Atsushi, the Blazing Sky – Neon Dynasty
Date Reviewed: December 21, 2022
Ratings:
Constructed: 4.50
Casual: 5.00
Limited: 5.00
Multiplayer: 3.75
Commander [EDH]: 4.25
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale: 1 is bad; 3 is average; 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
David
Fanany
Player
since
1995
In the lore, Atsushi is a reincarnation of Champions of Kamigawa‘s Ryusei – an evolved guardian of the mountains for a new era. And I’d say that’s essentially the role he plays in-game, too. I’m perhaps biased because of his performances in my cube and casual decks, which have been pretty outstanding. But that death trigger is an excellent piece of insurance in numerous settings; and sitting at a cost where he can be either the highly-efficient top end of an aggro deck or the highly-efficient beginning of a midrange advantage-fest is a good place to be. We didn’t get that very often in mono-red, either, until very recently. The only wrinkle is that black has been getting more spells that exile recently, to go along with white’s; but if opponents don’t have any on hand, or they’re relying on combat or damage, they’re going to have a very bad time.
Constructed: 4.5
Casual: 5
Limited: 5
Multiplayer: 4
Commander: 4.5
This card was not on my Top 10 list, but I did have it on the long list for consideration.
Out of the new Kamigawa spirit dragons, Atsushi got the most early excitement for being an efficient, cheap threat able to swoop early and often and replacing itself after it dies; a functional “draw two” or creating three Treasures is a good compensation if they take out your dragon, and Atsushi is an aggressive and efficient body all the same. Being small doesn’t matter as much when you can still get mileage out of its efficiency, and it’s a worthy top 10 inclusion for continuing to show how swooping is, has been, and always will be bad.
Constructed: 4.5
Casual: 5
Limited: 5
Multiplayer: 3.5 (not bad, but he doesn’t scale particularly well to multiplayer)
Commander: 4
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