Hello all of my fellow Kaijudo Duel Masters! Today here at Pojo.com we have an exclusive preview card from Shattered Alliances just for you! A very big thank you goes out to Wizards of the Coast for providing us with this preview card! Today's card will single-handedly change the way this game is played from now on! So slide forward a little bit further and make sure you're on the edge of your seats 'cause your mind and mana zone are about to be blown away! Let me introduce you to, "Kivu, Ingenious Shaman".

Name: Kivu, Ingenious Shaman
Civilization: Water/Nature
Type: Creature
Race: Cyber Virus/Spirit Totem
Level: 7
Power: 7000
Flavor Text: "If you control the cycle of mana, you control the cycle of life."
Rarity: Very Rare
Set Number: 67/80 l 9SHA
Abilities:
(This card enters your mana zone tapped.)
Double Breaker (This creature breaks 2 shields.)
Mana Guide-When this creature enters the battle zone, you may choose a card in your mana zone and return it to your hand. If you do, put the top card of your deck into your mana zone.

Kivu is the very first card in Kaijudo to allow us to take a card out of the mana zone! Instead of taking away from your resources, it also adds the top card of your deck to your mana zone to even things out. This is truly a momentous occasion! I'm sure a great deal of us had been waiting for this effect to come to the game and the wait is finally over!

The other aspects of Kivu's stats are pretty basic and to be expected for his level. At level 7 he has Double Breaker and 7000 power. He falls into the Water and Nature dual civilization category and will definitely see some play as our first legitimate "Mana Fixer".

His effect allows players an alternative to utilizing the discard pile and can make your mana zone an all new toolbox to pull your tricks of the trade out of! Imagine that you drew your strongest creature in your deck on your opening turn and you only run one copy of the card. Feel free to charge it to the mana zone because you can get it back later on your turn seven or slightly afterward. This will allow you to set up huge turn eight and above plays as long as your opponent hasn't been holding on to a Mesmerize the entire game.

Want to go a step further? You know those times when you're not sure if you should charge that Terror Pit or Stormspark Blast? Well now when you play Kivu you can set up a huge momentum shift. You can literally put your "Tech" cards into your mana zone and utilize them later when the time suits you!

People are still going to be running Root Trap in their decks, however now, when your creature is hit with one it's not gone forever! This opens up a ton more plays with cards like Mana Storm, Razorhide, and Kurragar, so expect those to see a bit more play in the near future. I think that this card gives us a mechanic that we really needed added to this game and I only expect there to be more like this in this set and in the sets to come. 

Ratings:

Constructed: 4.25/5.00 (A brand new mechanic that will add a whole new dimension to this game. The card still has its limits since you'll need to wait until you have seven mana... but ramp spells just got a whole lot more popular with the release of this card!)
Limited: 3.75/5.00 (In limited the only concern is being able to play him. If you can get to turn seven or get enough mana to play him, he gives you whatever card you could want that's been put in your mana zone!)

Wow! Such an amazing new card! Thank you again Wizards of the Coast for the exclusive preview! Stop by again tomorrow when we continue more reviews and of course make sure to check out my channel for new content including my "Master Commentator" contest video! Until next time my fellow Kaijudo Duel Masters, keep calm and game on!

While this particular preview card is not the first of the “enemy dual civilization” cards to have been leaked by Wizards of the Coast, it is the first Nature/Water card to be leaked and that alone get me really excited. In any game I have ever played I’ve always been drawn to two things – resource ramp and card drawing effects. Of course, in Kaijudo these  two civilizations are the masters of those effects. Combining them? Golden!

Kivu, Ingenious Shaman introduces us to a while new means of getting both of those done that has yet to be seen in Kaijudo. Yet, despite mana ramping you AND effectively “drawing” a card, you don’t increase your resource pool nor do you really increase your hand size dramatically What Kivu, Ingenious Shaman does do he does spectacularly well in the form of return a card to your hand from your mana zone and replacing that mana with a new card from the top of your deck!

With this ability you no longer need worry about drawing that King Tritonus or other fatty in your initial hand  only to drop into the forever abyss known as the mana zone. Rather, now when you drop that card into the mana zone it is merely for safe keeping to prevent the opponent from forcing you to lose the card to discard!

As a 7 cost 7000 with double breaker Kivu, Ingenious Shaman is nothing to sneeze at. However, while it’s nice to drop strong creatures on the board, I must say that I do wish he was cheaper so that I might now have to hold onto that fatty I just pulled from my mana zone for an entire turn! Of course, I’m sure making this creature cost a somewhat decent amount was all part of the plan so that you would likely have to cross your fingers that the opponent would not force you to simply discard that which you just retrieved

Very excited for this card. Can’t wait to see what else comes out in Shattered Alliances which may even further compliment it!
 
Ratings
Constructed: 3 out of 5
Though I’m hoping to be wrong after we get the rest of the cards for the set and start to get down to some serious playtesting.

Sealed: 1 out of 5
Seven cost creatures have a difficult seeing serious battle zone play in sealed. Even when he is played he will basically wind up simply a :big creature that you actually paid a bit much for.