Also, Jinny boy is here.

I like how they developed a blue-black protagonist.

I like the full art of Kyodai, but the cropped version I've seen on the card is a bad crop. I assumed that art was of Tameshi, even though he dies early on here, but someone suggested that's Jin-Gitaxias in disguise.

I really like the idea of a noise suppressor that is shaped like a fan, as it mirrors the use of a fan to have more private conversations.

Thoughts on what that device does?

So, it looks like we're getting another beat in the buildup to Phyrexia, with Tezzeret and Jin-Gitaxias involved here, and more "Front and center" than Vorinclex showing up in Kaldheim.

I like Kaito, he very much feels like they were trying to recapture how Toshiro Umezawa was if not strictly the first protagonist at least the first one pushed as such without reservation, and that they kind of hit the mark, at least with what we've seen so far.

I know the obvious answer is "he didn't exist yet" but it's kind of funny that Kaito was a planeswalker during War of the Spark but missed out on it, considering that The Wanderer was there.

Maybe he was there. But he's a really good ninja.

Not that good if he didn't see Tezz. Though, am I stupid or does this represent something of a time skip? Tezz kidnapped the Emperor ten years ago, and presumably would have had the Planar Bridge and been in Phyrexia's pocket to do it, suggesting Neon Dynasty is ten years after NPH and possibly War of the Spark. So Kaito was a headstrong kid not a fledged 'walker when War happened?

Ninja are known for being sneaky, not for having good spot checks.

That was kind of weird, but the Scars-era goblins are my favorite gobos so I let it slide. I do wonder if they worked backwards from what a New Phyrexia goblin might look like...

Tezzeret was never on Ravnica during war. He stayed in Amonkhet holding the door open.

Timeline is a little tricky but;
1) I think Tezzeret was setting up the Infinite Consortium at the time. Roughly going back, its been about a year or two since War of the Spark, the gatewatch had been having their adventure for about year or two (Zendikar 2, Kaladesh and Ixalan/Dominaria took place over several months, Innistrad I believe was a week or two and then Amonkhet was like two days) and the gatewatch formed around 2 years after the Eldrazi had been set free. This roughly places AoA 5-6 years from the present and 5-4 years after the Emperor vanished.

2) As said its been roughly one or two years since War of the Spark so likely Kaito didn't ignite his spark until after the war.

Apparently the set is in the near future, but regardless as Bari said Tezzeret wasn't on Ravnica while Kaito would hypothetically be there and trapped.

Getting stories everyday yeah!

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/a ... 2022-01-24

Nashi is a cute!

It's funny how Kaito was so diplomatic with the nezumi and then immediately fights Tamiyo. Very comic book "We just met so we have to fight."

I don't know how I feel about Jin-Gitaxias's dialog. It kind of feels overdone but it's also reasonable.

Tamiyo only knew one thing about Kaito: He's looking for her kid from fishy places. That auto-creates diplomacy hard mode.

It's a bit sad that there isn't more meandering in the story to more flesh out the world (considering it's about finding lost and hidden people and things: The Wanderer, Nashi, the Reality Chip). Granted, the original Kamigawa is probably one of the few times meandering worked out well in a story construction sense (definitely didn't work as well for the previous couple of blocks to it). This cutting straight to answers messes up that slow revelation of what's going on that I associate with scifi/fantasy near-time stories (Like Firefly/Serenity, classic dystopian stories, even Harry Potter, Tron or Fruits Basket). I don't think this would fly though considering that WotC's getting the whole story out before the proper set spoiler season.

They've also been doing 5 mainline stories and 5 side stories for each set. The pacing here would fit that. It would mean the side stories would carry more of the weight for expanding the world, which I am okay with since I prefer the smaller vignettes. (All the way back to the vignettes of Kamigawa then Ravnica.)

That does make me wonder how the side stories will be implemented. Its possible they won't release a new story every day but the only place left would be after the main story concluded at this rate.

I assume it'll be after/during the set's release. I think publishing the mainline stories now is about addressing people's concerns about the cards spoiling all the story first. The side stories wouldn't be affected by that so much.

This has been a cool story so far. I like Kaito as a protagonist, and I like how they're weaving the plot together by making connections to existing stories and characters. Like, Tezzeret is helping Jin-Gitaxias on Kamigawa. What happens when Kaito investigates Tezzeret? Well of course he finds out about what Tezzeret did on Kamigawa in Agents of Artifice. And of course that leads him to Nashi, which leads him to Tamiyo, so that team-up actually feels natural unlike most planeswalker team-ups. Also, Kaito has a clear goal and motivations that aren't just "save the world" which is refreshing.

I'm excited to see where this Phyrexian buildup is leading, but I'm also just excited to see what it means for this story, since Jin-Gitaxias is playing a much more central role than Vorinclex did.

Also, the timeline on the "kidnapping" does imply that Tezzeret was working for both Bolas and Phyrexia at the same time, which is interesting, and also totally something Tezzeret would do. I like the idea that he'd rather play henchman so he can reap the rewards and then slink away when the Big Bad inevitably fails.