Betrayers of Kamigawa
From MTG Salvation Wiki
- For the accompanying novel to Betrayers of Kamigawa, see Heretic: Betrayers of Kamigawa.
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| Symbol | 
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| Design Team | Mike Elliott (lead) Randy Buehler | |
| Development Team | Henry Stern, Devin Low, Randy Buehler, Paul Sottosanti, Matt Place | |
| Release Date | February 4, 2005 | |
| Mechanics | Ninja, Ki counters | |
| Keywords/ Ability words | Ninjutsu, Offering | |
| Size | 165 (55 Common 55 Uncommon 55 Rare) | |
| Expansion Code | BOK | |
| Development Codename | Wind | |
| Sets in Kamigawa block | ||
| Champions of Kamigawa | Betrayers of Kamigawa | Saviors of Kamigawa |
| Magic: The Gathering Chronology | ||
| Unhinged | Betrayers of Kamigawa | Saviors of Kamigawa |
Betrayers of Kamigawa is the thirty-fifth Magic expansion, released in February 2005 as the second set in the Kamigawa block.
Contents |
[edit] Set details
The set introduced the Ninjutsu and Offering keywords.
[edit] Cycles
Betrayers of Kamigawa has eight cycles:
- Patrons - Patrons are rare legendary spirit creatures that have creature offerings. For example, Patron of the Orochi has snake offering, which allows the controller to sacrifice a snake in order to play the card as an instant and pay the difference in mana cost of the card and the sacrificed snake. Patron of the Kitsune has fox offering and so forth. Each patron has an ability. The patrons are: Patron of the Orochi, Patron of the Kitsune, Patron of the Akki, Patron of the Moon, and Patron of the Nezumi.
- Alternate cost splice cards - a cycle of common instants that can be spliced onto arcane by paying a non-mana splice cost: Hundred-Talon Strike, Veil of Secrecy, Horobi's Whisper, Torrent of Stone and Roar of Jukai.
- Baku - a cycle of common spirits that gain ki counters whenever their controller plays a spirit or arcane spell. These counters can then be removed for an ability: Waxmane Baku, Quillmane Baku, Skullmane Baku, Blademane Baku and Petalmane Baku.
- Flip cards- cycle of uncommon 1CC 2/2 human creatures that acquire ki counters whenever a spirit or arcane spell is played and may be flipped at end of turn once they have at least 2 ki counters on them. Their flipped forms are all legendary spirits with activated abilities that require removing their ki counters: Faithful Squire, Callow Jushi, Hired Muscle, Cunning Bandit and Budoka Pupil.
- Genju - A cycle of auras that can temporarily turn the land they enchant into a creature for
. If the enchanted land goes to the graveyard, the enchantment is returned from the graveyard to the owner's hand: Genju of the Cedars, Genju of the Falls, Genju of the Fens, Genju of the Fields, Genju of the Realm, and Genju of the Spires.
- One-mana spirits - a cycle of common 1/1 spirits costing one coloured mana that could sacrificed for an ability: Kami of False Hope, Teardrop Kami, Bile Urchin, Frostling and Child of Thorns.
- "Remove from the game" spells - An uncommon cycle of spells that removed a target card from the game, then also removed all other copies of the card in its controller's graveyard, hand and library from the game. They were all reprints from Urza's Destiny: Scour, Quash, Eradicate, Sowing Salt and Splinter.
- Shoals - Arcane instants which costs
and 2 of the appropriate mana. A cycle of Pitch Spells meaning that the player may remove a card of the appropriate color with converted mana cost of X in his or her hand from the game rather than pay . Also, each art has fish in it: Blazing Shoal, Disrupting Shoal, Nourishing Shoal, Shining Shoal, and Sickening Shoal.
[edit] Notable cards
Umezawa's Jitte is arguably the most powerful card that has ever been included in a preconstructed deck (Rats' Nest theme deck). Other cards that saw some degree of constructed play include Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni, Tendo Ice Bridge, Shining Shoal, Sickening Shoal, Threads of Disloyalty, Ninja of the Deep Hours and Flames of the Blood Hand.
[edit] Theme decks
The preconstructed theme decks are:
| Theme deck name | |||||
| White | Blue | Black | Red | Green | |
| Dark Devotion | ■ | ■ | |||
| Ninjutsu | ■ | ||||
| Rats' Nest | ■ | ||||
| Spiritcraft | □ | ■ | |||
[edit] Reprinted cards
The following cards have been reprinted from previous sets and included in Betrayers of Kamigawa.
- The "Lobotomy" cycle (Scour, Quash, Eradicate, Sowing Salt and Splinter) — were last seen in Urza's Destiny. Per Mark Rosewater, "They were chosen for repeats as their ability to remove threats from the game seemed like a good answer to a number of issues in Standard at the time (Eternal Witness, Kokousho, Goblin Charbelcher, Cloudpost, etc.)."
- Phantom Wings — was last seen in Weatherlight.
[edit] Functional reprints
Betrayers of Kamigawa has 2 functional reprints:
- Gnarled Mass is a functional reprint of Trained Armodon from 8th Edition, save for creature type.
- Goblin Cohort is a functional reprint of Mogg Conscripts from Tempest, save for creature type.
[edit] External links
Official Betrayers of Kamigawa Information Product Page — Magic: The Gathering
