I: Farewell, Kamigawa

WHITE
White is typically one of the weaker colors in Pauper, because a lot of its staple capabilities -- spells that change the rules of the game, giant vigilant fliers, Wrath of God and its variants -- are at the rare (or at least uncommon) slots. White weenie fluctuates in potency, but without cards like the mighty Bonesplitter to augment the weenie rush, white is most often seen as a support color in other decks.

• BLESSED BREATH - This card became known as the "white counterspell" because it essentially stopped everything under the sun. Its low cost and potential spliceability made it very versatile in any deck with access to white. After Kamigawa leaves Standard, we're left with Time Spiral's Pentarch Ward, a 3-mana aura. While Pentarch Ward may yet prove to be a powerful card, it lacks the suprise factor and cheap casting cost of Blessed Breath.
• KAMI OF ANCIENT LAW - The KoALa was such a powerful card that WotC reprinted it in the very same format (Ronom Unicorn in Coldsnap). A 2/2 for 2 mana with an extremely relevant ability made this spirit one of the first choices for white decks in the 2-drop slot.
• KABUTO MOTH - A card that took combat math to the next level. This card saw play in white/black decks (among others) and has no immediate replacement in the new Standard. While it wasn't necessarily format-defining, it is one example of the changing of the guard.
• KITSUNE BLADEMASTER - The debate rages on over whether flanking or bushido is the better mechanic, but this fox coupled bushido with first strike for one fierce combatant. His application in Standard was not wide-spread but, like the Moth, his replacement is not easy to spot.
• LANTERN KAMI - Though Suntail Hawk still exists in 9th Edition, White weenie takes a hit in losing this other one-drop flier.

BLUE
Before Time Spiral was spoiled, players of Pauper Standard wondered what would happen to blue with the loss of some major staples in the format. Luckily for blue mages, WotC has ramped up the power of blue and given it some excellent new counterspells. Still, some of the key blue cards from Kamigawa will prove irreplaceable.

• NINJA OF THE DEEP HOURS - Ninjustu was one of the most popular mechanics in Kamigawa block. Though it appeared on very few cards (and even fewer in Pauper), it made quite an impact on Standard. Blue mages had to have a very good reason not to run NotDH, who was card advantage on legs. An unanswered ninja usually meant good game. Time Spiral has no direct replacement (obviously) but Looter il-Kor creates "quality advantage" and has built-in evasion, and Ophidian Eye has the same surprise factor as NotDH, though it's nowhere near as good.
  
• SHIMMERING GLASSKITE - This card was a highly splashable and hard-to-fell finisher for blue-based control decks. For four mana, you got a 2/3 flier with one free built-in counterspell per turn. Its 3 toughness meant it could eat up Shrieking Grotesque and Blind Hunter. It withstood burn, removal, and Pacifism effects like Faith's Fetters. (For that reason, it made Minister of Impediments a whole lot more useful.) Time Spiral's Errant Ephemeron doesn't have the protective shell, but it will certainly be playing the role of finisher in blue-based control decks with the departure of the Glasskite.
  
  
• IDEAS UNBOUND - With madness around, this card would be quite potent. Perhaps it's for the best that we've seen the last of it. Ravnica's Compulsive Research and Time Spiral's Think Twice are a couple cards that attempt to fill its shoes. There's also Train of Thought to rifle through one's library quickly.
  
• THOUGHTBIND - I always saw this card as underrated. There were very few playable cards with a CMC greater than 4 in the format, which meant that Thoughtbind was usually an unconditional counterspell. Of course, now that we have Cancel, this card won't be missed. But I would be remiss if I didn't give Thoughtbind one final shout-out in this article.
  
• CONSUMING VORTEX - Here's another card that is essentially trumped in Time Spiral by Snapback. While Vortex allowed for splice tricks, Snapback can be played for free by removing a blue card in hand from the game. Still, Vortex represented the splashable counterpart to Boomerang in Standard and was a useful spell in splice decks.
  

BLACK
Black had a few very powerful commons in Kamigawa that tended to show up in every deck running black, including one of the best kill spells of all time.

• REND FLESH - Considering the vast majority of creatures in Magic are non-Spirits, this card takes out pretty much anything. At three mana, as an instant, Rend Flesh saw a lot of play. Time Spiral doesn't offer a direct analogue, though Assassinate costs the same and kills anything tapped. Still, Rend Flesh takes the cake (for now) in terms of its destructive versatility. Chill to the Bone is even more versatile and looks very similar to Rend Flesh, but costs 1 more to cast.
  
• OKIBA-GANG SHINOBI - The black ninja. A direct hit from this baddie knocked two cards from your hand. With ninjutsu activated, this was a hasty 3/2 for four mana. It quickly decimated the opponent's hand and put them into topdeck mode, praying for an answer. The synergy between this card and Orzhov staples like Ravenous Rats, Shrieking Grotesque, or Blind Hunter made it even more lethal. This card represents the biggest hit the various Orzhov archetypes take with the loss of Kamigawa block from Standard.
  
• DEATH DENIED - It was an instant! It got you X creatures from your graveyard into your hand! With more recent innovations like dredge, Grim Harvest, Macabre Waltz, and Pit Keeper (to name a few), this card may not be missed as much as others, but in the right deck it was quite potent indeed!
  

RED
The author here admits his bias as a red mage and a big fan of the Kamigawa block. The amount of common direct damage spells in this block was impressive and make Ravnica block look sad by comparison. Mark Rosewater recently stated that red commons are the most difficult subset of cards to design, because red's focus is narrow and much of what it can do at the common power level has already been mapped out. Much of the recent mapping was surely done in Kamigawa block.

• YAMABUSHI'S FLAME - Red's one decisive answer to recursive threats, not to mention Blind Hunter, has no replacement in Time Spiral, much to my dismay. The Pauper Standard format has gotten to the point where Yamabushi's Flame was an auto-include to deal with many of black's nasties, like the bat and Stinkweed Imp. Without this powerful tool at our disposal, red mages will have to get creative in dealing with recursion. The glorious era of Kumano and his disciples has come to a close.
• FROSTLING - The little cousin of Mogg Fanatic. Pro: he resists Rend Flesh because he's a spirit. Con: He can only hit creatures, not players. Still, he was able to take down x/2's and do some pretty fancy stuff in combat, and often served as a ninjutsu enabler. His older cousin Mogg Fanatic will be back in 10th Edition but it would take a miracle for him to stay common. Keep your fingers crossed.
• IRE OF KAMINARI - The card that spawned a deck archetype, and a powerful one at that. Ire decks were typically blue/red constructs that aimed to fill the graveyard with arcane spells to launch a giant Ire at the opponent's dome FTW. Obviously when a deck archetype revolves around a single card and that card leaves the format, the deck dies. Au revoir, Ire.
• RONIN HOUNDMASTER - Hasty 2/2s for 3 seem to be a legacy of red, going back at least to Suq'Ata Lancer and Goblin Chariot. This may not be the most efficient creature by green's standards, but for red, he's pretty darn good. He is survived by his high-flying nephew, Skyknight Legionnaire, but has no offspring in Time Spiral.

GREEN
Perhaps it's just me, but when I think of Kamigawa block, I think of green. Green had a lot of cards that were very good in the right circumstances. It didn't have as many "concentrations of power" as blue or black did, but it managed to season the format with many useful cards that will not be seen again anytime soon.

• SAKURA-TRIBE ELDER - This card was every green mage's best friend for a while in regular Magic, especially since green showed up in a fair number of control or aggro-control decks. He wasn't as prominent in Pauper, but still proved his worth and earned his keep. He put any basic land into play tapped at the cost of mere self-sacrifice, and his 1/1 body often made him a 2-for-1 trade. His replacement in Time Spiral is Terramorphic Expanse, which has the advantage of being colorless and the disadvantage of having no body. Overall, the Expanse is better, but STE represented a high point for green while he was around.
  
• SHINEN OF LIFE'S ROAR - This channelable spirit made it a lot easier for beef to connect with the opponent's skull. He was a Lure on legs. He was a spirit, so he could be soulshifted back into your hand. He had the ability to grant his power to another creature on the board. He was versatile and recursive, and an embodiment of an uncommon effect, and for that he earns a spot on my list.
  
• KODAMA'S REACH - Like Sakura-Tribe Elder, this is another 2-for-1, or even better if you managed to splice something onto it. It accelerated, it replaced itself in your hand (useful for hand size mechanics), and it thinned your deck, improving your late game draws. It really was top of its class.
  
• HUMBLE BUDOKA - An untouchable (but not ungraftable) 2/2 for two. He barely got a chance to shine before he was whisked out of the format. There's currently no replacement for him, aside from possibly Silhana Ledgewalker, but really the format could use a couple green untouchables, for my money.
  
• OKINA NIGHTWATCH - Five mana for a 7/6 as long as you have more cards in your hand than your opponent. With cards like Elder Pine of Jukai and Kodama's Reach, keeping your hand full was easier for green than usual.
  

For many, Kamigawa represents a regrettable chapter in the history of Magic. For me, it was the block that brought me back to the game. Either way you look at it, though, Kamigawa has made its mark on the game as all blocks do. These cards leave Standard in October, but they will linger on in our hearts and minds, and of course in the Extended and MTGO Classic formats.