Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty/Trivia

Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty/Trivia

 

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Trivia

 

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Maro's Neon Dynasty Teaser

Mark Rosewater gave his traditional teaser with the following hints.

First up, here are some things you can expect:

• two different pairings of creature types get tribally connected — Samurai and Warrior (Ancestral Katana); Ninja and Rogue (Silver-Fur Master)
• a black instant with “Destroy target creature or planeswalker” that can be cast for two mana — Assassin’s Ink
• a popular legendary creature from Champions of Kamigawa block returns in a new form — Reflection of Kiki-Jiki (Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker)
• an unnamed mechanic that cares about you having two things that Magic has had since its beginning — "Harmony", a threshold ability where you need to control an artifact and an enchantment.
• finish of a five-card cycle many years in the making — Kodama of the West Tree
• one of Tamiyo’s children gets a legendary creature card — Nashi, Moon Sage's Scion
• a new creature token with an ability not seen before on a card — Pilot token with "This creature crews Vehicle as though its power were 2 greater" for Prodigy's Prototype
• two popular cycles from Champions of Kamigawa block return each with a new twist — Legendary dragons and Shrines (now Enchantment Creatures, e.g. Go-Shintai of Shared Purpose)
• a creature that makes a legendary Frog creature token — Tatsunari, Toad Rider (Keimi)
• two new Yamazakis — Heiko Yamazaki, the General and Norika Yamazaki, the Poet

Next, here are some rules text that will be showing up on cards:

• “you may cast target enchantment from your graveyard this turn.” — Norika Yamazaki, the Poet
• “where X is the number of times this ability has resolved this turn.” — Bronze Cudgels
• “Whenever you cast an artifact, instant, or sorcery spell, copy that spell.” — Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant
• “The first activated ability of an artifact you activate each turn costs 2 less to activate.” — Tezzeret, Betrayer of Flesh
• “Then repeat this process for an enchantment and a planeswalker.” — Invoke Despair
• “You may sacrifice a permanent that shares a card type with the chosen card.” — Spirit-Sister’s Call
• “you may tap any number of untapped creatures you control.” — Explosive Singularity
• “The ‘legend rule’ doesn’t apply to permanents you control.” — Mirror Box
• “that ability triggers an additional time.” — Isshin, Two Heavens as One
• “if it has dealt 10 or more damage to that player this turn, they lose the game.” — Vessel of the All-Consuming

And finally, here are some creature type lines you’ll see:

• Creature – Fox Pilot — Kitsune Ace
• Creature – Turtle Ninja — Kappa Tech-Wrecker
• Creature – Moonfolk Samurai — Guardians of Oboro
• Artifact Creature – Goblin Artificer — Enthusiastic Mechanaut
• Artifact Creature – Ogre Warrior — Unstoppable Ogre
• Enchantment Creature – Rat Rogue — Nezumi Road Captain
• Enchantment Creature – Egg — Dragon-Kami's Egg
• Legendary Creature – Kirin Spirit — Hinata, Dawn-Crowned
• Legendary Creature – Goblin Samurai — Goro-Goro, Disciple of Ryusei
• Legendary Enchantment Creature – Snake Druid — Shigeki, Jukai Visionary

Sagas

Much like Dominaria, Kamigawan Sagas are used to quickly summarize many events over the original Kamigawa block, and also fill in the millennium gap of the time skip. As such, many Sagas depict Legends from the original block, sometimes after the end of their narrative as told in the books.

• The Kami War shows O-Kagachi, Vengeful Kami, though the Saga itself is of The Kami War.
• Hidetsugu Consumes All shows Heartless Hidetsugu and All-Consuming Oni of Chaos and their merging into Hidetsugu, Devouring Chaos.
• Befriending the Moths refers to Kabuto Moth, Mothrider Samurai and Araba Mothrider, one of the non-Legend references.
• The Fall of Lord Konda tells of Konda, Lord of Eiganjo's final fate - the chapter of returning stolen permanents is symbolic of the return of That Which Was Taken, though in reality Kyodai gained agency and determined her own fate.
• The Restoration of Eiganjo bridges between Eiganjo Castle's destruction by O-Kagachi and its new form as Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire.
• Michiko's Reign of Truth tells of Michiko Konda, Truth Seeker's rule. While the timeline is unclear between The Shattered States Era and Era of Enlightenment, The Modern Age is the last in the series.
• Behold the Unspeakable shows The Unspeakable and also refers to Azami, Lady of Scrolls
• Life of Toshiro Umezawa tells of Toshiro Umezawa and refers to Umezawa's Jitte's in-development mana-adding ability.
• The Long Reach of Night tells of Myojin of Night's Reach, the most influential of the Myojin in the Kami War.
• Tribute to Horobi is a new form of Horobi, Death's Wail.
• Fable of the Mirror-Breaker is the origin story of Kiki-Jiki, Mirror-Breaker, who was blessed by Keiga, the Tide Star.
• Kumano Faces Kakkazan is the climactic character moment of Kumano, Master Yamabushi in his fight with Kakkazan.
• Azusa's Many Journeys documents Azusa, Lost but Seeking's travels.
• Boseiju Reaches Skyward bridges Boseiju, Who Shelters All into Boseiju, Who Endures.
• Jugan Defends The Temple tells of Jugan, the Rising Star's last stand at Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers.
• Tales of Master Seshiro tells of Seshiro, the Anointed , with the flavor text suggesting he acted to establish political ties with the main ruling parties of Kamigawa.
• The Dragon-Kami Reborn explains the new forms of the Divine Dragons.
• Teachings of the Kirin refers to the Legendary Kirin, but more importantly explains the new form of the Orochi.
• Okiba Reckoner Raid and Inventive Iteration have no specific lore or characters associated, both covering events or concepts close in the modern era.

Other

• You Are Already Dead is an expression from the manga and anime series Fist of the North Star.
• Tatsunari, Toad Rider is a reference to the folklore Jiraiya.
• Chishiro, the Shattered Blade is based on the films Seven Samurai and Yojimbo.
• Surgehacker Mech, Mobilizer Mech and others reference the Japanese mecha.
  • Mechtitan Core is based on Voltron.
  • Shorikai, Genesis Engine is a nod to Neon Genesis Evangelion.
• Kappas are amphibious demons or imps found in traditional Japanese folklore.
  • Kappa Tech-Wrecker is a nod to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
    • In the same vein, Silver-Fur Master is a nod to Master Splinter.
  • Meanwhile, Kappa Cannoneer appears to be a riff on the Pokémon Blastoise.
• Isshin, Two Heavens as One is inspired by Miyamoto Musashi, a famous 17th century dual-wielding swordsman.
• Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful is a reference to the beloved pup Hachikō.
• Enormous Energy Blade is a play on the anime meme of the BFS, popularized by Cloud's Buster Sword in Final Fantasy VII.
• Nezumi Road Captain is a homage to the Akira motorcycle slide.
• Rabbit Battery is a reference to the battery brand mascot Energizer Bunny.
• Lucky Offering depicts a Maneki-neko.
• Invigorating Hot Spring references the Japanese macaques in the hot spring of Jigokudani Monkey Park.
• Explosive Singularity is a homage to Dragon Ball's Spirit Bomb, an attack well-known for requiring the energy of many beings.
• Komainu Battle Armor is a homage to Saint Seiya Cloths.
• Imposter Mech is the remnant of a planned reference to Sakashima, being a 3/1 clone, but restricted to opponent's creatures. As a Vehicle, it loses the shapeshifter typeline.
• The Beadle & Grimms metal counters are designed after a bronze Japanese coin from the years 1835 to 1870, which had a value of 100 Mon.
• The type line of The Reality Chip ("Legendary Artifact Creature — Equipment Jellyfish") is unusually long at 49 characters. R&D had to break some rules to print it, and learned that they couldn't break them again. It created problems when the card had to be translated, most likely Italian, as "equipment" gains six characters when translated ("equipaggiamento")
• Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty was the first set to remove the expansion symbol from the back face of double-faced cards. This saved space and allowed the double-faced Sagas to be "Enchantment Creatures".
• The open fan symbol used on the back face of transforming Sagas was one of the 30 designs Daniel Holt created for the set's expansion symbol.

Naming

Public domain name registries connected to this name were filed by NetworkSolutions in October, 2020. A further registration with the gg domain was filed by Wizards itself in May 2021. The set was already hinted at in a public Magic survey from November 19, 2019 that featured multiple pieces of Planeswalker art with descriptions referencing a future Kamigawa.