Cyberpunk Kamigawa, 1,200 years on
Neon Dynasty returns to Kamigawa 1,200 years after the original block, and it is the set most often credited with rescuing a plane whose first visit is remembered mainly for being unpopular. The setting is cyberpunk laid over the same Shinto-inspired world, which is what makes the mix of neon and shrines work.
Mechanically it is dense. Reconfigure is the piece with the longest reach: Equipment that is also a creature, so it attacks on its own early and moves onto a better body later. That solved the oldest problem with Equipment, which is that it does nothing at all on an empty board.
Themes
Reconfigure
On artifact creature Equipment. Pay the reconfigure cost to attach it to another creature, at which point it stops being a creature itself. Unattach it later and it goes back to being a body. Equipment that is never a dead draw.
Channel
Discard the card and pay a cost to get an effect immediately. It turns a situational land or expensive creature into a spell you can cash in early, which is why the format's mulligan decisions changed around it.
Modified
An ability word. A creature is modified if it has a counter on it, is equipped, or is enchanted by an Aura you control. One condition covering three build-arounds, which is how it glues an archetype together.
Compleated
On planeswalkers. A Phyrexian mana symbol in the cost can be paid with two life instead of mana, and if you do, the planeswalker enters with two fewer loyalty. A discount you pay for out of your life total.
Transforming Sagas
Every Saga in the set is a double-faced card whose final chapter exiles it and returns it transformed as a creature. The Saga is the setup and the creature is the payoff, in one card.
Ninjutsu
Return an unblocked attacker to hand and put a Ninja onto the battlefield tapped and attacking in its place. Back from the original Kamigawa block, and still one of the most distinctive things a blue deck can do.
Where You Can Play It
Neon Dynasty has left Standard, but that is the only format it left. Here's where each code is legal now.
Neon Dynasty left Standard at the August 2024 rotation, the one Bloomburrow triggered, alongside the other three sets of its rotation year. A rotation only ever removes cards from Standard, so everything here is still playable in Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage and Commander. Commons from any set are Pauper-legal; that isn't listed per set here.
Limited
A full ten-pair format, and a well-regarded one. Modified is the connective tissue: several pairs want counters, Equipment or Auras, and modified lets one card care about all three.
All ten two-color pairs
Full ten-pair format
Artifacts and vehicles anchor the red and white end, ninjutsu and channel pull blue toward tempo, and the enchantment pairs lean on the transforming Sagas. Modified turns up across most of them.
Commander
Both built on the set's artifact and enchantment halves.
Buckle Up
Kotori, Pilot Prodigy
Vehicles and Equipment, and the deck that plays to reconfigure.
Upgrades Unleashed
Chishiro, the Shattered Blade
Counters, Auras and modified, going tall on one creature.
Building one of these into something of your own? The precon buying guide covers how to judge a deck, and the Commander deck template is the shape to build toward.
FAQ
No. It left Standard at the August 2024 rotation, the one Bloomburrow triggered, along with Streets of New Capenna and the two Innistrad sets. NEO cards are still legal in Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage and Commander.
It appears on Equipment that is also an artifact creature. Pay the reconfigure cost to attach it to another creature, and while attached it stops being a creature itself. Unattach it and it goes back to being a body, which means it is never a dead card on an empty board.
Discard the card from your hand and pay a cost to get an effect straight away. It gives cards a second use, so a situational land or an expensive creature is still worth keeping in an opening hand.
A creature you control is modified if it has a counter on it, is equipped, or is enchanted by an Aura you control. One condition covering three different build-arounds, which is what lets a single card support all of them.
It appears on planeswalkers with a Phyrexian mana symbol in the cost. You may pay two life instead of that mana, and if you do, the planeswalker enters with two fewer loyalty. A discount paid out of your life total.
Two: Buckle Up, led by Kotori, Pilot Prodigy, and Upgrades Unleashed, led by Chishiro, the Shattered Blade.
All card names, art, and mechanics belong to Wizards of the Coast. Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty released on Feb 18, 2022; details reflect the set as published. Sources: Wizards of the Coast set pages and release notes, Draftsim, Untapped.gg.
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