With many of the more recent Magic: The Gathering sets, there are always one or more cards that are well-suited for the Modern competitive format. For the uninitiated, Modern Magic is a format that allows players to use any card printed or reprinted from 8th Edition onward with a few exceptions (such as Conspiracy, preconstructed Commander decks, and some cards from Ultimate Masters and Masters 25) and has a frequently-updated ban list.Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty continues this streak with a solid handful of new offerings that can be integrated into a strong Modern deck build. While Kamigawa certainly isn't as potent for Modern as sets like War of the Spark or Modern Horizons II, it still has some cards that are very much Modern-playable. Here are the strongest.
10 There Is A Lot Of Potential In Dragonspark Reactor
While there haven't been an expansive amount of decks looking to exploit Dragonspark Reactor yet, there certainly seems to be a lot of potential for this card as a win condition in artifact deck builds. Bear in mind, Modern Affinity decks don't really need a new win condition and largely depend upon blue and white as their core colors anyway.
Perhaps the deck for Dragonspark Reactor doesn't exist yet, and the four mana required to sacrifice it is costly. However, this is a card that further rewards the player for artifacts entering the field, and it can deal damage to a player and a creature for the amount of artifacts that they've played this game. It can easily kill a player, and it can even more easily remove a major threat from the field.
9 Invoke Calamity Is A True Spell Bomb
Invoke Calamity is an exciting new addition to any deck with red that can reliably make it up to five mana over the course of the game. There definitely seems to be potential for this spell in Izzet Murktide, Temur Cascade, and possibly even in Storm decks.
The high and red-intensive mana cost hamstrings Invoke Calamity, but it is an instant speed spell that can easily bail a player out of many situations. Many players have already pointed out this spell's potential in Collected Company decks as well as it being a decent combination with Collected Conjuring.
8 The Wandering Emperor Is A Good Inclusion For Control Decks
The Wandering Emperor is far from the most powerful Planeswalker to have been printed in the last few years. That said, she is still a decent inclusion for white-including control decks. She is at the very least worth considering for the sideboard of such a deck.
The Wandering Emperor doesn't really have any powerful win condition or ultimate ability on her card, but she provides support for control players who are tired of being attacked. The Wandering Emperor has Flash and can produce a +1/+1 counter, a Samurai with Vigilance, or can exile a tapped creature while giving you two life. The Wandering Emperor is an excellent support Planeswalker and shouldn't be underestimated.
7 Biting-Palm Ninja Is A Hybrid Creature And A Hand Disruption Sell
One of the black color's greatest assets in Modern is its potential for hand disruption. The Biting-Palm Ninja is a Ninjutsu creature that can exile a single non-land card of your choice from the opponent's hand upon making contact.
Any creature that can provide reliable hand disruption like Biting-Palm Ninja is worth paying attention to. While Jund has changed a lot in recent years, it could still easily make use of something like Biting-Palm Ninja which gives you a body and an exiled card.
6 March Of Otherworldly Light Is A One-Mana Exile Spell
March of Otherworldly Light adds to the white color's cache of cheap exile removal spells. Path to Exile is the gold standard for this in Modern, and March of Otherworldly light isn't anywhere close to dethroning Path on this. However, the fact that March of Otherworldly Light can also hit artifacts and enchantments without giving the opponent an extra land does make a strong argument in March's favor.
The drawback is that March of Otherworldly Light has to exile white cards from its caster's hand to be worthwhile. Thankfully, Modern isn't generally flush with expensive spells, so March of Otherworldly Light will rarely require a lot of mana and/or exiled cards from your hand to be good.
5 Containment Construct Boosts Cycling Cards And Loot Spells
Containment Construct is one of a good handful of uncommon cards from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty that has a lot of potential for Modern. Its effect makes it already an asset in decks that use Cycling, Madness, Channel, or any other effects that require the player to discard cards from their hand. It's a colorless creature which only requires generic mana, so it's incredibly versatile.
A lot of discussion has already been had about this card's potential in Hollowvine decks, particularly with another Neon Dynasty card that will be discussed later. Recycling discarded cards is always going to have some value, and the combo potential for Containment Construct is strong.
4 Thousand-Faced Shadow Is A Nasty Cloning Creature
Thousand-Faced Shadow is a powerful blue creature with Ninjutsu and costs one mana to play. However, you will almost never want to play Thousand-Faced Shadow with its regular mana cost. You'll want to cast it through Ninjutsu, as it makes an attacking copy of another creature when Thousand-Faced Shadow enters the battlefield attacking.
The potential to bounce this back to its owner's hand and play it again makes Thousand-Faced Shadow even more potent. It has Flying to boot, so it has some evasion to keep it from being killed on its first outing in a game.
3 Lion Sash Gives White Its Own Scavenging Ooze
Lion Sash is the Scavenging Ooze creature and equipment that the white color never knew it needed. There is already a lot of graveyard oppression in white, with Rest in Peace being one of the most powerful. There are also cards like Relic of Progenitus and Tormod's Crypt that can be used in any color to slow down graveyard decks.
That said, Lion Sash is more versatile than something like Rest in Peace. Being able to react to the opponent's graveyard moves is sometimes better than just exiling both graveyards and being done with it. Plus, there are decks that use white that want access to their own graveyards, which Rest in Peace and Relic of Progenitus don't allow. The added bonus of Lion Sash either being a creature or powering up a creature makes it even better.
2 Reinforced Ronin Is A Powerful And Evasive Early-Game Threat
Reinforced Ronin is a 2/2 creature for one red mana with Haste. This isn't new for red, and it is absolutely blown out of the water by a card like Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer (though Ragavan requires to be Dashed to get Haste). Cards like Goblin Guide also leave Reinforced Ronin looking a little wonting.
Despite that, Reinforced Ronin can still easily be a benefit to aggressive red decks. It is one red mana for a 2/2 attacker every turn, and returning it to your hand gives it some evasion and is a boon to enter-the-battlefield effects. It also can do some good work in Hollowvine decks, as it is a guaranteed creature cast every turn.
1 The Channel Lands Are The Most Exciting Thing About The Set For Modern
Without a doubt, the most powerful new cards from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty are the cycle of what has been called "Channel Lands." This is so because each land has the Channel mechanic that allows them to be activated from your hand, and each one has a lower activation cost so long as you have legendary permanents in play.
Pretty much all five of these lands are scary, but Boseiju, Who Endures and Otawara, Soaring City being possibly the two most impressive ones, as one is an artifact, enchantment, or nonbasic land destruction spell, and the other allows a creature to be bounced to their owner's hand. To top it all off, these Channel abilities can't be countered by conventional counter spells. It requires a spell that can counter activated abilities, which are even rarer.