Kappa Tech-Wrecker – Kamigawa: Neon Destiny
Date Reviewed: February 23, 2022
Ratings:
Constructed: 3.17
Casual: 4.00
Limited: 4.83
Multiplayer: 3.42
Commander [EDH]: 3.63
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
The last time we had such prominent green turtle ninjas, Magic didn’t even exist yet. There’s a scary thought. Still, fittingly for a ninja, Kappa Tech-Wrecker has a lot more subtlety than some would associate with green creatures. You can use him effectively on either offense or defense, since his ninjutsu and regular costs are the same. If you have a way to bounce him, or a way to generate deathtouch counters (I’d hit MTGAssist.com), you can use him as a repeatable Disenchant ability, and one that deals damage at the same time to boot. I think he’d be quite powerful in the right deck – not to mention much more stylish than some of the options out there!
Constructed: 3/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 5/5 (there’s a lot of enchantment creatures and artifact creatures in this set . . .)
Multiplayer: 3/5
Commander [EDH]: 3/5
ninininininjaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
A green ninja is certainly unexpected, though Kappa Tech-Wrecker certainly makes things intriguing. And, no, I’m not just referring to it being a Turtle Ninja or a kappa.
Unlike a lot of ninjas, our shelled smasher is perfectly fine being cast out as a 1/3 with deathtouch; as far as early deterrents go, a 1/3 with deathtouch is quite good, and it’s even deathtouch that lets it function as a “modified” permanent. It can use that deathtouch offensively, and that’s also where the ninjutsu comes in, as it can give up deathtouch to exile an artifact or enchantment. For two mana, that’s quite a good return on investment, and ninjutsu makes this an actual threat of an effect to come down if they don’t block.
I think that this will likely be a solid side-player overall. Kappa Tech-Wrecker offers both removal of pesky artifacts and enchantments and a decent defensive presence besides, which is a lot of power packed into a little card. It’s probably better in green decks than in ninja decks as an extra little surprise, but I imagine Sultai ninja decks could be a thing if you believe in yourself hard enough.
Constructed: 3.5
Casual: 4
Limited: 4.5 (this hits a surprising number of things, and it has solid synergy)
Multiplayer: 3.25
Commander [EDH]: 3.75 (role compression is ace in Commander, and exiling removal is also lovely)
I love the fan service by creating a Ninja Turtle to go with a “Splinter” card and this is very Donatello. Ninjutsu aside, two mana for a 1/3 deathtouch is great. Add to that you can remove the deathtouch counter to exile a target artifact or enchantment and still have a 1/3 creature on the battlefield! A great all around versatile card and it is at the uncommon rarity! I’m not sure how good green is for ninjustu but this card screams “Take me in Limited!!” more than it says “Use me in standard.” but time will tell when dealing with these new cards the impact they’ll make on the standard environment. If only one of the Ninja commanders had green in it…then this would be useful!
Constructed: 3/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 5/5
Multiplayer: 4/5
Commander [EDH]: 4/5
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