Essence of Yomi

 
 
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Essence of Yomi, a common from Hidden City, is one of the most interesting spells put out in quite a while. Costing 4 gold, it is a battle action where you bow the caster to give a non-Shadowlands personality +3/+3 or a Shadowlands personality -3F.

Well, that's not very interesting. Yes, it is a good spell, especially against Shadowlands, but what makes it so interesting? As a battle action, you may also discard it from your hand and pay it's gold cost to give +3/+3 to an opposed non-Shadowlands Samurai. Note, that is very conditional. Your personality must be Samurai, he must be opposed, and must not be Shadowlands.

This is the first spell that you could use for anything if you do not have a shugenja in play. Granted, it is not for all purposes, but in a Samurai/Shugenja deck it can be nice. The spell can be used like all others, and gives you +3/+3 in a battle. Or, you can pay it's cost and give a Samurai the bonus. That option is especially nice if you draw it before the other player attacks you, and are not playing Kyuden Agasha.

One thing to keep in mind is that this is a reusable force boost. Not the biggest one in the game, but a nice one nonetheless. Also, the discard ability only costs 2 gold out of KA, due to the wording of the trait on it. "All spells you own cost 2 less gold, to a minimum of 1." Essence of Yomi is a spell you own, and says you pay the gold cost, which for you is 2. Not bad. Not perfect, but not bad.

Hope you look at this spell again, next time you build a Phoenix deck using both Samurai and Shugenja.

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