Japan’s magical war in the eye of a card-geek
February 8, 2010
This is the very first MTG (Magic The Gathering) book series I read. Let me tell you why I decided to pick up this book from the shelves at Kinokuniya Kuala Lumpur one afternoon a few years back. First, I was (and probably will always be) an MTG trading card games fan. I played it since I was in high school and I really enjoyed playing it. MTG has always been overly innovative and active contemporaneously by always breeding more and more card series with different themes every time for us to play. The possibility is near to endless as the fun. One of the series was Kamigawa cycle series. Of course as a celebrated player I always wanted to know the story behind the games ‘what makes it what I think it is’. Therefore one day I decided to buy the trilogy all at once: Outlaw: Champions of Kamigawa, Heretic: Betrayers of Kamigawa and Guardian: Saviors of Kamigawa. If you ask did I buy the other series of MTG books—no. Why? because this was a special case as in this Kamigawa series MTG for the first time highlighted Japanese culture in its card games which suited my interest of Japanese culture impeccably.
However honestly speaking I was devastatingly disappointed by the book. True, it was a story of wartime in ancient Japanese time, but it is written in American style! probably Hollywood! (of course youcan guess why: McGough is American!) And that’s awfully bad. Bad enough to make this book a one-star piece. The main character, Toshi, is a lone samurai that’s full of surprises and always present to impress. He met Michiko, the daughter and princess of the almighty, all-fearful, all powerful Daimyo Konda and together they venture dangerous journeys to save the whole realm of Kamigawa from the dreadful threats of the Kami (Spirits) that are invading the kingdom. Sounds cliche? I know. Moreover, I assume if I wasn’t a magic player, I wouldn’t be able to picture the whole creatures and heroes in this story. I could understand them well enough just simply because I’ve seen the illustrations in the cards that I’ve played. Maybe these revelations were the main reason why I read the book just after 4 years after I bought it.
If there was one thing that I like about this book, is the myriad types of mystical creatures that appeared in this book–although almost all of them appear incongruously unsuitable.
OK. Enough words. I think I’ll just have to finish the remaining two books and tell you what will happen next (even though I don’t think I would enjoy them).
