Jukai Trainee is to bushido on Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty as Bane of Bala Ged was to annihilator on Battle for Zendikar.
Sets (NEO) Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Previews
- Thread starter TrainmasterGT
- Start date
and Makeshift Battalion to battalion on Ravnica!
The uprising just reads "XWR: deal 2X points of damage to your opponent. Deal 3X points of damage instead if you have an anthem." Right? If so, I don't need a burn spell that only goes face.
It's a little more complicated than that — on an empty board (and assuming that villain blocks as much of the attack as possible), it scales kinda like...
X = 1: 2 damage, get a 2/2 with Vigilance.
X = 2 or 3: 4 damage, get two 2/2s with Vigilance (villain gets one.)
X = 4 or 5: 6 damage, get three 2/2s with Vigilance (villain gets two.)
And so on and so forth.
...
I will say that I'm not too sure that the channel lands are real, given how WotC approaches land design. I think the last time they printed colored utility lands that enter the battlefield untapped was actually OG Kamigawa? They tend to avoid "freebie" utility lands these days.
(I could see an argument that Legendary + Channel makes jamming 2+ channel lands into your deck not a free-roll, but I'm not sure that it's enough of a drawback.)
You're totally right. The base case as a grounded-but-menacing Skyknight Legionnaire at X=1 makes it seem a lot more palatable, so although Menace is a lot worse of an evasion ability I'm wondering if the scalability will make this interesting enough as a modal control finisher/aggro 3 to offset the complexity cost. I don't personally think it works for me as it's too complex to justify inclusions, but that sort of split card is something I'm actively interested in to shake the draft portion of a draft up a bit.
On another note, between this and Lantern Flare, I wonder if RW is moving into X-cost/Fireball tribal? Seems like a cool direction to take a control archetype.
Also, I guess that 2/2 Vigilance tokens are probably going to be a thing. It's neat to see tokens of that size return. I think the last time that's been a common statline was Dominaria, right?
On another note, between this and Lantern Flare, I wonder if RW is moving into X-cost/Fireball tribal? Seems like a cool direction to take a control archetype.
Also, I guess that 2/2 Vigilance tokens are probably going to be a thing. It's neat to see tokens of that size return. I think the last time that's been a common statline was Dominaria, right?
I'm a pretty big fan of "Legendary matters," so I like the lands. They're probably going to cost a buttload while they're in Standard and maintain some value due to EDH. I might get to play Kethis, the Hidden Hand.
C'mon, Shrines... Make me build a new cube. MAKE ME.
Side note: I'd love to see them reprint some of the overly expensive Legendary Lands from Kamigawa 1.0 in the Commander products.
C'mon, Shrines... Make me build a new cube. MAKE ME.
Side note: I'd love to see them reprint some of the overly expensive Legendary Lands from Kamigawa 1.0 in the Commander products.
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Don't put the shrines into a cube. I tried them in my arena cube and they were dead picks until they were busted. It's very linear drafting and low agency, boring gameplay for both sides. Like a combo deck, that is not interesting or splashy in practice. Either you auto win once you got three of them to stick, or they aren't worth going for at all.
relatable
There was a Mardu Shrines deck going around in the Historic Artisan (cards that are either common or uncommon and have been printed on Magic Arena) tournament last week, and it was so toxic to play against.
Basically, the deck relied on having Sanctum of Stone Fangs or Honden of Infinite Rage in it's opening hand as win conditions, and then played a bunch of "stall shrines" like Honden of Cleansing Fire, Sanctum of Tranquil Light, and Sanctum of Shattered Heights to slow down the game until the two win conditions could end the opponent. The deck also ran Honden of Night's Reach, which is pretty annoying. This deck did not require actually playing magic to win with, as no spells needed to be cast beyond a handfull of shrines and maybe a couple Banishing Lights for threats that couldn't be janked out in the early game.
One opponent was literally using Arcane Encyclopedia to smooth out games where they didn't have a finishing shrine in their opener but had one of the powerful stall shrines. Since shrines give you value without ever having to spend mana beyond the initial payment. It was actually decent tech, but the fact that a deck existed where a card like this would be a good inclusion beyond "hey look it's a cool card advantage engine" is very disheartening.
This is why Shrines are awful designs and WOTC should never print more.
/Rant.
Basically, the deck relied on having Sanctum of Stone Fangs or Honden of Infinite Rage in it's opening hand as win conditions, and then played a bunch of "stall shrines" like Honden of Cleansing Fire, Sanctum of Tranquil Light, and Sanctum of Shattered Heights to slow down the game until the two win conditions could end the opponent. The deck also ran Honden of Night's Reach, which is pretty annoying. This deck did not require actually playing magic to win with, as no spells needed to be cast beyond a handfull of shrines and maybe a couple Banishing Lights for threats that couldn't be janked out in the early game.
One opponent was literally using Arcane Encyclopedia to smooth out games where they didn't have a finishing shrine in their opener but had one of the powerful stall shrines. Since shrines give you value without ever having to spend mana beyond the initial payment. It was actually decent tech, but the fact that a deck existed where a card like this would be a good inclusion beyond "hey look it's a cool card advantage engine" is very disheartening.
This is why Shrines are awful designs and WOTC should never print more.
/Rant.
Man that Kami looks pretty good
I think this might just be filler in enchantress, unfortunately. Enchantments don't die so often, and a recurring bear is not that great because it may get outclassed easily in later stages.
The Neon frame looks weird with this "old Japan" art. I wish they'd gone for two special frames, one for "old Kamigawa", another for "new Kamigawa".
Light-Paws is pretty cool, though. Even something normal like Pacifism into Curious Obsession sounds like a fun play. A bit too soft to removal to build-around, though.
The Neon frame looks weird with this "old Japan" art. I wish they'd gone for two special frames, one for "old Kamigawa", another for "new Kamigawa".
Light-Paws is pretty cool, though. Even something normal like Pacifism into Curious Obsession sounds like a fun play. A bit too soft to removal to build-around, though.
magecraft 4lyfe
This looks extremely obnoxious to play against. But I already found the auras.dec to be unbeliably obnoxious.
The fault probably lies at Wizards for making cards that ignore exile effects, though.
in constructed it is indeed gonna be really displeasing to face if it’s a good deck.
in cube i just don’t see it doing anything unless you go REALLY hard on pacifisms or heroic. a LARGE amount of whites enchantment based removal is actually not auras which just makes it that much tougher a sell to include in a cube list
in cube i just don’t see it doing anything unless you go REALLY hard on pacifisms or heroic. a LARGE amount of whites enchantment based removal is actually not auras which just makes it that much tougher a sell to include in a cube list
Light-Paws may not be the wordiest Magic card ever, but is that the longest sentence?
Chris Taylor
Contributor
Clearly you need two cubes
...Or delirium
Light-Paws seems like hilarious nonsense, and the Kami seems... interesting. Maybe not so much with white's removal auras, but it seems like it'll do work with Sagas and stuff like Mire's Grasp.
yeah the FIRST card i thought of was The Eldest Reborn