What Would You Expect From a Return to Kamigawa?
General forum
Posted on June 10, 2016, 4:47 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
WotC currently has no plans to revisits the plane of Kamigawa, because its block was poorly-received at the time that it was released. However, over a decade has passed since that block was released (wow, that makes me feel old), so I wonder if nostalgia has been kind to it. WotC is certainly aware that there are a number of players who are fond of that plane and would like to revisit it, as Mark Rosewater recently conducted a poll of which old plane players would like to revisit, and Kamigawa was second only to Innistrad, and WotC has now returned to that plane, so they must at least be considering the possibility of returning to Kamigawa.
Therefore, I wish to ask the users of this forum what expectations they would have for a return to Kamigawa, if such a return were ever to occur; how would you fix the mistakes of the Kamigawa block and make it a more memorable and exciting place?
I have a number of issues that I would address, and I shall list them here.
Fix the focus on legendary creatures
I very much liked the Kamigawa block's strong focus on legendary creatures, since they are some of my favorite cards in the game; however, there were simply too many legendary creatures in the block, which inevitably meant that some of them would be poorly-designed and also made them feel less special. For a potential return to Kamigawa, I would retain the focus on legendary creatures, but make it less extreme, so that legendary creature would retain their feeling of power and awe.
Make creature types other than spirits important
Spirits are an important part of the world of Kamigawa; I understand that, but the focus on them was so great that other creature types felt overshadowed, so I would therefore ensure that other creature types received some focus, as well.
Have more ninjas
Ninjas are one of the best-liked aspects of the block, since they are great for enabling combat tricks, but only one set of the block contained them, so I would definitely have them be given a prominent focus in any return to Kamigawa.
Have more multicolored cards
The Kamigawa block contained only two multicolored cards, one of which was terribly expensive, so I would have a greater number of multicolored cards to appeal to players whoa re fond of such cards, such as myself. As a side note, I find it to be ridiculous that there was no red/white samurai or black/blue ninja in the block (although there was a black/blue ninja in the second Planechase set, but that was many years after the Kamigawa block), so I would definitely have both of those in a return to that plane.
Have less overcosted/underpowered cards
Finally, there were simply too many cards in the Kamigawa block that were either too expensive for what they did or not sufficiently powerful for their mana costs, with one of the best examples being Takeno's Cavalry (and some of the equipment and other artifacts were overcosted/underpowered, as well), so I would have fewer of cards akin to it and more akin to Umezawa's Jitte, Sensei's Divining Top, or Gifts Ungiven, or, if those cards are too powerful, the five legendary dragons, Tenza, Godo's Maul, or Konda's Banner.
What does everyone else say about this? What would you expect from a return to Kamigawa, and how would you improve upon the original block? I eagerly await your responses.
JANKYARD_DOG says... #3
After the situation on Innistrad is resolved, Tamiyo may return to Kamigawa for some reason. If I remember correctly from this point on we are supposed to get 'New plane block (The first being Kaladesh) then a 'Revisit block (possibly being Kamigawa being 2nd on the list as you say). Tamiyo's appearance in Innistrad could be a 'clue' to that.
I wasn't playing in the time of Kamigawa but I think the Flip function should not return. If they are going to do a transformation I say it should be like in Khans where a different version of the character appears in the next set. That's my $0.02 anyway.
June 10, 2016 5:13 p.m.
I think the easiest way to fix the focus on the legends would be to, yes, lower the number so as to eliminate worthless ones, but replace those removed creatures with legendary-directed spells and artifacts. There were a number of good noncreatures that were either legendary themselves or directly affected legendaries, but I think there should be more of them, certainly enough to balance with the amount of legendary creatures that are contained there. Even creatures who aren't legendary but do things for or relating to legendaries would be awesome too.
June 10, 2016 5:33 p.m.
RoarMaster says... #5
Part of the issue with too many legendaries was that they were still labouring under the old legend rule. Now that that is changed it should help balance things out a little. I dont think they should play too much into cards that effect legendaries though, as they tend to be useless or underpowered unless you manage to draw/play a legendary for them. Same way that WotC says Threshold is either "Too good or too bad". But honestly I thought the legendary tilt to the block was rather "Meh' in general and I wouldnt mind them removing that focus entirely.
Bring back the spirit tribal! So many spirits in that block, yet soo very very few good ones. It kind of reminded me of Theros block 'Here is that enchantment matters set you guys were waiting for forever! But no, we are not going to print (M)any good/playable cards for you to use, Hahahaa, suckers!'
MOAR NINJAS!
June 10, 2016 6:49 p.m.
I think your suggestions are SPOT ON DemonDragonJ ! Granted there were FEW ninja but at least they were all fairly good imo and ninjistu is fun (just built my first ninja deck Hey Look Listen NINJAS!
I would want to see Legendary Enchantments like Meishin, the Mind Cage ... something tough but not impossible to play that really has a rewarding effect that doesnt just outright win you the game on its own.
June 11, 2016 11:25 a.m.
Just a couple of points:If we return to Kamigawa, we it's unlikely that we'll see Ninjutsu as a returning mechanic, as MaRo states that it has a storm scale of 6 out of 10. However, it's more likely in Kamigawa.
And RoarMaster, Wizards stated from the very announcement that it wasn't enchantments matter, but Greek mythology matters. It just happened to have an enchantment theme.
June 11, 2016 2 p.m.
Kamigawa was a failure and if they would return they would have to change too much, making kamigawalovers mad that they changed it and the newer players like 'wtf is this?'. I know that they'd rather make a new japanese historical set instead of returning to Kamigawa.Also, please don't talk about Legendary creatures like that. As maro said quite fittingly "if your theme is not at common it's not your theme'. Legendare creatures are a really really weird theme and I don't see them ever returning hard to it.WOTC know what they're doing so I wouldn't hold my hopes up if I were you. Ninjas can come back in an original world
June 11, 2016 2:15 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #10
Lhurgyof, why are you saying that? This thread is to discuss how to improve Kamigawa, not to make negative comments that do not contribute to the discussion.
Mj3913, yes, I believe that that would be the best possible way to return to Kamigawa, if WotC ever chose to do so.
ifired, I acknowledged that a return to Kamigawa is unlikely, but this thread is purely hypothetical, so I believe that it is unnecessary to be so negative about the subject. Also, I do not see why the theme for a set needs to be the common level; what is so important about commons?
June 11, 2016 5:28 p.m.
Postmortal_Pop says... #11
Kamigawa was where I got my start and I loved it! The strange mechanics the amazing ideas, all of it was fun!
If a return were to happen I would very that spirits wouldn't be half of the cards. The heavy spirit flavor was because of the story.
What I would like to see is a kamigawa civil war, similar to the clash that ended the feudal Japan. Imagine, samurai versus peasant folk, spirits working as Lord for the tribes that appear them. Ninja could come back as a small fraction and maybe even bring some synergy with other tribes.
I agree though, the legend focus would have to change, not disappear, but change. Maybe have a lot of legendary but not 100% of the rares.
A higher variety of arcane spells would be amazing, there were so many cool interactions for splice that just got missed.
I agree that the flip card should also be improved upon, but we shouldn't loose them. Getting to be the battle that makes a creature into a legend is the kind of flavor magic thrives on.
Lastly, a nezumi planeswalker, i find shunting endearing about the ratfolk of the lands.
June 12, 2016 1:06 a.m.
DemonDragonJ: Well, the original Kamigawa had terrible cards, terrible mechanics and (in my opinion) a terrible setting. It bombed and Wizards won't revisit it.
At least I hope not.
June 13, 2016 1:52 a.m.
DemonDragonJ, because a theme has to be visible to everyone, not just the ones buying a boosterbox. If you open a Dragons of Tarkir booster, without reading the name of the booster, you will quickly find out it's a dragon set because the asfan of dragonrelated cards is quite high. Legendary has the problem that it has a major downside and cards that care about it are rather difficult to make interestingly. If you slap 'dragon' on a card, even just a flying creature, it's more interesting. Let's say "Serra dragon" for 
with creaturetype Dragon and "Flying, Vigilance". That makes the card more interesting for a lot of players. "Legendary" on the other hand makes people groan. Let's make the above mentioned card legendary and people won't like it because why make a card less strong? Legendary has been a burden for years
June 13, 2016 3:36 a.m.
Postmortal_Pop, a big problem of Kamigawa was that the block was parasitic as fuck. Splice onto Arcane cares about arcane spells and where can you find them? Only in Kamigawa. The other mechanics aren't as obvious but Kamigawa would need a huge reworking before being a world worth returning to and I don't see or want that ever happening. I'd rather they try anew with all the experience they have and make a great Japanese mythology set
June 13, 2016 3:39 a.m.
The bigger problem of Splice is simply this: it's not cost effective for what you get. Most splice costs aren't that much cheaper, and most arcane spells themselves aren't cheap enough for what they do.
Lorewise, arcane spells are meant to be the magic of spirits (except Spirit is a Creature type, so they couldn't just plaster it on instants and sorceries), which yes, they could put in other blocks, but they'd feel it would be out of place.
I imagine a return to the block would not include many of the previous mechanics, if any at all. I could see Bushido and Ninjutsu returning (well, unless they give those tribes new mechanics, which is also possible).
June 13, 2016 7:25 a.m.
RoarMaster says... #16
Guftders Im getting my info from Maro's blogatog, where multiple times he mentions that it was meant to be an enchantment set. And it def failed as an enchantment set.
RegisteredDecksOffender says... #2
I like everything you suggested. Subbing out of curiosity for other people's ideas.
June 10, 2016 4:55 p.m.