Boseiju, Who Endures – Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty
Date Reviewed: February 8, 2022
Ratings:
Constructed: 4.25
Casual: 3.67
Limited: 4.00
Multiplayer: 3.67
Commander [EDH]: 3.83
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
There’s probably some kind of metaphor for Magic as a whole in this card, with the ancient tree growing amongst the shiny new structures which make a major contrast to it. Regardless of that, I think Boseiju, Who Endures deserves all the early attention it’s been getting. In constructed formats and sometimes even limited formats, a Naturalize analogue isn’t worth devoting space to in your maindeck. When you have one that can also be a land – that doesn’t even enter tapped – it takes away a lot of the opportunity cost. While the opponent gets a card to replace it, and has a lot of choice as to what that card is in bigger formats, they can’t guarantee that will always impact on the game state as much as the thing they lost. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this in nearly every format you can think of.
Constructed: 4/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 4/5
Multiplayer: 4/5
Commander [EDH]: 4/5
Even as the rest of the plane changes, the great spirit tree Boseiju endured, and the result is a card that’s turning a lot of heads. It normally taps for a green mana, but its channel ability turns it into pinpoint removal for a lot of valuable targets. The removal isn’t without its cost, as it replaces what it pops with a land; notably, this lets its controller dig out something like a shock land or a triome, and so there’s always going to be the bit of calculus as to if what you’re popping is worth them getting a land. In many cases, it can be worth it; if you can disable their key combo piece with nigh-uncounterable removal, who cares if they get a land to replace it? That sort of cost-benefit analysis has long been part of the calculus behind Path to Exile, which is still a staple removal spell years after its release because the ability to kill something that needs to die is worth the downside of them getting a land.
With a fairly affordable cost and a low deckbuilding cost, I suspect Boseiju, Who Endures might be the most played card across all formats from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. The ability to pop problematic permanents in one card slot, while offering use when you don’t need the removal, is massive, and sticking it as part of a channel ability makes this harder, though not impossible, to stop from going off.
Constructed: 4.75
Casual: 4
Limited: 4 (the ramp is a slight downside, but remember that this hits a lot of targets)
Multiplayer: 4
Commander [EDH]: 5 (probably a green staple)
The best of the new Kamigawa lands for the standard format where for (ideally) one green mana you can Naturalize an opponent or Wasteland them. The downside here primarily impacts eternal formats more so than standard because they’ll get to search for a land with a basic land type (think Ravnica shocklands) and put that onto the battlefield. This is most certainly a here and now card that will see play in standard, I’d go as far to say as this could definitely be a four of in green decks just because of how good the ability is for one green mana (again ideally). Outside of that and maybe limited, I can’t see this seeing that much play. Maybe a one of in some modern decks but you can just put your opponent at an advantage by destroying one land. Thinking about it though, great sideboard card against Tron!
Constructed: 4/5
Casual: 3/5
Limited: 4/5
Multiplayer: 3/5
Commander [EDH]: 2.5/5
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