Welcome all to the Daily Dose of Kamigawa Neon Dynasty. Today I’ll be talking about the exciting return of Vehicles. We first saw Vehicles as a new type of artifact in Kaladesh and I’ve been waiting ever since for a set with some more love for Vehicles. Vehicles have been in and out of sets over the past six years with their currently being seven Vehicles in Standard, Esika’s Chariot the only one seeing regular play. In Neon Dynasty though not only have they brought back Vehicles, but they are also creating a new ability for Pilot creatures, allowing them to gain extra power for the purpose of crewing a Vehicle.
To start off I want to talk about one of those new Pilot creatures. Here is Hotshot Mechanic.
Hotshot Mechanic
I love the design of this card as it’s a one-drop creature that not only plays well on turn one but later in the game as well. Starting on turn three or later, once you get some Vehicles out, you can start crewing them right out of the gate. Casting Hotshot Mechanic when you already have a high crew cost Vehicle on the battlefield could surprise your opponent into thinking your Vehicle would be offline.
If one Pilot isn’t enough for you, how about a Vehicle that makes more Pilots. Here is Prodigy’s Prototype.
Prodigy's Prototype
What I like about this card is that when you are trying to make a deck that has a ton of Vehicles in it, sometimes you are left with too many non-creature Vehicles with no way to crew them. Once you can crew Prodigy’s Prototype once and get in for an attack you'll start creating 1/1 Pilot tokens that can help crew future Vehicle attacks. This allows you to save less spots in your deck for regular creatures and more room for some sweet Vehicles. Prodigy’s Prototype also has a low crew cost and good stats at 3/4.
Next up is a Vehicle that can help other Vehicles turn into artifact creatures without needing to Crew. Here is Mobilizer Mech.
Mobilizer Mech
Mobilizer Mech is another way to attack with your Vehicles without the need to have creatures to crew them all. You get a free crew on another Vehicle, which could include the powerful high crew costing Colossal Plow. You could play Hotshot Mechanic on turn one, Colossal Plow on turn two, followed by Mobilizer Mech on turn three, crew it with Hotshot Mechanic, which allows you to attack with Colossal Plow to gain three life and add white mana. Not only that, but you are attacking for six damage as well. You could also have Esika’s Chariot turn into a creature with crewing so it can attack and make a copy of one of your tokens. The more Vehicles they make in this set and in Standard, the better Mobilizer Mech will get.
The final card to talk about today is a Vehicle that can combine with your other Vehicles to make an unstoppable beast. Here is Mechtitan Core.
Mechtitan Core
Mechtitan Core as a Vehicle by itself isn’t that impressive, just a 2/4 with a crew cost of two. If you can achieve the Magical Christmas of being able to activate its ability to summon a 10/10 flying, vigilance, trample, lifelink, and haste token called Mechtitan, then it’s all worthwhile. Currently there aren’t a ton of ways in Standard to create cheap artifact creature tokens. You can create some with Dollhouse of Horrors but that involves a high casting cost artifact and having a ton of creatures in your graveyard. Myriad Construct can be a sneaky way to get four or more Construct tokens onto the battlefield. Other than that there isn’t anything currently in Standard to help you out in getting four other artifact creatures to sacrifice. Don’t worry though, there are a few Vehicles and artifact creatures in Neon Dynasty to help you out.
Now that you’ve assembled your Pilots and Vehicles you are ready to build the ultimate Vehicle deck. Thanks again for reading the Daily Dose of Kamigawa Neon Dynasty. Join me again tomorrow as I investigate the world of Samurais.
