are met, becoming an entirely different, more powerful, and Legendary creature. It has a disproportionately high number of Legendary cards, more than 80 in total. Betrayers of Kamigawa introduces two new mechanics to the game. The Ninjutsu mechanic allows a player to put a Ninja creature card from his or her hand into play tapped and attacking by paying a cost and returning an attacking, unblocked creature he or she controls to its owner's hand. The Offering ability allows the player to partially pay for a spell by sacrificing a creature of a certain creature type, and lets the spell be played as an instant. This ability is used on five Spirit creatures, the patron spirits of five non-human species in Kamigawa. Betrayers also features the first non-Wall creatures with defender. Saviors of Kamigawa introduces several new mechanics to the game. Epic spells are powerful cards that prevent their controller from playing spells for the rest of the game, except for a copy of the spell again for free during each of his or her upkeeps. Channel, an ability similar to cycling that represents the fading barrier between the spirit world and reality, allows some spirits to have the ability to concentrate their physical form into a one-shot instant-effect. Sweep spells allow players to determine how powerful they want the spell to be, in exchange for returning lands of a required type to their owner's hand. Saviors expanded on the Flip theme, but with creatures that flip into legendary enchantments, symbolizing that creature's Essence, once their conditions are met. Saviors of Kamigawa also has a theme of "Wisdom" that rewards players for having seven cards (or some other high number of cards) in their hands. Saviors also features the first intentionally uncastable spell, , which has no mana cost. Its effect can only be achieved through the use of the Splice mechanic introduced in Champions of Kamigawa. However, new rules from Time Spiral now allow cards without mana costs to be cast, as long as the player can bypass paying the non-existent mana cost. Storyline The depiction of the world of Kamigawa is heavily inspired by East Asian culture, especially that of sengoku-era Japan. The backdrop of the story involves the physical realm of mortals, which is called the utsushiyo, and the spiritual realm of the kami, which is called the kakuriyo. Each realm living in harmony, the denizens of