Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty has finally released and it is making waves in Magic: The Gathering. Neon Dynasty is a return to the classic Kamigawa plane that was first released in 2004. While previously, the plane had a strong feudal Japan theme, now it features a new futuristic cyberpunk aesthetic.
With all of these newly released cards, it can be difficult to know which ones are worth keeping an eye on, so we’ve made a list of the top cards from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty that you should be aware of.
1. Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
Kamigawa’s new Channel lands have a crazy amount of value. At worst, they’re basic lands that you can’t search for, and at best, they’re can remove threats or generate value when you don’t need lands anymore.
If you’ve been playing Standard, then you’ll be familiar with the wide array of mid-range decks currently filling up the format. Eiganjo becomes a useful removal option here since you can remove an attacker or blocker before it grows too large. Plus, you can threaten the ever-popular Goldspan Dragon from getting free attacks on your face card.
Eiganjo’s Channel also gets around Sejiri Shelter, a commonly used protection card, because it’s a land and thus colorless. However, cards like Valorous Stance and Show of Confidence will still protect opponents’ creatures from Eiganjo’s damage.
This card perfectly slots into Orzhov Midrange decks since some versions of the deck will be running a combination of Valki, Adeline, Edgar, or Henrika, bringing Eiganjo’s Channel cost down to a single white mana.
2. Boseiju, Who Endures
Just like Eiganjo, Boseiju slots into any green deck by dropping a basic land for it. In exchange, players will get a cheap flexible, if conditional, removal. However, don’t underestimate how painful giving a land to your opponent can be. In formats like Standard, that extra untapped land can lead to some devastating plays.
Boseiju becomes an amazing tool in other formats where the extra land your opponent receives isn’t as threatening as what you’re removing. Lock pieces like Chalice of the Void or Blood Moon and the infamous Tron Lands are perfect targets for Boseiju. Since this is also a channel ability, the traditional suite of counter spells found in those formats will struggle to stop it.
3. Isshin, Two-Heavens as One
On the surface, Isshin is fairly simple – whenever a creature attacks, Isshin doubles its triggers.
In Standard, Isshin has some solid potential to him. A card like Colossal Plow can generate six white mana and gain three life, Triumphant Adventurer ventures twice, and Goldspan Dragon creates two treasures. The value gained from those cards is amazing; put on top of Isshin’s 3/4 body for three mana and the overall value skyrockets.
As a Commander, Isshin can be taken down several routes with deckbuilders. The obvious route is to go with creatures that have strong attack triggers like Aurelia the Warleader, or Drakuseth, Maw of Flames. The less obvious and way more fun route would be to use pillowforts like Ghost Prison and Mangara, the Diplomat so whenever your opponents attack you’ll get twice the value.
4. Hinata, Dawn-Crowned
Hinata is another terrifying card that may not land very well in Standard, but will be amazing in other formats. Looking at just her stats, Hinata is a decent-sized evasive beater for four mana. In Draft, if you can fix your colors, her stats alone will help win games since she will be difficult to remove and puts your opponent on a five-turn clock.
If you build a deck around her, you’ll want to focus on her ability to make spells cheaper for each object they target. In Commander, Heliod’s Intervention is an invaluable tool with Hinata because it can destroy any number of enchantments and/or artifacts for two white mana. Overlooked cards like Sublime Epiphany are now massive swings in your favor thanks to how cheap Hinata makes them.
5. Jukai Naturalist
Jukai Naturalist reduces enchantment cost by 1, making it the perfect companion to Runeforge Champion which searches for a rune and then allows you to play it for exactly 1 mana. In effect, these two creatures allow you to search your library for any rune and immediately play it for free.
Since runes will also draw you cards when they enter the battlefield, it’s possible to just keep chaining runes into each other and having multiple enchantments played in a single turn. If you have creatures that grow whenever you play an enchantment, then they will grow extremely quickly with this strategy.
Speaking of which…
6. Generous Visitor/Kami of Transience
Both of these creatures are able to grow whenever their controller plays an enchantment. When combined with Jukai Naturalist, who’s also an enchantment, and Runeforge Champion, they become massive threats that require your opponents to respond.
Generous Visitor is great for Draft and Standard because it’s also a one-mana creature, allowing for very aggressive starts.
Kami of Transience is only one mana more than Generous Visitor, but is a more resilient threat since it can return itself to your hand when an enchantment enters your graveyard. This also synergizes extremely well with Sagas since those enchantments will put themselves into your graveyard.
7. The Wandering Emperor
The Wandering Emperor is the only planeswalker in existence with Flash. This makes her a godsend to control decks since she is now an instant-speed removal and a combat trick in one card. Her -2 can be used in response to a big creature attacking you, while her +1 can turn a trade into a clean block for your creature.
If left alone, the Emperor can run away with the game by growing a creature each turn and discouraging attacks against you since she can remove them on your next turn. The Emperor can also have a chilling effect on your opponent’s mana dorks, giving the choice of either tapping them for mana and risk losing them, or not to using them at all.
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