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[MtG] Amonket Spoilers for 4/11


Delibirb

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Simic Nissa is a trendsetter, and I am so happy for it, even if she herself isn't particularly impressive.

 

Firstly, X mana cost Planeswalker is super cool. Obviodky they've toned down the ult because of it, but it gives us opportunities for really cool interactions in the future.

 

Secondly, she gives us hope that the Gatewatch will be exploring new territories in terms of color, as opposed to what I'm sure many feared: every block having mostly mono-colored copycat minor variations of 2-3 of the big 5.

 

The Zombie tribal is being pushed hard. I wonder if that'll make a difference in standard?

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Cycle and do a thing cards are always sweet. Weakest one is easily blue. All the others seem solid.

 

Gravecrawler is that you? The 3 Zombie tribal cards look sweet. Wish Belcher counted himself since he'd just auto win with Mikaeus, the Unhallowed plus a sac outlet. Either way, all 3 will be going into zombie tribal decks. I really so love them though since one of my favorite decks I've built was a BW Zombie tribal deck during Avacyn Restored standard.

 

I'm disappointed by Nissa for a few reasons. I like the gatewatch and the story they are doing, but having her in 3/4 sets is a lot. Her being blue is at least different. Though I'm not sure how I feel about it. The card itself is only ok I think. Her ultimate is STUPID weak, easily one of the weakest they've ever made. I get why it is so weak since on 8 mana you can just swing in the air for 10 out of nowhere, but that is so expensive. Her +2 exists purely for the 0 and is really bad on its own. Hell, if you don't like one of the cards you're still using the 0 blind. Though I guess thats part of the point. The 0 is where all the power on the card is, and while it is really strong, I'm not sure if its worth it. This said, she is really hard to evaluate since we've never had a planeswalker with an X. If I were to guess you'd want to play her for 3 when the board won't be as full and try to set up for a free 3 drop the following turn. Honestly, I wish the first X planeswalker was a bit more exciting and not on Nissa.

 

Serpent and Strider seem really good.

 

Someone should try to kill an opponent using only the desert.

 

And 2 more

 

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anointedprocession.jpg

 

 

I get Rhonas is a snake, but deathtouch on a 5/5 is so bad. His activated ability is just worse than Nylea's too. You trade 1 mana but lose giving toughness and the ability hit himself and that seems like a REALLY bad trade. I get they did it because deathtouch + trample interactions but than JUST DON'T GIVE IT DEATHTOUCH. I guess they are banking on it being really easy to turn on. This might be good in standard, but for commander I'd just play Nylea, and I don't even care all too much for her in the first place.

 

New Parallel Lives makes up for it.

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Rhonas DOES have an advantage over Nylea in that he comes down a turn earlier, but otherwise yes, Nylea is basically a stronger version of this. Still, might be easier to get another creature with 4 power on board than to get 5 devotion, IDK. Definitely slots into the 99 better than Nylea if you're playing Commander.

 

I'm glad we're getting a 2-color Nissa; This bodes well for the other Gatewatch members becoming more layered in the future. It DOES make me wonder what WotC has planned for Kiora, the other Simic walker. If I had to guess she may be Temur when next we see her, based on story- then again Sarkhan is already that. Add Black, maybe? IDK.

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I'm glad we're getting a 2-color Nissa; This bodes well for the other Gatewatch members becoming more layered in the future. It DOES make me wonder what WotC has planned for Kiora, the other Simic walker. If I had to guess she may be Temur when next we see her, based on story- then again Sarkhan is already that. Add Black, maybe? IDK.

i mean Kiora is pretty brash and impulsive, so i could see it. tho she is also pretty self-centered, so you might have a point there too. idk.

seems like there's a lot of fun stuff you can do with Nissa

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What disappoints me about the new Nissa card is that we normally get 3 Planeswalker cards per set, and we already have Gideon and Liliana. Does this mean we don't have an Amonkhet Planeswalker?

 

Not in this set I believe. We're probably getting one in Hour of Devastation.

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What disappoints me about the new Nissa card is that we normally get 3 Planeswalker cards per set, and we already have Gideon and Liliana. Does this mean we don't have an Amonkhet Planeswalker?

It'll either be "covered" by Nicol Bolas, or out theories will be proven current in Hour of Devastation, and Amonkhet served to force planeswalker sparks to ignite, and we'll see a new planeswalker then.
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Rhonas DOES have an advantage over Nylea in that he comes down a turn earlier, but otherwise yes, Nylea is basically a stronger version of this. Still, might be easier to get another creature with 4 power on board than to get 5 devotion, IDK. Definitely slots into the 99 better than Nylea if you're playing Commander.

 

I'm glad we're getting a 2-color Nissa; This bodes well for the other Gatewatch members becoming more layered in the future. It DOES make me wonder what WotC has planned for Kiora, the other Simic walker. If I had to guess she may be Temur when next we see her, based on story- then again Sarkhan is already that. Add Black, maybe? IDK.

I strongly believe Rhonas (and really all the gods) turn on a lot easier than their Theros counterparts for standard. Having an ability that brings them closer to switching on is huge. Not to mention things like 3 creatures, 4 power, and empty hand are things that those decks will normally be doing in standard. The only hard one to turn on in standard is blue, and even then the deck playing him would be a control deck which doesn't care a ton about turning him on fast. For commander however I don't think the Red one will be on very often while the blue needs a lot of work. The green and white are even easier to turn on there though.

 

I honestly think Nylea is just better in commander. I think the toughness is worth the extra mana since at most I think the 1 mana difference will translate into 1 or 2 extra activations which in commander isn't that big. Granting trample to everything is a huge boon for Nylea in certain decks though. While turning her on is a little more work can also be easier to maintain if her main source of devotion is enchantments. The advantage Rhonas has is he turns on easier, and I personally I'm not a fan of random giant creatures. As for being a commander I do think its closer. Neither has trample normally and the toughness is meaningless if you're pumping Nylea with her effect. Giving them trample is where its interesting since deathtouch+trample is REALLY powerful on Rhonas, but he still is smaller than Nylea and she can still hit for a ton since she can pump herself.

 

Honestly, while writing this I've just been thinking how, for commander, the Green and White cards play VERY similarly. While they care about and need different things to help them along, the end result in both decks is the same.

 

I don't think Nissa is going to stay blue. The core 5 are likely to move into other colors are the story demands, but they'll hopefully stay rooted in their base color.

 

 

What disappoints me about the new Nissa card is that we normally get 3 Planeswalker cards per set, and we already have Gideon and Liliana. Does this mean we don't have an Amonkhet Planeswalker?

Yea, I think thats part of my issue with the new Nissa. Not only is this the 3rd in 4 sets and 3 for 3 in terms of gatewatch planeswalkers, but this is also means we only have 1 slot left open for an Amonkhet planeswalker since we know Hour will have Bolas. At least I'm not expecting Jace to get a planeswalker card come Hour.

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Yea, I think thats part of my issue with the new Nissa. Not only is this the 3rd in 4 sets and 3 for 3 in terms of gatewatch planeswalkers, but this is also means we only have 1 slot left open for an Amonkhet planeswalker since we know Hour will have Bolas. At least I'm not expecting Jace to get a planeswalker card come Hour.

Maro has said, and I believe the official statement from Wizards is, that we get in general five planeswalkers per block. However, so far, BfZ has been the only one to follow through on that, with SOI and Kaladesh each having six total. Understandably, that's a small sample size, but assuming we're only getting these three in Amonkhet, then we have potential room for Bolas + two more in Hour of Devastation.

 

Harsh Mentor looks nutballs.

 

Protection of the Hekma is... confusing. Orbs of Warding exists, which for for same cmc, but no color requirement, does the same thing on top of giving you hexproof. This is a strictly worse version of a card that already is fairly bad and unnecessary. But, I guess it's uncommon, so it isn't a junk rare like Orbs of Warding was.

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Maro has said, and I believe the official statement from Wizards is, that we get in general five planeswalkers per block. However, so far, BfZ has been the only one to follow through on that, with SOI and Kaladesh each having six total. Understandably, that's a small sample size, but assuming we're only getting these three in Amonkhet, then we have potential room for Bolas + two more in Hour of Devastation.

Limiting the sample size to just the Gatewatch era seems silly. From Alara forward 5 has been the norm.

5 planeswalkers: Alara, M10, M11, Scars, M12, Innistrad, RTR, M14, Theors, Khans, Magic Origins, BFZ = 12

6 planeswalkers: Zendikar, M13, M15, SOI, Kaladesh = 5

 

Including core sets might seem odd, but they still counted towards standard's planeswalker count (standard got 10 a year) and the five they contributed just got split between the Spring and Summer sets instead of all being in the Summer one. The fact they had two 6 so close together is more interesting than anything else. My guess is it happened because they were working in a world were BFZ was going to leave meaning standard would be down to 15 planeswalkers as of Amonkhet instead of 20.

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Protection of the Hekma is... confusing. Orbs of Warding exists, which for for same cmc, but no color requirement, does the same thing on top of giving you hexproof. This is a strictly worse version of a card that already is fairly bad and unnecessary. But, I guess it's uncommon, so it isn't a junk rare like Orbs of Warding was.

Orbs was also a legit sideboard card during its time in Standard, so don't discount that sort of effect. But yeah, this variant is trash. We've already Authority of the Consuls in that slot to slow down aggro - plus, if you're at five mana, you're not slowing down much.

 

And I don't think we've seen more than two planeswalkers in any new-era small set.

 

Oath of the Gatewatch: Chandra, Nissa

Eldritch Moon: Liliana, Tamiyo

Aether Revolt: Ajani, Tezzeret

 

So it's almost certain we're only getting two walkers in Hour of Devastation. Likely gonna be Bolas and a new native. (Djeru seems likely - it's a name that shows up in the name of a few cards, and that usually implies some significance.)

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Still, it's just frustrating that Modern has SIX Nissas that are playable (seven if you count both sides of the Nissa from Origins) on top of Amonkhet not only doubling the number of Gideons in Modern to four, including giving us a Gideon win con with the newest one, but also doubling the number of Lilianas in Modern, then giving her a ton of Zombie support when she already got a ton of Zombie support back in the SOI block! I'm just getting tired of all of the Super Friends support, especially since the Kaladesh planeswalkers got sidelined and the new werewolf planeswalker from SOI was barely mentioned in the main story outside of a cameo that MIGHT have been her.

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