Kamigawa Neon Dynasty: Upgrades Unleashed

Review and Upgrade Guide

by Crispin Stopforth aka Crispiwan

Firstly, a big shout out to our incredible partners, Unplug Yourself, for supplying these precons to the Command This! team so we could play them and then upgrade them and let you all know what we thought of them. And now…

Chishiro, the Shattered Blade

is a modified house. When I say “modified” I am, of course, referring to the modified mechanic introduced to Magic: the Gathering in the Kamigawa Neon Dynasty set. Modified states that: equipment, auras you control, and counters are modifications. And this snake samurai looks to take full advantage of this mechanic.

Straight out of the box this preconstructed deck runs beautifully. It’s fast and well put together. Within the first few turns you already have several modified creatures on the board, either because you cast them or because you simply used Chishiro’s static ability that allows you to create a 2/2 spirit creature with menace whenever an aura or equipment enters the battlefield, and then modified them. With the ramp in the deck, you can easily get this commander on the board as early as turn two.

Having said that let’s quickly have a look at the deck stats:

7 Auras (if you wanted your modifications to be focused on auras, this should be higher)
7 Equipment (if you wanted your modifications to be focused on equipment, this should be higher)
12 Ramp (this is a good amount)
2 Boardwipes
7 Card Draw (this is a little low, but you are playing G/R)
5 Targeted Removal
17 +1/+1 Counters Matter (guess you can see which way the deck is leaning)
3 Spirits Matter

Looking at the stats we can safely say that running the secondary commander option in the deck

Kaima, the Fractured Calm

is probably not where we want to be. Kaima focusses on putting auras and equipment on other players’ creatures and goading them, and there simply are not enough of these in the deck out of the box to make this a significant strategy. However, should you upgrade the deck and flood it with these kinds of effects, Kaima becomes a very strong commander indeed.

Let’s assume we’re going to focus on the +1/+1 counter strategy as our main means of modifying things in our deck.

Some notable reprints to aid this line of play include

Grumgully, the Generous

who grants each non-human creature that enters the battlefield under your control an additional +1/+1 counter – this would include the spirits your commander makes. Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin
gains +1/+1 counters just for attacking and then brings an army of goblins with him to help finish the job, especially if Grumgully is already in play – those gobbos come in as 2/2s. Ulasht, the Hate Seed
feeds on creatures you control, gaining +1/+1 counters when it ETBs (enters the battlefield) for each other red creature and each other green creature you own and then can pings things or make little saproling babies! And last – in this list, ‘cos I could go on for some time – but certainly not least, Forgotten Ancient
. This classic feeds on spells. So, every time a player casts a spell the Ancient gets a +1/+1 counter. Then, you can move any number of those counters onto any number of other creatures. You know, just spreading the love.

In terms on non-creature spells, we’ve got

Beast Within

and Chaos Warp
as some targeted removal, while Decimate
comes back to provide a really devastating blow to your enemies boards, blowing up four permanents for a mana value of four. Great value.

Kodama’s Reach

, Rampant Growth
and Vastwood Surge
form part of the ramp package while Ordeal of Nylea
provides synergy with our +1/+1 counter strategy and helps us ramp into two extra lands.

And then there’s

Rhythm of the Wild

, a great reprint for this kind of deck. Allowing you choose whether your now un-counterable creature spells ETB with a +1/+1 counter on them, or with haste to just go smash somebody.

Some new cards that really play into our counters strategy are

Invigorating Hot Spring

. The Hot Spring ETBs with four +1/+1 counters on it, grants all modified creatures haste – so Rhythm can now just add those +1/+1 counters, and has the sorcery speed ability to move a counter from Hot Spring to another creature you control once per turn.

The too-cute

Tanuki Transplanter

helps ramp by attacking as a creature or it can be reconfigured as an equipment on a bigger body to make sure we can swing with it to generate green mana we don’t lose. To play a little into the goad line but still within the overall modified strategy, there’s Komainu Battle Armor
which can be a 2/2 creature with menace, or it can be reconfigured as an equipment and attached to another creature. In both cases when it deals combat damage to a player you goad each creature that player controls, if it’s an equipment at the time, the equipped creature gets +2/+2 as well.

Rampant Rejuvenator

is just a big plant hydra that ETBs with two +1/+1 counters on it – which you can obviously increase through Rhythm or Grumgully or both and then some – but when it dies you can fetch X basic land cards where X was the Rejuvenator’s power. Those lands ETB untapped. Nice. Concord with the Kami
is wonderful enchantment that gives you three super effective options every turn that you can choose or more each time, while Unquenchable Fury
is an aura that just won’t go away. Whenever the enchanted creature attacks, Fury deals X damage to the defending player’s face, where X is the number of cards that player has in hand. Also, if it would be put into a graveyard, Fury simply returns to your hand, so you can do it all over again. Recursion. Good.

But the cherry on the cake for me in this precon was this card:

Ascendant Acolyte

. This card is terrifying to see as an opponent. It ETBs with a number of +1/+1 counters on it equal to the number of +1/+1 counters among creatures you control, and in this deck that could be a bazillion! And then… at the beginning of your upkeep Acolyte doubles the number of +1/+1 counters on it. It is a must answer card for your opponents. Once it is on the board it’s two turns from one-shot-kill and opponent. Love this card.

I definitely went with the +1/+1 counters line in this deck. And when our good friends at Top Deck once again sponsored a R350 upgrade to the precons I did my best to turn that strategy up to the max. These are the cards I dropped from the deck, I think when you see the replacements, the reasons will be self-explanatory.

Bonehoard

, Shifting Shadow
, Vastwood Surge,
Soul’s Majesty
, Collision of Realms
, Komainu Battle Armor
, Goblin Razerunners
, Kaima, The Fractured Calm, Rampant Rejuvenator, Towashi Guide-Bot
, Ox of Agonas
, Spearbreaker Behemoth
, Walking Skyscraper
.

While some of these are great cards to keep, I really wanted to push the abilities of Chishiro, and so added cards I think really play to this commander’s strengths.

Artifacts:

The Ozolith

Enchantments:

Rune of Speed

, Hydra’s Growth
, Stamina
, Rune of Might
, The First Iroan Games
, Indomitable Might
, Hardened Scales
, Rancor
.

Spells:

Inspiring Call

, Run Amok
, Strength of the Tajuru
, Untamed Wilds
(just a better ramp card than Vastwood Surge).

Creatures:

Destiny Spinner

, Evolution Sage
, Beast Whisperer
(better card draw), Eidolon of Blossoms
(and some more card draw).

Hardened Scales was the most expensive card in the upgrade, but in this deck a must include.

So, the strategy was to streamline the deck to take advantage of Chishiro’s abilities and overrun the board with some gigantic creatures early on, making sure that your opponents stay on the back foot and are defensive as much as possible.

There are other lines you could choose to focus on if you upgrade this deck and, if budget is not a problem, some other great cards you could include to really up the power level like

Doubling Season

, Fangren Firstborn
, Decree of Savagery
, Vigor
, Kalonian Hydra
, Sword of Truth and Justice
, The Great Henge
, Defiler of Vigor
, Shivan Devastator
, Kodama of the West Tree
, Halana and Alena, Partners
and Thundering Raiju
just to name a few.

At the end of the day, as always, this was my initial upgrade and it’s not something you have to follow. As I play the deck more, I’m sure I’ll find new cards and new lines and adjust it some more until I’m truly happy with it. So should you. Find the lines that work for you and work on those.

Until next time, I’ll see you on the battlefield.