Yesterday, Wizards of the Coast announced their new upcoming Magic: the Gathering Sets during their Magic Showcase 2021 stream. One of the sets that we’ve heard rumors about and is now confirmed is Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. The first return to Kamigawa is set 2000 years in the future from the original block, where tradition meets modernization. We know that there’s going to be Ninjas and cyberpunk Samurai, and a whole bunch of Neon lights. But with very little in terms of information about the set, there’s a lot of speculation on what could be coming. Here’s what we want to see in Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty.
Boseiju
The landscape of Kamigawa has changed over the years. The once lush nature environment has given way to technology and innovation. That being said, the habitants of the plane don’t easily abandon tradition. As we can see in the art above, the buildings have a very traditional Japanese design. One other major stand out feature of this picture is the massive tree at the back of the scape. My prediction is that this is “Boseiju”. Boseiju was the oldest tree in the Jukai Forest in Original Kamigawa. If that Boseiju, then it’d be great to see a reprint of Boseiju, Who Shelters All or a brand new version of the card.
New Legendary Lands
If there’s one thing that Kamigawa is known for, it’s legendary permanents. During the original block, there were sets of Legendary lands in each color, as well as a good number of colorless ones. I would love to see new legendary lands based around the new landscape of Kamigawa. I wouldn’t be mad if there were some multicolor lands as well in the mix.
Legendary Dragons
One of the most iconic Legendary Creature sets from Kamigawa was the legendary dragons. These 5 are definitely fan favorites, and If there’s anything that translates from the old Kamigawa character wise, these would definitely awesome inclusions. I don’t think that these exact cards would come back, but new versions of them would be a great nod to the popularity of these cards.
“Relic” Equipment
This may be a bit of a stretch, but I think it’d be awesome to have iconic artifacts from the original block return to this set. To keep with the theme of them being “relics” and much older, they could be tuned down or altered in some way, but hopefully they’d keep the spirit of the original card in tact.
READ MORE: MTG Announces First Step in Return to Organized Play
Cyberpunk Thematic Elements
I think that there is definitely a lot of room to explore the “Cyberpunk” subgenre outside of aesthetics. One of the main aspects that I’d love to see expanded is the addition of “cybernetic augments”. Essentially this would entail having a creature that gained abilities based on what kind of equipment were equipped to it. These equipment could have very simple subtypes of Neural, Arms, Body, and Legs. This definitely would be a cool Limited mechanic, but I don’t know that this would be great for constructed.
READ MORE: Everything We Know About MTG’s Innistrad: Midnight Hunt – Release Date, Previews & More
Killer Flavor Text
Another thing that some enfranchised players may know is that the Flavor text in the Original Kamigawa block was absolutely fire. While that flavor text was inspired by the era, I don’t know that any modern flavor text will have the same feel, but hey I’ll leave it up to Wizards to figure that out.
READ MORE: Should Cyclonic Rift be Banned in MTG’s Commander Format?
I’m very excited for this set and the others coming in next year! Make sure that you check out the rest of our coverage of the Magic Showcase 2021 and more info about Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. What would you like to see in this adventurous new set? Let us know in the comments