Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Limited Set Review: Green

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• 5.0: Disgustingly powerful and basically unbeatable. Either answer it the turn it comes down or just pack up your cards. (Tovolar's Huntmaster, The Meathook Massacre, Starnheim Unleashed)
• 4.5: Incredible bomb that still gives your opponent a slim chance. (Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Alrund's Epiphany, Grand Master of Flowers)
• 4.0: Great rare or the absolute best uncommons and removal. (Froghemoth, Morbid Opportunist, Skullport Merchant)
• 3.5: Great role filler or removal that you never cut. (Magic Missile, Cathartic Pyre, Battle Cry Goblin)
• 3.0: Good playable that I’m basically never cutting. (Usher of the Fallen, Search Party Captain, Dragon Turtle)
• 2.5: Decent playable and the bar I hope nearly every card in my deck to reach. (Mourning Patrol, Steadfast Paladin, Goblin Morningstar)
• 2.0: Mediocre filler that normally is your 20-23rd card(s). (Contact Other Plane, Mindleech Ghoul, Timberland Guide)
• 1.5: Replaceable, overall bad filler. Could also be decent sideboard cards. (Secrets of the Key, Spiked Pit Trap, Village Rites)
• 1.0: Bad filler. Gets cut most of the time. (Secret Door, Mystic Skull, Funeral Longboat)
• 0.5: Very unhappy to main deck this, but maybe it has fringe sideboard applications. (You See a Guard Approach, Bramble Armor, Compelled Duel)
• 0.0: Unplayable in every possible situation. (Mimic, Change of Fortune, Curse of Shaken Faith)

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Azusa’s Many Journeys

Rating: 2.0/5

Azusa can go on as my journeys as she wants, I’m going to stay on the couch without her. It’s totally fine to play this on curve as that extra land drop can be insane when you’re on the play. Unfortunately, later on “at least I still get a 3/3 in a couple of turns” is pretty awful.

Bamboo Grove Archer

Rating: 2.0/5

This is a strong sideboard card that will occasionally sneak its way into a few main decks. If you’ve got a strong endgame and need a way to get there, you could do worse than using this to hold down the fort.

Bearer of Memory

Rating: 2.0/5

Six mana is an awful lot to put a +1/+1 counter on a creature with a stat line I’m not interested in playing. At least it can target other enchantment creatures and provide trample, but still not likely to make the cut.

Blossom Prancer

Rating: 3.0/5

Card advantage or life tacked onto a decent size body with reach is a pretty solid package for the cost. I’m not going to be prancing all over when I draft it, but I will always end up playing it. As a bonus this will probably be the card with “secret reach” that everyone attacks into because why would a deer with a tree on it’s head be able to block flyers.

Boon of Boseiju

Rating: 2.0/5

This has a pretty big downside where it does stone nothing if you have only token creatures out. It also leaves you vulnerable to a double blowout where they remove your highest mana value creature and you’re pumping for a lot less than you thought you were. There is some pretty big upside to being able to add six or seven power and toughness for only two mana though. I would have preferred that it gave trample instead of untapped, but it is what it is.

Boseiju Reaches Skyward

Rating: 2.5/5

I had to reread this multiple times because it just feels like it should ramp somewhere. That first step is to search for two lands and… oh wait it just puts them into hand. The second step might be one of the worst abilities ever printed on a four mana saga as you need a land in the graveyard, in a format without Evolving Wilds, to be able to experience the grand pleasure of drawing yet another land the next turn. At least you get a decently statted creature with reach after all of that.

Careful Cultivation

Rating: 2.5/5

The vast majority of the time this will just be channeled into a mana dork on turn two which is just fine. I can’t really see the aura version being worth the chance of getting wrecked by a removal spell.

Coiling Stalker

Rating: 2.5/5

Play combat tricks with Coiling Stalker because they have to block it or you just get to start tossing counters all over the place. The ninjitsu will usually let you get at least the first one in for free so your modification party can begin.

Commune with Spirits

Rating: 1.0/5

Are you in the market for paying a mana and discarding a card turn one? If not, then I wouldn’t recommend playing this card. Sure it has a good possibility of hitting, but what it does is so unspectacular that it’s not worth taking the chance you miss.

The Dragon-Kami Reborn

Rating: 1.5/5

Unless you are dropping the ultimate meme with The Kami War this card is not worth it. Three mana do nothing for two turns before turning into an egg that does nothing until it dies seems like a good way to punt away the game. Even if they don’t have a way to exile it or evasive attackers to go around it, you still had to hit something worth playing in those first two steps. That’s not an omelet worth making.

Fade into Antiquity

Rating: 2.5/5

We’ve officially reached the point where a three-mana sorcery speed disenchant is going to be commonly played in the main deck. Exiling is a nice little bonus because of some of the recursion in the set.

Fang of Shigeki

Rating: 2.5/5

One mana deathtouchers always seem to make the cut as a nice little curve filler that occasionally shines brightly. Combos great with Master's Rebuke to kill any creature and will prevent much better creatures from attacking you. It even disincentivizes blocking so that you can get your ninjitsu on.

Favor of Jukai

Rating: 2.0/5

I don’t really like reach on a trick because it usually requires playing that trick into open mana. Still this is just going to be channeled as the trick most of the time. There are going to be times when you just drop this on an evasive creature and go to town though.

Generous Visitor

Rating: 3.5/5

Definitely a build around, but if you are heavily into enchantments it is going to be very generous indeed. It can be part of an amazing curve out that gets even better when you realize how many random enchantment creatures there are to trigger this.

Geothermal Kami

Rating: 2.0/5

A very unexciting creature that will occasionally let you get some extra value off of a saga.

Go-Shintai of Boundless Vigor

Rating: 1.5/5

This grows way too slowly to want to play it in anything other than a board stall. I guess it gets bumped up half a grade if you have another shrine.

Grafted Growth

Rating 1.5/5

This card is kind of at odds with itself as the counter is more beneficial in aggressive decks while the extra mana is better in a ramp deck. The one thing this does do quite well is help you cast the four colored pip rare cycle.

Greater Tanuki

Rating 2.5/5

Another doggo who is a very good boi! A beefy beater with trample or a ramp spell with both being reasonably costed means you should consider rescuing this one if you get the chance.

Harmonious Emergence

Rating: 2.0/5

This feels like it would have been a great limited card twenty years ago, but power creep has left this to emerge on the border of playability. It is still a 4/5 vigilance haste on turn five so you certainly could still lose to it if it lines up right.

Heir of the Ancient Fang

Rating: 2.0/5

It’s going to be really difficult to play this on curve with a modified creature out. That makes this either an understatted creature on curve or played off curve so that the mana discount on a 3/4 doesn’t matter as much.

Historian’s Wisdom

Rating: 1.0/5

If you already have the biggest creature on the board, does paying three mana to give it +2+1 really matter? Not worth taking the chance of the blowout especially with the card draw being situational.

Invoke the Ancients

Rating: 4.0/5

All the green creature acceleration and fixing available make this the easiest to cast out of this cycle. Getting 8/10 worth of stats is a whole lot from one card and they even come premodified with your choice of vigilance, reach, trample. If you cast this anywhere close to on curve, it’s going to be game ending.

Jugan Defends the Temple

Rating: 4.5/5

This is more subtle than some of the other bombs, but it is a huge bomb none the less. Just the first two steps of this saga for three mana would be a high pick and then when we check out the back side of this, oh my.  Every creature you play suddenly becomes a massive game breaking threat and that’s not even considering that this is a flyer with huge potential on its own. Outside of having a counterspell, there is no way to cleanly answer all the value this provides.

Jukai Preserver

Rating: 3.0/5

This gives you 4/4 worth of stats for four mana which is just a classic green card in every set, but this one has synergy with modified and enchantments. You can also channel this away to potentially catch someone with their pants down and win two combats at once.

Jukai Trainee

Rating: 3.0/5

Tell me you have Bushido without telling me you have Bushido. A great on curve attacker that will be difficult to block effectively giving them the option to either chump block or let you drop a ninja on them.

Kami of Transience

Rating: 4.0/5

Transience is an appropriate name because the game isn’t going to last long when you drop this on curve. Even if they manage to deal with your initial onslaught this is going to keep coming back for more.

Kappa Tech-Wrecker

Rating: 3.0/5

We finally know what happened to Leonardo after he grew up. He must have had a serious falling out with Donatello to be wandering around Kamigawa smashing all the tech up. Ignoring the Universes Beyond preview here, this is a flexible card that either gives you a cheap modified creature with deathtouch or loses that counter to pull it’s best disenchant impression.

Kodama of the West Tree

Rating: 3.5/5

As long as you have an easy way to modify a creature, this can start ramping you fast. Keep in mind that this isn’t limited to once per turn so you can get a land for every modified creature that hits your opponent.

Kura, the Boundless Sky

Rating 4.0/5

What else do I need to say about the mythic dragon cycle? You’re never passing one pack one, pick one. This one is probably the second worst one and it’s a 4/4 flying, deathtouch that dies into an even bigger creature.

March of Burgeoning Life

Rating: 0.0/5

BAHAHAHA, One With Nothing you have finally met your match. This is seriously one of the worst limited cards that has ever been printed. Every time you read this card, it somehow gets worse. Just no.

Master’s Rebuke

Rating: 3.0/5

The punch card of the set is a strictly better Rabid Bite now with instant speed. The usual disclaimer of don’t play this into a removal spell and you’ll be fine.

Orochi Merge-Keeper

Rating: 2.5/5

Two mana for a mana producing creature is always a quality pick in limited and power creep actually improves them by providing better things to ramp into. This can lead to some busted draws if you can find a cheap way to modify him…I wonder if there are any of those lurking around.

Roaring Earth

Rating: 3.0/5

Weren’t we just looking for a cheap way to modify creatures? Well here’s your card because this turns every land into a free modification. While the channel ability is pretty expensive, it does give you the opportunity to ambush your opponent with a potentially huge creature.

Season of Renewal

Rating: 2.0/5

I’m thrilled to have this in any deck where I can reliably bring back two cards with it, but never want to play it in a deck with less than three enchantments. No matter how many enchantments I have, I don’t ever want to play more than one of this type of effect because it sets you back too far if you draw both of them early.

Shigeki, Jukai Visionary

Rating: 2.5/5

I’ll just call the first effect the mulch ramp, but a four mana investment is pretty expensive for that ability even over two turns. I guess the main attraction is supposed to be bringing back multiple cards from your graveyard, but 6 mana to return two cards is 2002 power level. In general, everything about this is overcosted and slow with just enough potential to still want to play it.

Spinning Wheel Kick

Rating: 3.0/5

A cool as it sounds to spinning wheel kick your opponent, this costs a ton of mana to be anywhere near as awesome as the name. Four mana for a single punch spell doesn’t really do it for me, but six for a double punch is where this starts getting good. Just be really careful about the removal in response as tapping out to get two for one’d is great way to get browned.

Spring-Leaf Avenger

Rating 4.0/5

What I love about this fatty is that they are almost forced to block it leaving them open to getting wrecked. No “my life total is a resource” action here because bringing your best card back from the graveyard every turn is going to bury them in card advantage that they can’t come back from. That’s not even getting into when you spring this on them for only four mana to take almost a third of their life and get back a card.

Storyweave

Rating: 2.0/5

I do like tricks that stick around so I will probably play this more than I should even if it is a little expensive. This also has the sweet option of waiting for your opponent to attack into a suddenly flipped saga creature with extra counters on it.

Tales of Master Seshiro

Rating: 3.0/5

Reminiscent of Dormant Grove spreading a couple of counters around before flipping into a relevant creature with vigilance. Having haste and a huge body makes this a lot more viable later in the game than some of the other saga creatures. If I’m in the market for a green five drop, this one will fit the bill.

Tamiyo’s Safekeeping

Rating 1.5/5

Two life is no replacement for the +1+1 counter of Snakeskin Veil  especially in the set with modified. It is cheap, but Arena is going to rat you out for having this right away since it can target any permanent.

Teachings of the Kirin

Rating 2.5/5

This feels a lot more like an uncommon than a rare. You do end up with three power for two mana, but it takes a while to get there. Also contrary to what we are used to, the 1/1 spirit token does not fly.

Weaver of Harmony

Rating: 4.0/5

You call that a bear? THIS is a bear! This is also a very big reason to try to draft the enchantment deck. If a two-mana lord wasn’t good enough for you, then how about doubling all your saga abilities?  Borderline bombs don’t usually come this cheap.

Webspinner Cuff

Rating: 2.5/5

While the first rule of WotCs design team is that you don’t talk about design team, apparently the second rule is to put a 1/4 reach into every set. This actually lines up pretty well against the format and lets you reconfigure if you need something bigger so I expect it to perform well.