Champions of Kamigawa
| File:Exp sym CHK.gif Torii gate | ||||
| Released | October 1, 2004 | |||
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| Size | 306 cards | |||
| Keywords | Bushido, Soulshift, Splice | |||
| Mechanics | Spiritcraft, Flip cards, Legendary cards, Arcane | |||
| Third set in the Kamigawa Block block | ||||
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Champions of Kamigawa (or Champions, or Kamigawa, or ChK) is the name of the Magic: The Gathering expansion set which came out in October of 2004. It contains 306 cards. The set's story is inspired by Japanese myths and revolves around the battle between spirits (kami) and living beings. Most of the cards have Japanese-flavored names. The set's expansion symbol is a torii, the entrance to the Shinto temple. This is especially important, as Kamigawa's original idea was summed up as "Shinto gone horribly wrong": Kami warring against their human worshippers.
Mechanics
Champions of Kamigawa introduces several new mechanics to the game.
- Arcane spells - some spells (instants or sorceries) have the Arcane subtype, which represent the magic of the Kami. It does nothing by itself, but other cards may interact with it (see below).
- Bushido, or "way of the warrior", makes the creature tougher when it combats another creature (more specifically, the creature gets +X/+X when it blocks or gets blocked, where "X" is the number of Bushido points the creature has. This is usually compared to flanking, which weakens (-1,-1) the blockers of the creature.)
- Heroes - A nickname for a series of cards that flip when particular conditions are met (for example, when it deals damage to the opponent), thus becoming more powerful and legendary.
- Soulshift keyword appears on Spirit creatures and allows them to return another Spirit creature from the graveyard to it's owners hand when they perish.
- Splice onto Arcane - the spells having this keyword could be "attached" to another spell having Arcane subtype for additional mana investment. The spell 'spliced' remains in the player's hand able to be reused another time.
- "Spiritcraft" - Many spirits generate have abilites which trigger when another Spirit or an Arcane spell is played.
Some changes were made to the rules of the game, removing Legend creature type, and replacing with Legendary supertype. While Wall creature type wasn't eliminated, it has lost the "rules baggage" associated to it (Walls couldn't attack previously), and each creature with a 'wall' creature was errataed to have Defender keyword which prevents them from attacking. This errata makes sure that the wall creature type doesn't automatically possesses the defender ability, but 'defender' has to be present on the card
Notable cards
- The Myojins -- High mana cost creatures that come into play with a Divinity counter, and are indestructible as long it remains upon them. The counter can be removed for a devastating effect. They depict the five most powerful spirits in Kamigawa.
- The Hondens -- Legendary enchantments with the subtype Shrine, that work together. Each upkeep, they bestow powerful effects, but they are even more powerful when together, as their effects just replicate every time the player plays another Honden. Also the first enchantments to have a subtype (until the Aura rule was instated) and the first legendary enchantments.
- Time Stop -- This card ends the turn immediately. The most powerful aspect of Time Stop is that, due to the rules wording, can be used to counter an uncounterable spell. It has seen limited play, including an appearance in the mono-blue deck which won the MTG world championships.
- Kokusho, the Evening Star -- This is the most popular card of the "Dragon Spirit" legendary cycle. Decks which utilize Kokusho take advantage of the "new" Legend rule, which immediately kills two legendary cards with the same name, and the fact that Kokusho makes opponents lose life when it leaves play, to facilitate quick and decisive victories.
- Meloku the Clouded Mirror -- This blue Legend's ability, which quickly and efficiently made many additional creatures, made it powerful enough that it has made its way into many decks as a pivotal win condition in Standard, Block Constructed, and Extended decks.
- Gifts Ungiven -- One of the most useful cards in the block, this card is the centerpiece of several eponymous decks in all formats from Type 1 to Block Constructed.
- Cranial Extraction -- The first "chase rare" of the set, early on in the set's release it would be sold at up to $25. While the card has yet never had the effect it was predicted to have in tournament play, it still commands a reasonable percentage of its original price and sees moderate play.