Magic: The Gathering Needs To Keep Experimenting With Soundtracks
For the last few of Magic: The Gathering's sets, Wizards of the Coast has been experimenting with different ways of promoting them. While we've had the usual cinematic trailers and preview seasons, we've also had things like Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty's impressive manga and anime tie-ins, but also a weird promotion with Ross Kemp for Streets of New Capenna. I suppose you can't win them all.
One of the more interesting things to come out of this current marketing push are the two soundtrack albums by YouTuber and singer Jonathan Young. One for Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, and one for Streets of New Capenna, both included a number of tracks composed by Young and included collaborators like Caleb Hyles, Annapantsu, and even Trivium's Matt Heafy. Though the results were mixed, especially for the first attempt, it would be a massive shame if we didn't see any more Magic music in the future.
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We have had Magic-themed music in the past (most notably a metal selection for Kaldheim), but Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty was the first time a set had a true "official soundtrack". Playing up the set's blend of traditional Japanese imagery and cyberpunk, it was a blend of hard metal (the genre Young is best known for) and electronic music that only worked sometimes.
In an attempt to make this a true Magic: The Gathering album, it essentially retold the story of Neon Dynasty with songs, like Kaito searching for The Wanderer (Dearest Friend), and even Tamiyo's Phyrexian compleation (One With Phyrexia). Unfortunately, talking about Phyrexians and Planeswalkers and Sparks Igniting just doesn't blend well into a song, and the result is some truly cringeworthy lyrics that would be
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