Kamigawa Neon Dynasty Set Review: Gold cards, Artifacts and Lands
All ratings follow the Limited Resources ratings scale as listed below:
5.0 – The best of the best.
4.5 – Incredible bomb, but not unbeatable.
4.0 – Good rare or top tier uncommon.
3.5 – Top tier common or solid uncommon.
3.0 – Good playable that basically always makes the cut.
2.5 – Solid playable that rarely gets cut.
2.0 – Good filler that sometimes gets cut.
1.5 – Filler, gets cut about half the time.
1.0 – Bad filler, gets cut most of the time.
0.5 – Very low end playables and sideboard cards.
0.0 – Completely unplayable.
Asari Captain 3.0
This samurai attacks alone matters payoff card can make any of your smaller samurai or warriors into a massive threat, trading up, and if you can back it up with a combat trick, it can lead to some impressive blowouts.
This big flying turtle is extremely flexible, with two good channel abilities, one to regrowth another card or two mana unsummon. If you can loop this with the common green regrowth effect, you can assemble a loop returning each other to grind out any opponent.
A 2/2 flier for two that makes artifacts cheaper is a fine evasive creature that can allow you to dump your hand of artifacts sooner than usual.
Gloomshrieker 2.5
Eternal Witness, but only for permanents, is a solid grindy card that exiles itself if it would die. Menace is quite solid on this card, as it can be picked back up with ninjutsu abilities.
Invigorating Hot Spring 3.0
Echoes of Fires of Yavimaya are ever-present in this enchantment that gives all modified creatures haste and can modify creatures itself four times, immediately granting them a +1/+1 counter and haste to smash in for extra damage.
Jukai Naturalist 2,5
A 2/2 lifelinker for two that reduces the cost of enchantments you cast is a fine creature but not overwhelmingly exciting for a gold uncommon.
The uncommon payoff for having an artifact and an enchantment, this five mana 4/4 generates a 2/2 on ETB and attacks and can quickly create an army in a can.
Oni-Cult Anvil 3.0
This powerful artifact sacrifice engine, once turned on, can generate creatures each turn while draining your opponent to death. Notably, this does say leave the battlefield, so casting Reinforced Ronin, the red artifact creature that returns to your hand on your end step, does trigger this every turn.
This vehicle creates a 1/1 pilot creature whenever a vehicle you control attacks and can create an army to crew other vehicles quickly, especially if you have a vehicle with evasion.
A creature lord for rogues and ninjas, this rat reduces your ninjutsu abilities’ costs by one. Also, he has ninjutsu itself, which can sneak in and affect other combat numbers due to its lord ability.
Eiganjo Uprising 3.0
This card is hard to evaluate, as creating creature tokens for you and your opponent may seem counterintuitive for an aggressive strategy. Notably, you can cast this for 1RW to get a single token for yourself, as the opponent gets one less token than you. Choosing the correct number to leverage the haste and menace the freshly created tokens you make can make for complicated combat math where you can sneak in unblocked damage while trading off the same number of creatures. It’s a skill-testing card for darn sure.
A 4/3 for three, this aggressively slanted rat pilot returns vehicles at the start of combat, and while it does not make them creatures, this creature can crew almost every one in the format. Unlike haste recursion cards in the past, this does not exile the vehicle on the end step but returns them to hand. You need to have a density of solid vehicles to take advantage of the ability, but if you can get back at least one vehicle, it’s worth it.
This three-color 4/4 flier for four makes your targeted removal spells cheaper and your opponents more expensive. A solid card, if castable on curve, hits hard as well.
A five mana 4/4 that Surgical Extractions your opponent is a very unique effect, and the ability to cast the exiled card by paying generic mana to cast it while you control Kotose is a real solid two for one. If you can pick this up with a ninjutsu ability later and cast it a second time, your opponent will be in for a world of hurt.
One of the premium Samurai or warrior attacking alone creatures, this 3/3 first striker grants extra combat steps when triggered for the first time each turn. When in concert with other samurai abilities, this can set up a second combat in which you may be able to attack with even more creatures and kill your opponent from nowhere.
Left unchecked, Risona smashes very hard and fast, over and over again. This can be your samurai that attacks, gaining all the bonuses from attacking alone while you sit back and wall up to make sure the indestructible counter doesn’t fall off when you are dealt combat damage.
Satoru Umezawa 2.5
A ninjutsu card advantage source that rewards you for activating ninjutsu abilities by casting anticipate the first time you ninjutsu each turn. This three-mana 2/4 gives all creatures in your hand ninjutsu for four, so you can never really know what may come down with this in play.
A sagas matters, lord; this can speed up the chapters of your saga as a sorcery, and when it dies, it picks up a saga from your graveyard or picks up a saga or enchantment creature in play.
Tameshi, Reality Architect 4.0
There is a lot of text on this card, but this artifact or enchantment reanimation creature is a powerful recursion engine. This draws you a card when a noncreature permanent, such as a land, is returned to your hand for the first time each turn. The cost of activating the reanimation ability? Returning a land to hand. While this card does have a sorcery speed restriction, there is no restriction on the number of times you can use it in a turn, as long as you can pay the X cost of the target to be returned.
Hidetsugu, Devouring Chaos 4.5
Four mana 4/4 with built-in card advantage and direct damage-based removal that you can even set up itself? Heck yeah, I’m interested. Using the built-in sacrifice outlet to scry two can set up the card that is revealed off this creature’s second ability, which is red, and deal with problematic creatures is some sweet synergy.
Three mana to exile all non-land permanents that cost one or less is just not a super impactful card, and neither is exiling all graveyards. Sure the backside of a 3/3 trampler that grows when dealt damage is solid, but this card just doesn’t add up to being worth playing very often. Nevertheless, it is a solid sideboard card, especially against decks with cheap creatures and/or tokens.
Kaito Shizuki 3.5
A planeswalker that comes in on three mana makes an evasive body then protects itself for a full turn before generating card advantage immediately the next turn is a powerful threat in a blue-black deck. I think this card is very powerful and demands to be answered immediately.
This enchantment is very strange but powerful. The ability to swap one-for-one creature for creature, enchantment for enchantment, artifact for artifact can render your opponents’ removal meaningless, knowing unless they can remove this card, everything is coming back eventually. While this does exile the returned card if it would leave, the way replacement effects work, exiling a saga once it reaches chapter three will normally flip to its creature form.
A planeswalker with phyrexian mana in its cost, Tamiyo’s starting loyalty changes if life was paid, starting at three loyalty rather than five. Like Tamiyo, the Moon Sage’s +1, this card only locks down creatures or artifacts, no longer tapping downlands for mega feel-bad. Her second ability is extremely flexible, creating a token copy of a permanent from your graveyard. The artifact token created by her ultimate is a bit fragile, as there are a reasonable amount of ways to interact with it in the format. If you can draw a couple of cards off of it, the game should be in your favor, but be conscious of what ways your opponent may be able to interact with it before cashing in your planeswalker.
The Kami War 4,5
I love five color payoffs as much as the next person, and this is a really good one. If castable, removing the most significant threat from your opponent’s board is a great way to get back into the game, and following that up by bouncing the next best thing and making them discard is another tempo-positive effect that can get you back into the game after working on assembling the mana to cast this card. The creature side of this saga is a giant 6/6 flying trampler that returns a card of your opponent’s choice to your hand while pumping the power of your creature. If it wasn’t already clear, I really like this card. Just make sure you have the resources to cast it in your deck.
Artifacts
Iron Apprentice 1.5
This one mana 1/1 artifact creature can move the +1/+1 counters on itself onto another creature when it dies, but if you’re unable to convert that ability into a meaningful effect by sacrificing it for value, I would lean away from playing with this card.
Ninja’s Kunai 2.0
Similar to Blazing Torch from all the way back in Innistrad, this piece of equipment costs one to cast, one to equip, and one to activate, for three damage. This can mess with combat and create messy double blocking scenarios and just going to the face. This is colorless, so it can just go in any deck, and while it cannot replace hard removal, it can supplement a weaker removal suite with some direct damage.
A two-mana acceleration creature this is not. While it can add colorless mana for artifact spells or abilities, this just is not worth including in your decks unless you are in dire need of a two-drop creature that can block.
I enjoy a light splash in limited from time to time, and this common enabler which finds a basic land of your choice is a solid way to find that third or even fourth color of mana you’re missing to cast your powerful spells. Also, being able to spend two mana to put a counter on a creature you control after you’ve fixed your mana is a nice bonus, especially if you have cards that care about having modified creatures.
Papercraft Decoy 2.0
A uniquely worded artifact goblin piker, the ability to spend two mana and draw a card when this leaves the battlefield, not just dies, can make your ninjutsu attacks pay you back even more, when you have the extra mana to pay for it.
Brute Suit 2.0
Vehicles with vigilance are quite solid, especially those that are easily crewed, such as this one. Still, the 4/3 body will usually trade down or equal for its mana cost, and I would only play this in decks that really care about having vehicles or artifact creatures.
Network Terminal 2.0
This format’s Manalith, a card that historically is good at ramping and color fixing slightly, has looting tacked on to solve the card disadvantage problem this kind of card has on your deck’s composition. While the ability does require you to tap an untapped artifact and spend a mana to loot, it’s a powerful effect that most sealed decks want access to.
Three mana for a 1/1 flier that brings along a spirit token friend is a mediocre ninjutsu enabler but does the job in a pinch.
A strange effect on a four mana 2/4, this can make a creature modified with a +1/+1 counter a bit bigger or advance a saga chapter by one. But this just doesn’t really have a great home in the format, and I would only play this if you are very light on creatures.
Shrine Steward 2.5
While this card does say shrine in the title, that’s not its only usage. It can find normal auras, and if you have multiple common or uncommon aura removal spells, this can be a fine tutor effect, albeit on a subpar body for a choice of removal spells to find from your deck. If you have multiple shrines to find, this card goes way up in value.
Seven mana for a 7/7 trample haste vehicle is cool, especially with the low crew cost of two, but this card just does not excite me. Although, yes, there is a four mana tinker effect in blue at uncommon in the format, and putting a two-card combo in your limited deck may be appealing, drawing the colossus may feel terrible.
Bronze Cudgels 1.5
This cheap equipment is a fine mana sink, provided it is attached to a creature that is guaranteed to get through for damage. Spending two mana for +1/+0, four for two additional, and six for three additional power is not an efficient rate, especially because no toughness is added. I would shy away from playing this card unless you really need something to modify your creatures, and even then, it’s just not that good.
An innocuous Goblin Piker, this allows your cards with channel abilities to double-dip, provided you can pay the channel cost and also cast the spell on the same turn. This also works with the various rummage and looting effects throughout the set, mitigating the downside of discarding a card by letting you exile it and cast it on the same turn. This also works with discarded lands, as the text says ‘play’ and not just cast.
A tempo-oriented vehicle, this 2/2 flier for two can be crewed by even a 1/1, and the disruption it can provide as an instant speed tap a creature leaves behind a solid rate flier to attack your opponent with.
One of the best build arounds for artifact strategies in the format, this little two drop with ward two grows extremely fast when followed up with a string of artifact creatures, all while protecting itself from cheap removal spells, getting out of range by the time the ward cost can be paid for.
Circuit Mender 2.5
This little bug reminds me of Filigree Familiar from way back in Kaladesh, but the wording of leaves the battlefield rather than dies on its card drawing trigger means this can be picked up by a ninjutsu ability and replayed for even more value.
Reito Sentinel 1.5
A callback to Reito Lantern, this 3/3 defender creature for three has the same ability as its namesake, spending three mana to put a card from a graveyard on the bottom of its owner’s library. This card also enables itself by milling target player three cards, allowing you to start using its ability to stack the bottom of your deck or put back removal spells you have already used. A very grindy card, this can be an effective sideboard card in a control mirror and also as a blocker vs. an aggressive deck.
Runaway Trash-Bot (Build around) 3.0
A 0/4 trample for three is a fine blocker, and the scaling power for each artifact and enchantment in your graveyard makes this a really strong threat in the mid to late game. Just be sure that you have enough density of artifacts and enchantments in your deck to make this consistently a high-power creature.
An interesting payoff for decks with lots of modified creatures, this four mana creature for 3/2 worth of stats is underwhelming, but the guide bots’ long-term repeated card drawing ability means it can find a home in decks looking to mess around with lots of +1/+1 counters and equipment.
The only creature with hexproof in this format, this monstrosity can be discounted for each modified creature you control, making this eight mana 8/8 come down even sooner can end the game extremely fast. If you can find a way to give this vigilance, your opponents will be in for a rough time.
Eater of Virtue 3.0
Bonesplitter with upside, if you can attach this to a creature with an especially relevant keyword like flying, this equipment can take over a game, not to mention being extremely efficient.
Mechtitan Core 3.5
On its face, a two mana 2/4 vehicle with crew two is quite underwhelming, but the ceiling on this card is extremely high. Once you assemble 4 other artifact creatures and or vehicles, this becomes a 10/10 with flying lifelink vigilance trample haste that, if dealt with, spits back out the cards that were exiled to pay the cost to unleash this absolute monster of a threat from inside the Mechtitan core. It’s undoubtedly a high cost, but this can massively swing a game if unleashed.
A 4/4 vehicle for two with crew three is a solid rate, but this contraption is all about the card advantage. Similar to Mazemind Tome, this draws three cards for two mana increments throughout the game and, when emptied out, leaves behind a pilot creature token and a treasure and can be used in combat safely for the rest of the game. If you can recur this and get even more activations out of the bonkbuster, you’re going to be way ahead.
Mirror Box 1.0
This card does not have a lot of text that matters in limited. Yes, it can allow you to have two copies of the same shrine creature in play because of the removal of the legend rule and does give legendary creatures +1/+1, but this kind of effect is targeted for constructed, not limited formats.
Surgehacker Mech 3.5
On its own, four mana for a 5/5 menace crew four that deals two damage on ETB is a bit costly for its rate, but with at least one other vehicle in play, this turns into a veritable Flametongue Kavu.
Lands
Uncharted Haven 2.0
This common; enters the battlefield tap land, can help fix for a splash color very reasonably, provided you can wait a turn for the colored source. I do not recommend playing this in two-color decks unless you have very intensive mana constraints, such as one of the ‘invoke’ cycle of rares that requires four mana of a specific color to cast.
Mech Hangar 0.5
This can turn a vehicle into a creature for four mana, but that does not make it worth including this otherwise colorless land in your deck.
Suppose your deck is made up of entirely the same creature subtype, such as ninjas or samurai. In that case, I could maybe see a reason to play this colorless land, but not adding colored mana for noncreature spells would caution me against including this in any deck in the format.
One of the most interesting lands of this type we’ve seen printed yet, stapling a divination onto a colorless land is not that high of a cost to include in a two-color deck that can reasonably have both an artifact and enchantment in play at a point in the game where your mana isn’t being used each turn entirely. So even if you can only reasonably guarantee drawing one card with this land, I would still play it, especially if your mana requirements are not too strenuous.
Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire 2.5
Wanderer’s Intervention for three mana is a fine ability on land that is free to play over a plains in your white decks.
A four mana bounce spell for artifacts, enchantments, creatures, or planeswalkers is a tad expensive, but putting a spell on a land that you can play over an island is a very strong piece of interaction.
Four mana mill three, then return a creature or planeswalker gives your black decks additional recursion on a land that can easily replace a swamp.
Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance 2.0
Four mana for two 1/1s at instant speed is just not super exciting, but it’s still free to replace a mountain in any red deck in the format.
Naturalize that gives your opponent a basic land of their choice is still a very strong effect in a format full of powerful artifacts and enchantments.
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