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Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty is one of the most well-receivedMagic: The Gatheringsets in some time. From a fantastic limited environment to some of the biggest story moments from Magic’s entire history, the plane of Kamigawa hadn’t been visited in over a decade, and came make back with a fantastic impact.
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Kamigawa islargely inspired by Japan, and that influence remains. While the original Kamigawa block was more feudal,Neon Dynasty is a futuristic cyberpunkversion of it set the current modern-day version of the plane. There are multiple factions, from those embracing the future to street-racing gangs, Kamigawa and its story has a lot going on.
When We Were Young
The story of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty begins with a flashback to when thefuture Planeswalkers Kaito Shizuki and The Wandererwere children in the Imperial Palace of Eiganjo. Kaito ran into the Wanderer while running freely, andthe two became friends. As it turned out, the Wanderer was actually theEmperor of Kamigawa. They became training partners, and grew to be best friends as they got older.
In their later years, tragedy struck. While wandering around Eiganjo, Kaito, heard a commotion inKyodai’s (the guardian spirit of Kamigawa bound to The Wanderer)chamber. He rushed in to see a mysterious man -the Planeswalker Tezzeret. He had come to test theReality Chip, a powerful artifact, and see if it could control Kyodai.
However, the Reality Chip was unstable, and this caused theWanderer’s Planeswalker spark to ignite. Due to the Reality Chip,her spark itself was unstableand made it near-impossible to control when she would planeswalk. By the time Kaito reached the chamber, her spark had already pulled her away.
Tezzeret fleed the scene as Kaito attempted to chase after him and capture him. However, he managed to use his magic to counteract any moves Kaito threw at him, and escaped. Kaito returned to Kyodai’s chamber where he tried to tell The Wanderer’s aide, Light-Paws, what happened. However, Light-Paws believed Tezzeret to bea Futurist, those who push the boundaries of what technology could do. Kaito tried to reason with them and tell them that Tezzeret wasn’t someone from Kamigawa, but he was largely ignored.
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Frustrated, Kaito leaves the room and decided to leave Eiganjo permanently. He gathers his things and leaves the Palace walls, in search of both Tezzeret and his lost friend.
Tameshi’s Betrayal
The story fast-forwards to ten years later and enters the modern day. Kaito has a new companion, thekami Himotothat lives inside a tanuki drone. As Himoto is thekami of the Spark, Kaito’sPlaneswalker spark had ignited, and Himoto helped him to identify Tezzeret as a Planeswalker.
He meets up with hissister Eiko, who had remained at Eiganjo as an imperial training to be akami diplomat, the two having to meet in secret. She tells him about the Asari Uprisers, a group looking to overthrow the current leaders of the plane. Kaito isn’t too worried about this information, but Eiko tells him that his best friend Tameshi had been performing illegal experiments and wasseen with a man with a metal armthat Kaito knew was Tezzeret.
This fact enraged him, but he knows that Eiko would have no reason to lie to him. He takes to spying on Tameshi, and it becomes abundantly clear that he was hiding something from Kaito. Kaito manages to sneak into Tameshi’s workspace and finds a message that was given to Tameshi that was set up for that night in the Undercity - a location where no legal dealings would be occurring.
Kaito travels to the Undercity and sends his tanuki to spy in the warehouse, and Kaito is able to see what she sees. Scattered all over was lab equipment for experiments, of which were unlike anything from Kamigawa. While spying, Kaito hears voices entering. Looking over to the source he sees a giant metallic creature -the Phyrexian Praetor Jin-Gitaxias.
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Jin-Gitaxias orders his henchmen to load crates, and Kaito can hear screaming coming from them,kami are inside of them. The henchmen ignite the lab to destroy all the evidence there and leave. In a hurry, Kaito rushes in to try and save some evidence, but hears a noise from one of the corners - the sound of a dying Tameshi.
Feeling regret for his actions,Tameshi helps identify the man with the metal arm to Kaito, giving him the name “Tezzeret” with his last breath. In tears, Kaito takes the keycard to Tameshi’s lab and leaves the scene.
The Reality Heist
Now with the knowledge of who the man with the metal arm is, Kaito tries to search for any information on him. However,Tezzeret doesn’t appear in any of the archives in Kamigawa’s libraries. Luckily, a historian tells Kaito about an attack on a nezumi village that was orchestrated by Tezzeret. There was a living survivor of the attack, anezumi named Nashi.
With a lead, Kaito leaves to search for Nashi. He tries to get information from a nezumi village, but due to their distrust of outsiders, they are of no help. Not deterred, Kaito continues the search that leads him tothe Otawararegion of Kamigawa where he believes Nashi is currently living. While trying to find Nashi’s home, he is confronted bya soratami womanwho tells her to quit his search. Kaito refuses and the two engage in brief combat until he is paralyzed by one of her spells.
Kaito convinces her that he is not trying to hurt Nashi, and the mention of Tezzeret stops the soratami. The two introduce themselves to each other, with the soratamiwoman identifying herself asthe Planeswalker Tamiyo.
Tamiyo tells Kaito everything that happened with Nashi and Tezzeret’s plans for the Reality Chip, and how it messed up a Planeswalker she only knew as the Wanderer. She suggests that because the Reality Chip fractured her spark, it could be the key to fixing it.
To find more answers, Kaito leaves and goes to Tameshi’s lab. Here, he finds the Reality Chip and takes it. When trying to leave, he was stopped bythesudden appearance of Jin-Gitaxias. He sends his henchmen to attack Kaito. He fights them off, but is quickly outnumbered and it forced to flee, but manages to escape with the Reality Chip.
Being chased by a giant mechanical dragon, Kaito prepares to use the Reality Chip on it until there is a sudden slash that takes the dragon out of the fight. The Wanderer has re-appeared, the two sharing a look, reunited after so long. They are still in danger, and Tamiyo uses a spell to turn them invisible to allow them to escape, telling them their reunion could wait.
Reunited At Last
The trio of Planeswalkers flees back to Eiganjo, where the Emperor enters Kyodai’s temple, hardly paying attention to Kaito. There was a cry from inside and Kaito enters, fearing that what hadhappened ten years ago with Tezzeretwas happening again.
However, it was simply the Wanderer and Kyodai finally reunited. However, both are in pain, as the Wanderer is using much of her focus and energy on keeping herself on the Plane.
The Wanderer is given the Reality Chip as it connects to her hand, which tethers her wayward spark to Kamigawa. By connecting it, the Wanderersuddenly sees visions of Jin-Gitaxias,and him tellingRisona, the leader of the Asari Uprisersof the Wanderer’s return to Kamigawa, so they canattack Eiganjo before they have time to prepare.
Before moving forward, Kaito and the Wanderer share a moment, and the Wanderer tells him she knew he was searching for her. She also tells him that she was trying to find Kaito as well, being only a step behind him. The two share a laugh as the tension from before fades away.
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The Wanderer says the best thing to do isstay at Eiganjoto prepare for the Asari Uprisers. Kaito and Tamiyo leave for Tameshi’s lab to destroy it before Jin-Gitaxias can continue his plans. However, the mission was questionably easy, and when they made it into the lab, all the kami that were being held captive were gone. Their arrival was expected, andboth Tezzeret and Jin-Gitaxias were ready for them.
Thetwo Planeswalkers are quickly defeated. Luckily, the Wanderer sees a vision of Kaito and Tamiyo’s failure, and with all her might she focuses her spark on where they are being held. She appears in a flash of light and, with a swing of her blade, Jin-Gitaxias is taken out. She frees the Planeswalkers as they prepare to fight Jin-Gitaxias' henchmen.
Finale
Tamiyo manages to subdue Tezzeretwith one of her spells, as Kaito and the Wanderer handle Jin-Gitaxias' henchmen. They succeed in defeating them, and only the four Planeswalkers remain standing. The Wanderer says that they should take Tezzeret to Kyodai to answer for his crimes, but Tezzeret uses his powers on the Reality Chip to send pain through the Wanderer’s body. She almost planeswalks away before being stopped by Kyodai, who tells herEiganjo is under siege.
Kaito manages to knock Tezzeret out by throwing crates at him.The Wanderer surrenders the Reality Chipto Tamiyowho attaches it to herself to take control of a mech that would take them back to Eiganjo, where the Asari Uprisers are already breaking through the gates.
Tezzeret suddenly awakes and frees himself from the Planeswalkers. He jumps off the mech as Tamiyo loses control of it, and it hurls towards the ground. The Wanderer jumps off before it crashes, and rushes towards Kyodai’s chamber, chasing Risona. Tamiyo and Kaito escape from the rubble of the crash, seeing that Tezzeret is chasing after the Wanderer.
Kaito and Tamiyo chase after Tezzeret, andhe notices that Tamiyo has the Reality Chip. He manages to hit Tamiyo to make her drop one of her magical scrolls before she can use its spell, but is stopped from further offense when Kaito attacks. Kaito begins to fight him with his fists.It appears that Tezzeret is winning the fight, until suddenly a dagger is plunged into his leg by none other than Kaito’s sister, Eiko.
Tamiyo paralyzes Tezzeret yet again, but before Kaito could begin getting his cell ready, Tezzeret manages to manipulate the Reality Chipo to break free.Tezzeret is able to grab Tamiyo and open a portal and leave through it with Tamiyo captured, evading Kaito.
Risona and the Wanderer fight inside Eiganjo. Risona tells the Wanderer how she abandoned her people while the Wanderer acts only defensively in combat, never striking. Risona is readying a big strike and the Wanderer is preparing her first real strike back whenRisona is suddenly struck in the headwith a rock and knocked out cold. The assailant is revealed to be Kaito, who tells the Wanderer he was out of smoke bombs and that he found it on the way in. They share a quiet stare before they break into laughter, something the Wanderer hadn’t allowed herself to do in years.
Epilogue
With the Asari Uprising stopped, theWanderer feels her spark starting to pull her away. Before that happens, she tells Kaito to findLight-Paws - a kitsune that acted as a mentor during the Wanderer’s youth. The Wanderer names Light-Paws regent, acting as Kamigawa’s emperor while the Wanderer is away with Kyodai’s blessing. The Wanderer shares one final look at Kaito with a smile, before she is pulled away once more.
There is no sign of Jin-Gitaxias back at the compound where the Wanderer had struck him. Kaito knows that Jin-Gitaxias was out there somewhere, along with Tezzeret and Tamiyo. Kaito briefly visits Tamiyo’s home where he promises Nashi that he’ll find Tamiyo, and Nashi says that when he’s of age he’ll join the search as well. Kaito says goodbye to Eiko, andleaves Kamigawato search for Tamiyo and the Wanderer and bring them back home.
Unfortunately, Tezzeret had taken Tamiyo back to New Phyrexia, where Jin-Gitaxias had used his research on the kami tocompleat Tamiyo, turning her into a Phyrexian, the first time a Planeswalker had ever successfully been compleated. Tezzeret sees this and is unsettled bythe sight of a Phyrexian Planeswalker.
Tamiyo awakes, her mind corrupted to serve Phyrexia’s best interests. She always wanted to protect her family before compleation, and now Phyrexia was her family, and she’d do anything for it.
