Champions of Kamigawa
- For the accompanying novel to Champions of Kamigawa, see Outlaw: Champions of Kamigawa.
Template:Expansion Champions of Kamigawa is the thirty-fourth Magic expansion, released in 2004 as the first set in the Kamigawa block.
Set details
Champions of Kamigawa introduced a new Legend rule (if Legends share a name, they are all put into their owners' graveyards, not just all but the first) and removed the Legend creature type, creating 'Legendary Creature'.
Champions of Kamigawa introduced flip cards, cards with a compressed card face on either end and a suitable picture in the middle.
Champions of Kamigawa introduced a modification to the targeting rule (targets only need to be unique for each instance of the qualifier 'target') to assist with splice cards.
Champions of Kamigawa introduced the 'defender' ability, retroactively added to all of the creatures with creature type Wall, to eliminate the direct link between creature type and not being able to attack.
Setting
Champions of Kamigawa is set in Kamigawa, a plane in the multiverse of Magic based on Japanese mythology. A war between the physical world and the spirits that are the essence of everything in the physical world, tears the veil between those two worlds apart. To represent this, the cards are mostly divided into two groups, the physical beings with their regular magic, and the kami with their "arcane" magic.
Mechanics
Champions of Kamigawa introduced the keywords Bushido, Soulshift, and Splice, as well as the first sorcery and instant subtype, Arcane, and finally flip cards. Of these mechanics, the Arcane subtype, Splice onto Arcane, and Soulshift represented spirit-world magic, while the flip cards contributed to another major mechanic throughout the block: legendary creatures (and permanents). It featured, for example, the first five legendary enchantments, the Honden Shrines.
Cycles
- Deceivers — Each of these common Spirit creatures has the abilities "
: Look at the top card of your library" , and "
: If that card is a land, this creature gains an ability and/or a bonus": Harsh Deceiver, Callous Deceiver, Cruel Deceiver, Brutal Deceiver, and Feral Deceiver. - Honden — Each of these uncommon legendary Shrine Enchantments grants their owner something depending on the number of shrines they control: Honden of Cleansing Fire, Honden of Infinite Rage, Honden of Life's Web, Honden of Night's Reach, and Honden of Seeing Winds.
- Legendary Lands — Each of these rare legendary lands produces a colored mana or can be tapped to give an ability or bonus to a legendary creature: Eiganjo Castle, Minamo, School at Water's Edge, Shizo, Death's Storehouse, Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep, and Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers.
- Myojin — Each of these legendary Spirits comes into play with a divinity counter (if you hardcasted them) and is indestructible as long as it has this counter. The counter can be removed for a powerfull effect: Myojin of Cleansing Fire, Myojin of Infinite Rage, Myojin of Life's Web, Myojin of Night's Reach, and Myojin of Seeing Winds.
- Spirit Dragons — Each of these rare legendary Dragon Spirit creatures costs six mana, has flying in addition to an ability when the creature is put into a graveyard from play: Yosei, the Morning Star, Keiga, the Tide Star, Kokusho, the Evening Star, Ryusei, the Falling Star and Jugan, the Rising Star.
- Zubera — Each of these common 1/2 Zubera Spirit creatures costs C and has a triggered ability when it goes to the graveyard that grows with each Zubera put into a graveyard from play this turn: Silent-Chant Zubera, Floating-Dream Zubera, Ashen-Skin Zubera, Ember-Fist Zubera, and Dripping-Tongue Zubera.
Notable Cards
In the tournament scene, Champions of Kamigawa contributed with a large number of finishers, like Kokusho, the Evening Star, Keiga, the Tide Star, Yosei, the Morning Star and Meloku the Clouded Mirror. It also provided excellent green mana fixing, like Sakura-Tribe Elder and Kodama's Reach, and an arsenal of cards that fueled multiple colored control decks, like, for example, Gifts Ungiven and Sensei's Divining Top. A notable sideboard card was also found in Cranial Extraction.
- Time Stop — Rules had to be added to the Comprehensive Rules for ending the turn thanks to this card.
Reprinted cards
The following cards have been reprinted from previous sets and included in Champions of Kamigawa.
- Befoul — was last seen in 7th Edition.
- Lure — was last seen in 8th Edition.
- Stone Rain — was last seen in 8th Edition.
Functional reprints
Champions of Kamigawa has eight functional reprints:
- Lantern Kami is a functional reprint of Suntail Hawk from Eighth Edition.
- Order of the Sacred Bell is a functional reprint of Golden Bear from Portal Second Age.
- Orochi Sustainer is a functional reprint of Wirewood Elf from Onslaught.
- The cycle of ally-colored lands with '
: Add to your mana pool.' and ': Add C or D to your mana pool. This land doesn't untap during your next untap step.' from Battle Royale, with exeption of Rootwater Depths, which wasn't reprinted from Tempest:
Colorshifted
- Heartbeat of Spring is a colorshifted functional reprint of Mana Flare from Alpha.
Theme decks
The preconstructed theme decks are: Template:Theme decks