Of the many ‘return’ sets Magic has seen over the years, none were more radical than Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. This set totally revamped the plane of Kamigawa, and packed a ton of powerhouse cards to boot. While it was a hugely popular MTG set in its time, some of the bangers within, like Tameshi, Reality Architect, have become hidden gems since.
Tameshi, Reality Architect MTG
Tameshi’s two abilities are both excellent, but his activated ability is the clear highlight here. Bouncing a land back to your hand is great in Landfall builds, where it lets you nab extra triggers on cards like Ruin Crab and Felidar Retreat. You can also reset lands like Otawara, Soaring City or Ishgard, the Holy See to use their spell sides later on.
With the cost paid, Tameshi’s powerful ability acts as repeatable reanimation for artifacts and enchantments. Recycling cheap utility artifacts like Lotus Petal and Tormod’s Crypt is a great option, thanks to its repeatability. This is also a great way to recover engines like Mystic Remora and Smothering Tithe, which often attract opposing removal.
This activated ability is great in a vacuum, but you can push it further with discount effects like Training Grounds, and ability doublers like Illusionist’s Bracers. You’ll be able to use Tameshi’s ability repeatedly with these in place, so cards like Walking Atlas that get lands out of your hand will help a lot. It’s also worth including some self-mill like Mesmeric Orb, since doing this will burn through your reanimation targets quickly.
Tameshi’s activated ability also handily triggers his draw effect, which is potent in its own right. While it has a pesky ‘once per turn’ clause attached, it also works on opponents’ turns. This makes cards like Chain of Vapor and Hullbreaker Horror even more powerful than usual.
Cutting Edge Combos
While Tameshi is great as a fair Commander, it’s even better as a combo enabler. Alongside Mindslaver, for instance, it lets you control one opponent for the rest of the game. With enough mana, you can reanimate and sacrifice Mindslaver each turn with Tameshi, essentially buying yourself an ally to support all of your future schemes.
If you’d rather just take infinite turns yourself, Tameshi has you covered there too, with Coretapper and Magistrate’s Scepter. By sacrificing and reanimating Coretapper, you can put three charge counters on Scepter, letting you take an extra turn. Tameshi can also unlock infinite turns by reanimating Second Chance at low life, or by looping an extra turn spell like Time Warp with a bounced Mystic Sanctuary.
Perhaps the most impressive Tameshi combo is that with Lotus Bloom and Patron of the Moon, which nets you infinite mana. Reanimate and crack Bloom with Tameshi, then repeat to make six mana total. You can then use Patron to put the bounced lands back into play, and repeat. In addition to fueling Walking Ballista wins, this combo also nets you infinite Landfall triggers, allowing for Hedron Crab finishes.
A Sleeper Modern Classic
Tameshi, Reality Architect has all the hallmarks of a popular MTG Commander: it’s cheap, provides card advantage, and serves as an ongoing value engine. Despite all this, however, the card actually doesn’t see a ton of play in the command zone. According to EDHREC, in fact, just 3,310 players play Tameshi as their Commander, with a paltry 8,210 adopting him in the 99.
While it’s a shame that more players aren’t enjoying this excellent Commander, it does mean you can pick it up for a bargain price. You can get near-mint base copies of Tameshi for just $0.25 on TCGplayer right now, and Showcase copies for $0.40 if you want to get fancy. At these prices, Tameshi is an easy pickup, as a budget Commander brew or a 99 boost.
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