When New Capenna came out, I was still caught up with how great Kamigawa Neon Dynasty was designed. I was in love with this set. That’s why although New Capenna delivered a lot of great cards that were fun to play with I never really warmed up to it. Not enough to write a piece about it mind you. I was disappointed in its worldbuilding, especially the syndicates and their bosses. Now, a couple of months later, with already the third set released since Capenna, I decided to write about exactly these things. While I still don’t entirely like the worldbuilding, I think some aspects of it are pretty neat. First of all, it should be mentioned that I am a big fan of the Art Deco style of New Capenna’s architecture and the 20s (?) atmosphere on the cards. The … provides a great backdrop of a cursed city of crime. I think that is what New Capenna is supposed to be, because on the art by Dominik Mayer on the card “Meeting of the Five” (seen in the header of this article) the five mob bosses are portrayed like demons. They appear larger than life, intimidating with their eyes holding a tight grip on New Capenna. They are the city’s corruption, keeping its populace from emancipation.
So far so good, but how do the syndicates and their bosses hold up to this promise? I will attempt a ranking of the bosses, based on their and their clan’s design (the categories taken from this article)
- Ziatora, the Incinerator
Ziatora’s clan is the most successfully designed out of all. Yes, I’m a sucker for Jund, but also objectively argued, there are a couple of points that make the Riveteers stand out.
There is some great worldbuilding going on. The Riveteers are the workers of Capenna, especially represented by construction workers. They fulfil a purpose in the city, apart from their crime. Rather their necessary business is corrupted. Even in the real world the construction of infrastructure is often a corrupt process. It’s a breeding ground for crime related organisations and the workers are left suffering, while their bosses get richer and richer. This is appropriately represented in the clan’s main mechanic “Blitz”. The workers come in, do their jobs and then get sacrificed. Ziatora herself is a great representation of a greedy boss of a corrupted construction organisation. Dragons often are associated with greed and riches. Her ability lets you sacrifice a creature and create three treasure, which of course fits in very well with the theme. Of course the theme of sacrificing, also fits greatly into the Jund colours.
Ziatora costs a lot and only makes an impact on the game if she’s not immediately dealt with. But her ability to deal damage to any target, as long as you have a creature to sacrifice can make her menacing. Generating mana, makes her a great commander, where it is all about having much mana.
- Jetmir, Nexus of Revels
Jetmir is a thick cat. So that’s already pretty great. No, seriously, I like weird looking characters, and he certainly looks interesting. Weirdly enough his 5/4 stats fit his stature, I can’t stop but associating the 5 with his fat tummy. Anyways, I think he is supposed to be the patron of parties and entertainment in New Capenna. Again, maybe I should mention, I try to gather the world building only from the cards, I haven’t read anything else. Jetmir greatly profits from having a lot of creatures on the battlefield, as he makes them more powerful, depending on how many creatures there are. Getting more powerful the more creatures attend the “party” makes a lot of sense for a crime lord that oversees entertainment. The key mechanic of his minions, the Cabarettis, is about creatures entering the battlefield, also playing into the theme of “the more the merrier”. But sadly that’s about it. Neither Jetmir’s nor the Cabaretti mechanic reveal what exactly the crime is, they’re committing. Maybe there could be a “Poison Counter”-theme to represent the use of drugs at their parties, or something like that. But there isn’t. Jetmir’s just here to have a great time.
And a great time he provides. It’s fun to suddenly boost your small critters to huge threats and swing a game as soon as Jetmir touches the battlefield. With a 5/4 for only four mana, he is one of the more efficient crime lords in Capenna which fits the Naya colour combination, as does his whole strategy.
As a commander he doesn’t provide any long-term advantages, but his boost ability is always available, which is fun.
- Lord Xander, the Collector
Xander irritated me at first. I came to think that his clan the Maestros is a clan of thieves and I didn’t like that he was such a costly creature with thick stats. Thieves should be efficient and small. Only later did I realize that Xander is not just one thief but represents a network of stealers. So, of course he lets half your library vanish, of course he costs seven mana and has 6/6 stats. He’s larger than life. So, I’ve come to respect those design choices. But then there is nothing more to him and his clan. The mechanical theme is to sacrifice creatures to double spells. I can’t find an interpretation associating this with thievery, but it could also be, that those cards are not really Maestro cards anymore but belong to Ob Nixilis, who works with that exact mechanic, and I think, story-wise takes over Xander and his syndicate.
But what mostly grinds my gears is that even though if thievery is better represented, it is not explained how Xander and his clan serve the city. The riveteers are workers, the Cabaretti run the clubs, galas and what not, but what do the Maestros do? I think a lacking purpose besides doing their crime work greatly diminishes New Capenna’s worldbuilding.
Xander also does not quite fit the Grixis colour combination. Yes milling, discarding and exiling have their place in Grixis, but you want to cast efficient spells on instant speed, rather than play huge clunky creatures in these colours. An ally to Xander, I like much more than him: Evelyn, the Covetous. She still costs a bit much, but you can cast her at instant speed and she provides you with quite efficient card advantage, by stealing from your opponent, and giving you one card from your own library. She is fun to play with in standard, as much as she is a fun commander in brawl.
- Raffine, Scheming Seer
I don’t have much to say about Raffine. She is probably the strongest of the crime lords, since she made it into serious tournament decks. Design wise, I don’t really know what to do with her. Connive is the main mechanic of her clan, the Obscura, where you draw a card, then discard a card and if it wasn’t a land card, you may put a +1/+1 counter on a creature. With Raffine you can do that that many times, with how much creatures you attacked. Sure, drawing a card represents knowledge and then strengthening your creatures would mean that that knowledge you gained made you stronger. It also makes sense, that she is a Sphinx. But I don’t really see what crime that represents, nor what exactly Raffine’s purpose in New Capenna is, similarly to Xander. Maybe if the mechanic would make you able to look at opponent’s hand and discard, it could represent spying, then we would have at least a crime.
- Falco Spara, Pactweaver
Falco is a very weird card. Usually being able to cast spells directly from your library is pretty strong. But having to pay by removing a counter from a creature demands too much preconditions to make it work. I tried to build decks around him, but he was always a rather bad card. The fact that you can’t play a land is just so bad. Anyways, looking at his world building aspects I see… nothing. I don’t know what his crime is, nor what he does in the city. The main mechanic of the Brokers provides creatures with shield-counters, making them indestructible for one attempt at killing them. I can understand maybe Falco brokers treaties, so that one creature can’t get attacked, but this is a rather shallow representation of this concept, and doesn’t really count as a crime, nor as his purpose in the city. I’m quite disappointed with this one, since I find Bant an interesting colour combination, and wished it to be supported by great cards, but this is not it. There is a great Broker card although; Sanctuary Warden. It draws a card and creates a 1/1 when you remove a counter from a creature. I feel like this one could have made a better mob boss than Falco.
Titel image: © Dominik Mayer, part of a product of Wizards of the Coast.