Douglysium

Intro

Well, we’ve finally done it. Despite the amount of time it took, I have officially written the fifth and final part of this Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty series. Due to the fact that this is the very last part of the series you are better off reading some or all of the previous parts since I usually try to avoid repeating or retreading myself as much as possible. A lot of the information that may seem like it’s missing is probably just in one of the previous parts. Parts that you can read here: The Imperial Court(https://douglysium.tumblr.com/post/679785148245573632/the-taste-of-kamigawa-neon-dynastys-imperial). The Saiba Futurists(), The Reckoners(), and The Asari Uprisers(). This article will of course focus on Green as it appears in Kamigawa NEO and the major Green aligned faction of the set, the Order of the Jukai

For those of you who have done your assigned homework and read all the previous parts but still need a refresher, I will quickly summarize some general important aspects of Kamigawa and the color pie/flavor as it appears in NEO as a whole. In the set, there is a major theme of tradition vs modernity. This is mainly represented in two ways. The first way is through enchantments and artifacts, with enchantments representing tradition while artifacts represent modernity and, secondly, is the color pie itself. In the second case Green and Blue act as the benchmarks for this conflict with Green being the most traditional and enchantment focused out of all the colors in the set and Blue being the most modern and artifact focused color in the set, from there all the other colors fall somewhere between Green and Blue. From most traditional/enchantment focused to most modern/artifact focused the colors go Green, White, Black, Red, and then finally Blue. 

Since we went in-depth about artifacts in some of my previous articles I think it is fitting that we give enchantments a fair shake and cover them as well(although I have still covered a lot of stuff in the previous articles). First of all, it is important to remember that, just like artifacts, when it comes to Magic as a whole enchantments can represent any number of things and are not restricted to only representing natural phenomenon, there are plenty of enchantments that represent an unnatural influence or affect(which is even part of the reason Green gets so much enchantment destruction). This fact is true even in NEO itself.

(Maybe the paint is all natural)

However, it is still vital to remember that for the sake of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty as a set that enchantments almost always represent some aspect of tradition and/or the past while artifacts represent some aspect of modernity and/or the future/technology.

Last time I talked about enchantments I neglected to cover the famous saga style enchantments so I will mention them here.

I think sagas are one of the perfect ways to play up the tradition focused side of this conflict because sagas are ultimately meant to represent stories, for those who don’t know sagas are enchantments that have a mechanic that reads “As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after [III/IV].” This means that sagas usually represent the past or something that has already happened, such as a legend, something that is almost a given due to how they can easily be used to convey going through the parts of a story(as opposed to being stuck on one specific instance).

These creatures seem to represent people or creatures that are important to the story being told in the saga. I think an important detail when it comes to the art and flavor of these cards is that the art of the card does not depict the person or entity itself but rather some sort of painting, interpretation, or in-universe version of the art.

It is essentially symbolizing their legacy and impact rather than literally being whoever or whatever the card is about.

Green

With that we can finally cover Green and the most tradition focused side of the conflict. This is definitely going to be a bit more complicated than I first attempted because honestly there are a lot of misconceptions and pigeonholing regarding Green and its philosophy. As I’ve mentioned in previous articles Green is often thought of as the “nature” tree-hugging color even though it’s a bit more than that(but yes nature is very important to it). Green’s philosophy is often summarized as that of “Growth through Acceptance” due to its belief that the world already has all that we need make us happy and fulfilled. So if we want to achieve fulfillment and be our best selves we must accept the world for as it is and our respective place in it. Green argues that if one was born without wings then they probably weren’t meant to fly and if one was born blind then they should probably accept it or realize that it happened for a reason. Unlike Blue, Green argues that you are not born a blank slate and that everyone is born with a purpose, role, or function, whether that be given through biology, destiny and/or tradition, and it is only by accepting these roles that we can thrive and help the world function as intended. Deers aren’t meant to hunt, penguins aren’t supposed to fly, etc. The real reason Green is the “nature” color is because Green is all about accepting the world for as it is, and the world as it is can usually be described as its “natural” state. Its value of the natural state often leads to it placing emphasis on the past and tradition in order to help understand how things are supposed to be(if you want to do something like find out the role of bears in an ecosystem then look at earth’s history and how they previously impacted the ecosystem). Due to this Green tends to see Blue’s philosophy as sort of ungrateful or one that encourages unnecessary dissatisfaction. The conflict of Blue and Green’s nurture vs nature ultimately extends to the idea of emphasizing the past vs the future. Blue is all about being able to become anything you want and embracing the idea that anything is possible, so while it cares about past knowledge as a way to better and improve upon itself and the world around it, it tends to look towards the future. Which makes sense the future contains all kinds of possibilities and Blue values progress and forethought. Green, as mentioned earlier, is about accepting the world for as it is and accepting your place in it. Thus, tradition and the past tend to be more emphasized in Green in order to help you understand your place and role in the world.

With this established we can begin to see some of the major reasons why Green is most obviously going to fall on the traditional side of tradition vs modernity 9 times out of 10.

To be clear it’s not that Green hates all progress or change and that it can never be on the side of progress, modernity and/or change, after all evolution and adaptation occurs even in nature.

It is much more accurate to say that Green wants change to occur naturally, or at least in a manner that it sees as natural. Trying to fight against these naturally occurring processes and cycles is a losing battle or one that could even harm yourself and/or the world around you. In essence, Green on Kamigawa sees no reason to change things with technology and cities and it still holds a reverence and respect for nature and the way things used to be. So it tends to prioritize kami and tradition over the use of technology and ultimately Green is against modernity on Kamigawa because they see the people on the modern side as those who are constantly trying to shape and alter the world for their own selfish desires rather than accepting it. Not to mention there are plenty of Green aligned people on Kamigawa that see technology as something that is inherently harming nature due to things like pollution.

Some of these reasons are probably why the Green and White color combination is the most enchantment focused combination of the entire set.

This makes sense since one of White and Green’s major philosophical agreements could be described as a sort of “greater good” style of thinking. Green believes that you should put nature before yourself and not do things at the cost of the natural order and White believes you should put the good of the many above the good of the few, which is contrary to their enemy color Black. White also seeks to try to create a world where as many people are protected, happy, and have what they need as possible, something that lines up nicely with Green wanting to protect nature and caring about living things as a whole in nature. Plus, in NEO they are both colors that fall the most on the traditional side of the conflict. Of course Green’s reliance on using kami more often than technology when in comparison to even White is a reflection of its preference to do things the old fashion way, and this is further reinforced in the enchantment creatures it has showing the influence of spirits and representations from people/things of the past.

In Defense of Green and Technology

So before I move on to the next part I feel like there are things I have to clarify before moving on. There are some major misunderstandings regarding Green and how it views artifacts and technology. One of the biggest, and one I want to address here, is the idea that Green as a philosophy is inherently incompatible with technology and that all Green characters and factions should view all technology as evil or bad in order to not be contradictory. While there are Green factions and characters that hate all technology there seem to be people that think you can’t really call yourself Green aligned unless you are completely barebacking it in the woods somewhere living off nothing but what the land provides and the skin on your back and any interaction Green has with technology that doesn’t involve immediately smashing it to pieces is a flavor fail or a color pie break. I bring this up because even though Green is the most tradition focused of all the colors on Kamigawa it still has at least a few artifacts so I think this needs to be addressed because inevitably someone is going to ask why is Webspinner Cuff Green or something.

So when it comes to how or why Green may use or like technology and artifacts there are several possible answers, with more than one answer possibly being true at the same time.

Firstly, artifacts in Magic the Gathering as a whole do not literally always represent the artificial or technology. While they can and often do represent those things, artifacts also just represent anything that’s physical but also like not a creature or land. Like if something is just a rock it would be thrown in the same category as a sword in MTG because it’s just an object even if there are plenty of naturally occurring rocks in nature and not every rock is manmade. They are ultimately both just nonliving objects that don’t have a strong enough connection to a mana color to be given a color alignment.

I think this is also where the art of MTG can sometimes really matter because while things like treasure and food may sometimes have art depicting artificially made versions of these things, that’s not the end all be all for what these things represent.

Food is the most obvious point to make because food is a very vague term and just because something is food does not mean it is automatically artificial.

In fact, one of the major themes in Green is the food chain and your place in it.

I would argue that treasures also fall under a similar category because all and all “treasure” can represent both natural and unnatural things. Sometimes treasures represent the gold coins you find in a chest, sometimes they’re pieces of amazing art someone crafted…

and sometimes it’s a naturally occurring gemstone, mineral or what have you.

What I’m basically trying to say is that not all artifacts represent something that is artificial and some artifacts can represent both the natural and/or unnatural depending on the context of Magic the Gathering due to the limitations of card types. Also, while Green is all about accepting the world for what it is, that doesn’t mean it is against all uses of resources and the like. Trying to survive while using nothing and having no impact on the land or environment is literally impossible since you are at the very least going to need to eat something somewhere, and appreciating nature’s beauty or using things like treasure for specific purposes is fine as long as you aren’t greedy, disrupting the natural cycle or getting these things at the expense of nature. Plus, things like gold and jewels can be found naturally in the land and we all know that in Magic, Green has a strong connection to lands and the things they provide

However, this answers why Green in gameplay mechanics may care about artifacts but what about Green and technology from a pure flavor perspective. How can someone go around riding a fucking mecha-horse and have a job as an artificer, a job/occupation that literally requires working with artifacts and technology, and yet still call themselves Green or end up as a purely Green card?

There is once again an answer, actually two answers, for this and the answer is sort of weird. That answer is perspective, but this is a bit complicated so I’ll go into more detail. Different Green characters and factions may draw different lines in the sand for what is and isn’t considered natural or part of the natural cycle. Creatures such as beavers build dams and while dams are in fact an artificial creation basically no one is about to argue that a beaver building a dam is unnatural.

In fact, beaver dams can be extremely vital and healthy to an ecosystem. In this way a Green character may view say humans or elves doing things like making a crafting spears, making farms or helping plants grow in a similar light.

All these examples I’ve been using so far are of rudimentary or basic technology but this can be used for more advanced technology too. Machines can be used to better understand and take care of nature. Think of how with the internet or an encyclopedia you can look up all kinds of biological information about creatures and even figure out ways to help take care of the ecosystem and different flora and fauna and make sure they’re healthy or preserve them.

So when you see that mono Green elf living in a house or wielding tools it’s important to remember that they may see themselves and these things as still being part of a bigger natural picture.

Not to mention that it’s not like literally all houses/huts or tools are inherently harmful to nature or anything.  There’s also the fact that Green characters disagreeing on where the line exactly starts and ends for what is and isn’t natural isn’t any different than White aligned characters disagreeing on what is morally good or bad, or Blue characters disagreeing on what is an improvement.

A good example of this would be the respective Green-White aligned and Red-Green aligned guilds of Ravnica, the Selesnya Conclave and the Gruul Clans. It’s important to take into account that even though these guilds both have Green the splash of White and Red respectively pull them in different directions but I think this example still works because ultimately the guilds both have Green in equal amounts and we can see the possible differences Green factions may have based on any extra colors they choose to align themselves with over others.

In this case the Selesnya and Gruul are both explicitly stated to care about nature and have some form of worship and/or reverence for it but their approach to it is vastly different. The Gruul definitely leans into a more feral, wild, and untamed ideal of nature and they see the city of Ravnica as something that needs to be torn down for nature to flourish.

On the other hand the Selesnya have an emphasis on aid and the community and from their perspective their farms, communes, etc. are ways of living in harmony with nature and helping it flourish.

Yet another example would be the animosity between the Mono-Green Therosian god of the hunt Nylea and the Green-White Therosian god of harvests Karametra.

As stated in a “PLANESWALKER’S GUIDE TO THEROS, PART 1” Nylea is a god that is stated to believe in letting nature have free rein and does her best to make sure this applies to her domain. So she is against stuff like building temples and preventing the spread of humans in her domain. Something that conflicts with Karametra because Nylea’s philosophy sees agriculture, the thing that a god of harvests is all about, as a disgusting aberration of the natural world. However, Nylea is also the god of the seasons and the seasons change at her whim since she is a god of nature. Meaning that Karametra gets annoyed with Nylea’s interference with the seasons.

I guess another major factor for these misconceptions is that people interpret Green philosophy as some peace-loving or hippie style philosophy that says you can’t hurt anything or use any of the resources at your disposal when that is not necessarily true. Another example of this would be hunting. Green is against things like poaching because it disrupts the natural system. You aren’t hunting because you need to or because you’re supposed to but just to make more money or have a trophy. Poaching is also something that is very infamous for disrupting the ecosystem by driving various animals to endangerment or even extinction. However, if you’re hunting for food or certain resources, just happen to kill whatever you’re defending yourself from, etc and then use the parts of the animal you killed to make say clothes, a tent, weapons, and the like then that’s fine. Firstly, because the reason for why you are hunting aligns with Green’s ideals, and what you are ultimately doing is just using all the parts from something that was dead anyway. This sort of cycle could also be seen as something that works with the flow of the natural cycle or at the very least doesn’t conflict with it.

Not to mention that in certain environments, like a freezing cold tundra, trying to bareback it there is probably just going to end up with you dead. So trying to ditch all tools and technology just isn’t possible in some circumstances so they may have to make do with the next best thing.

If you want a more recent more magical version of this there is the plane of New Capenna. Which I think is a good example of what I mean due to the fact that the entirety of the plane outside of the city has been ravaged to the point that living outside of it is unrealistic, impossible or suboptimal for a majority of people(I would say New Capenna honestly has some very interesting takes on Green with the Brokers, Riveteers and Cabaretti. In fact I might make a quick article or video on Green in New Capenna alone).

There is of course, Kaldesh a plane where people like Oviya see the act of building servos and the like as repurposing the Aether and other materials needed to make them as part of one big cycle on the plane that ultimately doesn’t harm nature. Ultimately, one could argue that Kaladesh’s technology lives in harmony with nature rather than always damaging or destroying it.

The next point I want to make is that color philosophy is ultimately about VALUES. Green values acceptance and nature because it views them as the most important thing. So you can make technology and artifacts but you need to have nature in mind, i.e. it can’t disrupt the natural balance or hurt nature. A color like Blue also cares about nature but the difference between Green and Blue is their value or what they deem most important. Blue views progress as more important and is fine with nature as long as it isn’t getting in the way of its progress. Green views some forms of progress as natural and is just fine with progress as long as it isn’t interfering with how things should be. These two reasons are why I would heavily argue against the notion or idea that a person or creature is not green aligned because they use tools or what not. There’s also the fact that, flavorwise, just because a person doesn’t or can’t live up to their philosophical ideal does not mean they aren’t a certain color alignment. They might be hypocritical sure but being a hypocrite doesn’t make you not a color, just like how accidentally losing your temper wouldn’t mean you’re are not Blue or doubting your feelings doesn’t make you not Red.

Also, it is possible for a construct or otherwise mechanical creature to be Green aligned. I already went over this in my article covering the general color pie, but what determines what color alignment someone/something falls under is not necessarily the state of their existence or even their personalities but rather what they believe in and value. I mean yeah, goblins are often Red-aligned and different species or tribes within Magic tend to share one or more colors for various reasons, such as culture, but this isn’t the end all be all mind you. Being human doesn’t mean you have to have White in your color identity, and just being a living thing isn’t enough to make you Green-aligned, and simply being hungry and wanting to eat or just feeling emotions does not guarantee you are of the Red-alignment. So if a robot, machine or artificial creature is Green aligned that is because they have Green’s philosophy and values.

What I’m trying to get across here is that Green using any sort of technology or artifact isn’t automatically a flavor fail or color pie break. Yes, there are of course flavor fails and color pie breaks that involve Green using tech but it’s not as simple as just technology =/= Green. However, just to be clear I’m not saying that factions or characters that hate all technology or want to bareback in forest somewhere aren’t really Green or anything, in fact they are probably very Green most of the time, just that it’s not the ONLY way for Green philosophy to manifest. These things become even more interesting to talk about when you consider the fact that Magic has all kinds of planes with each one potentially following different rules and different kinds of logic. Something that might be clearly unnatural or artificial in our world or on certain planes may be a completely naturally occurring phenomenon on other planes, i.e. the denizens of Mirrodin being born with metal body parts.

Now I know this is usually the part where there’s a pay off by talking about a faction that is a good example of what I was talking about but I’m going to be honest the Order of the Jukai are stated to mostly hate technology. That doesn’t mean what I said was meaningless or doesn’t at all apply though because we still see them use tools, like bows and arrows, ninja stars, etc., and we do see Green aligned people and cards using technology on Kamigawa so i feel like this stuff was important to mention and get off my chest since I imagine a lot of you would have brought it up anyway.

THE ORDER OF JUKAI

Here is where we come to the Green aligned faction of NEO, the order of the Jukai. According to the “PLANESWALKERS GUIDE TO KAMIGAWA: NEON DYNASTY” article on Magic the Gathering’s website, the Order of the Jukai believe that technology is damaging the very fabric of nature. 

This is because at some point the leader of the order, an orochi(a snake person) named Shigeki, bonded with a nature kami and experienced a prophetic dream that depicted the very spirit realm shattering due to the bonding. So, he vowed to stop this vision from coming into fruition and created a new order named after the moment the Jukai forest expelled his own ancestors and all other mortals.

From there the order grew quickly as others came to have similar visions regarding the destruction of the spirit realm. The Order actively despises the Saiba Futurists and desires to destroy Otawara, their floating headquarters.

The Order of Jukai is organized into small decentralized cells that are typically composed of a small number of stealth operatives and one or two kami channelers scattered across the plane. Their small cells allow them to mobilize quickly and hide when needed, and they favor decisive acts of swift destruction.

Their preferred method of attack is to detonate a device imbued with kami magic or summoning actual kami in order to unleash destruction after infiltrating a technological center. These attacks are controlled, targeted and involve the Jukai members participating to wait until the area is as empty as possible. Notably, they never attack residential zones but they will not hesitate to cut down anyone who gets in their way.

Kami take a very active role in shaping and guiding the Order of the Jukai. They provide power, friendship, and a shared sense of purpose. Some Order members and kami share such a deep and personal connection that said kami will grant the mortal permission to access the deepest recesses of their magic which allows them to call upon powerful spirits and primal forces of nature.

There are also the Living Historians. Living Historians were founded in the wake of the legendary Kami War by Reki, the History of Kamigawa, and Azusa.

Said founding was because they wanted to preserve the knowledge that was in danger of being lost during the chaos of their changing plane at the time. Azusa’s diary would eventually become a pivotal first hand document in this reconstruction process and it remains one of the Living Historians’ most sacred texts to this day.

In the modern day, these special historians fear that the past is in danger of being forgotten or quietly erased on the quickly changing plane of Kamigawa.

Even though none of them have a complete picture of the past they still strive to preserve as much of it as they can and attempt to record events as faithfully as they can without bias or omission. However, even though their training instructs them to erase personal bias, some argue that the very nature of their art means that they inherently inject their perspectives into their work. They tattoo stories onto their skin to record them and bring them to life through dance, theater, and song by using magic to cause the tattoos to rise into the air during their performances to create moving illustrations of historical events.

With that summary out of the way we can begin to look at some of the ways the Order of the Jukai align with Green philosophy and some of the specific themes running through Green in NEO.

First off, there’s the fact that they believe technology is damaging to the very fabric of nature. Something that simply ties into the whole tradition theming of Green on Kamigawa and how it prefers the natural state of the world and believes that unnaturally changing it instead of just accepting the world as it is is not the way to go. Plus, it ties into how much of the natural forests and landscapes of Kamigawa have been replaced with city and technology.

The prophetic dream thing with Shigeki is an extension of the focus on and reverence of the kami, tradition and nature. Something that is made even more apparent by the fact that Shigeki specifically bonds with a nature kami. The fact that the Order is trying to prevent the future where the spirit realm shatters from happening draws attention to the tradition vs modernity and past vs future theme of this set as the Order is trying to stop a specific future from happening by relying on tradition and trying to focus on the ways of the past as opposed to trying to do something like use newer and more advanced technology to solve the issue or trying to embrace a more modern solution. The fact that Shigeki named the order after the moment the Jukai forest expelled mortals from it is a connection to the fact that in Magic Green is associated with Forests, because most plants are Green and if you see a forest there is probably a lot of natural and or living things there most of the time.

It also once again highlights the focus on the past and tradition that Green and the Jukai have by focusing on a historical event from long ago. As well as highlighting the conflict between the modernity of the city,  its technology and what they probably see as a more idyllic past.

The hatred the Order of Jukai have for Saiba Futurist is obviously caused by the conflicting ideology and perceptions that Green and Blue have in the set. As well as the fact that Green and Blue are the colors that oppose each other the most in this set and fall on the farthest side of the tradition and modernity sides of the conflict respectively. In fact when you consider the explicit dislike the Asari Uprisers have for the Imperial Court there is actually a bit of a pattern with the faction of an enemy color having a noted dislike or contempt for the enemy color that corresponds to them on the side of the conflict.

For example, the Order of Jukai hate the Futurists and Green and Blue are on the furthermost side of the conflict. Meanwhile, the Asari Uprisers dislike the Imperial Court and Red is the second most modernity focused color while White is the second most tradition focused color.

There are of course the conflicting ideals between the Order and Futurists with the Futurists wanting technology to have little to no restrictions while the Order sees most technology as inherently bad or dangerous and thus wants to destroy most of it. This is further symbolized by how the Order wants to destroy Otawara since Otawara is the headquarters of the Futurists and thus probably has all kinds of technology and technological developments there.

There is also the funny connection that mechanically Green has a lot of flying creature hate and destruction on top of artifact destruction removal. So the fact that the Green faction wants to destroy a flying technology based city is rich.

The small decentralized cells are probably just because they want to destroy most technology and they would have a hard time destroying most of it if they ran in charging on the back of a rhino or something. You could also argue that there is a connection with stealth and hunting or snakes I suppose. The cells also focus on destroying technology which just refers to Green’s goal of accepting nature as it is and how the Order see technology as something that damages nature. Plus, Green has a lot of artifact destruction. Their love and preference for kami magic over technology can be seen in how they prefer to detonate devices imbued with kami magic or just summon kami to destroy technological centers. Their preference for avoiding unnecessary casualties shows that they are more focused on destroying the technology rather than hurting or killing other people or living things. Ultimately, their problem is that the natural order is being thrown out of balance and that is the issue they seek to remedy. There is also the fact that since Green is all about accepting the world for as it is, this makes it a color that does not necessarily wish to destroy their enemy colors(like Black and Blue), wipe them out or wish them away. From green’s perspective even their enemies can have a place within the ecosystem so it is more focused on keeping them in check if possible as opposed to just trying to remove them if that is an option. However, at the end of the day the big picture and natural order always comes first so when push comes to shove they will not hesitate to cut down anyone who gets in their way.

Kami and kami channelers are notably very important to the faction. While Blue believes anything is possible and may see technology as an alternative to kami magic Green and the Order prefer things to be done the old fashion way and thus prefer to use the kami spirits and the magic they grant. Kami are also more naturally occurring.

The Living Historians and their respective magic emphasize the tradition and history aspects of the Order and Green as well as help show some of the conflict and worries they have with modernity. Specifically, people will forget about the past and suffer because of it. The fact that an ancient relic like Azusa’s diary is so important to them helps tie into this importance on history. The mention of biases could simply because one could argue literally all art is biased as long as someone is telling it or a nod to the fact that the Order explicitly prefers tradition to modernity so it would not be outlandish to say such a bias may seep into how they tell their stories.

As far as naming is considered according to the MTG wiki, DeepL and Google Translate Jukai(樹海 or じゅかい) in this case means “Sea of Trees.” Which ties into the earlier mentioned connection Green has with forests and the Order’s emphasis on nature. I think the connection is also important when you consider that much of the Jukai forest was chopped down to make way for the city and at the time that enraged a lot of kami who ended up lashing out at the city. This eventually led to the emperor having to broker a deal in which they promised that the city would stop expanding into the forest and the kami would not attack the city or intrude on their planning. The city builders would be allowed to keep building the land they had already started building on with the exception of the tree Boseiju, which was now within the city’s domain. Plus, the Jukai Forest would be closed to all mortals unless they had permission from the Kami. This background could tie into why the Order doesn’t like technology so much

Mechanics

I’m not really going to bother to explain much more about enchantments here since I’ve already gone over enchantments in this article and at least 3 to 4 other times in all the previous articles. Green gets a lot of enchantment matters because enchantments symbolize tradition in the set and Green prefers to do things the old-fashioned way as opposed to using technology.

There are a couple of subcategories to mention in this set though, outside of auras and general enchantments. There are the enchantment creatures and enchantment creature matters cards.

Contrasting the non-equipment artifact creatures, who are artifacts in addition to creatures due to the fact that they have so many mechanical enhancements, the enchantment creatures in this set seem to be creatures that have either bonded with one or more kami or simply have a strong connection to them without they themselves being kami. Also, most if not all the Living Historians in NEO are enchantment creatures and I’m not 100% sure if that is coincidental or their status as enchantment creatures is supposed to symbolize their connection to tradition or the past due to the fact that almost all the enchantments in this set are meant to embody tradition. When it comes to the other enchantment creatures the connection to the kami tends to represent how they prefer to use the traditional kami and nature based means to achieve their goals as opposed to modern technology. Green also gets a lot of sagas in this set and considering the Order of Jukai and Green are the ones who have the Living Historians in this set the fact that it has access to the most cards that literally tell stories from the past makes sense. The fact that Green cares about auras represents how it uses traditional magic and kami to boost or aid itself.

Green and White are probably the most +1/+1 counter heavy colors and this set is no exception. In Green’s case it’s because it loves creatures and the +1/+1 counters are symbolic of natural growth.

Land

The Green land chosen for this set is one that depicts Boseiju. The oldest and largest living tree on Kamigawa as well as the only remnant of the Jukai Forest left within the limits of Towashi city. It’s a truly gargantuan tree with its branches dwarfing the surrounding skyscrapers and casting a near-permanent shadow over the city below. The Boseiju district is made up of dwellings that were constructed on the tree itself and arose as a haven for those who wanted to escape from frantic modern life and be in touch with nature. It apparently embodies the spirit of the Jukai forest and due to a deal made with the kami in the past it is to never be cut down. At some point the city of Towashi started being built upwards due to the lack of being able to continue to expand outwards. This led to skyscrapers filling the city until Boseiju was lost within the skyline.

However, one day the tree began growing once again and it eventually became so tall that it eclipsed even the tallest structures surrounding it. Various builders attempted to match its height but for every new “tallest structure” that was made Boseiju would grow even more. In the modern day Boseiju is the tallest structure in Towashi. As said in the article “BOSEIJU REACHES SKYWARD”: “Boseiju’s message was clear: the city might be standing on this ground now, but the forest refused to let anyone forget who had been there first.”

This definitely highlights the impact of past and tradition in Kamigawa as well as to why it is so important to the Order of Jukai. Not to mention that the race between the city and the tree to grow taller highlights the conflict between modernity and tradition. The fact that it is used to get away from frantic modern life and be in touch with nature of course highlights the traditional and nature-focused side of Kamigawa. There is of course the fact that the tree is a remnant of, and has a major connection to, a forest(a basic land type with connections to Green mana).

Boseiju is a legendary land that can be tapped to add one Green mana you your mana pool and has a channel ability that for a payment of 2 mana(1 generic and 1 green) to activate it causes you to “Discard Boseiju, Who Endures: Destroy target artifact, enchantment, or nonbasic land an opponent controls. That player may search their library for a land card with a basic land type, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle. This ability costs 1 generic mana less to activate for each legendary creature you control.”

The destruction of enchantments and artifacts is something Green does a lot and Green is capable of destroying lands in general. Flavorwise I think the destruction of artifacts or enchantments via the channel ability can be interpreted as how Boseiju would grow to best and outdo the height of the artificial city and technology around it. It could also symbolize how Boseiju is not allowed to be cut down and how it is an area dominated by nature instead of artifice. The same logic applies to its ability to destroy nonbasic lands as in this case a nonbasic land would represent an unnatural or artificial land(since almost all artifact lands or lands that depict an unnatural land formation would be nonbasic lands).

It could also simply represent how the tree overtakes the land in its area. The fact that the ability replaces whatever is destroyed with a basic land could be to symbolize nature/Boseiju reclaiming something or regrowing(or just to make the card less annoying if the caster chooses to destroy a land with it). Finally, as always, the cost reduction based on how many legendary creatures you have is probably just a reference to all the legendary creatures in the original Kamigawa sets.

Closing

This brings us to the end of the Kamigawa NEO miniseries(sorry for the long wait). I’ve done some consideration and it’s pretty clear I cannot consistently keep up with recent sets while maintaining a consistent article quality year round. So while I will still be doing MTG articles they will not focus on the most recent sets specifically but rather on whatever I feel like analyzing. During breaks I may drop in a small series for the most recent sets but for now I’m probably going to make longer and more in depth articles at a slower rate. Besides, even though I’ll probably get less views by not keeping up with the hottest set and hashtags it will probably lead to overall better articles since that gives the designers themselves more time to release any given set’s inspirations and design decisions. One of the worst feelings I can have while writing articles like this is the feeling that I’m missing something important, I’m not doing a faction/color justice, or that I’m giving you guys an incorrect view of a faction(because I’ll be honest I feel like MTG is a game that has a lot of misconceptions in regards to the color pie). At the end of the day I think a lot of people don’t fully sit down and think about all the work and thought that goes into Magic the Gathering. Now, just to be clear just because they are putting in effort doesn’t mean the choices they make are always right or that they don’t have fuck ups but just think of all the factors that have to come together to get Magic to work as well as it does. I also think there are places where Magic goes above and beyond a lot of other similar media with things like art and how they tie into flavor as well as how they represent all kinds of inspirations and flavors on the cards themselves. The next article I will be focusing on will be covering White philosophy and what it means to be White aligned as well as how White’s gameplay and mechanics are used to convey flavor. Not to mention the flavor and mechanical reasons why White can do things like gain life or spit out a bunch of tokens. I am looking forward to that. 

Since this is the very last article of the NEO series, what is your favorite faction mechanically and what is your favorite faction flavorwise? Plus, do you think any of the factions are right, wrong or a mix of both?