Mechanics Overview: Bushido

What if your creatures could tap into an unshakable resolve, growing stronger the moment they're forced into hand-to-hand combat? Well, that's pretty much what the Champions of Kamigawa (2004) mechanic Bushidois all about, as it empowers your creatures during combat, making them tougher regardless of whether they're defending or attacking.

And while the mechanic's admittedly rather simple in design, there are various scenarios where Bushido can actually make the combat phase quite difficult for your opponents to navigate through. But, despite combat being one of MTG's main sources of damage, the mechanic still hasn't been widely seen outside of its debut.

Just why did this mechanic fade into the shadows? Could it make a comeback in future MTG sets? In today's Mechanics Overview segment, let's dive into the history, functionality, and potential future of one of Kamigawa's most thematic mechanics.

What is Bushido?

"Bushido N": "Whenever this creature blocks or becomes blocked, it gets +N/+N until end of turn."

Bushido is a triggered keyword ability that simply makes your creatures more formidable in combat, regardless of whether it's blocking or blocked.

Why Did Bushido Fall Short?

Bushido's absence from subsequent sets after Champions of Kamigawa has really less to do with its mechanics and more with its contextual limitations and design challenges:

To Be A Samurai Is To Bushido

Bushido is deeply tied to the Samurai and Kamigawa's cultural flavor. Its name, literally translating to "the way of the warrior" in Japanese, just may not fit seamlessly into other planes. While Magic admittedly thrives on numerous planes with diverse themes, Gothic horror, fairy tales, ancient mythology (just to name a few), few of these settings have the cultural or narrative space to support something as specific as Bushido.

And even when we explored medieval themes in Throne of Eldraine (2019), Bushido was proposed to be reimagined as "Chivalry" to better align with the plane's Arthurian flavor. However, the renaming unfortunately could not solve the deeper gameplay issues, and the mechanic ultimately didn't make the final cut.

In my opinion, for Bushido to truly work in a future MTG set, it would likely need significant rebranding or reworking to fit the plane's identity, and even then, it might not feel as organic as it did in Kamigawa.

Defense Is Not Always The Best Offense

Let's be honest: from a gameplay perspective, Bushido simply encourages too many board stalls. And while this concept fits thematically with the disciplined and defensive nature of Samurai, it can create numerous issues during games:

• Slowplay: Bushido often encourages players to hold back and defend rather than attack. And in the event where multiple players are running decks with defensive creatures, the battlefield can quickly become a gridlocked stalemate, with neither side willing to make the first move.
• Reduces Interaction: Defensive mechanics often discourage dynamic combat, which, as I mentioned before, is a core pillar of MTG. Players may find themselves reluctant to attack into a board full of Bushido creatures because the combat math just overwhelmingly favors the defender (or is just unnecessarily tedious). And as I'm sure we've all been there, games where players are constantly hesitant to attack just aren't always enjoyable in either competitive or casual formats.
• Limited Offensive Impact: Yes, Bushido is great for blocking. Now, does it really do anything when attacking? Against an opponent who just never wants to trade, Bushido will just always fail to influence the board state in any meaningful way during attacks.

In short, Bushido's overbearing tendency to just slow things down and discourage proactive gameplay will always make it a tough sell in today's modern card design.

The Future of Bushido

Bushido, while clearly beloved by many fans of Kamigawa, certainly faces significant hurdles when it comes to the topic of widespread reintroduction. As I've mentioned, its thematic constraints and gameplay quirks make it quite unlikely to ever become an evergreen (a recurring mechanic in most sets) or deciduous (a mechanic used selectively) staple. However, that doesn't mean Bushido's story is outright over and done with.

Here is just one small change that I would recommend as a means to potentially bring Bushido back into the spotlight in future MTG sets:

We just have to add one word. Literally. One: "Bushido N: Whenever this creature attacks, blocks, or becomes blocked, it gets +N/+N until end of turn." This "attack" clause could literally solve all the problems I mentioned above as players can now proactively take game actions rather than just wait around forever for opponents to do, um, anything. And the best part is that it wouldn't even be broken by any means, right?

For example, let's quickly look over the one Bushido card that got reprinted in Foundations (2024): Brothers Yamazaki, a 2/1 with Bushido 1. Now, given its current iteration, it'll likely be forever a 3-mana creature that deals two damage every turn until an opponent wants to trade in one of their creatures that probably cost them 1-2 mana.

But, by simply adding an "attack" clause to the Bushido effect, Brothers Yamazaki can at least deal three damage without blockers; then, if an opponent chooses to block, they'll have a harder time trading up since Bushido would trigger again upon block declaration, making Brothers Yamazaki a 4/3. If they want to trade, we're going to make them work for it.

And with all that said, that's everything I've got to say about Bushido...for now (Trust me, I'll always be on the lookout for more Cyberpunk Samurais and Ninjas). As always, happy brewing, and may your battlefield always be a true testament to the way of the warrior. Until next time!