Magic: The Gathering
Magical Thinking: Betrayers of Kamigawa
Welcome back to Magical Thinking, a retrospective on the cards and art of Magic: the Gathering, set by set, from the beginning. Today we return to the Japan-inspired plane of Kamigawa with the second set of the Kamigawa block: Betrayers of Kamigawa.
Released in February of 2005, Betrayers continues with the growing Kami War between human and spirits which threatens to tear the plane apart. Princess Michiko and Toshi Umezawa continue to try and find the cause of the Kami war, but as they do a new, greater threat begins to loom forth. But how dangerous can this new threat actually be?
Well, answers that question.
Yeah, this is O-Kagachi, basically Kamigawa’s answer to Godzilla. He’s a biggun. So big he doesn’t get a card this set, so this is as close as you’re getting. The fact he can exile all creatures should give you an idea of his power level.
And once again the major weakness of Kamigawa block and its obsession with legendaries rears its ugly head. I get that they wanted this to be the “Legendaries matter” set. But really, ANY set should be legendaries matter. It also showcases one of the less fun aspects of White: Slowing the game to a crawl. Yes, whether it’s destroying all lands, destroying all creatures, or making you play a subgame of magic, White has many ways to flip the table and make you the opposing player rip out your hair.
“I…AM….GROOT!”
Another aspect of White that’s super annoying: Stalling out. Want to kill your opponent? Sorry, you have to wait a turn. Very annoying.
Teeef.
Also, new mechanic time: So basically you can sacrifice a Fox to play this guy at instant speed at a reduced cost. That’s actually not terrible, since you can use it as a blocker or to get a huge life windfall from a mass attack. Although you’d think the patron of the Kitsune would look like a Kitsune and not…that.
Oh hey, a six mana Fox. So you can play this, use it to chump block, then later sacrifice it for a free Patron of the Kitsune. I think that’s how it works.
We should be grateful that they don’t have instant messaging on Kamigawa, otherwise this guy would have found out about the war and just burned down the entire library.
It’s a cat made out of candles. Lit candles. That is a bad pet right there. I mean, I don’t even know how to pet it. If that thing ran up to me to cuddle I would just abandon all hope of a sane and rational universe.
Also, another new mechanic: Ki counters. Which I guess are just power up counters, nothing too out there or we haven’t seen before.
And of course we get a cycle of enchantments that turn your lands into spirits. I mean, the Kami War must be getting bad if the land is revolting. And the fact this keeps coming back to your hand means it keeps happening in storyline. Where do you live when the land itself turns on you?
NINJA’S! Oh man, Ninja’s make everything better. And they have a mechanic where if you get an attack through you can pay some mana and swap your guy in for the attack. This is a fun, flavorful mechanic, and it’s stood the test of time way better than Bushido I think. Because NINJAS!
Mianmo’s Meddling: For that rare occasion you play against someone who actually uses a splice deck.
Quash: When you’re really freaking tired of your opponent running four of whatever the newest must-have card is.
Yeah, I think I got my fill of fish kami last time. (And again, just grateful they weren’t vomiting or anything, that would have been the worst).
Magic has a real problem with taking weird and awesome looking creatures and giving them hum drum stats and abilities. It’s a weird eye Anemone thing and it’s just a 1/1 you sacrifice to tap/untap? That’s boring.
I feel like there’s an Abbot and Costello sketch in here somewhere. Also, I love the design of the giant frog thing with faces for eyes. Now this is more like it because he’s got a cool design, but he’s also got a useful stat line and ability.
Oh that Goryo. He’s gotta get his last hit in, doesn’t he?
….Who is Goryo again?
What’s better than a ninja? A giant rat ninja who steals corpses for her Oni bosses to reanimate. Ink-Eyes is apparently the most feared ninja on Kamigawa, so good for her.
Yeah, not gonna do the teef joke again. But wow that’s one heck of a mouth that guy has. Also the mechanic is interesting. Hope you have a lot of creatures to sacrifice (and one left to block).
Eww, that’s nasty. Where’s the antiseptic Kami when you need them. Ah well, at least it’s not something like vomiting goldfish….
OH COME ON NOW! THE NIGHTMARE HAS BECOME REALITY!
(Also I hope you all appreciate the lengths I went to in order to set up this joke. Cause it was quite the stretch.)
I’m not comfortable divulging my three worst tragedies, but I have to say it seems like Kami just plain don’t play fair. Like at all.
But this does lead to some questions: What are the Kami doing? Are they just killing mortals? Enslaving them? Driving them away? I mean, they did this as a demoralizing tactic, why not just attack in the night? I’m unclear on the mechanics of this war.
Hey, it’s our hero. And it looks like he’s been a busy guy. Look at that smug look on his face. He’s like “yep, that was all me, and I’m just a 2/2. You want a piece of this? Didn’t think so.”
Okay, we found one worse than candle cat. Knife cat is way, way worse.
I suppose I should talk about the cycle of double-sided cards from this set. Yeah, they’re still terrible designed, but now instead of jabronies turning into legendary characters, they are jabronies who turn into legendary spirits. So is that what the Kami are doing? Converting mortals into spirits? Is that a thing they can do now?
As someone who works in retail during a Pandemic and a blizzard, part of my job is having to wipe down carts as I bring them in with water mixed with bleach and pan cleaner, often in freezing temperatures. So I’m quite well acquainted with this little pest. But shouldn’t a cold-based creature be Blue?
This looks like both a fun creature and a commander who can just totally mess up your entire game with the right combo of cards. Like one Fiery Emancipation and this becomes the nuclear option of creatures.
I thought this read “Ishi Ishi, Akki Crackpot” the first time I saw it. I just love how utterly bored he looks here. Like “Take this I guess. Whatever. Did I leave the oven on at home? Do ovens exist in Kamigawa? I have no idea.”
Oh hey, something to turn Ol’ Heartless Hidegetsu up there into a real finisher, and it’s a splice card so you can keep playing it again and again.
Now this is interesting because the splice cost is land sacrifice. So as long as you have mountains to spare and arcane cards to cast you can just keep nuking creatures. Also, I like the idea of mountains exploding into tornadoes of rocks to hit people with.
Because it’s not Green unless you have a gigantic creature or two to smash stuff with.
So what was the tournament scene like with Kamigawa? Was anyone playing non-spirit decks? Cause it seems like the spirits are just plain better than normal decks here. At least that’s my impression.
And here we have an example of something that would one day become Landfall. Although I just realized this is ANY land, not just yours, so it’s even better.
I still don’t think these guys are very snake-like, but I like the flavor of it using non-lethal poison to temporarily paralyze victims, and applying it to their arrows to take down flying targets.
I mean, if we’re grading on a curve this is better than the other two, but at the same time just looking at it is setting off my hay fever. I was allergic to cats as a kid, but this is too much.
Okay, now this is more like it. This is what I want out of a snake lady. Thank you. Plus she lets you stockpile mana a bit, which is always good for Green. Just attack with your Scute Swarm then play out your big stuff.
It’s so lovely when the Sarlacc are in bloom.
Hey, it’s the only multicolored land of the deck. And he’s a biggun. Now the entire plane is coming up to kick your butt. Hope you have your insurance paid up.
Can you believe this has never been reprinted ever? Like this is the most useful cards ever for a legendary focused deck. I can name a couple of decks I’d want this in. Please Wizards, I beg you, put this in a core set.
And of course we need ninja weapons for a set with Ninja in them. I also like the flavor that unless they are used by a Ninja your opponent can just pick them back up. Remember, Shuriken should always be handled by professionals.
Yep, and this is it. The thing that sparked the whole Kami War. What is it? Remember O-Kagachi? The big spirit from the beginning of this article? Well this is their child. So yeah, you can see why the Kami might be a little pissed off.
And on that strangely topical note, we draw to a close another edition of Magical Thinking. Tune in next week for the final set of Kamigawa block: Saviors of Kamigawa. See you then, and until then Stay Magical.
