Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty was released just over a year ago on February 18th 2022. It was exceedingly popular, earning the title “homerun set of the year” from Magic’s lead designer. The set’s popularity was due, in part, to the long-awaited return to the Shinto-inspired plane of Kamigawa, now with a new cyberpunk coat of paint. The positive reception to the set can also be attributed to the excellent selection of cards it contains, many of which remain valuable today.
A few quick ground rules before we get into the list. The prices we list here are derived from TCGplayer’s Price Guide, we are using the market price of the card, for the date of 26/02/2023. As with our prior top 10 lists like this, we will only be using the base version of cards and won’t be counting alternative artwork treatments (this prevents 40% of the list just being variants of Hidetsugu, Devouring Chaos). With all of that said, let’s get started…
10. Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire $6.11
The cycle of Legendary Channel lands are one of the main reasons to crack Neon Dynasty booster packs. Just about every deck, regardless of format, can benefit from running at least one copy of whichever of these lands are in their colors. The cards from this cycle come dangerously close to being strictly better than basic lands. These five cards are held back only by the fact that they are legendary, meaning that you can only have one of each in play, and they do not possess the “basic land” tag, meaning they can’t be fetched by cards like Rampant Growth. They also lack a land type, like Forest or Swamp, preventing them from being retrieved by fetch lands.
At $3.19 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance, the Red card from this cycle, isn’t quite eligible to make this list, leaving Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire in the number 10 spot. Like the other cards from this cycle, Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire offers a, slightly overcosted, version of a common effect in its color. In Eiganjo’s case, it’s a 3 mana, Gideon’s Reproach, which gets discounted by one for every Legendary Creature you control. While, at first, this effect may seem underwhelming, the fact that this effect uses a land slot is hugely important. There is no real cost to including this card in your deck, as you will only be replacing a Plains. This fact is the secret to the channel land’s success.
9. Takenuma, Abandoned Mire $6.14
The second channel land on our list. Takenuma, Abandoned Mire costs a whole 3 cents more than Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire. This card mills its controller three cards and then allows them to return a Creature or Planeswalker from their graveyard to their hand. Just like Eiganjo, there is no reason not to run this card if you’re playing a Black deck. Many Black decks feature graveyard synergies, and even if your deck does not, a Swamp with some reanimation potential is almost always an upgrade worth making.
8. Junji, the Midnight Sky $6.17
The card is a fun inclusion in Commander decks, especially alongside cards like Teysa Karlov or Drivnod, Carnage Dominus which can give you twice as much value from its death triggers. Junji, the Midnight Sky doesn’t really see a huge amount of play in formats other than Commander, so Standard rotation in September is unlikely to alter its price too much.
7. Kodama of the West Tree $9.43
6. Farewell $10.38
5. Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant $10.83
4. Otawara, Soaring City $14.63
The third card from the Legendary Channel lands cycle on this list. Otawara, Soaring City can bounce a wide variety of different permanent types. In addition to all the reasons listed above, cards from this cycle are particularly good because they can’t be countered. Using the Channel effect does not qualify as “casting a spell”. Even though this card is more pricey than something like Unsummon it’s still overall a much more useful card.
3. Fable of the Mirror Breaker $22.43
This card provides a lot of value for only three mana, first generating a 2/2 Goblin token, which then has the power to create treasure tokens, then enabling you to discard up to two cards to draw the same amount and then transforming into a 2/2 Goblin with a similar ability to the iconic Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker. Fable of the Mirror Breaker is a multi-format all-star and, if current trends continue, its value is only likely to rise in the future.
2. The Wandering Emperor $22.80
The Wandering Emperor sees play in Standard, Pioneer, and even, at times in Modern. The card most recently showed up in several Blue/White control decks at Pro Tour: Phyrexia.
1. Boseiju, Who Endures $35.75
Finally, bookending our list, is another Legendary Channel land Boseiju, Who Endures. This card is great for all of the reasons discussed above about why these channel lands are powerful. A useful effect, which uses a land slot, rather than a slot that could otherwise house an impactful card. a significantly better Naturalise which can target non-basic lands, as well as Enchantments and Artifacts, even if it does allow opponents to fetch a basic land from their deck. What makes this card the most valuable in the cycle is that it allows you to free up sideboard slots. Usually, sideboards need to reserve some space for Artifact, and Enchantment removal effects, but Boseiju allows such effects to be run in the main deck.
If you were ever wondering why Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty packs sell out very quickly, one of the reasons is the fact that the most valuable cycle in the set is available at Rare, rather than Mythic. Like the other cards from its cycle, Boseiju sees play in every format in which it is legal.
Read more: Top 5 Most Expensive MTG Uncommon Cards