Magic: The Gathering Invites Fans into the World of Kamigawa with a New Visual Novel

Wizards of the Coast

This past weekend brought the release of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, the newest expansion for Magic: The Gathering. These new cards will take players to a setting inspired by Japanese folklore, a plane last visited nearly 20 years ago in the real world and over 1,200 years in the Magic story line. Much has changed since the original Kamigawa block, and the plane is now steeped in futuristic technology and vibrant lighting. It’s cyberpunk, only instead of a grim dystopia, it presents a brighter, more optimistic take on the genre. While the original block was about a war between mortals and kami (the spirits or gods worshiped in the Shinto religion), now the two live together in harmony. It’s a world many players, including me, wouldn’t mind stepping into or exchanging the real world for entirely. Anticipating this, the team at Wizards of the Coast enlisted YRS TRULY to develop a visual novel based on the setting, titled—appropriately enough—Kamigawa: A Visual Novel.

Players of this visual novel take on the role of an Imperial samurai tasked with recovering a stolen kami. This mission that will take them to Sokenzan-shi, a resilient city of builders and artisans built into the largest mountains of Kamigawa. The characters appear in an anime style familiar to visual novel fans, and the most enfranchised fans of Magic: The Gathering can look forward to recognizing several prominent Magic influencers and content creators who have been rendered into the setting among these characters.

I’m looking forward to this game because it connects my love of Magic, visual novels, and the fact that we’re finally going back to a world whose origins predate my involvement as a player. Putting content creators into the lore is a fun tribute to the culture surrounding the hobby.