BISMARCK, ND ( KXNET ) — In the most recent MTG Price Guide column, players were introduced to the world of Kamigawa: a Plane known for its ongoing war between Samurai and Spirits, mysterious Moonfolk, underground Rat gangs, and vicious Oni. Now that this columnist has returned from his own trip to another Plane, it’s time to once again dive into the story of the Kamigawa Block, and the characters that threaten to either save this mystical world or tear it apart.

Months have passed since the events of Champions of Kamigawa, and Princess Michiko has returned to her home of Eiganjo Castle only to be placed under house arrest. Concerned, she uses self-taught magic to send a message to her ally, a ronin by the name of Toshi. Her father, Konda, is still rattled by recent events, and summons the massive golden Dragon Yosei to defend his kingdom. Meanwhile, Toshi is learning more about the magic he was granted from the mysterious Myojin of Night’s Reach (the Plane’s equivalent to a god of darkness) when a crime boss tries to conscript him. After the samurai refuses, the criminal sends several thugs after him — including the deceptively deadly woman Kiku and rat assassin Marrow-Gnawer.

During the resulting chase, Toshi descends into the realm of an ice spirit known as the Yuki-Onna. As “cold” technically falls into the domain of night (and by extension the Myojin of Night’s Reach), the samurai is convinced that he can capture her power. During the encounter, Toshi gets most of his pursuers killed by the Onna, before eventually capturing her magic in a disk and forcing Kiku and Marrow-Gnawer into his blood pact. The three then go to their fellow pact member Hidetsugu (a bloodthirsty Ogre who is hellbent on avenging the murder of their mutual friend Kobo) to see if he received a “gift” that Toshi sent in the previous story.

As it happens, Hidetsugu has been busy disposing of those responsible for Kobo’s death through acts of torture and violence — but also notes that their vengeance is not complete until everyone that could be considered even somewhat related to the incident (including the Orochi and Moonfolk people) is slaughtered, and Minamo (the academy that trained the killer) is burnt to the ground. Toshi manages to convince his friend that he still needs more time to prepare for an attack on the school, and says he should attack the nearby Jukai Forest first. They then take the opportunity to trade magical items, and Toshi gets a plate that can summon an Oni demon in exchange for his disk. The Ogre later gives the disk to Godo, a nearby bandit warlord, so that he can attack and topple the borders of Lord Konda’s castle.

Toshi’s party then returns to the crime boss, and as Kiku and Marrow-Gnawer make short work of her, the samurai barters with the Myojin of Night’s Reach for more strength, eventually becoming indebted to her in exchange for the power of worldwide teleportation. As the thugs flee to lie low, Toshi uses his newfound skill to teleport Michiko into the safe hands of the Kitsune (a race of fox people who have been displaced by the Planewide conflict). At the same time, Lord Konda attempts to rally another army to hunt down his missing daughter and fend off Godo, but finds his plan shattered when O-Kagachi (the greatest Spirit of all) appears and lays siege to his stronghold.

In a desperate maneuver, Michiko and the Kitsune attempt to seek answers and peace at the Moonfolk School of Minamo against Toshi’s wishes. When Michiko appears, their former ally Mochi (otherwise known as the Kami of the Crescent Moon) launches a Moonfolk attack on the forest, then appears before her to explain Konda’s actions. It is revealed that many years ago, he stole an item known as That Which Was Taken from O-Kagachi. This artifact was, in a way, O-Kagachi’s daughter, and the Spirit World equivalent of the princess herself.

At the same time, Toshi uses his new abilities to follow one of his former assailants, before the two engage in a fight which leaves the assassin mauled and Hidetsugu’s Oni unleashed. Here, Toshi reunites with Mochi, who tells him of the Moonfolk’s plan to conquer Kamigawa after O-Kagachi’s rampage is concluded. Without warning, their conversation is brought to a halt as Minamo is attacked by Hidetsugu — who opted to ignore Toshi’s suggestion in favor of slaughtering those who ordered his apprentice’s death.

While Hidetsugu and his army kill the school’s guardian, Toshi arrives back at Eiganjo Castle, but finds himself racing against time — Yosei has been bitten in half by O-Kagachi, and the main tower is rapidly collapsing. Luckily, he manages to grab That Which Was Taken and flee, causing the massive serpent god to disappear. After a brief encounter with Night’s Reach, the ronin returns to Minamo, where he freezes Mochi and drops the bizarre artifact. With this final act, he teleports Michiko and her allies back to Jukai Forest, under the belief that O-Kagachi, Hidetsugu’s Oni, and Lord Konda will tear themselves apart trying to reclaim the treasure.

Unfortunately, not all of the party’s problems have been entirely eradicated by this decision. The remnants of Konda’s forces (including Yosei) have regrouped, and a new army of ghosts (including General Takeno, who died defending Konda from O-Kagachi’s rampage) also rises to aid the Daimyo in his conquest. To make matters worse, the Myjoin of Night’s Reach has determined that now is the perfect time to ask for the favor Toshi owes her. As she makes him leave the group to become her disciple, the young samurai cannot help but wonder what exactly the Spirit’s plans entail…

As would be expected from the second set in a Block, Betrayers of Kamigawa’s primary focus is building on many of the themes introduced in the main set that preceded it — which means that the pack mostly consists of Samurai, Spirits, Legendary Creatures, and Arcane spells to be used with earlier releases. However, it also brought more of Kamigawa’s shady underbelly to light with a pair of new game mechanics. An in-depth explanation of each can be found below.

Ninjutsu: A Keyword associated with Ninjas, Ninjutsu allows players to “swap” unblocked attacking Creatures with Ninja Creatures in their hand for a small cost. This works in tandem with the abilities of many Ninjas, who can then activate their effects upon making contact with the opponent (swapping something with a Throat Slitter in hand, for instance, would allow the latter to attack and destroy a nonblack Creature without giving the defender a chance to stop it). Notably, Ninjutsu does not need both Creatures in the equation to be Ninjas. This leads to an impressive synergy between cards with the Keyword and unblockable fighters like Invisible Stalker and Changeling Outcast .

Offering: The Offering mechanic was created exclusively for the Patron Cycle – a series of Legendary Creatures that serve as the deities of their respective races. Each of these powerful Spirits has a high Mana value, but they can be cheated out by giving up a Creature of the type they support and paying their difference in Mana cost instead, with stronger offerings resulting in cheaper Patrons. As an example, sacrificing Noose Constrictor to use Patron of the Orochi ‘s Snake Offering skill lowers the Patron’s cost by two Mana, but using Snake of the Golden Grove instead would reduce it by five.

Unlike the failed “flagship” Keywords Bushido and Soulshift from Champions of Kamigawa, Ninjutsu quickly drew the attention of many players, and would later become the backbone of an incredibly popular and potent EDH deck after the release of Yuriko, the Tiger’s Shadow (who can use a special version of Ninjutsu to bring herself out from the Command Zone and constantly refill a player’s hand while damaging opponents) and further support from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. Offering, meanwhile, was quickly forgotten, but lives on in its spiritual successor Emerge — which provides a reduced casting cost outside of the sacrifice and is commonly associated with high-value, high-power Eldrazi Creatures — as well as an unexpected reappearance in 2022 thanks to Blast-Furnace Hellkite .

Much like Champions of Kamigawa, the most impressive aspect of this pack comes from its Legendary Creatures — but unlike the first set, even the more intriguing heroes and villains (except Heartless Hidetsugu and the two on this week’s list) see very little play outside of certain strategies. However, there are plenty of other additions from the set that would attain their own levels of infamy: Umezawa’s Jitte is widely considered to be the best card ever printed in a starter deck, Blessing of Leeches provides endless free regeneration for a paltry cost, and Sway of the Stars has been banned from Commander due to its ability to both reset the game and dramatically cut everyone’s life totals.

Naturally, this slight lack of “standout” entries results in an overall less valuable set than Champions as far as the secondary market is concerned — but that does not mean there are no expensive entries at all. In this week’s gaming column, we’ve taken information from card pricing site MTGGoldfish to see which of the pack’s picks cost the most on the secondary market.

(Note that all prices are recorded at the time of this article’s publication and may change in the future.)

#5: Higure, the Still Wind ($10)

If someone was asked to summarize Betrayers of Kamigawa’s impact on MTG through one set of cards, there is a strong chance they would pick Ninjas. Not only are they one of the most popular Creature Types to have emerged from the Block, but their accompanying Mechanic is also seen by many players as promoting a unique and tricky playstyle unlike almost anything else in the game.

Despite their infamy, it is worth noting that many of these stealthy playmakers would not receive this reputation until 2018 — when the release of Yuriko, the Tiger’s Shadow brought their signature skill back into the spotlight with a vengeance, and kickstarted a strategy that would later become one of EDH’s most dreaded. That being said, Yuriko was not the first Legendary Ninja: her predecessor Higure, the Still Wind is not only a powerful card in his own right, but also an expensive one worthy of a spot on this week’s list.

Legendary Typal Creatures are meant to serve as leaders for the rest of their armies, and most often do so with a host of effects that help set up and maintain the deck’s strategy (a good example of this is Krenko, Mob Boss providing a steady stream of disposable Goblins to empower and sacrifice to fuel their win conditions). Thankfully for fans of the type, Higure fits this idea perfectly: the ability to make Ninjas unblockable works perfectly to allow for more uninterrupted Ninjutsu triggers, and his built-in effect to summon more Ninjas to the hand whenever he deals damage can help increase the number of swap opportunities available and replenish any forces that may have been lost during combat.

As one might expect, Higure (like many other Typal Legends) is only truly powerful in Ninja decks, but this is hardly a detriment. The power and advantage he provides are incredible assets in what is already a very popular theme, and more than enough to justify his fairly high price.

#4: Sickening Shoal ($11)

One of the most glaring problems with the Kamigawa Block is that many of its more interesting ideas are held back by either weak effects or poor execution. There is perhaps no better example of this than in the Shoal Cycle: a series of Instants that boast interesting effects and the ever-popular “pitch costs,” but are often held back by their specificity and their dependence on high Mana values (the best example of this is Disrupting Shoal , which amounts to a much worse but still useful Force of Will ).

Of these bizarre entries, Sickening Shoal is perhaps the most effective, and while it may not be featured in many decks, the card has found a small level of infamy for its above-average price on the secondary market — if not for its ability, then for the grotesque art featured on its only printing.

Sickening Shoal is an unusual removal card in that it uses the “ Withering ” effect on its target, and rather than destroying them outright, reduces their Power and Toughness until they hit 0 (which causes them to die by default). This is a great way to get around Indestructible cards, and similar effects do see frequent play: Toxic Deluge , for example, is a particularly beloved staple of Black decks even though it carries a life cost and often results in wiping the player’s own Creatures.

Having a version of this effect that can both be cast without paying Mana and tailored to strike a specific target should by all accounts be fairly useful, but the problem with this comes in the fact that both Mana and cards in the hand are often more valuable resources than Life — which makes it a far worse trade-off in almost every situation, especially given the tremendous Mana cost that comes with hard casting the Instant.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, those who seek to pay the pitch cost instead would need to exile very expensive spells that would be better saved for the endgame (as opposed to Force of Will, which can use any Blue card regardless of Mana value) to take out a strong target, and there are very few cases where any other basic Creature destruction spell like Murder could not do the same for a much cheaper cost.

Due to these flaws, even players desperately in need of the Wither effect tend to pass over Sickening Shoal in favor of cards like Massacre Girl, Known Killer (who grants all Creatures the Keyword and provides card draw off of its victims) and its closest rival in the infamous Deluge. The only thing Shoal has over the latter is a higher cost due to a lack of reprints – but whether that is beneficial at all is open to interpretation.

#3: Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni ($13)

Ninjas were the most obvious Creature Type that was permitted to fully develop during the Kamigawa Block, but they were not the most unusual. The release of the Nezumi Gang brought a vast variety of new Rats to the game, with their leader Marrow-Gnawer in particular defining the play style of Rat Typal decks to this day. It should be noted, however, that he was not the only Legendary Rodent to have crawled out of Kamigawa’s depths — Ink-Eyes, a fellow Nezumi rogue, has followed in his paw steps to become a breakout star in her own right.

Ink-Eyes is fairly similar to Higure in terms of their niches, but manages to prove herself stronger due to a heavy dose of all-around effectiveness. The Still Wind’s effect is an impressive one, to be sure, but it does very little outside of dedicated Ninja decks. In contrast, the generic “strong” stealing and regeneration effects of this card allow her to serve as a constant threat in any deck that runs Black, even outside of her obvious synergies with both Ninja and Rat Typal (the swarming nature of the latter, in particular, means there will almost always be an unblocked Creature for her to replace).

On top of all of this, Ink-Eyes also has an interesting niche as an “anti-reanimation” attacker, as her ability to pull an opponent’s Creature out of their Graveyard can deprive them of a combo piece or strong card they intend on using so long as the target can be kept safe. Naturally, this combination of offensive and defensive use led to this Legend warranting a high price for her services — but thankfully for value-seekers, a series of reprints have made the ninja far less expensive than her bone-chewing brother.

#2: Shuko ($14)

Most people tend to associate combat in feudal Japan with little more than what is shown in ninja action films and samurai stories, but a brief bout of research proves that the era had a bevy of intriguing weapons that tend to be overshadowed by the more popular choices. From heavy blades and chains made for disarming opponents to weaponized tools and even primitive rocket launchers, those seeking to protect themselves or battle for others had a bevy of ways to do so, each with their own fighting styles and strengths.

In recent years, the “claws” from this period worn over the hands have seen a resurgence in popularity due to their unique aesthetics — and while the long and often poison-tipped Nekote finger blades typically comes to mind when the idea is discussed, it is another pair of hand gear (the climbing claws known as Shukou, which can double as weapons in emergencies) that have become notorious in the Magic multiverse, albeit for completely different reasons than their combat prowess.

At first glance, Shuko is uninteresting at best: while its Mana cost is low, the minor power boost is hardly worth noting, it does not provide any useful Keywords, and there are many other Artifacts with far more impressive abilities that can be found for the same cost (including Skullclamp , Sensei’s Divining Top , and the ever-useful Sol Ring ). While all of these factors are true, none of them are why players run the card to begin with. Rather, the draw of Shuko is its lack of an equip cost — which has a surprising amount of synergy with cards that care about arming themselves and their allies.

This flexibility lets the gloves serve as an easily reusable Flying and Haste enabler in decks helmed by Dalakos, Crafter of Wonders , a free minion generator when equipped to Valduk, Keeper of the Flame , and both a better stat booster and revival enabler with the effect of Koll, the Forgemaster among others. The card also synergizes very well with the new Valiant keyword featured in Bloomburrow, as equipping a Creature counts as targeting it with an ability (thus enabling cards like Whiskervale Forerunner to reliably activate their Valiant skills each turn).

Much like Dosan the Falling Leaf back in Champions, Shuko recently saw a price hike due to synergizing well with the infamous Nadu, Winged Wisdom : it enables players to constantly target the bird and his allies for no cost, which triggers Nadu’s effect multiple times every turn and quickly leads to an overwhelming Land and card draw advantage. Unlike its fellow Kamigawa entry, this card’s average price increase is much smaller than Dosan’s — but considering that Shuko was already one of Betrayers’ most expensive cards to begin with, this does little to diminish its value.

#1: Goryo’s Vengeance ($48)

If there is one mechanic that was particularly strange among the many offerings in Kamigawa, it would be the Arcane and Splice onto Arcane mechanics. First introduced in Champions, they were meant to introduce Subtypes onto Instants and Sorceries that could be searched and combined with ease. Unfortunately, this did not have the impact that some designers expected it to: the mechanic was deemed highly limiting in the way it forced players to only use cards from the set, and a majority of the spells themselves were average at best even when put together. The end result of this was yet another Keyword that was relegated to the dustbin of history.

That being said, it should be noted that not every one of these is entirely awful, and many of them (especially Kodama’s Reach ) continue to see play today, albeit more as strong standalone staples than in tandem with other Arcane or Splice spells. As Goryo’s Vengeance proves, though, this mediocre mechanic’s best releases are not only just as useful, but far more expensive.

Despite its reputation as the strongest Arcane Instant, the subtype has very little to do with this card’s place on the list. While it’s true that Goryo’s Vengeance has the impressive ability to splice its reanimation effect onto any other Arcane spell, the card is more commonly and effectively used as a one-time revival Instant than anything else, usually to sneak in another attack, activate an ability, or cheat the casting cost of a Legend by dumping it into the Graveyard and bringing it back.

This revival tactic is effective by itself, but can be even better when combined with a Commander like Obeka, Brute Chronologist or The Master, Multiplied , both of whom can bypass the Exile clause and turn Vengeance into a cheap resurrection with no strings attached. Even without these specifics, the card’s generic strength and lack of reprints have easily rendered it the most expensive card from the set — and one that is expected to hold the throne for quite some time.

Judging by the new ghost army and the Myojin of Night’s Reach’s ulterior motives, it would seem that Kamigawa’s conflict is not quite over, and in fact, that the true battle is only beginning. No matter who wins the three-way conflict between Lord Konda, O-Kagachi, and Hidetsugu’s Oni, it is clear that the Plane will never be the same – and thanks to KX News, you can learn exactly how it will change without having to step onto the battlefield yourself.

What are your favorite cards from Betrayers of Kamigawa? Do you think it lives up to the strange reputation that Champions is known for? Do you have a favorite target for Goryo’s Vengeance? And most importantly, why did MTG call the climbing claws “Shuko” when the actual term is “Shukou”? Be sure to let us know on Facebook!

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