Champions of Kamigawa

Champions of Kamigawa

Champions of Kamigawa is the thirty-third Magic expansion and was released in October 2004 as the first set in the Kamigawa block. The prerelease was September 18, 2004.

Champions of Kamigawa contained 306 black-bordered cards (88 rare, 88 uncommon, 110 common, and 20 basic lands). The card Brothers Yamazaki appeared with two different pictures, while the art of the basic lands of each type formed murals. The story takes place on the plane of Kamigawa, which is thematically based on feudal Japan and related legends and myths. The Legendary supertype replaced the creature type "Legend" with this set. Every rare creature in the set, plus several uncommons, are Legendary. The "Legend rule" was changed; whereas before another legend with the same name could not be played, two legendary permanents with the same name now caused each other to be put into the graveyard. The set also made minor rules adjustments for targeting, and introduced the evergreen keyword "Defender", which was retroactively applied to all previously printed cards with the type Wall and formally detached the creature type from its rules baggage. The expansion symbol of the set is a torii gate (a traditional Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of or within a shrine, where it symbolically marks the transition from the profane to the sacred). Champions of Kamigawa restored colored mana symbols in the text box, which had been missing since Eighth Edition.