As first spoilers are coming out and leaks are starting to ooze out I figured it was time to start this thread.
We are returning to the plane of Kamigawa set over thousands of years after the end of the last time we saw giving Kamigawa a bit of a re-flavoring from shifting from the traditional Shinto inspired plane to adding in elements of cyberpunk and bring Kamigawa more futuristic than a typical magic plane. Cyberpunk is a science fiction subgenre that featured advance technology that mixes with themes of social change or breaks down, commonly features cybernetic body modification or similar transformtion themes and was often coupled with East Asian cultural influences.
Early lore
Not much is know about the story of Kamigawa 2 but we have learned that a "familiar face" is the current emperor of Kamigawa.
Know planeswalkers in the set;
UB Kaito- A human cyber ninja who has a kami familiar in the shape of a Tanuki.
The Wanderer - a Samurai planeswalker and the possible Emperor. Likely W[/spoiler]
“There are no weak Jews. I am descended from those who wrestle angels and kill giants. We were chosen by God. You were chosen by a pathetic little man who can't seem to grow a full mustache"
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Kyodai was also mentioned as an entity within the story. For those of you who discounted the leak due to Kyodai being fused with Michiko to form the Sisters, it seems that is no longer the case)
From the story they also list the emperor as female and likely attacked by "a man with a metal arm" aka Tezzeret.
Was noted the Wanderer also had a past with Tezzeret.
Kaito's lil ta familiar is actually Himoto kami of the spark which is an interesting development. I do wonder if Kaito was born with a spark that Himoto just ignited or if she turned him into a walker.
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“There are no weak Jews. I am descended from those who wrestle angels and kill giants. We were chosen by God. You were chosen by a pathetic little man who can't seem to grow a full mustache"
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Kaito Shizuki watched his best friend disappear before his eyes.
The story itself says this:
Quote from Wizards »
It had been only a year since the emperor went missing. Twelve months since Kaito chased the mysterious stranger out of Kyodai's temple.
(...)
All he could think about was his friend.
Kaito would save his celebrating for the day the emperor came home.
(...)
If it meant finding the emperor's assailant, Kaito would suffer a loyalty tattoo and stay in the Undercity for as long as it took. It was a small price to pay to bring his friend home.
(...)
Everything Kaito did was an effort to bring the emperor home. She was Kaito's best friend--and she was worth every risk, no matter the odds.
I was a fan of the Tezzeret-is-emperor theory, but all these point to the other front-runner for emperor: The Wanderer.
Wow, Kaito has friends in high places. How come no one respects that?
Seems that it is quite obvious that the Emperor is the Wanderer, though I don't know why she doesn't try and return to Kamigawa, I mean, she can't stay for long, but I would think that even staying for a little while would be better than nothing... or perhaps she can't? Maybe blocked by some metaphysical circumstances (similar to the way the sisters previously blocked Nicol Bolas from entering)? Or maybe she doesn't know how to do it... or doesn't want it...
Apparently the spirit world and the mortal world are beginning to get closer to each other, maybe merging at some point entirely, with "merge gates" appearing through which Kami can manifest without the traumatizing experience it was during the Kami War (since mortals and spirits can live with each other mostly amicably). The Kami that don't get along with the highly technologically advanced world predictably settled in the forest area of Kamigawa (green being as anti-tech as ever).
And hoo boy, all the "future technology doesn't belong in a fantasy series" people will not be happy about the state of Kamigawa: I would hazard a guess and say that even Kaladesh is less advanced (though probably more industrialized). Drones, robots, mechs (all origami shaped and apparently inventions by the futurist movement to which many Soratami seem to belong), holograms, tablets and implants (therefore also computers and miniaturization), cameras, even touchless interfaces, cyborgs, motorcycles... if they also tried to go to space they would be farther ahead technology-wise than even the Thrawn for example. And I love it as someone who likes high fantasy, but thinks that the "medieval stasis" stereotype is overused.
Many name drops hinting at the continuation of certain groups, spirits and families from the original Kamigawa block story too, which is quite nice. Seems like there are two related Umezawa lines in the multiverse. Wonder if they ever meet up again.
So is Kaito a natural planeswalker or is he in the same situation as Callix and his spark was somehow provided by divine power? Does the Kami of Sparks generate sparks herself or (more likely) does she act as a temporary spark for whomever channels her (which is what happened between the two I think)? Intriguing either way.
Overall a very promising start to the return to one of my favorite planes!
the fact that kamigawa is being merged with a different realm
but theres something familiar about that.....
Correct me if im wrong but....
didn't the old phyrexian's merge old phyrexia with dominaria similarly to kamiagaw about to do with the spirit realm to invade on all parts of domnaria simultaneously ?
if thats the case
going back to the last portoin of those leaks about kaldheim, strixhaven, and Modern horizons 2....
jin gitaxias reality hacker part may have somewhat been confirmed
he may be practicing the same technique yawgmoth/old phyrexians did to dominaria by doing it with the spirit realm and normal kamigawa
good thing they also confirmed the kami and mortals are basically becoming friends rather than foe
Is there a reason to use spoiler tags for any of this? I mean, the story is out there in public, I'd assume that people who come to this thread would have read it.
When I saw just the pictures in the spoiler thread I was still somewhat sceptical, but after reading the story I have to say that I quite enjoyed the first look at new Kamigawa.
The writing was fine, although it felt very heavy-handed overall. "Look, there's cherry blossoms and dumplings and tanuki, do you get it? This is not!Japan! Oh, I almost forgot to mention origami for the fourth time, better throw in another one or people are going to be confused about what culture this is based on..." Also, "layered" was just a tad overused to describe the voice of the little Kami.
But aside from that (and the fight scenes dragging on for just a bit too long), this story was a nice introduction. Kamigawa was my first magic set and the Kamigawa novels the first MtG books I read, so there's probably a lot of nostalgia involved but it felt really good seeing all those familiar names in a new context. At least story-wise, it seems like they managed to bridge new and old Kamigawa well.
(I gotta say though, as someone who didn't really know any Japanese back then but does now, it's kind of funny how on the nose some of the names are. You're telling me that the secret crime organization with a widespread, hidden influence is called the "Iceberg Reckoners?" Jesus. Also the name of the guy who tests and invents stuff is Tameshi, and the Kami of the Spark is named "Origin of Fire"...)
From a Vorthos perspective, the identity of the emperor seems ridiculously obvious. I hope they don't try to turn this into a mystery but instead focus on the surrounding details, like how and why they went missing, and who's doing the reigning in the meantime (doesn't seem like Tezzeret is directly involved in the politics of the world).
So, after reading Kaito's story, and presuming that the emperor and the Wanderer are the same person, and with the hints dropping about the Emperor having a special bond with Kyodai and Kamigawa itself, we can almost safely assume who the Emperor/Wanderer is.
So, after reading Kaito's story, and presuming that the emperor and the Wanderer are the same person, and with the hints dropping about the Emperor having a special bond with Kyodai and Kamigawa itself, we can almost safely assume who the Emperor/Wanderer is.
So, after reading Kaito's story, and presuming that the emperor and the Wanderer are the same person, and with the hints dropping about the Emperor having a special bond with Kyodai and Kamigawa itself, we can almost safely assume who the Emperor/Wanderer is.
That's 100% my takeaway from this story. That Tezzeret's meddling on the plane has somehow ?separated? Michiko and Kyodai from each other and triggered Michiko's uncontrollable planeswalking...? Was it deliberate? To what end? To weaken the planes' defenses? So many questions.
So, after reading Kaito's story, and presuming that the emperor and the Wanderer are the same person, and with the hints dropping about the Emperor having a special bond with Kyodai and Kamigawa itself, we can almost safely assume who the Emperor/Wanderer is.
That's 100% my takeaway from this story. That Tezzeret's meddling on the plane has somehow ?separated? Michiko and Kyodai from each other and triggered Michiko's uncontrollable planeswalking...? Was it deliberate? To what end? To weaken the planes' defenses? So many questions.
Personally I'v been hoping to see some conflicts caused by Bolas not being around, makes sense that in his after this defeat a lot of place he has plans in motion would cause issues now Bolas isn't around. Like maybe your right, Bolas was wearing the planes defense for his take over after War of the Spark (the sisters where able to block old walkers from entering so they would have given Bolas some issues and might have given walkers a safe space,) and now we see the fall out, maybe even being made worse since Bolas isn't there to make sure things are going to his "plan".
Also depending on how much Bolas knows, ect, he might have seen Michiko has a latent spark and (maybe in addition to weakening the pair) set events in motion to get Michiko to spark to use in the elder spell later as he swore he was gonna hunt down every walker in the multiverse and de-spark them.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
“There are no weak Jews. I am descended from those who wrestle angels and kill giants. We were chosen by God. You were chosen by a pathetic little man who can't seem to grow a full mustache"
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
So, after reading Kaito's story, and presuming that the emperor and the Wanderer are the same person, and with the hints dropping about the Emperor having a special bond with Kyodai and Kamigawa itself, we can almost safely assume who the Emperor/Wanderer is.
That's 100% my takeaway from this story. That Tezzeret's meddling on the plane has somehow ?separated? Michiko and Kyodai from each other and triggered Michiko's uncontrollable planeswalking...? Was it deliberate? To what end? To weaken the planes' defenses? So many questions.
Note that the spark-granting kami was present during the incident between the Emperor and Metal Arm Man ;). Due to Michiko's nature, the attempt to grant her a spark (like it did to Kaito) might result in the specific Wanderer features.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
100% Vorthos Spike and Storyline Expert
Former Fact Prospector of the Greek Alliance.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
So, after reading Kaito's story, and presuming that the emperor and the Wanderer are the same person, and with the hints dropping about the Emperor having a special bond with Kyodai and Kamigawa itself, we can almost safely assume who the Emperor/Wanderer is.
That's 100% my takeaway from this story. That Tezzeret's meddling on the plane has somehow ?separated? Michiko and Kyodai from each other and triggered Michiko's uncontrollable planeswalking...? Was it deliberate? To what end? To weaken the planes' defenses? So many questions.
[
Like I said it’s likely So Jin gitaxias can do his thing there.
So, after reading Kaito's story, and presuming that the emperor and the Wanderer are the same person, and with the hints dropping about the Emperor having a special bond with Kyodai and Kamigawa itself, we can almost safely assume who the Emperor/Wanderer is.
Nah, my personal bet is that the Wanderer/emperor is only a descendant of Michiko Konda, especially since all the references to Kyodai's temple and Kyodai's voice imply that Kyodai and Michiko have been separated for some time (possibly by Michiko's natural death). Perhaps Michiko's bloodline keeps that special bond, though....
The Sisters are/were capable of barring Oldwalker Leshrac from entering Kamigawa's domain from the Blind Eternities. They're at that level. If Jin Gitaxias wanted to penetrate Kamigawa, there would need to be a diversion I suppose. Having Michiko planeswalk so that half of Kamigawa's Worldsoul was off-world, might be just that.
So, after reading Kaito's story, and presuming that the emperor and the Wanderer are the same person, and with the hints dropping about the Emperor having a special bond with Kyodai and Kamigawa itself, we can almost safely assume who the Emperor/Wanderer is.
Nah, my personal bet is that the Wanderer/emperor is only a descendant of Michiko Konda, especially since all the references to Kyodai's temple and Kyodai's voice imply that Kyodai and Michiko have been separated for some time (possibly by Michiko's natural death). Perhaps Michiko's bloodline keeps that special bond, though....
There's no reason to suspect the Sisters are separated, or that Michiko is anything less than immortal. They were separate but united entities when Bolas attacked Myojin of Night's Reach and desecrated her shrines. So Michiko has lived for over a millennium. I'm betting if we do see a Michiko card, she'll also grant indestructible to a permanent, and the Sisters would simply select each other when on the field, conferring that effect.
Enjoyed the story quite a bit. My only gripe is that when the kami of the spark bonded with kaito, the words "gotta catch them all" popped in my head for some reason.
I‘ve always thought that CoK era Kamigawa takes place in present time of the Multiverse. But now it‘s seems that Neon Dynasty is doing this instead.
But: why does Tamiyo looks like she is from the CoK era?
I‘ve always thought that CoK era Kamigawa takes place in present time of the Multiverse. But now it‘s seems that Neon Dynasty is doing this instead.
But: why does Tamiyo looks like she is from the CoK era?
Is this a plothole or is this retcon?
CoK era was set past from when it came out (i.e. Kamigawa 1 came around Mirrodin 1 and Ravnica 1 but the story event happened hundreds of years before the guildpact was broke or Glissa was born) and was a prequel to Legends 2 where we had Toshiba Umezawa storyline end with him on Dominaria set up the Legend story where his descendent Tetsuo who "killed" Bolas.
Like real world Japan parts of Kamigawa are more modern and other eras are more traditional, Tamiyo happens to be someone from the more traditional side.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
“There are no weak Jews. I am descended from those who wrestle angels and kill giants. We were chosen by God. You were chosen by a pathetic little man who can't seem to grow a full mustache"
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
I‘ve always thought that CoK era Kamigawa takes place in present time of the Multiverse. But now it‘s seems that Neon Dynasty is doing this instead.
But: why does Tamiyo looks like she is from the CoK era?
Is this a plothole or is this retcon?
Original Kamigawa block happens around 3206 AR, in the time between Urza's ascension and Tolarian Academy founding, closer to the latter. I.e. about 1300 years in the past from now.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
100% Vorthos Spike and Storyline Expert
Former Fact Prospector of the Greek Alliance.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
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We are returning to the plane of Kamigawa set over thousands of years after the end of the last time we saw giving Kamigawa a bit of a re-flavoring from shifting from the traditional Shinto inspired plane to adding in elements of cyberpunk and bring Kamigawa more futuristic than a typical magic plane. Cyberpunk is a science fiction subgenre that featured advance technology that mixes with themes of social change or breaks down, commonly features cybernetic body modification or similar transformtion themes and was often coupled with East Asian cultural influences.
Early lore
Not much is know about the story of Kamigawa 2 but we have learned that a "familiar face" is the current emperor of Kamigawa.
Know planeswalkers in the set;
UB Kaito- A human cyber ninja who has a kami familiar in the shape of a Tanuki.
The Wanderer - a Samurai planeswalker and the possible Emperor. Likely W[/spoiler]
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/kaito-origin-stories-test-loyalty-path-forward-2021-12-16
we already got a first story!
and guess what name is in the story.
Kodama of the West tree
Was noted the Wanderer also had a past with Tezzeret.
Kaito's lil ta familiar is actually Himoto kami of the spark which is an interesting development. I do wonder if Kaito was born with a spark that Himoto just ignited or if she turned him into a walker.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
The story preview notably starts with this:
The story itself says this:
I was a fan of the Tezzeret-is-emperor theory, but all these point to the other front-runner for emperor: The Wanderer.
Wow, Kaito has friends in high places. How come no one respects that?
Some observations:
Seems that it is quite obvious that the Emperor is the Wanderer, though I don't know why she doesn't try and return to Kamigawa, I mean, she can't stay for long, but I would think that even staying for a little while would be better than nothing... or perhaps she can't? Maybe blocked by some metaphysical circumstances (similar to the way the sisters previously blocked Nicol Bolas from entering)? Or maybe she doesn't know how to do it... or doesn't want it...
Apparently the spirit world and the mortal world are beginning to get closer to each other, maybe merging at some point entirely, with "merge gates" appearing through which Kami can manifest without the traumatizing experience it was during the Kami War (since mortals and spirits can live with each other mostly amicably). The Kami that don't get along with the highly technologically advanced world predictably settled in the forest area of Kamigawa (green being as anti-tech as ever).
And hoo boy, all the "future technology doesn't belong in a fantasy series" people will not be happy about the state of Kamigawa: I would hazard a guess and say that even Kaladesh is less advanced (though probably more industrialized). Drones, robots, mechs (all origami shaped and apparently inventions by the futurist movement to which many Soratami seem to belong), holograms, tablets and implants (therefore also computers and miniaturization), cameras, even touchless interfaces, cyborgs, motorcycles... if they also tried to go to space they would be farther ahead technology-wise than even the Thrawn for example. And I love it as someone who likes high fantasy, but thinks that the "medieval stasis" stereotype is overused.
Many name drops hinting at the continuation of certain groups, spirits and families from the original Kamigawa block story too, which is quite nice. Seems like there are two related Umezawa lines in the multiverse. Wonder if they ever meet up again.
So is Kaito a natural planeswalker or is he in the same situation as Callix and his spark was somehow provided by divine power? Does the Kami of Sparks generate sparks herself or (more likely) does she act as a temporary spark for whomever channels her (which is what happened between the two I think)? Intriguing either way.
Overall a very promising start to the return to one of my favorite planes!
but theres something familiar about that.....
Correct me if im wrong but....
didn't the old phyrexian's merge old phyrexia with dominaria similarly to kamiagaw about to do with the spirit realm to invade on all parts of domnaria simultaneously ?
if thats the case
going back to the last portoin of those leaks about kaldheim, strixhaven, and Modern horizons 2....
jin gitaxias reality hacker part may have somewhat been confirmed
he may be practicing the same technique yawgmoth/old phyrexians did to dominaria by doing it with the spirit realm and normal kamigawa
good thing they also confirmed the kami and mortals are basically becoming friends rather than foe
When I saw just the pictures in the spoiler thread I was still somewhat sceptical, but after reading the story I have to say that I quite enjoyed the first look at new Kamigawa.
The writing was fine, although it felt very heavy-handed overall. "Look, there's cherry blossoms and dumplings and tanuki, do you get it? This is not!Japan! Oh, I almost forgot to mention origami for the fourth time, better throw in another one or people are going to be confused about what culture this is based on..." Also, "layered" was just a tad overused to describe the voice of the little Kami.
But aside from that (and the fight scenes dragging on for just a bit too long), this story was a nice introduction. Kamigawa was my first magic set and the Kamigawa novels the first MtG books I read, so there's probably a lot of nostalgia involved but it felt really good seeing all those familiar names in a new context. At least story-wise, it seems like they managed to bridge new and old Kamigawa well.
(I gotta say though, as someone who didn't really know any Japanese back then but does now, it's kind of funny how on the nose some of the names are. You're telling me that the secret crime organization with a widespread, hidden influence is called the "Iceberg Reckoners?" Jesus. Also the name of the guy who tests and invents stuff is Tameshi, and the Kami of the Spark is named "Origin of Fire"...)
From a Vorthos perspective, the identity of the emperor seems ridiculously obvious. I hope they don't try to turn this into a mystery but instead focus on the surrounding details, like how and why they went missing, and who's doing the reigning in the meantime (doesn't seem like Tezzeret is directly involved in the politics of the world).
For now, I'm looking forward to more!
Michiko Konda, Truth Seeker
More precisely, what became of her.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
|| UW Jace, Vyn's Prodigy UW || UG Kenessos, Priest of Thassa (feat. Arixmethes) UG ||
Cards I still want to see created:
|| Olantin, Lost City || Pavios and Thanasis || Choryu ||
Personally I'v been hoping to see some conflicts caused by Bolas not being around, makes sense that in his after this defeat a lot of place he has plans in motion would cause issues now Bolas isn't around. Like maybe your right, Bolas was wearing the planes defense for his take over after War of the Spark (the sisters where able to block old walkers from entering so they would have given Bolas some issues and might have given walkers a safe space,) and now we see the fall out, maybe even being made worse since Bolas isn't there to make sure things are going to his "plan".
Also depending on how much Bolas knows, ect, he might have seen Michiko has a latent spark and (maybe in addition to weakening the pair) set events in motion to get Michiko to spark to use in the elder spell later as he swore he was gonna hunt down every walker in the multiverse and de-spark them.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Note that the spark-granting kami was present during the incident between the Emperor and Metal Arm Man ;). Due to Michiko's nature, the attempt to grant her a spark (like it did to Kaito) might result in the specific Wanderer features.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
Like I said it’s likely So Jin gitaxias can do his thing there.
Nah, my personal bet is that the Wanderer/emperor is only a descendant of Michiko Konda, especially since all the references to Kyodai's temple and Kyodai's voice imply that Kyodai and Michiko have been separated for some time (possibly by Michiko's natural death). Perhaps Michiko's bloodline keeps that special bond, though....
|| UW Jace, Vyn's Prodigy UW || UG Kenessos, Priest of Thassa (feat. Arixmethes) UG ||
Cards I still want to see created:
|| Olantin, Lost City || Pavios and Thanasis || Choryu ||
|| UW Jace, Vyn's Prodigy UW || UG Kenessos, Priest of Thassa (feat. Arixmethes) UG ||
Cards I still want to see created:
|| Olantin, Lost City || Pavios and Thanasis || Choryu ||
Click the pic for more info.
https://win.wizkids.com/solicitsMonthly.php?year=2022&month=04&game=14
I think we just found who kaito might be protecting the kami from
You see jin gitaxias as a name for a figure along with some kamigawa ones
Also notable names there: Shigeki, Jukai Visionary, Kotose, Light-Paws, Raiyuu, and Isshin.
Fun time: the Wanderer is still called that in the figurines.
But: why does Tamiyo looks like she is from the CoK era?
Is this a plothole or is this retcon?
CoK era was set past from when it came out (i.e. Kamigawa 1 came around Mirrodin 1 and Ravnica 1 but the story event happened hundreds of years before the guildpact was broke or Glissa was born) and was a prequel to Legends 2 where we had Toshiba Umezawa storyline end with him on Dominaria set up the Legend story where his descendent Tetsuo who "killed" Bolas.
Like real world Japan parts of Kamigawa are more modern and other eras are more traditional, Tamiyo happens to be someone from the more traditional side.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
|| UW Jace, Vyn's Prodigy UW || UG Kenessos, Priest of Thassa (feat. Arixmethes) UG ||
Cards I still want to see created:
|| Olantin, Lost City || Pavios and Thanasis || Choryu ||
Original Kamigawa block happens around 3206 AR, in the time between Urza's ascension and Tolarian Academy founding, closer to the latter. I.e. about 1300 years in the past from now.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)