Three New Graveyard Decks with Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty

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Hello fellow gamers, together let’s take a stroll through the psychedelic, steampunk future of cyborg ninjas, mystical dragons and technomancy. It’s been a while since we visited this storied realm and things sure have changed around here.

Each of these decks I am about to break down will have a shared connective tissue: they all in some way or another look to abuse our graveyards. I guess even in the future, necromancy is still a thing.

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Esper Reanimation

First up, a relatively traditional Esper Control shell with a reanimation subtheme. Thanks to the new player on the scene: Junji, the Midnight Sky we now have a reanimation spell in standard we are not embarrassed to play.

Here is the list:

We have no way of knowing exactly how the early meta is going to shakeout so control decks, as usual, are a risky proposition until they can be fine-tuned against the big players on the scene. Thus, it’s always good to have a control deck with a relatively proactive plan. That being said I can fairly guarantee this early meta is going to be flush with linear, mono-colored aggressive decks. We have continued to see mono-green and mono-white squat in the top tier. No surprise then that decks preying on such strategies are even more relevant now that Alrund’s Epiphany has been kicked to the curb and can no longer counterbalance them. Therefore, grindy black/x control decks will also, in my mind, remain big players.

We have what we think is an understanding of what lies ahead. With that bit of prognostication out of the way; let’s talk about our plan.

This deck looks to delay by use of early interaction. Later on, we will pivot into are larger 5-drops such as Lier, Disciple of the Drowned and Junji, the Midnight Sky. Either of these cards are significant roadblocks to many decks on their own. We don’t stop there, this deck has one more gear, at the very top of the curve we have Hullbreaker Horror and Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant. I am particularly excited about Jin-Gitaxias, especially in a mirror match type situation this praetor seems nigh impossible to unseat.

Let’s quickly break down the card choices and remember no plan survives first contact.

March of Wretched Sorrow – It seems the shoals cycle of cards have made a sneaky reappearance in Neon Dynasty. I do not know how often the mana discount will come up, but it is always nice to have the option. The life gain and ability to target both creatures and planeswalkers will make this see play in my humble opinion.

Vanishing Verse – As long as mono-colored decks are big this card will be the crème de la crème of removal. Even against non mono-colored decks there is always something to vanish. 

Faithful Mending – I am particularly tickled by the notion of using Faithful Mending to dump a Hullbreaker or Jin-Gitaxias into your graveyard in response to your Junji, the Midnight Sky shuffling off its mortal coil.  The life gain doesn’t hurt either.

Memory Deluge – This could just as easily be Behold the Multiverse as both have pluses and minuses. Sometimes I even think about running a split. I am going with this here as it’s nice to discard to Faithful Mending.

Fading Hope – We know this works great with Lier and is also just super-efficient at buying us time.

Saw It Coming – Always nice to have a few hard counters on hand.

Disdainful Stroke– As long as Esika's Chariot and the like exist, I’ll be countering them.

Jwari Disruption – Even if opponents play around it, I can’t help but wonder if it makes them play sub-optimally? This is almost like curve-out insurance if you look at it that way.

Doomskar – I see this card and I hear Tina Turner singing “Simply the Best”

The Wandering Emperor – This planeswalker was eye-opening when they first spoiled it. The fact that it has flash makes it feel very much at home in a deck that does not need to tap out. I am not one-hundred percent sold that this the right home for it but it seems to me a control deck with mostly instant speed interaction is a great place for it. Alternatively it could fit well in a more midrange creature heavy deck too. I think the only thing that is remotely bad about this card is the lack of an ultimate loyalty ability– there is no auto-win button here just incremental advantage.

Lier, Disciple of the Drowned – Se know what this wizard is capable of, while the nerf it received in alchemy is significant this card is still a baller in standard.

Hullbreaker Horror – The big lobster has a very similar story to Lier though I think the nerf here is not as bad. At the same time, Hullbreaker’s biggest barrier to entry is oftentimes its excessive CMC, thus having a way to cheat one of these into play makes it far more interesting.

Junji, the Midnight Sky – Even if we don’t have a juicy target in our graveyard for Junji, the other mode is not terrible. 5 mana for a 5/5 flyer is right on point so I could see running the full playset of these.

Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant – I just want you to close your eyes and imagine a world where you cheat this into play and somehow get to untap with it. It needs at a minimum two spells to remove it and if you have even one form of disruption like a Saw It Coming you pretty much have the game on lock. Now imagine somehow having Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant plus Hullbreaker Horror on the same board, a card-slinger can dream right?

The Celestus – This rock lets us ramp, we can discard a reanimation target with it, plus, it gives a little life too.

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Spirit-Sister’s Call

Ok let’s look at the next list on our docket. This one is definitely unique, as it features many new cards from Kamigawa. Especially some that have more than one type which will be very important as this is more of an engine deck that likes flexible cards. The motor that makes this kitten purr is Spirit-Sister's Call. Spirit-Sister's Call reminds me of phone companies before they became all stingy, back when we could trade in our old outdated phone for something new and shiny.

In this case we are sacrificing something cheap and innocuous like a Dockside Chef and upgrading ourselves to a Toxrill, the Corrosive or the like. This again involves abusing our graveyard so we have cards like The Modern Age to help fuel our need for cemetery fodder.

You get the gist of it, now here is the list of it:

Michiko's Reign of Truth – I have seen some chatter about this card and it does look somewhat obscene to me. We already know that All that Glitters can be a beating and this takes that to a whole new level. It reminds me how Ajani's Pridemate was the Ford Pinto to the Porsche 911 that is Voice of the Blessed.

Dockside Chef – I am happy to see a one power two toughness cook for one mana that is two types (enchantment and creature). I am also a fan of this card’s instant speed ability to turn loss into gain.

Blade of the Oni – It is really hard for me to decide which of these is the best in this cycle of rare artifact creatures., but surely a 3/1 Menace for 2 mana is on point.

Lion Sash – Wow, white is essentially getting Scavenging Ooze here. This may end up being the best of the bunch as we know Scavenging Ooze is amazing.

The Reality Chip – I really like this jellyfish. Probably more so than I should but I am a sucker for effects that let you play the top card of your library.

Firja's Retribution – When I think of fun cards to cast twice with Spirit-Sister's Call and this definitely comes to mind.

Moonsnare Prototype – This card is super interesting. It’s not as good as Springleaf Drum, but it certainly acts as a decent imitation. Anything to help us get Spirit-Sister's Call online faster is welcome. I will start with three and if in testing it does as well as I hope this could easily be a four of.

The Modern Age – This card works on a lot of levels for us, it helps grease the wheels of our engine by discarding high value targets as well as serving for fodder later for the Spirit-Sister's Call.

The Restoration of Eiganjo – I am on the fence on this card, then again, I was never a huge fan of The Birth of Meletis either. I will try it out as a one of, we certainly have plenty of relevant targets that cost 2 CMC and fetching a plains is always nice.

Spirit-Sister's Call – This is our namesake card. We hope to find it early and often and start profiting. One thing I really like about this card is that it triggers on our end step meaning we are pretty likely to get at least some value from it. Obviously, I am not a fan of the exile effect, but I can see why it might be needed for balance issues. WOTC never lets us have any fun aye?

Dreadfeast Demon – I particularly like this demon as we have plenty of cheap creatures to feed it. I am somewhat bummed that the demon’s trigger will not go on the stack if it’s reanimated by Spirit-Sister's Call as the “Beginning of the End Step” will have occurred already.

Toxrill, the Corrosive – From my experience if this resolves against most creature decks the game will be over in short order. Again, if reanimated, another end step trigger that will be skipped unfortunately.

Thirst for Knowledge – Pretty happy to see this reprint. It is one of the most efficient draw spells around and we have plenty of artifacts to chuck to it. Not to mention it can drop high value targets into our graveyard for later graveyard shenanigans.

Junji, the Midnight Sky – A great bridge creature for us we can certainly hard cast this in a pinch.

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5-Color Brilliant Restoration

Ok we have arrived at the final portion of our journey through Kamigawa. I have discovered that this realm has at least one last piece of graveyard chicanery to offer us: Brilliant Restoration. Of course when I see this card, I immediately recall Dance of Manse. Sadly, Dance of Manse this is not. The casting cost is a bit high and less flexible than its predecessor (3 white pips is a bear). In addition, we are losing out on the ability to animate our enchantments into creatures.

Fear not, we still have some intriguing technology that is newly available to us. Dance of Manse never got to see the likes of The Kami War. Holy Smokes is this card a beating, the first tick of the saga is just like Elspeth Conquers Death without the annoying 3 CMC rider clause. In addition, the next tick is almost as impactful especially when your opponent is empty handed. Bouncing a permanent and then making them discard is nearly as good as straight up removing it. Finally, we get the big dragon beater as round three, who incidentally allows us to bring back high value permanents from our yard.

I know this is 6 CMV and costs one of each color, but we have one of the best mana fixers to come along in a long while in the form of the World Tree. Furthermore, Binding the Old Gods lets us both ramp to 6 and fix our mana with the help of the snow-covered forest dual-lands.

Here is the list:

Let’s break down the card selection:

Candletrap – I am not sold on this card. It is certainly efficient and if we are able to activate Coven as we could loop it by exiling its current target and then resurrecting it from our graveyard. On the plus side Divide by Zero is not a thing anymore so these could as easily be more like Infernal Grasp or Fateful Absence.

Jukai Naturalist – I was looking at In Search of Greatness to fill out my two-slot, and maybe a mix of this creature and that enchantment makes sense, but I like the idea of being able to play this on turn 2 to enable a turn 3 Binding the Old Gods.

The Meathook Massacre – We all know this is an excellent card for buying us lots of time and sustaining until the late game. I suppose as a reanimation target it’s not the best but we cannot have everything.

Druid Class – This could easily be a four of. Do not sleep on this enchantment as it is immensely powerful and all of its tiers are quite good, even if some are deceptively so.  As a reanimation target it has merit too as we could get twice the attacking lands out of the deal.

Gloomshrieker – This is pretty close to Eternal Witness and the fact that it is an enchantment creature means it’s a great target to bring back with Brilliant Restoration making this card a value bonanza.

The Celestus – Fixes our mana, flings things to the yard, we know it’s good.

Binding the Old Gods – A great card that needs a home now that Emergent Ultimatum is not in standard. It ramps, destroys something, and hopefully comes back to do it all over again.

Firja's Retribution – Another nice card to recur its last two saga ticks are pretty terrible if the Angel doesn’t survive, but when it does it’s very nice.

The Kami War – I look forward to casting this weird mutant child of Elspeth Conquers Death and then doing it again.

Spirit-Sister's Call – I thought in this deck it can be a nice singleton as a backup plan.

Brilliant Restoration – With how high the CMV is and the setup required, we will start with three of these and see how it goes.

Path to the World Tree – A modestly good card though slightly overpriced for what it does, the ability to find mana and then sac it for value and recur it all over again make it worth it as a one of.

A quick aside on the lands – You will notice our deck really is three colors with the exception of The Kami War. We have The Celestus, the Snow-Covered Dual lands and The World Tree to help us get that red and blue mana we need. Though I expect most games, The World Tree is going to get us there by its lonesome.

Notable exclusion: Kami of Transcendence I am not saying no to this card per se but I it seems more of an aggro oriented card with many lower casting cost enchantments to pump it, and we are more of an over the top ramp sort of strategy. A recurring blocker isn’t bad though.

Welp that is it. I hope you enjoyed this foray into the necromantic arts on offer by Kamigawa Neon Dynasty.