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Main » Articles » The Mana Base Implications of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty

The Mana Base Implications of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty

Michael Flores
Posted on February 22, 2022
 Reddit

Last week's Barbarian Class was the episode Matthew Frankel didn't know he was waiting for, until it was released, I guess :)

Listen up! Maybe this week's will be everything you didn't know you were dreaming of:

Sub!

So... The player base seems to like Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. Let's set aside the recent Magicians; the post-Arena converts; the grinders and names we all love to read week after week... What's made YT grin more the past week or two is watching boomer after Boomer taking to social media to either talk about how awesome it is, or ponder if they should be coming back to the game [they love] [they once loved] [we all love].

While the Limited format is rapidly picking up fans, we can't discount Neon Dynasty's immediate impacts to Constructed. Multiple new archetypes are being spawned by both brand spanking new chase rares and revitalized synergies, but the widest and most important influence from the new set hits at Magic's most fundamental level.

You guessed it: The mana base. Part of it comes - of course - from a certain cycle being printed in Neon Dynasty... But we can't disregard the context in which those lands are hitting the format, and how the last couple of Standard bans rolled out the red carpet to welcome them so seamlessly into existing mana bases.

For established strategies, the new Legendary Lands represent the first, most immediate, and probably most obvious place for Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty to contribute to their incumbent sixties and seventy-fives. Depending on how many copies you play, one of the set's Legendary Lands can be essentially "free". The first one in the majority of colors, at least, almost always is.

Think about the Mono-Red beatdown deck we discussed last week. Our deck from Reckless, Ronin, Rabbit, and Roil played a solo Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance; in that lean sixty, the Legendary Land simply served as Mountain #16 most of the time. But in some theoretical game where you might be mana flooded, Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance could also prove a welcome, if not-particularly-efficient, source of both damage and card advantage.

Right now, nearly free fills of basic slots with potential (if not planned-for) backup roles seem to be how most decks are using the Legends.

Consider the winner of a recent MTGO Standard Challenge:

Orzhov Tokens/Control | NEO Standard | Sapoa, 1st Place MTGO Standard Challenge 2/19/2022

Orzhov Tokens / Control... Not much surprise there. That strategy was, after all, considered the top archetype by many players after the recent forced retirement of Alrund's Epiphany from Standard.

Sapoa did not play too many new cards from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. Other Orzhov mages have added The Wandering Emperor to their Planeswalker suites, or tried Farewell in lieu of Blood on the Snow. But not first-place SAPOA.

While a couple of Reckoner Bankbusters can help grind out card advantage, the only other new card from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty is Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire.

Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire

This is a powerful statement that actually makes a ton of sense given shifting incentives for Standard mana bases. Alrund's Epiphany being banned improved lots of potential fortunes, but maybe mid-range Control most of all. At the same time that urlost the top of its power pyramid, beatdown (and Snow Control) saw Faceless Haven eat a fatal blow from the ban-hammer. This caused many to re-think their positions on Snow-Covered basic lands... Despite being the original Blood Money combination, an Orzhov deck nowadays might just actually want every Brightclimb Pathway // Grimclimb Pathway and Shattered Sanctum it can get its hands on without worrying about Blood on the Snow payoffs. That's actually an important point: If you care about whether your basic is Snow-covered or not, Eiganjo and company might seem a lot less "free" to play than in other decks.

Mono-White | NEO Standard | ericksee,5-0 MTGO Standard League

This 5-0 look at the White Weenie deck is a good example of the post-Faceless Haven attitude from the other side of the Standard metagame. Mono-White was mostly a Snow-Covered Plains joint previously, though their only payoff was the Haven itself. In a deck like ERICKSEE's you can see Mono-White playing more-or-less whatever they would have otherwise... But with probably even more consistent mana! Cave of the Frost Dragon is itself "mostly" free, as is at least the first Eiganjo.

How much does this matter?

ERICKSEE's own deck list - or at least sideboard - should clue you in. While Reidane, God of the Worthy // Valkmira, Protector's Shield has been demoted from main deck inclusion (perhaps for all the reasons we've been talking about so far) it is still valuable against certain opponents. As someone who has been humbled more than once with a sweeper-rich hand by having his sixth (or eighth) (or whatever'th) land entering the battlefield tapped, it matters only when it matters. But when it does matter? It matters a lot.

One point that bears mentioning is that this deck, heavy as it is on Eiganjo, actually draws multiple points of extra value from playing them. For one thing, between Adeline, Reidane, and Thalia, White Weenie actually gets cost discounting from having multiple Legendary creatures! This is doubly important when we consider Thalia, Guardian of Thraben itself. ERICKSEE is the kind of mage willing to commit slots to March of Otherworldly Light and Valorous Stance... the spell-like version of Eiganjo is very much in-theme with the removal package of this deck... But gets discounted by Thalia rather than self-taxed. Kind of cool, no?

All that said, you'll see Mono-Green take the opposite position, despite also adopting their color's Legendary Land.

Mono-Green | NEO Standard | Close1, 5-0 MTGO Standard League

The 5-0 Green answer from the same League reminds us of a simple fact: Even without Faceless Haven, Green has access to one of the best removal cards in Standard, which can't do its thing the way it really wants in the absence of Snow-Covered Forest. Blizzard Brawl is too good not to play in the strategy; which is not to say that there isn't room for a Boseiju or so.

I actually think that the evolution of Mono-Green in the coming weeks will be something to watch. Not only is it perhaps the most important deck to stay Snow-Covered (meaning potentially Reidane-vulnerable), it is also actively adding expensive Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty cards!

Invoke the Ancients

Holy defense! Two 4/5 Vigilance Spirits for only five mana seems like a monstrous return for a deck that can actually assemble gggg. Holy blockers, right? At least as long as it isn't taxed to seven.

For what it's worth, Boseiju, Who Endures - while mostly still a one-of in Standard - seems like a godsend for wider formats. Finally, decks can play main-deck Disenchant-type effects without the risk of adding potential Dead Weight to their main decks. In larger formats, Boseiju - who not only endures but seems to be commanding three if not four main-deck slots - might not even be searching up a basic for the bad guys.

MYRA00's undefeated Modern deck is not even the best showcase:

Four-Color Omnath Pile | Modern | myra00, 4-0 MTGO Modern Preliminary

This deck gets Boseiju on the way down, and - thanks to Wrenn and Six - gets some solid re-buy action. In the past week there have been multiple performing Vintage decks with as many as all four copies of Boseiju in the main deck!

But back here in Standard? The crazy thing is that the Legendary Lands might still be under-played, if anything.

U/R Control | NEO Standard | Lifeisrisk7, 1st Place MTGO Standard Challenge

This Challenge winner played an appropriate Legendary Land for each of its two colors. This model - heavy on Goldspan Dragons with a little Ramp and Hullbreaker Horror action up top - seems like the early model of choice for Izzet players navigating the world after Alrund's Epiphany.

But!

Not all of them play any Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Legendary Lands at all!

Again, you might ask... How much does this actually matter?

More than you might think, I'd reply. And more, maybe, than ever before.

LIFEISRISK7's build has two copies of Burn Down the House... and supplements them with a single Battle of Frost and Fire. Five versus four. Devils option versus two more chapters to the story. Forget all that noise and ponder a second on the difference between a sorcery and an enchantment.

Might you perchance consider implementing Plan B on Otawara, Soaring City? Ever? Not only is "bounce my own sweeper" kind of sexy in the old The Meathook Massacre + now-banned Divide By Zero way... a spell-like ability that doesn't trigger Hullbreaker Horror (or potential new wrinkle pairing the Horror with sweepers RECURSION) are opening all kinds of doors we never had need to open in the past.

Under-played, I tell you.

On that note, let's conclude by looking at one of the new archetypes spawned by Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty:

Runeforge Enchantress | NEO Standard | rastaf, 2nd Place MTGO Standard Challenge 2/20/2022

While this build plays two of its colors' Legendary Lands between main deck, and an extra (but not the third) in the sideboard; it is oddly emblematic of their being under-played... And, itself, why.

Imagine this kind of a new archetype takes off... Eighteen dedicated main-deck enchantments, not even counting Enchantment Creatures! When two of those enchantments are copies of Hallowed Haunting, mightn't you want a way to interact with them? If you're into Green, mightn't you want a few extra copies of Boseiju, Who Endures? Given the very expect-able size on Generous Visitor and Kami of Transience... Mightn't you welcome an extra Eiganjo?

There are two things I'd conclude from looking at RASTAF's Naya deck.

First, there is every reason to believe this kind of deck might take off in Standard. It has an amazing curve starting at one, and a sky-high ceiling in terms of beatdown potential. More than that, it's drawing cards and gaining life, and has natural staying power from its more expensive enchantments.

Second, and perhaps more importantly for today's topic, we aren't done seeing the impacts to Standard mana bases. Lair of the Hydra's days look numbered. If you imagine Boseiju increasing in popularity to combat Selesnya or Naya Enchantment decks, the splash damage on a creature land with an "x" in the activation cost is not difficult to extrapolate. Hall of Storm Giants might be next. Man, is that thing expensive to activate! Boseiju is in many ways worse than a Field of Ruin. You can see a Field coming! And while Boseiju doesn't pay its owner back the way Field of Ruin does, the fact that it is Legendary means incremental copies would be sitting around doing nothing anyway. The ability to catch-gotcha the opponent on an expensive activation might just be too delicious to pass up in the right spot.

LOVE

MIKE

TAGS articles, standard, theory, constructed, analysis, kamigawa, decklist, michael flores, neon dynasty, kamigawa neon dynasty, neo standard, 02222022

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