During the August 24 Magic 2021 showcase stream, a ton of really sweet new sets were revealed. The set that excited me the most was The Brothers War, without a doubt. It was like a revisitation of the classic characters of my childhood and seeing it felt great. It was so much my kind of thing, I simply couldn't wait to get a small article put together for a few of its main players last week. But this set was not the only one I was excited for. In fact, I went into this much more excited for the long rumored Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty.

And then they revealed it, and it was glorious. There's a lot of trepidation and concern over the set abandoning its classic roots, but there's a lot of good here as well. I think it's going to be something that blends the classic aspect of original Kamigawa block with the cyberpunk-ish modernity of it all. In fact, I was so big on the concept of a return, I wrote a whole article over a year ago about it. In it I detailed out how the original block's story took place hundreds of years in the past and how that could serve as the foundation for an advancement of society.

I didn't think they'd go this far into that advancement sort of thing by going full cyberpunk, but hey, I'll take it. And yet, I think it'll still be a strong blending of old with new. Consider, for example, Tamiyo.

Her design doesn't really appear to feature much in the way of the cybernetic aesthetic, yet she hails from this modern cyberpunk Kamigawa. While this design was likely established long before the concept of Neon Dynasty was really fleshed out, it's safe to assume that she represents a part of her home plane that hasn't changed much. That means the spirit world side of things, the goblins, the moonfolk, and so on.

While we're far from seeing the true implications and whatnot of Neon Dynasty, I thought it would be good to celebrate the return to Kamigawa with a little bit of Classic Commander! Classic Commander, for those who don't remember, represents a snapshot in time. A time before cards started heavily being made for the format with the likes of Commander 2011 and the many releases that would follow over the years. In this case, we take every set that predates that release starting with New Phyrexia and go backwards.

I admittedly wanted to do way too many of these and had a serious case of decision paralysis and ultimately settled on something inherently Kamigawa: the Kodamas! The Kodamas represent the spirits of major trees throughout the plane, and here I bring together the ones from the original Kamigawa block under one list. Let's check out a list!

Kodamas | Commander | Kendra Smith

• Commander (1)
• 1 Kodama of the South Tree

• Creatures (37)
• 1 Arashi, the Sky Asunder
• 1 Ayumi, the Last Visitor
• 1 Bounteous Kirin
• 1 Brass Herald
• 1 Briarknit Kami
• 1 Carven Caryatid
• 1 Chameleon Colossus
• 1 Elder Pine of Jukai
• 1 Elvish Soultiller
• 1 Forked-Branch Garami
• 1 Fyndhorn Elves
• 1 Game-Trail Changeling
• 1 Ghost-Lit Nourisher
• 1 Haru-Onna
• 1 Iname, Life Aspect
• 1 Joraga Treespeaker
• 1 Jugan, the Rising Star
• 1 Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
• 1 Kami of the Hunt
• 1 Kodama of the Center Tree
• 1 Kodama of the North Tree
• 1 Lifespinner
• 1 Llanowar Elves
• 1 Loam Dweller
• 1 Lotus Cobra
• 1 Myojin of Life's Web
• 1 Oracle of Mul Daya
• 1 Petalmane Baku
• 1 Phantom Tiger
• 1 Primordial Sage
• 1 Seedborn Muse
• 1 Sekki, Seasons' Guide
• 1 Shinen of Life's Roar
• 1 Soilshaper
• 1 Tribal Forcemage
• 1 Vigor
• 1 Woodland Changeling

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Garruk Wildspeaker

• Instants (2)
• 1 Krosan Grip
• 1 Wear Away

• Sorceries (6)
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Harmonize
• 1 Kodama's Reach
• 1 Overwhelming Stampede
• 1 Primal Command
• 1 Rampant Growth

• Enchantments (4)
• 1 Beastmaster Ascension
• 1 Burgeoning
• 1 Hibernation's End
• 1 Sylvan Library

• Artifacts (11)
• 1 Baku Altar
• 1 Belbe's Portal
• 1 Coat of Arms
• 1 Crawlspace
• 1 Door of Destinies
• 1 Emerald Medallion
• 1 Gauntlet of Power
• 1 Long-Forgotten Gohei
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Urza's Incubator
• 1 Worn Powerstone

• Lands (36)
• 21 Forest
• 1 Crystal Vein
• 1 Dust Bowl
• 1 Havenwood Battleground
• 1 Misty Rainforest
• 1 Mosswort Bridge
• 1 Mutavault
• 1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
• 1 Slippery Karst
• 1 Tranquil Thicket
• 1 Treetop Village
• 1 Verdant Catacombs
• 1 Wasteland
• 1 Windswept Heath
• 1 Wooded Foothills
• 1 Yavimaya Hollow

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So, admittedly, this deck isn't super powerful, but that's part of the fun about doing Classic Commander. The smaller card pool and less made-for-Commander staples makes for more innovative and creative strategies than you often find in most modern Commander lists. That said, even with those limits into consideration, this is still a bit on the weaker side of the spectrum. The biggest reason for this was, simply put, whereas there's a lot of cool spirits payoffs like our commander, there simply aren't a lot of Green spirits. This is likely because of how at odds the creature type is for the color compared to how you might see it on other planes.

Check out these cards:

Each of these is a Kamigawa spirit, which is quite fitting for the plane and its flavor. However, when you look at the art and the visual representation of these spirits, they often bear a visual style not unlike many of Magic's various elementals. In another plane, that's likely what many of these would be: elementals or something similar. As a result, it means there's far less for us to access, but we do the best we can and try to find some of the best tribal synergies available to the color. There's also a lot of ramp to help deal with the fact that a lot of these spirits are quite costly (they are from Kamigawa, after all).

As such, this is a deck that might actually benefit from adding more newer cards to help round it out a little. There's a few more Green spirits that we got after the release of Commander 2011, including these fine cards:

Each of these really does something interesting that is often far more powerful than many of the spirits that Kamigawa has to offer. As such, taking out some of the weaker options in favor of cards like these might be worth it. There's also been quite a few changelings that have come out over time, including cards like these - all of which help with a tribal strategy such as this:

There're also other powerful cards that we gain access to that can help fuel tribal strategies, like Adaptive Automaton, Descendants' Path, Icon of Ancestry, Metallic Mimic, Vanquisher's Banner, and so on. Using cards like these, we can enhance the deck to a more modern day Standard while still keeping the original concept of the deck. But that, of course, assumes that's what you'd want to do in the first place.

The appeal to something like this is to take the classics for the spin. It's why formats like Old School and Premodern exist, or 99' in Pokemon, or Goat format in Yu-Gi-Oh! It gives players the ability to play something the way it was originally conceived and developed. A lot of players don't care for what's become of the good ol' Elder Dragon Highlander, after all, so if you want to shake up your playgroup, try it out! It doesn't necessarily have to be this deck, but do something cool and creative, and check out what Commander was like once upon a time.

I'll be back in the coming weeks with lots of Innistrad: Midnight Hunt lists, some cool custom Jumpstart packs, and even a bit of Pauper content as some fresh bans will have landed right when this article goes live. In the future, though, I'll definitely be putting together some more sweet Classic Commander Kamigawa decks because there's so many cool legends I could barely even decide for this one! Give this list (or an upgraded one of your own) a try at your next Commander night!

Kendra Smith

Twitter: @TheMaverickGal

Twitch: twitch.tv/themaverickgirl

YouTube: Kendra Smith