering decided to jump in with this release. In fact, the designers even said that the original concept was not necessarily to create the next Kamigawa, but just to capture this Japanese culture, and it happen to be able to be tied into Kamigawa.
The Lands
Look, there are a ton of cool cards that will probably come out in this set. I’ve already seen dragons I want to add to my Tiamat deck, and if I have the possibility of building any cool Samurai tribal or commander decks I’ll have a heart attack from the excitement. However, the lands in this release have got to be one of the coolest things.
The Japanese-inspired art is such a cool concept for the lands. While some of these lands will be harder to come across, they will definitely be worth collecting if you want to make any type of deck based on this culture. These lands will definitely make their way into my deck to pimp it out a bit.
Wizards has also told us that:
One-third of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Draft and Set Boosters will contain a Ukiyo-e basic land, and every Collector Booster contains one foil Ukiyo-e basic land.
Magic the Gathering
It is safe to say that these harder to find lands will definitely have a high demand once released.
Another somewhat controversial card design coming out is a new neon ink treatment. The design is supposed to make the card feel like it is really glowing. There seem to be some mixed opinions on this card. Some in the community are loving it while others think it looks terrible. This is a first for this type of design so we will see how it goes. As of now, it is only being tested out on four versions of the same card but in different colors.
However, if you are a fan of this card get ready to start looking hard for it. This is going to be a rare card to come across. In fact, three of these will only be able to be found in Collector Boosters for the set, AND less than 1% of boosters contain a neon ink card. Making this extremely hard to come across. The fourth color, the yellow one, will be given as a promotional card from your local game stores. If that isn’t hard enough, Wizard has also made some of these rarer to collect than others.
There are about half as many green ink cards as blue ink cards, and about a quarter that many red ink cards as green ink cards
Magic the Gathering
All that to say, if you want to collect all four it’s going to be a challenge.
We also know dragons will be making a big return in this set. They have given us a look at, Atsushi, the Blazing Sky. These dragons coming out are going to have abilities that activate upon death, giving the player a couple choices to choose between. I am a big fan of dragons so I hope we see some interesting ones with cool lore. I am very impressed so far by the art of these guys.
Last but not least we have been given a look at Kaito Shizuki. With an interesting phase out ability this had a lot of questions come up. When this card was announced on the live stream, chat was flooding them with questions about how his card is going to work and what it looks like for the future of Planeswalkers.
The overall set so far looks pretty cool. I think it is going to take us to an exciting time in Magics universe and hopefully continue on the hype for this culture. Keep an eye out for what’s to come and get ready to play at the first sealed events to get your hands on those hard-to-find cards!