MTG: The Dying Dragons of Kamigawa

The Kamigawa Neon Dynasty set provides another cycle of mythic dragon cards. They are monocoloured and provide every colour with a flying creature that lets you choose among two effects when it dies. Also, they share a relation to the sky in their names. There is Ao, the Dawn Sky in white, Kairi, the Swirling Sky in blue, Junji, the Midnight Sky in black, Atsushi, the Blazing Sky in red and finally in green, Kura the Boundless Sky.

For some reason I find myself drawn to this cycle, yet I am also somehow disappointed with it. Maybe I’m excited about the dragons, because, well, they are mythical dragons and I am a simple guy. But there is also the promise of the choice between two effects upon death of the creature to create an interesting play experience, and the challenge of building a deck around these abilities. On the other hand, there are the mystical names, fitting to the incredible art on most of them as well as the second keyword besides flying, that comes with each of them in different flavour, hinting at a depiction of personality of these mythical creatures.

Somehow, however, there is a lot of potential, of promises, that aren’t fully realized. For one, there is a contradiction innate in their design. Why should I play a five mana creature with decent stats and want it to die? And why does a creature I want to die have a ward ability? Another problem I find in the actual strength of the triggered abilities.

From a storytelling standpoint the cards are enticing but leave not much to talk about. They are mythical creatures, but why are they mythical? What are they doing? What are they symbolizing? The white one, Ao, seems to me the closest to answering these questions in its design. One of his abilities is to bring forth permanents on the battlefield upon his death, which looks to me like building a city. The other option is to beef up your other creatures which I understand as supporting the defence of its followers. Add to that it’s vigilance and I get the picture of a protector-deity, that dies while defending its subordinates. But what does it have to do with Dawn? For the rest of the dragons the story told on their cards is even less comprehensible.

Each of them has its own flaw in its design, as far as I’m concerned, which is why I can’t bring myself to fully love them. However, I’m intrigued enough to get inspired from the promises they make and to think about how they could be enhanced. In the following, I will shortly discuss each of them closer and suggest design changes, that could make it more fun to play with them and have a more meaningful impact on telling a story with cards.

Slide

Ao, the Dawn Sky

Art by: Chris Rahn

As mentioned, Ao seems to me the best designed dragon of this circle. However, there are still opportunities to nitpick here and there. What has dawn to do with bringing forth permanents upon its death? Another thing is, I noticed a theme of creating the choices of the death triggers to be between a curse for the opponent or a blessing for yourself in my proposed cycle. Therefore, I’d have to change one of Ao’s death triggers as well, even though I don’t have much criticism against it. I suggest a few subtle changes, as you can see in the custom made card to the right.

With this design, Ao is associated with buildings. He is the foundation of the firmament, he helps build a city, with one of his death triggers and he imprisons the opponent with the other death trigger.

Slide

Kairi, the Swirling Sky
Art by Tyler Jacobson
Okay, so in my opinion, this one needs the most changes. Again, why would I want to play a flying 6/6 for six mana and with ward 3, if I want to trigger abilities with its death? Also something I don’t quite understand in general, is why blue keeps getting these oversized and overpriced creatures, when most blue decks are about efficiency, and in flavour-terms blue is about the brains, rather than brawls.
For these reasons I would suggest to scrap the whole Kairi, the Swirling Sky design and bring forth a whole new card: Kirin, Sudden Gust of Clarity.
This design would allow Kirin to be played in a control deck. It could flash in to block and possibly destroy a small threat. It most likely dies in that process, but it’s death enables you to either draw a card or set the opponent back for a while.
These abilities are well represented in the name Sudden Gust of Clarity, since it evokes the imagery of a cleared battlefield or a gust of clarity within one’s mind, as one can draw a card. The name of course, refers to a gust of wind, that is unsteady and unpredictable – you’ll never know when it strikes. But as quick as it appears, it’s also gone again. That’s why it has only one toughness and must be sacrificed, when targeted. The art would depict a tiny dragon, quick on his wings, and nevertheless as powerful as wise.

Slide

Junji, the Midnight Sky

Art by Chase Stone

Generally, I’m on board with this dragon’s design. What bother’s me mainly is the discard ability, it’s just quite boring play-wise and does not give much to tell a story. To the right you can see the card I came up with, inspired by its original design.

This design is well within black colour-identity and at least to me, seems exciting to play with. The sacrifice ability enables you to use its death triggers whenever you want, and the surveil 1 fuels the return trigger, as you may put a creature card into your graveyard.
To me this dragon tells the story of a mythical creature awaiting every human in the moment of their death – in limbo – judging them and deciding if they shall live again, or forever vanish beyond the veil of empty darkness. To resurrect, it has to provide its own life energy, to exile it has to bring the soul on a journey, which is why Shin has to die too to do these acts. The surveil represents the dragon’s insight into the lives it judges.

Slide

Atsushi, the Blazing Sky
Art by Victor Adame Minguez
The art is beautiful. It’s hair are sweltering flames. Even the rest of its body seems to be smoking and burning. Its name is Blazing Sky. Yet there is no burn damage on this card. While the ability to create three treasures or sort of draw two cards are certainly abilities that interested me in playing with it, they don’t seem to tell a coherent story. Therefore I suggest the changes seen on the left.
I think these abilities help painting a picture of a rampant menace, posing a danger to each and everyone who dares approach it. The death triggers either let the beast go down with a fight and take others with it (in the case you kill a creature with its burn damage) or let you collect the loot which the dragon was so furiously defending. Either is a believable story of the end of a fiery dragon.

Slide

Kura, the boundless Sky

Art by: Svetlin Velinov

Why is the green dragon the tiniest one? That does not make any sense for the green identity. I get that green is a home for deathtouch, but adding it to a 4/4 flying creature seems random to me. I propose an overall redesign, even the art I would change, since it’s the one of all the dragons I like the least.

This redisigned dragon should represent a protector of nature, and it’s death, it’s ultimate sacrifice either brings back nature in form of lands, or destroys the mechanical advances hurting nature. It cannot fly, since it has grown too huge to support its massive body with its wings anymore. Yet it has reach because it’s tall enough to prey on birds. It’s name is still a reference to the sky, as it embraces earth just like the sky does.

The dragon cycle I described here seems to tell the story about the end of an era when mythic dragon spirits ruled over the realm as deities. This might even fit in the greater narrative of Kamigawa Neon Dynasty, which seems to pit tradition versus progression. This side story then, would tell the decline of tradition as these spirits one after the other would vanish from this changing world.

They are each an iconographic representation of an aspect of life. Clairvoyance, construction, fighting spirit, judgement and nature.

Each has its own personality, the rushed nature of Kirin, the steady and serious nature of Ao, the fierce nature of Atsushi, the menacing nature of Shin and the grumpy nature of Kura.

They die each a different death. Ao has to be exiled to be defeated, while Atsushi dies in a fight. Kirin cannot control its lifeforce enough, and vanishes quickly, while Shin can choose the time of his own death. Kura protects life around it and sacrifices itself to save others in combat.

The choice between the dying triggers should represent a choice between a curse for the opponent or a blessing for you. This way the player can influence the story told, by choosing between vengeful personalities of the dragons or benevolent last actions for their patrons. Their names still show association among each other, by being (loosely) connected to the sky, but more importantly they fit the rest of the characterisation. What’s more, these designs fall quite well into each colour identity and provide useful tools for the prevalent strategies of the colours they’re in.

The cards shown in this post represent products from the game Magic the Gathering by Wizards of the Coast. They are redesigned by the author of this post, using mtg.design.

Post Image by: Billy Christian