Hey there all of my fellow Kaijudo Masters out there! This weekend marks a momentous occasion for the Kaijudo franchise, the Kaijudo Championship in Seattle, Washington! I want to wish everyone in attendance the best of luck and I hope you all have a great time! Maybe I'll catch you all at the Winter Championships? Make sure you all keep your eyes peeled this weekend for all of the coverage at the event and quite possibly a spoiler for the two new Monarch creatures?! Alright, let's get into the last card of this week and next week as well (we're going on a little summer break but don't worry, we'll be back!). Today's card is Return to the Soil, let's get started!

Name: Return to the Soil
Civilization: Nature
Type: Spell
Race: N/A
Level: 4
Power: N/A
Flavor Text: In every life cycle comes a time of transformation.
Rarity: Common
Set Number: 154/165 l 3RIS

Abilities:
Shield Blast- (Instead of putting this spell into your hand from a broken shield, you may cast it for free.)
Put target enemy creature that is level 4 or less from the battle zone into your opponent's mana zone.

Return to the Soil is usually looked at as a counterpart to Bone Blades. It's a Shield Blast that gets rid of an opponent's creature that's a level 4 or less, however, it puts it into your opponent's mana zone instead of banishing it. Personally I don't think this card is needed in the current meta...yet. I know from personal experience that cards that put creatures into the mana zone can disrupt players that rely on retrieving cards from the discard pile via Dark Return, Scavenging Chimera, Megaria, and so on. The only thing is, as of right now, there aren't a ton of decks out there that do this and are competitive enough to warrant using this card in most decks.

Personally I'm more of a fan of Tendril Grasp as opposed to this. Tendril can get rid of all level 3 or lower creatures in the battle zone for just two more mana! I understand it can also punish you for playing low level creatures, instead think of it as a loan. You put your smaller creatures in the battle zone while still charging your regular mana and then later on, you return them to your mana zone and get a one up or more on your opponent.

Root Trap has seen a ton of play since the start of the KMC season since it's essentially another copy of Terror Pit and can deal with just about any creature in the battle zone and it gets around cards like Lux and "When this card is banished" effects. Return to the Soil is the same in comparison to Bone Blades, however, you don't usually wan to ramp your opponent's mana up on turn four or even earlier off of a blast. I think one of the main reasons that Root Trap sees more play is because of its level. At level 7 your opponent likely has all of the mana that they need to play whatever creature they have in their hand when you're finally able to cast it. The ramp effect of Root Trap is less severe than that of Return.

When and if creature recursion becomes a stronger theme this card will be waiting, however, until that time comes, there are just better options than using this card.

Ratings:

Constructed: 2.50/5.00 (There are better options to get rid of smaller creatures like Bone Blades or even Tendril Grasp since it can get rid of multiple threats or Blockers all at once.)
Limited: 3.75/5.00 (Early removal in limited is always good but it can still give your opponent an edge by allowing them to get out their bigger creatures before you can.)

I hope you enjoyed this week of reviews! Check out my channel for some new content and also check out my page for my team Ragnarok for new matches, reviews, content, etc! We'll see you all on or around the 14th! Until then, remember to keep calm and game on!