Expecting the Neon Kamigawa

I am very much looking forward to Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty as I love ninjas living in a cyberpunk world. I wrote down some of my expectations or fantasies of what Neon Dynasty would look like.

Spirits can take a place of Artificial-Intelligence

Disembodied intelligences or digital ghosts often appear in cyberpunk works, such as Winter Mute in Neuromancer and Johnny Silverhand in Cyberpunk 2077.

Past Kamigawa sets have featured spirit and ghost, and when transplanting those atmospheres into the cyberpunk world, it would be appropriate to have the digital ghosts appear as spirits. In the Magic the Gathering universe, computers and networks are also presumed to be magic-powered and aether-mediated, so spirit appearing in network is natural. Now keyword Channel represents network-channel.

Spirits are positioned as guardians in Innistrad, and in Kamigawa they can be expected to play a similar role like Johnny Silverhand.

Spiritdroid {3}

Artifact Creature - Spirit

-- When people created magic-powered robots,
   spirits entered them and began to control them.
   It is said some of them are kami.

2/2

Autopilot Chariot  {4}

Artifact - Vehicle

{2}: Autopilot Chariot becomes an Spirit artifact creature until end of turn.
Crew 2

4/4

Ghost in the Firewall {W}

Creature - Spirit

Whenever you cast a Spirit or Arcane spell,
tap or untap target artifact or creature.

1/2

Seimei the Silver Finger {2}{W}{W}

Legendary creature - Spirit Advisor

Flying, Ward 4
Other creatures you control have Ward 1. 
Channel - {2}{W}, Discard Seimei the Silver Key:
Creatures you control gain Ward 4 until end of turn.

-- People call him the kami in the network.

2/4

Traditional Kamigawa still exists

Neon Kamigawa is explained as "place where tradition meets modernity". It is announced that the ninja, samurai and Mikado-like emperor will appear.

Nature and Traditional Things can be free from urbanization. Towabara Plain, Minamo Academy, Takenuma, Sokenzan Mountains and Jukai Forest still look the same as before -- just as Mt. Fuji or Horyuji Temple maintains its Edo-era appearance.

Ethnic diversity - Ethnic diversity is also an important element in cyberpunk, e.g. the Haitian community plays an important role in Cyberpunk 2077. Goblins, Soratami, foxes, rats, and snakes may live in the city or on the outskirts inside Kamigawa.

Shrine (Legendary Enchant) - Shrines is easily adopted to the Neon Dynasty because they have already reappeared in the Core Set 2021 and can be placed in various places in the cyberpunk world, such as parts of cities, building rooftops, city basements, and wild nature away from the city.

Myojin and Dragons (Major Kami gods) - In the Neon Dynasty, the veil between the material realm and the spirit realm could be penetrated by the aether network. Presence of Kami gods could be describes as three ways: pure magic, god-droid and the gods behind the network.

Screenname Night's Reach {3}{B}{B}

Legendary Creature - Spirit

{3}{B}{B}: put a divinity counter on Screenname Night's Reach.
Screenname Night's Reach has indestructible as long as it has a divinity counter on it.
Remove all divinity counters from Screenname Night's Reach:
Each opponent discards their hand.

5/2

Dragondroid {2}{R}{R}

Legendary Artifact Creature - Dragon Spirit

Haste, Flying
When Dragondroid becomes the target of a spell or ability, sacrifice it.
When Dragondroid dies, it deals 4 damage divided as
you choose among any number of targets.

-- It was only an illumination device for the festival,
   but suddenly it automatically moved and burned the enemy to the ground.

4/3

Samurai - As in Cyberpunk 2020/2077, the samurai can be a symbol of self-governance within a small community, even in a large, networked city. Of course, some of them will be serving the emperor as they once did.

City Sensei {1}{W}{W}

Creature - Human Samurai

First Strike, Bushido(1)
When City Sensei enters the battlefield,
put a +1/+1 counter on other target creature.

-- Their martial arts are taught in the dojo as traditional arts,
   but sometimes they can be useful.

2/2

Fallen Samurai {1}{B}

Creature - Human Samurai

Menace, Bushido(1)

-- The samurais are no longer the governor.
   However, they are still boss of the local community. [Note: This is Yakuza]

2/1

Soratami - It is clear from Tamiyo's existence that they continue to exist. I wish they still count the number of cards in hands for their flavor. This ability blends in naturally with cards in other sets.

Mind Hacking  {1}{U}{U}

Sorcery - Arcane

Gain control of target creature with mana value X or less,
where X is the number of cards in your hand.

-- Soratami did not like the culture of the Neon City,
   but was willing to use its technology.

Expecting a new keyword for Ninjas: Ambush

Ninjutsu is too complex for beginners. An improved mechanism is needed to simplify it, make connections to past Kamigawa sets, and make it usable in future sets.

Once I imagined to solve this problem by a new keyword -- that is Ambush (Return a land you control to its owner's hand: Put this card onto the battlefield). The land-creature swap is easy to understand and integrates the former Soratami abilities, representing the ninja flavor (hiding in the ground) but also allowing for future use by non-ninjas. This could be a lesser version of Flash. This keyword could be extended for other than Creatures.

Eye-jacker {2}{U}

Creature - Ninja Rogue

Ambush {1}{U} (Return a land you control to its owner's hand:
               Put this card onto the battlefield).
When Eye-jacker enters the battlefield, target creature has
"Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, you may draw a card."
until end of turn.

2/2

Back Street Ambusher {2}{B}

Creature - Rat Assassin Ninja

Ambush {1}{B}{B} (Return a land you control to its owner's hand:
                  Put this card onto the battlefield).
When Ninja Assassin has ambushed,
target creature an opponent controls gets -3/-3 until end of turn.

3/2

Sewer Guardian {1}{U}

Creature - Mutant Ninja Turtle

Ambush {U}{U} (Return a land you control to its owner's hand:
               Put this card onto the battlefield).
Other Ninjas, Assassins and Scouts you control get +0/+1.

-- A rat ninja have trained mutant turtles lived in the city sewer.

1/3

Ninjas is better to be a superset of Scout, Assassin and Rogue

In past Kamigawa sets, some mechanisms were isolated to (i.e. lacked synergy with) mechanisms appearing in other sets. Ninja and Bushido are examples of this. To solve this problem, I expect that set-specific mechanisms is designed as special cases of general mechanisms -- In the Neon Kamigawa, Ninjas can be a superset of Scout, Assassin and Rogue (in MtG spies are often given Rogue subtype such as Dewdrop Spy or Balustrade Spy). You know, Zareth San, the Trickster is a Rogue and have almost-Ninjutsu ability.

In the same context, Samurai can be a superset of Warrior, Soldier and Archer.

Grappling Hook {2}

Artifact - Equipment

Equipped creature gets +1/+1.
As long as equipped creature is Ninja, Assassin or Rogue,
it can't be blocked by creatures with power 2 or less.
As long as equipped creature is Ninja or Scout, it has Reach.
Equip {1}​

Samurais' Assault  {2}{R}

Instant

Attacking creatures get +2/+0 until end of turn.
Samurais and Soldiers you control get +0/+2 until end of turn.
Samurais, Warriors and Archers you control gain first strike until end of turn.

The flavors of the past are written in the Records of Ancient Matters.

If a mechanism cannot reproduce a card from the past, it can still preserve the past in its flavor text. It can be used for describing any other Japanese flavor.

Divination  {2}{U}

Sorcery

Draw two cards.

-- The soratami counseled what was needed for a stable rule to the emperor.
   - Record of Ancient Matters

Origami Drone  {1}

Artifact Creature - Spirit

Defender
As long as you control Wizard, Origami Drone loses defender and gains flying.

-- According to the Record of Ancient Matters, wizards changed paper into workers.
   Now it is connected to the network. [Note: this refers legend of "Shikigami"]

1/1