Ejango, Seat of the Empire – Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty
Date Reviewed: February 7, 2022
Ratings:
Constructed: 3.17
Casual: 3.33
Limited: 3.37
Multiplayer: 3.00
Commander [EDH]: 3.00
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
“It’s good to have land.”
— Stewie Griffin
Stewie gives good advice, but particularly when it comes to Kamigawa Neon Dynasty‘s lands with channel. There are few things more frustrating than having a land when you really needed a spell, or vice versa. It’s worth noting that they fulfill this function in a different way from, say, Zendikar Rising‘s modal double-faced cards – channel is an activated ability, not a spell. It can’t be stopped by a counterspell, but it can be stopped by Sorcerous Spyglass.
Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire has a pretty straightforward channel ability, and a pretty straightforward white effect. Its cost is more or less in the range you usually expect to find it even before you factor in possible reductions (and there are plenty of nice legendary creatures for you to choose from), and it’s decent as a removal spell in control decks and as a combat trick in aggro decks. It’s the sort of legendary card you’ll be tempted to run three or four of in constructed, since you can use one as a land and the rest as spells. I’m not sure that’ll turn out to be exactly the best move, but nonetheless, there’s not too much downside to putting this card in your average white deck.
Constructed: 3/5
Casual: 3/5
Limited: 3/5
Multiplayer: 3/5
Commander [EDH]: 3/5
The new cycle of legendary lands from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty has certainly drawn attention, thanks to their channel abilities offering upside if you draw multiples of them. The originals offered an interesting bit of tension in deckbuilding, though with the revised rules around legendary permanents, the drawbacks have largely been lessened.
Unlike the original Kamigawa block legendaries, the new ones don’t offer a second on-field ability, but you can use them for a spell-like effect. That sort of role compression can be quite potent in the right board, and Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire offers a fairly beefy burn spell. Four damage is quite potent, especially since channeling the land isn’t a spell, and it even can tap for white mana as a “normal” land if you need it there. Three mana is a fair price for it, but the cost reduction can make this very affordable, and I think there’s also value to be had in this ducking around protection from white.
I do think these lands will see a lot of play; they’re not without downside, as it is harder to fetch them, and you are still limited in how many you can control. But the upsides are certainly remarkable, and Eiganjo, while not the immediate star of the cycle, is a nice bit of flexibility for the enterprising player. I feel like two is probably the “sweet spot” for the number of copies most decks want to run, as to ensure you have the lands when you need them but not have the issue of having lands that you’re not really able to play.
Constructed: 4
Casual: 4
Limited: 3.5
Multiplayer: 3
Commander [EDH]: 4 (removal that doesn’t expose itself to countermagic as readily is quite nice; there are ways to stop this, but you can also just play it as a land in the worst case)
I was expecting something more special with the new and inevitable legendary land cycle from Neon Dynasty but it the new Eiganjo isn’t anything to rave about. The channel ability is a typical white creature damage spell to attacking or blocking creatures that’s pretty rad in limited but just a little “meh” in constructed. It is nice that it can’t be countered and you’re likely to destroy an attacker or blocker but it doesn’t “wow” like I expected. That said, in the current standard environment it should see play in white decks, possibly a two or three of but not much love in eternal formats. Commander it’s a hard pass too…
Constructed: 2.5/5
Casual: 3/5
Limited: 3.5/5
Multiplayer: 3/5
Commander [EDH]: 2/5
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