Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Story
Lore forum
Posted on Jan. 29, 2022, 4:30 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
The story for Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty was released in five chapters, as most stories have been, which was disappointing, but, other than that, I have no real complaints, because this was easily the best story that this game has had in a long time (I did very much enjoy the story for the Innistrad Double Feature, but that story was sadly an exception, since both Kaldheim and Strixhaven were very forgettable), so I do hope that WotC shall always have story writing of this quality form this point forward (I know that that is not likely, but it is still nice to dream about it).
Here are the chapters of the story:
Episode 1: a Stranger in Eiganjo
Episode 2: Lies, Promises, and Neon Flames
Episode 3: an Unexpected Alliance
Players had long been speculating that the Wanderer was from Kamigawa, because of her conical hat, and that speculation has proven to be true, but the fact that she is the empress of the plane is a nice twist. I do hope that WotC eventually reveals her name, since her name being forbidden makes her intriguing at first, but will eventually become annoying if dragged out for too long.
Also, on that subject, I do wish that WotC had allowed for slightly more time to pass before revealing the wanderer's true identity, but it still was a great twist. I definitely liked Kaito as a character, but I feel that his sister, Eiko, felt too much like a background character and did not have sufficient presence in the story to stand on her own, so I do hope that she has her own card in the set.
Satoru Umezawa had almost no presence in the story, apart from his appearance in Kaito's origin story, so I am disappointed about that. Also, the Phyrexians are my favorite villains in the story, and I am glad to see Jin-Gitaxias make an appearance in this story, I still wish that a return to Kamigawa had focused only on the plane itself, given how greatly player had been anticipating a return to this plane, but I cannot complain about that too greatly, because the story was great and the cards revealed so far are excellent, as well.
It was sad to see Tamiyo turned into a Phyrexian, but I shall hope that she is cured of completion, eventually, and redeems herself, since Phyrexia has already corrupted both Glissa and Ezuri, and neither of them seems to be likely to redeem themselves, at any time, soon.
Who else here has read the story for this set, and did you enjoy it?
I like the first story so far. The story really gives the characters some establishment and time for the reader to get to know them. I'm also a little sad when I see what is happening with Tamiyo, but a story can always do anything if they do it in an interesting way.
This all being said, and I do enjoy the story so far, but they really need an editor. Completely honestly, I write things IRL and when I read the story it feels like a first draft. And that's not to fault the author at all. They did a good job, really, it's just that anyone and everyone needs a second set of eyes on their edits. But again, maybe it's just that I'm sensitive to this because I have to do it myself in my writing. So, it's understandable, but it's also there, you know?
The main editing that I would see happening would be in the sentence structure. Things like:
_Kaito spun toward his sister. Even though they were the same age, Eiko had always seemed older. Maybe because after their parents died, she felt like it was her responsibility to look after her brother.
Kaito looked after Eiko, too, but he would never chastise her for having fun.
Not that Eiko did much of that anymore._
That could make one very powerfully written paragraph but the way it's worded and broken up makes it very clunky. Maybe something like:
Kaito spun toward his sister. Though they were the same age, Eiko always seemed older. Neither of them felt the difference before their parents died, but ever since that day, responsibility fell onto her and both of their smiles seemed to fall onto him
Also, sentence structure with something like:
It would be the perfect job for Eiko, one day. All the while, Kaito would be stuck here. In the palace. Without any plan for his future.
It's just, well, it's just something you'd edit over.
And, I know I'm being nit-picky here, and I don't mean anything negative at anyone. More just, maybe they should dole out and do legit edits if they want their storyline to shine. I like the writing, I like what they are doing, I just think that the fact that it's wizards makes it feel like they are halfway committing. If this was an independent writer, I'd be raving, but the fact it's wizards means that you really have to expect fully finished writing, which...meh.
January 29, 2022 8:46 p.m.
Kamigawa is my favourite plane so I was very excited about the set/story, but after reading all 5 a few days ago I'm afraid I didn't like it much. I'll start with the big things going down to the more nit-picky stuff.
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The entirety of the plane did not feel like Kamigawa. The story talks about the merging of the mortal and kami realms but the only spirits that I can remember are Kyodai and...the dishwasher kami. There was a 26 min interview on the MTG YT with the set design team and they mentioned something that, at least for me, explains this (I'm quoting from memory): "We wanted to make a set in futuristic Japan and half-way through the development we said to ourselves, "We plan to return to Kamigawa soon and if we do this the both sets would overlap and should be at least 5 years apart, so then we merged both ideas into Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty". All I could hear was "We made an anime inspired set and plastered Kamigawa on top".
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The story started interesting, Keito and the Wanderer relationship was well developed albeit a bit cliché. The investigation part, the search for the man with the metal arm all that was great, however after he met with Tamiyo stuff started to happen because they needed to happen. Characters go from point A to point B back and forward, no one is thinking at all "Let's use this ominous device, like what could go wrong, just plug it into your skin" and all that.
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A bit more nitpicky - Keito as a character was OK, but in the stories I didn't see his blue-black color identity apart from having some cyber modifications and knowing a gang boss. He talked and behaved in a very red manner - defying authority and rules, rushing headlong into danger, being entirely motivated by love for/finding the Wanderer. Wanting to desperately keep her here to guard the peace and prevent civil war was rather white motivation too.
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I personally found it funny that after being bested by Tezzeret, because of technology in his early years (the drone from the moonfolk guy), he, wanting to defeat the guy who stole his childhood friend decided to modify his entire being and was still somewhat surprised during their second encounter that his gadgets didn't work.
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Lastly it was the way Jin-Gitaxias got one-shotted by the Wanderer. Now we know it was "merely a setback" and he's alive and well, but still it didn't feel right to be this easy. A single planeswalker can dispatch a Praetor? Like are phyrexians that big of a threat?
As for Tamiyo, I'm glad we finally see some casualties in a conflict. War of the Spark was such a let down in that regard, despite having the awesome trailer with the blown candles and such massive build-up. Anyway that's my two cents. Cheers!
February 2, 2022 10:01 p.m.
Madcookie I've read a few more of the stories and definitely tend to agree with you. I really want to like it : ) And there are some fun and exciting things in it. But part of it might be that I heard great reviews of the story before I read and had maybe high expectations. It's good. I guess, for me, I just was really hoping for a return to great storytelling in magic and to have it feel very Kamigawa.
What you said in #1 made it all make a lot of sense. Changing ideas mid development will always cause quality ripples, and especially if everyone is on a deadline. I think they absolutely could have done a futuristic set and then classic Kamigawa again. It would be so awesome to have two planes that are different time periods of the same world. Kaito and The Emperor could travel to old Kami and learn lessons from how their plane used to be. Phyrexia could try to enter old Kamigawa from it's future self. Some of the old and powerful Oni could come to future Kamigawa and really cause problems. Kaito could train under the ancient samurai. I feel like it would have been more interesting if there was no overlap at all, but yeah, that's just me.
Also, and this is very nitpicky, and I don't mean it as a really bad thing, but looking at the Neon Dynasty story critically, I do wish that the dialog was a little more fleshed out. Sometimes it's fine, and there are some cool lines and things, but mostly, the characters all sounds the same. It could have helped to have people like Light-Paws, the moonfolk, and The Emperor speak with distinct voices.
Icbrgr says... #2
Haven't read the story yet but devastated to hear about Tamiyo (longtime fan of of hers).... honestly haven't really dug into any lore since war of the spark so I've got some catching up to do.
January 29, 2022 7:28 p.m.