Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty is here, and it's already shaking Magic: The Gathering's various formats with some of the powerhouse cards spread across the set. This return to Kamigawa, which finds the plane once inspired by feudal Japan now taking on the appearance of a post-industrial cyberpunk Japan, has a focus on Auras, Equipment, Sagas, and "modified" creatures.
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker is an iconic red card that came from the original Kamigawa block that once had a Modern deck dedicated to it. Red is a resilient color that always seems to have an aggressive deck or two in the Standard meta. Its aggressive nature is even more advantageous in the generally slower Commander format.
10 Go-Shintai Of Ancient Wars Could Be The Winning Addition To A Shrines Deck
For a long time, Commander players have been trying to get a five-color shrine-themed enchantment deck to work. The original Kamigawa block supplied something of a foundation for this, and it was boosted with additional shrines in Core Set 2021. Sanctum of All provided an incentive to try a shrines theme, and Go-Shintai of Life's Origins offered a good shrine Commander in this set.
With only 17 shrines in all of Magic, it's still not feasible to make a solely shrine-themed Commander deck, but it's closer now than it was before. In a deck with a heavy shrine focus, Go-Shintai of Ancient Wars would be a necessity, as it's an enchantment creature that can deal damage equal to the number of shrines a player controls at the end of their turn.
9 Fable Of The Mirror Breaker Is A Slower Yet Useful Way To Get A Kiki-Jiki Effect
If one wanted to run Kiki-Jiki in their Commander deck, they should just run Kiki-Jiki. If they wanted a second Kiki-Jiki like effect (aside from Splinter Twin), Fable of the Mirror Breaker is a decent option. The first chapter of this saga provides a goblin shaman that produces treasures on the attack. The second chapter allows the controller to ditch two cards to draw two. The third finally transforms the saga into the Reflection of Kiki-Jiki.
This creature requires an additional one mana to duplicate a creature, and that hinders its efficacy. It being a transformed creature already prevented an infinite combo with Restoration Angel, but the mana requirement does slow Reflection of Kiki-Jiki down a lot. That said, there are far worse red cards out there, and a duplication effect is always at least a little useful.
8 Atsushi, The Blazing Sky Is Useful In A Deck With Sacrifice And Reanimate Effects
Atsushi, The Blazing Sky is a part of the cycle of legendary enchantment creature dragons for this set. Like in the original Kamigawa block, this cycle of dragons each triggers an effect on death. Atsushi allows the player to either exile two cards from the top of their library to cast until the end of the turn or produce three treasure tokens.
The second choice seems the more useful option, but the two cards from the top can be good in certain scenarios. In any case, in a Commander deck that focuses on sacrificing and resurrecting creatures (such as Korvold, Fae-Cursed King or Shattergang Brothers) Atsushi, The Blazing Sky, could be a very good inclusion.
7 Lizard Blades Is A Cheap Way To Get Double Strike On A Creature
Lizard Blades is one of the new artifact creatures that can be reconfigured into Equipment for another creature. Lizard Blades is a particularly good one, as it is two mana to cast and two mana to equip to give a creature double strike. Any ability that provides double strike to a creature is handy.
In a deck that focuses on artifacts and/or Equipment, Lizard Blades can be even more useful. It being a creature in addition to Equipment gives Lizard Blades more versatility, although it can also leave it open to spells that specifically target creatures. Regardless, there is a lot to like about Lizard Blades.
6 Goro-Goro, Disciple Of Ryusei Grants Haste And Can Spawn A Dragon
Goro-Goro, Disciple of Ryusei has all the makings of a creature intended for an aggressive red deck. These can be done in Commander quite well given the slower nature of the format, but Goro-Goro has all the hallmarks of a Standard powerhouse.
Despite that, Goro-Goro can still be quite useful in a Commander deck. Paying one red mana to give all creatures haste is a powerful effect on its own. Admittedly, Fervor and Hammer of Purphoros already do this passively, but redundancy isn't something to be taken for granted in Commander. On top of that, Goro-Goro being a goblin gives it all kinds of perks in a goblin tribal Commander deck. Finally, Goro-Goro's ability to spawn a dragon token makes it even more potent.
5 Scrap Welder Can Bring Back Artifacts
Scrap Welder is a goblin creature that can sacrifice an artifact to bring back an artifact of lesser mana cost from the graveyard with haste. This is a good way to recycle an artifact that is about to be destroyed, as Scrap Welder's ability can be used at instant speed. Beyond that, it's sometimes better to scrap an artifact for a more useful one that happens to be cheaper.
This is also particularly useful in any artifact builds that are intended to sacrifice and resurrect artifacts. Artifacts have a tendency to build incredibly powerful decks, and Scrap Welder could easily slot into such a deck.
4 Raiyuu, Storm's Edge Grants A Second Combat Phase
Raiyuu, Storm's Edge is a white and red creature and a legendary samurai. The samurai creature type, unsurprisingly, received a lot of support from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. Their theme is once again creatures that attack alone. Raiyuu, Storm's Edge continues the trend by granting its controller an additional combat phase if they attack with a sole creature while also untapping the attacking creature.
Raiyuu also has first strike, giving it the advantage should it ever be blocked. The samurai of this set could very easily meld with the exalted mechanic of prior sets. Making a deck built around samurai and exalted effects could be a devastating combination.
3 Dragonspark Reactor Is A Game-Ender In An Artifact Deck
Dragonspark Reactor is only an uncommon, but its effect is remarkably powerful. It gains charge counters the more artifacts its controller plays. For four colorless mana, Dragonspark Reactor can sacrifice itself and deal damage equal to the amount of charge counters to target player and a creature they control.
This offers a win condition for any decks that have combos that recur artifacts on an infinite loop. Being able to blast a player out of the game like this is a quick path to victory, and Dragonspark Reactor offers just such an opportunity.
2 Thundering Raiju Has Massive Potential In A +1/+1 Counter-Focused Deck
Thundering Raiju is a four mana 3/3 creature with haste that puts a +1/+1 counter on any creature and then zaps each opponent for each modified creature on its side of the field. Any deck that focuses on distributing +1/+1 counters amongst their creatures gains a powerhouse in Thundering Raiju.
Of course, there is no shortage of such decks, with Animar, Soul of Elements, Halana and Alena, Partners, and the new Chishiro, the Shattered Blade all being quite good choices for a red commander that benefits from +1/+1 counters.
1 Explosive Singularity Could Be A Monster In A Token And/Or Spell Build
Explosive Singularity is a particularly impressive spell from the new set. It deals 10 to any target for eight generic mana and two red mana. That's a lot, but it can be reduced by tapping any number of creatures. This makes it a frightening prospect already in a token deck. However, a spell build could exploit this card further through copying and recursion.
Young Pyromancer, Shark Typhoon, and Murmuring Mystic are just a few cards that produce tokens for casting non-creature spells. Any of these could aid in drastically lowering the cost of Explosive Singularity.
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